Logical reasoning PrepTest 119 · Section 2 · Question 1

Question prompt

Cox: The consumer council Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

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

Argument or Facts

Conclusion/Argument

Valid or Flawed

NA/Flawed

Question Type

Point at Issue Questions

Stimulus Summary

Co: The council didn’t give a good enough reason to bad Derma-35.
Cr: They did - blemishes are a side effect, and they’re a legit health concern.

Answer Anticipation

Cox really doesn’t say much - her comments are just a judgment on the consumer council’s decision, saying that they didn’t provide sufficient justification for pulling Derma-35 from the market.
Crockett believes that they did (“I disagree”), raising both a reason that wasn’t the basis of the council’s decision and a reason that was. However, since Cox didn’t discuss the reasons, there’s no way to know if Cox believes that these are reasons, or even side effects of Derma-35.
The correct answer, then, should be limited to the disagreement over the conclusion - whether the council’s provided reasons for pulling Derma-35 from the market were sufficient.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Derma–35 should remain on Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    This is a tempting answer choice, but Cox doesn’t actually have a stance on this. She believes that the council didn’t give an adequate reason to pull Derma-35 from the market, but she could also believe that there is such an adequate reason to do so.
  2. B
    blemishes are sometimes caused Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Crockett mentions both of these side effects, but he doesn’t link them. Cox doesn’t mention them at all. This answer is out of scope.
  3. C
    the council based its Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Crockett more or less says this (she says it’s blemishes, which technically matches with “inflammation or blemishes” ), but Cox doesn’t mention any of the reasons brought up by the council, so we don’t know if she agrees that this was the basis for their decision.
  4. D
    the council gave an Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    Cox states that the council didn’t provide sufficient justification; Crockett disagrees because the side effect of blemishes is a sufficient reason since they’re a legitimate health concern. This is the point at issue between the two.
  5. E
    inflammation is a serious Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Cox doesn’t mention inflammation, and Crockett doesn’t say that it’s a “serious” health threat, so this answer is out of scope.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 4%
  2. B 1%
  3. C 1%
  4. D Credited 92%
  5. E 2%

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