Logical reasoning PrepTest 113 · Section 4 · Question 21

Question prompt

Political theorist: Newly enacted Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

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

Principle Questions / Strengthen Questions

Answer Anticipation

Principle (Strengthen) questions present a judgment in the conclusion that’s based on a description of a situation. The correct answer will generally tie the details from the situation into the judgment in the conclusion.
Here, the conclusion is that newly enacted laws should have a grace period (unless things get really bad). Why is that? Because new laws are painful in the short-term, and the benefits take a long time to be realized. The argument is thus assuming that the long-term effects being beneficial determine whether a new law should be kept around, and the answer needs to establish that.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Whether a law should Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    The stimulus doesn’t discuss the beliefs of the voters as to the consequences, just their realization of the benefits over the long-term. As such, this answer doesn’t connect to the premises.
  2. B
    Whether a law should Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem
    This answer matches our anticipation. The Theorist wants to force laws to be kept around for a while because their benefits only appear in the long-term. As such, she’s assuming that those long-term benefits are what determine whether the law should be kept around - which isn’t inherently true. Maybe laws should be adopted for the short-term so that they can be continually changed to suit the moment!
  3. C
    The repeal of a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The argument doesn’t discuss how difficult it is to pass a law, or difficulty at all. While it does establish an impediment to repealing a law during a certain time period, it may be easy to do so after that time period is up!
  4. D
    The short–term consequences of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    The argument isn’t about the consequences of the repeal, it’s about the consequences of the law itself.
  5. E
    The long–term consequences of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    This answer choice is about how to construct a law, focusing on the long-term, not on whether new bills should be given a grace period. Also, the stimulus says that the short-term effects are likely painful, not that they’re beneficial.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 10%
  2. B Credited 53%
  3. C 3%
  4. D 11%
  5. E 22%

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