Logical reasoning PrepTest 126 · Section 3 · Question 8

Question prompt

Department store manager: There Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

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

Most customers ask for free gift wrapping → Expensive and time-consuming
Only a few customers ask for free gift wrapping → No advantage in offering it
Therefore - There’s no reason to offer free gift wrapping

Answer Anticipation

The Manager reaches a rather strong conclusion here - that there is “no reason” to offer free gift wrapping. Such a categorical denial requires showing that there isn’t a single reason in any circumstance for the department store to offer this service.
In order to reach that conclusion, the Manager attempts to show that, in any given scenario, there’s no benefit to offering free gift wrapping - it’s either expensive and time-consuming, or used by so few customers that there’s no benefit to the offer. However, she fails to actually discuss all possible circumstances - which is required for the categorical conclusion to hold. Instead, she only explores two scenarios - the one where most customers use the service, and the one where “only a few” do. There’s a significant number of possibilities between those two levels (where, say, 25% or 40% of customers take advantage of the service) where there might be good reason to offer it.
The Manager, therefore, is assuming that the two scenarios she highlighted are the only two possible scenarios (or any other scenario will have the same results), so let’s find an answer establishing that.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Gift wrapping would cost Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    The Manager never actually states that offering free gift wrapping was worth it in previous years, so any comparison between other years isn’t necessary for the argument to work.
  2. B
    Anything that slows down Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    First, there’s no indication that this slows shoppers down - maybe the service gets them to make a decision on gifts faster to account for the time it’ll take to wrap it. Second, ignoring that, the service doesn’t have to cost money to not be worth it; it could just fail to make money.
  3. C
    It would be to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The argument is about free gift wrapping services, not charging for it, so this answer is out of scope.
  4. D
    It would be expensive Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    While the argument does establish that the service would be expensive if most customers use it, that expense doesn’t need to be related to advertising it - it could be for labor. This specific type of expense isn’t required for the argument to work.
  5. E
    Either few customers would Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem
    This answer establishes that the two scenarios the author explores are the only two scenarios possible. If that weren’t true, then the other potential scenario could be one where there’s a reason to offer free gift wrapping, thus invalidating the conclusion. This answer is therefore correct.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 6%
  2. B 3%
  3. C 5%
  4. D 2%
  5. E Credited 84%

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Discussion

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