Logical reasoning PrepTest 126 · Section 3 · Question 3

Question prompt

Psychiatrist: Breaking any habit 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

Strengthen Questions

Stimulus Summary

People are more successful at breaking a habit when they focus on the short-term rather than long-term.
Therefore - People see more success quitting smoking when they focus on peer pressure against it (short-term) rather than health concerns…
Since __________.

Answer Anticipation

The stimulus establishes that breaking a habit is easier when focused on the short-term rather than the long term - a generalization. It then goes to apply it to a specific scenario - smoking. There, it says that people will have more success focusing on a short-term concern (social pressure against smoking) rather than health concerns.
To finish matching the specific scenario to the generalization, then, those health concerns must be long-term concerns.

Answer choices

  1. A
    a habit that involves Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    The argument doesn’t relate health risks to addictiveness, so this comparison is out of scope.
  2. B
    for most people who Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem
    While this doesn’t say that health concerns are long-term, it rules them out as being short-term, and so the social pressures which are short-term concerns are more likely to lead to success than concern for health. This answer completes the argument in a manner that supports the conclusion.
  3. C
    some courses of action Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    This doesn’t establish health concerns as long-term concerns, instead relating the two types of concerns. It also doesn’t guarantee its applicability in this scenario since it’s about “some courses of action.”
  4. D
    most people who succeed Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Number of attempts isn’t mentioned in the argument or related to the generalization, so this answer is out of scope.
  5. E
    everyone who succeeds in Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    This doesn’t establish that one of those two methods is better than the other, as the conclusion states, so it doesn’t support that conclusion.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

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

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