Logical reasoning PrepTest 118 · Section 4 · Question 5

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Paradox

Stimulus Summary:
Rats: Saccharin forms silicate crystals that kill bladder cells that are sometimes cancerous when they regenerate.
Mice: Saccharin doesn't cause bladder cancer.

Answer Anticipation:
The stimulus draws a contrast between mice and rats in that saccharin causes bladder cancer in the latter but not the former. It also goes into great detail into how the saccharin causes cancer in rats. In order to explain this difference, we'll need to find an answer that raises a relevant difference between the rats and mice—likely, that mice don't form silicate crystals when fed saccharin, or that silicate crystals aren't toxic to mouse bladder cells, or that these cells aren't cancerous when they reform.

Answer Explanation:
This answer raises a relevant difference—saccharine causes silicate crystals in rats but not mice. Since the silicate crystals were part of the causal chain resulting in cancer, this answer explains why the mice don't suffer the same fate.

Key Takeaway:
When a Paradox question arises from a difference in outcome between two groups, the correct answer will almost always bring up a relevant difference to explain it. When specific information is raised about one group and not the other, the correct answer will likely highlight how some of that information doesn't apply to the other group.

Incorrect. There's no indication that the speed of bladder cell regeneration is related to cancer formation.

Incorrect. The comparison in the stimulus is between rats and mice who were fed high doses of saccharine, so what happens when lower doses are consumed doesn't help to resolve the discrepancy.

Incorrect. Without drawing a distinction between the impact on bladder cells of mice and rats, this answer doesn't help resolve the paradox.

Incorrect. The paradox is about the effect of consuming saccharine, not other sweeteners, so this answer is out of scope. Additionally, bringing up more scenarios where mice and rats have different outcomes only creates more of a paradox.