Logical reasoning PrepTest 117 · Section 3 · Question 5

Incorrect. Who suffers from the economic crises is out of scope of what causes them in the first place.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise

Stimulus Summary:
Countries with free—flowing information vs. Countries with information controlled by elites
(1) Free—flowing — People have the relevant info
(2) Controlled — Most people are denied vital info
Conclusion — The controlled countries are more likely to experience economic crises than the latter

Answer Anticipation:
This stimulus compares two types of countries—those with tightly controlled information and those with more open information. In the former a "vast majority" of the people are denied "vital" information which leads to the conclusion that those countries are likely to have more frequent economic crises.

However the argument never establishes that the lack of this vital information is likely to lead to economic crises. Maybe controlling that information actually prevents consumer panic or a lack of confidence in the economy which prevents such crises.

The argument is assuming that a population lacking knowledge about things such as infrastructure agriculture and industry will lead to more frequent economic crises so let's find an answer establishing that.

Answer Explanation:
This answer draws the connection between a lack of information among the populace and more frequent economic crises so it's the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
New concepts that show up only in the conclusion are common in Strengthen with Sufficient Premise questions. When one does appear you'll need to connect it to a relevant concept in the premises. And in general make sure that the type of logic in that conclusion shows up in the answer you select—here the conclusion was comparative so you should have been suspicious of any non—comparative answer. (They can be correct but it's less common and requires there to be an implied comparison or the answer has to bring up a point that was already raised in the stimulus so that we can infer the comparison.)

Incorrect. The conclusion is about economic crises being "more frequent" in one type of country compared to another so an answer that doesn't allow such a comparison to be drawn can't justify such a conclusion. Even if the controlled—information countries have common economic crises the open—information countries could have even more common crises.

Incorrect. The stimulus is about economic information, not economic decisions. While you probably shouldn't be making decisions without the relevant information, that usually doesn't stop people.

Incorrect. This small elite manipulating information to suit their needs isn't tied to economic crises, so this answer doesn't justify a conclusion about the frequency of such crises. It's possible that the elite manipulate the information specifically to avoid such crises.