Logical reasoning PrepTest 117 · Section 4 · Question 10

Question prompt

Council member P: Alarmists Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

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

Argument or Facts

Argument/Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed/Flawed

Question Type

Point at Issue Questions

Stimulus Summary

P: Alarmists think every instance of pollution shows that society is bad. They don’t distinguish between people’s disposition (not polluting) and actions.
Q: People take the easiest path, and it’s easier to pollute than not to pollute, so those alarmists are reasonable.

Answer Anticipation

This question is a tough one! Both P and Q are discussing people, their motives, their dispositions, and their actions, all on the topic of pollution.
P does believe that pollution is a problem, but that it doesn’t show people are disposed toward polluting. He believes that there’s a difference between behavior and disposition.
Q, on the other hand, thinks that people do generally pollute - agreeing that there is a problem, but disagreeing about whether it’s in our nature to add to it. She believes that it is in our nature because it’s easier to pollute than not to.
So they agree that people pollute, and that pollution is a problem, but they disagree that humanity is inherently driven to pollute - P thinks it’s not in our disposition, whereas Q thinks it’s the path of least resistance and we tend to take it.

Answer choices

  1. A
    pollution should be considered Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    They both agree that there’s a problem with pollution. P doesn’t believe it shows a character flaw of society, but he believes that there is pollution. Q thinks that a single instance of pollution indicates a wider trend, and thus it’s a problem.
  2. B
    actions tend to follow Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Q states this, so she agrees with it. P doesn’t talk about this aphorism, so it’s out of scope of his argument.
  3. C
    people are responsible for Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Both speakers bring up people as polluters. They disagree on whether this means that people inherently will pollute, or if it’s a behavior that has other causes.
  4. D
    people can change their Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Neither speaker is fatalistic about humans being unable to change.
  5. E
    people are inclined to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem
    P says that people have a “disposition...not to pollute,” so he disagrees with this answer. Q believes that actions “follow the path of least resistance,” and polluting is that path, so she agrees with this answer. This is the point at issue between the two!

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 10%
  2. B 8%
  3. C 8%
  4. D 7%
  5. E Credited 68%

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