Logical reasoning PrepTest 123 · Section 2 · Question 17

Question prompt

Hospital executive:  At a recent Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

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

Errors in Reasoning Questions

Stimulus Summary

Some computer experts said the biggest threat to large institutions is hacking, so this hospital should make protecting confidential information the top priority.

Answer Anticipation

Whenever an argument brings up the opinion of experts, it's important to think about whether the experts are the right ones to weigh in on the conclusion. Here, the conclusion is about the top priority for a hospital. While the hospital's computer security certainly falls within the expertise of computer experts, that's not what the conclusion is about.
Instead, the conclusion is about what the top priority for this hospital should be, and whether hacking personal info is the most significant threat faced by these institutions. Computer experts aren't equipped to weigh the threat of hacking personal information against, say, antibiotic-resistant infections. Since the executive is relying on the computer experts' views in an area they don't have proper expertise, the correct answer in this Errors in Reasoning question will point this out.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The argument confuses the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. There's no discussion of causes or solutions to the problem. Rather, the argument is about a problem being the top priority.
  2. B
    The argument relies on Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem
    Correct. This answer points out the flaw of relying on the wrong experts. In this case, since the question is over the biggest threat to hospitals, computer experts are the wrong ones to ask for that ranking, and so this answer is correct.
  3. C
    The argument assumes that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. The conclusion isn't causal, and there's no correlation in the premises, so this answer choice is describing the wrong flaw.
  4. D
    The argument draws a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Incorrect. The premise is about "large institutions" including hospitals, and it draws a conclusion about a hospital (not a group). If anything, this answer choice reverses this by going from a premise about the group to a conclusion about a sample, but there's also no reason to believe this hospital is unrepresentative.
  5. E
    The argument infers that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. If the conclusion were about an institution that fell outside of the large institution group, then this answer would need to be considered. However, hospitals are listed as one type of large institution, so the argument doesn't jump between large institutions and other types of institutions/all institutions.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 22%
  2. B Credited 33%
  3. C 18%
  4. D 17%
  5. E 10%

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