Logical reasoning PrepTest 113 · Section 3 · Question 7

Question prompt

Social critic: The whole Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Valid

Question Type

Must Be True Questions

Stimulus Summary

Rock singers have a legal right to sing violent songs, but that doesn’t mean they should do it, as it can change the way we see the world.

Answer Anticipation

The Social Critic splits the discussion of violent rock lyrics up into two considerations - the legality of it, and the “morality” of it (“ought to be said”).
The former isn’t up for debate - it’s legal. The latter, however, is up for debate in this argument - should the rock singers sing these lyrics? According to the Social Critic, words (including lyrics) can change how we see the world and how we act. That’s a causal statement - words/lyrics are having an effect. And violent words would potentially, therefore, have a negative effect on people.
This causal relationship serves as the support for the argument. And since we know that causal statements are frequently relied on to support Must be True answers, it’s likely that the correct answer will reflect this relationship in some way. Let’s head to the answers with this as a framework.

Answer choices

  1. A
    If rock music that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    The Social Critic concedes that legality allows most anything to be said, and he never addresses whether that should change, so this answer is out of scope.
  2. B
    The law should be Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    This answer is similar (if not a stronger version) of (A), and it’s wrong for the same reasons. The Social Critic concedes that these lyrics are almost certainly legal, and he never revisits that to say it should be changed.
  3. C
    Violent rock song lyrics Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The causality in the Critic’s closing statement says that words can influence perception/actions, so it’s implied he’d disagree with this answer.
  4. D
    If rock musicians voluntarily Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    The Critic believes that words can influence behavior, so violent words could cause violent behavior and, thus, rock musicians cutting their violent lyrics may help to decrease violence. Removing a cause should, all things equal, reduce the effect.
  5. E
    Stopping the production of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    The Critic doesn’t establish that violent rock lyrics are a primary or significant cause of society’s violence, so this answer is too strong in stating that “much of the violence” in society would be “eliminate[d]” by stopping violent rock music.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 2%
  2. B 2%
  3. C 16%
  4. D Credited 76%
  5. E 3%

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