Logical reasoning PrepTest 119 · Section 2 · Question 13

Question prompt

Companies wishing to boost 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

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Question Type

Strengthen with Necessary Premise Questions

Stimulus Summary

Study - Customers don’t have time for coupons or mailers. ? of buying decisions are made at the store
Goal - Sell more products
Recommendation - Use in-store displays to get people to catch people’s attention!

Answer Anticipation

This argument concludes a recommendation (use in-store displays) to reach a goal (sell more products). Why use this instead of alternative advertising channels? Because a study shows that ? of buying decisions are made in the store.
Based on that, it’s definitely the case that a company wishing to increase sales should target shoppers at the stores - but that doesn’t mean that in-store displays are the way to go. Maybe free samples or more attractive packaging would work better. Maybe in-store ads make people less likely to buy that product because they feel it’s too pushy. This argument jumps to a conclusion that a certain method of reaching a goal is the way to go without considering other methods, or even whether the method in question would have the desired outcome. The correct answer should establish that it is effective and worth the investment.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Companies are increasingly using Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    What companies are actually doing doesn’t speak to what they should do, so this answer is out of scope.
  2. B
    Coupons and direct–mail advertising Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    What’s important to the argument is if they’re effective now, not if they were more effective in the past.
  3. C
    In–store displays are more Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The argument relies on these displays affecting buying decisions. While that is tied primarily to in-store decisions in the argument, them serving to also influence buying decisions elsewhere wouldn’t hurt the argument - it’d be more of a reason to use these displays!
  4. D
    In–store displays that catch Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    There’s no indication as to what factors customers at stores use to make their buying decisions. Maybe it’s in-store displays - or maybe those displays annoy customers and they pick something else. This answer establishes that these displays do work to influence behavior towards the company’s products - if they didn’t, then the recommendation to use them would fall apart.
  5. E
    Many of today's shoppers Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    This answer cuts against the recommendation to use them, so it’s incorrect.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 2%
  2. B 3%
  3. C 9%
  4. D Credited 85%
  5. E 2%

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