Logical reasoning PrepTest 113 · Section 4 · Question 12

Question prompt

Pundit: People complain about Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

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

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Question Type

Errors in Reasoning Questions

Stimulus Summary

People: “Our leaders are ineffectual!”
Pundit: The ineffectuality is a result of compromises they make to do their jobs
Conclusion - When people are dissatisfied with their elected leaders, those leaders are doing their jobs

Answer Anticipation

The Pundit brings up a complaint leveled by people about the politicians they elect - they’re ineffectual.
She then brings up the reason for this - that they’re compromising to get the job done. So they’re not actually ineffectual, they’re just dealing with the realities of the job and getting done what they can.
The conclusion, however, says that any dissatisfaction people have with their elected officials is a sign that those officials are doing their jobs. While the Pundit arguably established that complaints of ineffectuality are a sign of the job being done, that’s just one potential complaint. There’s no sign that other expressions of dissatisfaction - say, for a scandal that the politician is involved in - similarly are a sign that the job is getting done.
The Pundit assumes that ineffectuality is the only dissatisfaction that people have with their legislative representatives. Since the question stem asks us to find something the argument takes for granted, the answer should directly reflect this assumption.

Answer choices

  1. A
    the apparent ineffectuality of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem
    This answer reflects the assumption we identified. The Pundit shows that complaints of ineffectuality are a sign of a politician doing their job. However, from that, she concludes that any complaint is a sign that the politician is doing their job. That assumes there are no other potential complaints, as this answer choice states.
  2. B
    governmental resources that are Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    The argument establishes competition for scarce resources as the role of politicians, so there’s no assumption that this scarcity can be alleviated.
  3. C
    constituents would continue to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The argument doesn’t talk about what would happen if things were different, so this answer isn’t an assumption of the argument.
  4. D
    legislative compromise inevitably results Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    This is a bit of a reversal of how the argument works. There, dissatisfaction is a sign that legislators are compromising to accomplish what they were elected to do. Compromise isn’t a sign that dissatisfaction is soon to follow!
  5. E
    only elected public servants Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Public servants other than elected officials are out of scope of the argument, as the premises and conclusion are about the elected legislative representatives.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 66%
  2. B 5%
  3. C 10%
  4. D 18%
  5. E 1%

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