Logical reasoning PrepTest 114 · Section 4 · Question 10

Incorrect. There's no discussion of product quality, so this answer is out of scope.

Incorrect. The stimulus notes that technological progress leads to widespread prosperity, which could benefit workers even if their work is made less crucial by machines.

Incorrect. There's no discussion of what workers do in the face of technological progress, so this answer is out of scope.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Argument Completion (Must Be True)

Stimulus Summary:
Technological progress effects:
(1) Enables growth and prosperity
(2) Makes worker's skill less useful
Workers being satisfied → Believe their work is difficult and skillful
Therefore - Technological progress __________.

Answer Anticipation:
This Argument Completion question leads into the "fill-in" with the phrase, "Clearly, then," highlighting that we're filling in the conclusion of the argument, so we should expect to be presented with premises that we'll need to bring together to support that conclusion.

Here, the conclusion tasks us with saying something about technological progress. We know from the stimulus that there's an upside and a downside to such progress. The upside is that it enables widespread growth and prosperity. The downside is that it makes workers less useful to production.

Another premise provides more information about that second premise—to be satisfied with their work, workers need to feel that their job requires uncommon skill and is difficult. However, if that work is made less crucial by a machine, they'll feel as if that's not the case. Putting that statement together with the known effects of technological progress, we can conclude that such progress leads to workers feeling unsatisfied with their work, despite any potential widespread prosperity that results from it.

Answer Explanation:
This answer applies the premise about worker satisfaction to what is known about the effects of technological progress. If workers need to feel they have uncommon skill, then technological progress that makes their work less crucial will prevent them from believing that, resulting in them feeling less satisfaction. This answer brings the premises together, so it's the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
Argument Completion questions generally bring all the premises together for the conclusion. Here, there was a premise about the effects of a change, and another about how those effects play into a requirement for worker satisfaction. The correct answer applied the latter to the former.

Incorrect. The stimulus notes that technological progress makes worker's particular skills less crucial, but that doesn't guarantee that their jobs will be eliminated.