Logical reasoning PrepTest 135 · Section 1 · Question 21

Question prompt

In several countries, to Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

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

Problem - Global warming
Solution - Provide incentives for farmers to plant trees on land since plants absorb carbon dioxide
Problem with the solution - Native grasses are more effective at trapping carbon than trees
Conclusion - The incentives are making the problem worse

Answer Anticipation

While problem/solution/problem with the solution passages are less common than problem/solution passages, they do show up with relative frequency! When they show up, they generally imply a reason for the solution to be a bad one without directly connecting it.
Here, the argument raises that the trees aren’t as good as native plants at trapping carbon. From that, it concludes that the incentives to plant trees are actually making the problem of global warming worse. That doesn’t mean that the farmers are planting trees instead of grass, which would just mean the problem wouldn’t be solved as well as it could have been. Instead, the argument is assuming that these trees are replacing grass, thus absorbing less carbon than would otherwise be absorbed.

Answer choices

  1. A
    trees not only absorb Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    The trees are already established as being less efficient than absorbing carbon than native grasses - they don’t need to actively emit carbon in order to make the problem worse. They just have to replace the grasses.
  2. B
    most farmers do not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    This would still, at best, highlight that the solution isn’t as good as it could be by incentivizing the planting of native grasses instead, not that it’s actively making the problem worse.
  3. C
    land that has been Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Deforestation is out of scope for this argument about planting trees.
  4. D
    some of the trees Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    This answer highlights the assumption the author makes in concluding that the incentives to plant trees is making the problem worse, not just failing to combat it as efficiently as possible. If the trees are all planted in areas where native grasses wouldn’t be growing, then the trees are a net positive and the argument falls apart.
  5. E
    few if any governments Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    The argument only cares about the countries that incentivized the growing of trees, so an answer about “few if any governments” is too broad to be necessary for it.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 11%
  2. B 5%
  3. C 2%
  4. D Credited 79%
  5. E 2%

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