Logical reasoning PrepTest 123 · Section 2 · Question 3

Question prompt

A century in certain 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

Facts

Question Type

Argument Completion Questions

Stimulus Summary

Centuries are like life. When a century ends, people behave like a life is ending. When a life is ending, that person looks back at their life. When a century is ending . . .

Answer Anticipation

This Argument Completion question is focused heavily on the comparison between life ending and centuries ending, stating people behave similarly in both situations. Since we're told people at the end of their life look back at that life, it follows that the author would finish the argument by stating that at the end of a century, people would look back at that century.

Answer choices

  1. A
    reminisce about their own Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. While people at the end of their life look back at their life, to finish the comparison, people looking back at the century would look back at the century. Remember, the first premise is that a century is like a life, so any comparison needs to essentially substitute those two concepts.
  2. B
    fear that their own Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. The stimulus states that, at the end of a century, people behave toward that century similar to someone who is approaching the end of their life does toward that life. Again, the stimulus sets up the end of life as parallel to the end of the century, so as we approach the end of the century, people would be thinking about the century, not their lives.
  3. C
    focus on what the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. The stimulus never talks about looking forward, just backwards ("looking back on the events . . . "), so this answer is out of scope.
  4. D
    become very interested in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    Correct. Much as people at the end of their lives look back on that life, as the century ends, people would look back on that century. This answer reflects that parallel, so this answer is correct.
  5. E
    reflect on how certain Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. If the stimulus stated that people at the end of their lives looked back at their regrets, this answer choice would likely be correct. However, the stimulus says these people look at the events of their lives, not a subset of them, so this answer choice is too narrow.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 26%
  2. B 4%
  3. C 4%
  4. D Credited 59%
  5. E 7%

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Discussion

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