Logical reasoning PrepTest 119 · Section 2 · Question 2

Question prompt

Literary historian: William Shakespeare, 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

Facts

Valid or Flawed

NA

Question Type

Must Be True Questions / Sufficient & Necessary Questions

Stimulus Summary

Shakespeare - Could have written the love poems attributed to him
“Shakespeare’s” drama → Written by someone who spent time with rulers
Bacon - Spent time with rulers
Shakespeare - ~Spent time with rulers

Answer Anticipation

This stimulus walks right up to the line of a conclusion but doesn’t state one, so we’re almost certainly going to find an answer which brings this whole thing together.
There are two questions raised here - Who wrote the poems attributed to Shakespeare? Who wrote the plays attributed to him? And two people are mentioned - Shakespeare, and Bacon. (Not Kevin.)
To the first question, the Historian says that Shakespeare could have written them, but she’s silent as to whether Bacon could have.
To the second question, the Historian raises a “requirement” - whoever wrote them must have spent time with rules. Shakespeare didn’t - which guarantees that he couldn’t have written them since he doesn’t meet a requirement for doing so. Bacon does meet that requirement, so he may have written them - but meeting a requirement doesn’t guarantee he did write them (that would be true if he met a sufficient condition).
So this argument is leading to answers to these questions - Shakespeare could have written the poetry; he couldn’t have written the plays; Bacon could have written the plays.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Bacon wrote the dramas Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    The stimulus is silent as to Bacon’s ability to write the poetry attributed to Shakespeare, and it provides enough information to conclude only that Bacon may have written the plays since he meets the necessary condition for doing so.
  2. B
    Bacon wrote both the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    The stimulus is silent as to Bacon’s ability to write the poetry attributed to Shakespeare, and it provides enough information to conclude only that Bacon may have written the plays since he meets the necessary condition for doing so. Yes, the same reasoning eliminates this answer!
  3. C
    Shakespeare wrote neither the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The stimulus notes Shakespeare may have written the poetry, so this answer is wrong. The second half of this answer, however, is correct since Shakespeare doesn’t meet a necessary condition for writing the plays.
  4. D
    One person could not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Shakespeare couldn’t have, but someone else could have. Even Bacon is a possibility since the stimulus is silent on his ability to write the poems!
  5. E
    Shakespeare may have written Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem
    This answer is supported in the stimulus. The first half is explicitly stated, and the second half is established by showing that Shakespeare didn’t meet a necessary condition for writing those plays.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 5%
  2. B 2%
  3. C 2%
  4. D 4%
  5. E Credited 88%

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