Logical reasoning PrepTest 114 · Section 4 · Question 15

Incorrect. Believe others distrust → Tend to trust others. This answer is a partial negation of the correct answer.

Incorrect. Confident → Tend to trust others. This is a connection that doesn't build to the conclusion since it has the conclusion's sufficient condition as a necessary condition.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise

Stimulus Summary:
not Believe others distrust them → Confident in abilities
Confident in abilities → Regard difficult task as challenge, not threat
Therefore - Tend to trust others → Regard difficult task as challenge, not threat

Answer Anticipation:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise questions frequently rely on conditional logic. While there are no traditional conditional keywords here, the statements each talk about a characteristic shared by everyone in a particular group, so we can represent them conditionally.

The opening line is a premise—we know this because it's followed by a conclusion indicator word ("so"). It tells us that everyone who doesn't believe others distrust them is confident in their abilities: not Believe others distrust → Confident.

The second statement is the conclusion ("so"), which states that everyone who tends to trust others thinks of a difficult task as a challenge, not a threat: Tend to trust others → Difficult task is a challenge.

The last clause is a premise ("since"), and it refers back to an idea from the conclusion—"this is precisely how" refers to seeing difficult tasks as challenges. The last clause, therefore, says that everyone confident in their abilities regards such tasks as challenges, not threats: Confident → Difficult task is a challenge.

Since the premises chain together and have a term that aligns with the conclusion, we should write that out:
not Believe others distrust → Confident → Difficult task is a challenge
Therefore—Tend to trust others → Difficult task is a challenge

This is where another common trend in Strengthen with Sufficient Premise questions comes into play—new concepts in the conclusion. Here, you need to read carefully to see that there is a shift. The sufficient condition of the premise is not believing others distrust you; the sufficient condition of the conclusion is tending to trust others. Since there's a shift there, the correct answer needs to connect these ideas:
Tend to trust others → not Believe others distrust
Believe others distrust → not Tend to trust others

Answer Explanation:
Tend to trust others → not Believe others distrust. This answer matches our anticipation. If those who tend to trust others don't believe others distrust them, then they're confident in their abilities, thus guaranteeing they view a difficult task as a challenge and not a threat. With this link, the chain from the premises builds to the conclusion, so this is the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
When a Strengthen with Sufficient Premise question repeats concepts, there's a good chance that using a conditional framework to approach it will be useful—even if there aren't clear conditional indicator words. Tracking how the ideas are connected and where the missing link is should lead you to the correct answer.

Incorrect. This answer discusses finding a task challenging, not viewing a task as a challenge rather than a threat. The former is about difficulty; the latter is about how a task is viewed.

Incorrect. not Confident in abilities → Tend to be distrusted. The term in the stimulus related to distrust is a belief that others do or don't distrust you, not whether you actually are distrusted, so there's a term shift here that makes this answer out of scope. You could be distrusted while believing that others trust you; you could be trusted while believing that you're not.