Logical reasoning PrepTest 126 · Section 3 · Question 19

Question prompt

Bureaucrat: The primary, constant Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

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

Bureaucracy’s goal - Have regulations for all problems
If a complaint reveals a problem there isn’t a regulation for, one is created.
Therefore, an ideal bureaucracy will grow forever!

Answer Anticipation

What a dystopian nightmare!
The stimulus here is rather strong - this ideal bureaucracy will be “ever-expanding” - in other words, it’ll keep adding more and more regulations forever.
Why does the Bureaucrat believe that? Well, regulations are created when complaints highlight problems that there aren’t regulations for. In order for that to result in “ever-expanding” regulation, then, there will have to always be more problems that can be highlighted during the investigation of a complaint. Let’s find an answer that establishes this.
Note that, for Strengthen with Necessary Premise questions, answers tend to be weaker, on average. However, the actual rule is that the correct answer will almost always be at most as strong as the conclusion. Since this conclusion is very strong, our answer can be, as well.

Answer choices

  1. A
    An ideal bureaucracy will Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    This answer completely undermines the conclusion. What spurs more regulation is identifying a problem that doesn’t have regulations during the investigation of a complaint, not the complaint itself. As such, if the bureaucracy has defined and classified all possible problems and established regulations for them, then there will be no need for more regulations and the bureaucracy will cease to expand.
  2. B
    For each problem that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    The argument relies on complaints forever coming in on new problems that need to be regulated, but it doesn’t rely on problems being identified only through this process. Even if problems are sometimes identified through the normal course of business, the bureaucracy can ever expand as new problems are identified in complaints, as well.
  3. C
    An ideal bureaucracy will Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    This answer matches the strength of the conclusion and addresses the gap in the argument. If an ideal bureaucracy is without complaints about problems that still need regulations, then it might stop expanding. This answer therefore represents a necessary assumption of the argument.
  4. D
    An ideal bureaucracy can Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    This answer doesn’t make much sense. The goal is to classify all possible problems, and the conclusion states that the bureaucracy will always be expanding - thus never reaching that goal. So saying that the bureaucracy can reach its goal if it always expands...is a paradox.
  5. E
    Any complaint that an Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    The argument relies on there always being complaints that reveal new problems, but it doesn’t rely on every complaint revealing a new problem. As long as some complaints always reveal new problems, there can be some that don’t.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 13%
  2. B 4%
  3. C Credited 61%
  4. D 11%
  5. E 12%

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