Reading comp PrepTest 137 · Section 1 · Question 7

Incorrect. This answer doesn't establish that antibiotic use will be phased out if scientists are correct—maybe the increased meat yields are worth the decreased antibiotic effectiveness.

Incorrect. This answer is too extreme—the stimulus says antibiotics become less effective when included in animal feed, not that they will become ineffective.

Incorrect. This answer is a negation of the stimulus—antibiotics being phased out will cause some farmers to go out of business, but that doesn't guarantee them being used will keep meat yields up and farmers in business. There could be other sufficient conditions for reducing meat yields (e.g., a disease).

Incorrect. There's no statement in the stimulus that's strong enough to support an answer about "most" farmers. This answer also assumes that declining health lowers meat yields, but the stimulus never connects those concepts.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Must Be True

Stimulus Summary:
Antibiotics, standard in animal feed, increase meat yields and keep animals healthyMeat yields reduced → Some farmers will go out of business

Answer Anticipation:
The opening statement here is causal, the closing one conditional, and they share a term, so the correct answer will likely make an inference by combining the two. Both statements talk about meat yields, with antibiotics increasing them and a reduction in those yields resulting in some farmers going bankrupt. From this, we can determine that, should antibiotics fall out of use, meat yields will therefore go down and some farmers will go out of business.

Note that we've largely ignored the second sentence. This is because it's too weak to lead to much of an inference—it's a recommendation on what scientists believe may be true. The correct answer may reference this or state what would happen if scientists are correct, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Let's head to the answers looking for the one we anticipated by combining the more certain statements—phasing out antibiotics in animal food will result in some farmers going out of business.

Answer Explanation:
If antibiotic use is phased out, then meat yields would go down, all else being equal. Meat yields decreasing will drive some farmers out of business. The way to avoid this would be to keep meat yields up through some other means. This answer is therefore supported in the stimulus!

Key Takeaway:
In Must Be True questions, focus on statements that have enough logical force to lead to inferences (comparisons, causal statements, conditionals, strong statements). Also, focus on statements with shared terms, as combining them often yields inferences.