Logical reasoning PrepTest 126 · Section 1 · Question 2

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Strengthen with Necessary Premise

Stimulus Summary:
Presoak beans - Lower cooking time
not Presoak beans - Plumper
Therefore - When quality is more important than speed, not presoak beans

Answer Anticipation:
This argument brings up several points of comparison, but, as always, we should focus on the comparison in the conclusion to see where the gap in the logic is.

The conclusion recommends not presoaking beans in a specific situation—when quality is more important than speed of cooking. The premises establish that not presoaking beans results in a plumper bean. Does that align with the condition on the conclusion—when quality trumps speed of cooking?

Nope! There's no indication that a plump bean is a higher quality bean. The argument is assuming that that is true, so the correct answer should establish that connection.

Answer Explanation:
This answer makes the connection required for the argument to work. If plumper beans don't result in a higher quality dish, then there's no reason to avoid presoaking beans when aiming for a high-quality dish.

Key Takeaway:
Always look for new concepts in the conclusions of Strengthen with Necessary Premise questions. When one is present, the correct answer will likely connect that concept to a concept established in the premises.

Incorrect. The stimulus is about beans, so this answer about all dishes—those with or without beans—is too broad.

Incorrect. Appearance is never mentioned in the stimulus, nor is it inherently related to any concepts there, so this answer is out of scope.

Incorrect. Other ingredients are out of scope of the conclusion, which limits itself to recommending that beans shouldn't be presoaked. If the conclusion said something like, "ingredients should not be presoaked," then this answer would be relevant.

Incorrect. Flavor is, surprisingly, out of scope of this argument. There's no indication that flavor is related to quality. Additionally, even if we say that quality and flavor are inherently related where food is concerned, there doesn't need to be a proportional relationship between plumpness and flavor. It's possible that there's a limit to how plump a bean can get while still maintaining good flavor, or that there's a limit to how good you can make a bean taste and any additional plumpness doesn't affect that taste.