Logical reasoning PrepTest 117 · Section 4 · Question 6

Question prompt

Doctors urge people to Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

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

Argument Structure Questions

Stimulus Summary

Doctor recommendation - Change your diet to reduce cholesterol
Pivot - Moderate changes often don’t work
Conclusion - You may need to make bigger changes (e.g., become a vegetarian)

Answer Anticipation

This argument presents a recommendation by doctors, pivots (“But”), and then reaches a conclusion (“therefore”). Since the pivot isn’t the conclusion, it must be a premise supporting the author’s conclusion.
However, that’s not the end of our analysis. Since it’s a premise supporting an argument that has a separate viewpoint, we need to know how the viewpoints intersect. Normally, the other view is an opposing point, but, in this case, the author and the doctors aren’t in opposition to each other. Both recommend changing a diet to reduce cholesterol. The question is how much one’s diet needs to change in order to accomplish that.
So we want to find an answer saying that the statement in question is a premise supporting a conclusion, but we want to make sure that we don’t pick one saying that it’s meant to counter the doctors.

Answer choices

  1. A
    It is presented to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    This answer misrepresents the relationship between the doctors’s recommendation and the author’s conclusion. The two are aligned generally, so there’s no counter to that recommendation in the argument.
  2. B
    It is a premise Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    There are two issues here. First, the argument is about diets that affect cholesterol levels, not overall health, so this answer is too broad in scope. Second, a vegetarian diet is noted as one example of a dietary change of the scale that might be needed to get cholesterol under control, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t examples of diets that work just as well that still include meat.
  3. C
    It is a premise Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    This answer reflects the argument by describing the statement in question as a premise and properly paraphrasing the conclusion. It also doesn’t fall into the trap (A) does of treating the viewpoint of the doctors as an opposing point.
  4. D
    It is offered as Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    There’s no explanation for why vegetarian diets work so well at reducing cholesterol levels, just a claim that they do.
  5. E
    It is a conclusion Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    While many pivot statements are conclusions, this one isn’t. It’s a statement of fact that supports the following statement, which is a conclusion. When a pivot is to an opinion - especially of an opposing viewpoint - it’s usually a conclusion. When it’s a fact, it’s usually a premise.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 14%
  2. B 2%
  3. C Credited 79%
  4. D 0%
  5. E 6%

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Discussion

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  • What is wrong with A. 2 replies

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