Logical reasoning PrepTest 117 · Section 4 · Question 15

Question prompt

Artists have different ways 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

Valid or Flawed

Valid

Question Type

Must Be True Questions

Stimulus Summary

Artists can be distinguished by their contour and hatching styles. Example - Some works misattributed to Michelangelo were IDed as by Clovio using this analysis.

Answer Anticipation

This stimulus presents a general concept that it then applies to a specific case. It’s hard to know what direction the correct answer is going to take, but knowing these two elements should help us find the answer. We’re going to go in a bit blind as far as an anticipation is concerned, so let’s read each answer carefully.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Contours and hatching are Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    The stimulus presents information supporting that contours and hatching are one feature that distinguishes artists, but it doesn’t provide support that it’s the main distinguishing feature.
  2. B
    Many of the drawings Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    There’s no indication that even the drawings formerly attributed to Michelangelo but actually by Clovio were forgeries - they could have been pieces that weren’t passed off as Michelangelos but were incorrectly categorized as such after both artists were dead.
  3. C
    No forgery can perfectly Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    This answer is too strong in stating that “[n]o” forgery can duplicate these styles. The stimulus notes that analyzing these aspects of a work “can” help to distinguish works. That leaves open the possibility that there are situations where analyzing these aspects don’t help.
  4. D
    The contour and hatching Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    This answer is too extreme. There’s only discussion of “many” works by Clovio, not all of them. Additionally, it’s possible that even this subset featured different contour and hatching styles, just each of them attributable to Clovio.
  5. E
    There is an analyzable Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem
    The stimulus notes that “this analysis” (looking at the contour and hatching styles) showed that some “Michelangelo” works were actually by Clovio. For that to be true, it must be the case that there is a recognizable difference between the two artists on these styles, supporting this answer.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 7%
  2. B 3%
  3. C 5%
  4. D 5%
  5. E Credited 79%

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