Logical reasoning PrepTest 135 · Section 1 · Question 7

Question prompt

Economist: Government intervention in 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

Facts

Valid or Flawed

NA

Question Type

Argument Completion Questions

Stimulus Summary

The government intervening in the economy has upsides and downsides.
Analogy - Medicine has harmful and beneficial effects, and using it is justified only when not using it does more harm.
Conclusion - The government should only intervene in the economy when __________.

Answer Anticipation

As with many Argument Completion questions, this one raises a comparison in the stimulus - a specific type of comparison, an analogy. When an analogy is raised, it’s important to understand how the parts related.
Here, the government matches up with whoever is administering the medicine, and the intervention in the economy is analogous to the medicine. The medicine should only be used when not using it does more harm than using it, so, similarly, the government should intervene in the economy only when not doing so would do more harm than the intervention will cause.

Answer choices

  1. A
    would likely be approved Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    There’s nothing in the analogy about approval by those affected, so this answer is out of scope.
  2. B
    has been shown to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    The medicine is shown to have harmful effects, and by using it as an analogy, the Economist suggests so does intervention in the economy.
  3. C
    is believed unlikely to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    The analogy involves a comparison of the harm of doing something versus not doing something. This answer just focuses on whether it’ll do harm. Without the balance, the analogy doesn’t hold, so this answer is incorrect.
  4. D
    would do less damage Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    This answer brings up the analogous consideration from the medicine situation. There, it was a balance of the harm done by doing versus not doing, as this answer states, so it’s the correct answer.
  5. E
    provides a solution to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    The analogous situation calls for a balancing of the harm of doing and not doing - it doesn’t require that it be the only solution (“otherwise insoluble”), as this answer would require.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 1%
  2. B 2%
  3. C 1%
  4. D Credited 94%
  5. E 1%

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