Logical reasoning PrepTest 127 · Section 1 · Question 15

Question prompt

Some scientists have expressed 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

Principle Questions / Strengthen Questions

Stimulus Summary

Judgment - Quantum theory should be accepted
Details - Quantum theory’s predictions have been tested rigorously and were shown to be accurate, while competing theories can’t say the same thing

Answer Anticipation

Principle (Strengthen) questions generally present a judgment in the conclusion that’s backed up by some details in the premises. The principle will state that those details are sufficient to justify the judgment. However, there are generally a lot of extraneous details and opposing points to try to throw you off the trail, so it’s a good idea to start with the conclusion and then ID the details that are meant to justify it!
Here, the conclusion is that quantum theory should be accepted (“warrant acceptance”). Why? Because it’s been tested a lot (“rigorous attempts to show [it’s] inaccurate) and has been shown to be accurate. Additionally, competing theories haven’t matched its accuracy. Either or both of these could be tied into the judgment in the conclusion, so we should look for:
If a theory has been tested and its predictions are accurate OR its accurate when competing theories aren’t, then it should be accepted.
Note two things here. First, no matter what details are relied on from the premises, the conclusion has to justify accepting the theory (since that’s the only conclusion), so we can start by looking for an answer that does that. Second, similarly, the correct answer has to provide a sufficient basis for accepting a theory, not rejecting one, so we can eliminate any answers that justify not accepting a theory, or create a necessary condition for accepting a theory (which would justify a conclusion that it shouldn’t be accepted if that condition isn’t met).

Answer choices

  1. A
    A scientific theory should Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    This answer can justify accepting a theory. To do so, it would have to be shown to have fewer counterintuitive consequences than competitors. However, the stimulus notes that quantum theory itself has counterintuitive consequences, but it doesn’t mention such consequences for competing theories. Rather, the comparison between quantum theory and the competition is that the former’s predictions are more accurate. As such, this answer doesn’t justify the conclusion because its sufficient condition doesn’t match up with the details in the premises.
  2. B
    A scientific theory should Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem
    This answer matches our anticipation and connects the details in the premises to the judgment in the conclusion. Quantum theory has been subjected to serious (“rigorous”) attempts to disprove it but has been shown to be accurate (i.e., withstanding the attempts to disprove it). If, as this answer states, that’s sufficient to justify accepting the theory, then the conclusion holds. This is the correct answer.
  3. C
    The consequences of a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    This answer would justify not considering consequences to be counterintuitive, but the conclusion is about accepting the theory, so this answer doesn’t connect to the conclusion.
  4. D
    A theory should not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    This answer justifies not rejecting a theory; it doesn’t justify accepting it.
  5. E
    A theory should be Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    This answer establishes a necessary condition for accepting a theory (“only if”), but we need an answer that establishes a sufficient condition for doing so. (This is because conditional statements/principles allow us to conclude the necessary condition based on the presence of the sufficient condition).

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 10%
  2. B Credited 71%
  3. C 10%
  4. D 3%
  5. E 6%

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