Logical reasoning PrepTest 114 · Section 1 · Question 15

Question prompt

Mystery stories often feature Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

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

Question Type

Must Be True Questions

Answer choices

  1. A
    Most mystery stories feature Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. The stimulus talks about what mystery stories "often" include, so this answer about "[m]ost" mystery stories is incorrect. "Often" could mean in 42% of them!
  2. B
    Mystery readers often solve Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. While readers are given a chance to solve the mystery, there's no indication how frequently they actually do or what about the story allows them to do so.
  3. C
    Some mystery stories give Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    Correct. Argument or Facts:
    Argument

    Valid or Flawed:
    Flawed

    Question Type:
    Must Be True

    Stimulus Summary:
    Mysteries have a bumbling companion who reaches bad conclusions and a brilliant detective who solves the crime. This lets readers try to solve the mystery while still misdirecting them.

    Answer Anticipation:
    This stimulus is really hard to form an anticipation for. It generally describes some features of mystery novels and how they play into the reader experience. The correct answer could generalize from these statements (e.g., "Some novels . . ."), or it could rely on a single one to lead to the correct answer. Since we can't know, let's head straight to the answers so we have plenty of time to analyze the details.

    Answer Explanation:
    The stimulus notes that the readers have "a chance" to solve the mystery in certain mystery novels (the ones that have a detective and a bumbling sidekick), meaning that they must have enough clues for the readers to infer that solution. This answer is supported by the stimulus and its logical force matches the weak logical force there, so this is the correct answer.

    Key Takeaway:
    When you have a Must Be True question that seems to defy anticipating the answer, it's generally because the statements don't have clear inferences and aren't strong enough to support large conclusions. As such, be wary of strong(er) answers in these questions!
  4. D
    The actions of the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. There's no discussion of a diversion from the dull companion, nor of it coming at the hands of the detective, so this answer is incorrect.
  5. E
    The detective's dull companion Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. The stimulus only lets us know that this companion infers inaccurate solutions, not that he discovers the clues himself.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 9%
  2. B 11%
  3. C Credited 52%
  4. D 4%
  5. E 23%

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