Logical reasoning PrepTest 135 · Section 4 · Question 22

Question prompt

Scientist: Physicists claim that Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: A

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

Physicists claim peer review prevents fraud. But biologists said the same thing before being rocked with fraud scandals. They’ve improved since then, so physics could improve by doing the same.

Answer Anticipation

There are two key logical features of this argument: comparisons, and a conclusion with a soft recommendation.
The argument about issues within the field of physics is 100% backed up by comparing it to a situation in biology. The argument treats these two fields as being similar enough that problems and solutions in one are applicable in the other. Since this is a Strengthen question that’s based on similarities between two fields, answers that raise other relevant similarities will strengthen it.
The conclusion makes a soft recommendation that physicists developing similar safeguards to biologists would “be conducive to progress,” which is a soft recommendation to do so. However, it’s never been established that the fraud problems in biology prevented progress in the field - maybe the fraudulent science lit a fire under other biologists to produce! This argument could also be strengthened by connecting the prevention of fraud scandals from allowing for more progress.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Major incidents of scientific Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem
    This answer strengthens the argument by addressing the second issue we raised in our anticipation. The stimulus never establishes that fraud prevents progress in a field, so the conclusion was unwarranted. This answer connects preventing fraud to progress, thus strengthening the soft recommendation in the conclusion.
  2. B
    Very few incidents of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    If anything, this calls the necessity of safeguards into place by undermining the seriousness of the example used to establish the need for those safeguards.
  3. C
    No system of careful Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    This answer choice might highlight that the system used by physicists isn’t 100% perfect, but that doesn’t mean they need to undergo the same process as biologists in order to enhance their progress in the field. This answer doesn’t relate fraud to a lack of progress, or the need for a completely effective process to progress, so it doesn’t strengthen the argument.
  4. D
    Twenty years ago the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    If anything, this undermines the argument by stating that physics today is better than biology when it started to implement new safeguards - that difference calls into question the applicability of the situation the author treats as similar.
  5. E
    Over the years, there Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    If anything, this undermines the argument by showing that their process has been more effective (“relatively few”) than that of the biologists.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 31%
  2. B 26%
  3. C 23%
  4. D 15%
  5. E 5%

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