Logical reasoning PrepTest 137 · Section 4 · Question 19

Incorrect. This answer features an illegal negation, where the nonconditional premise establishes that the sufficient condition wasn't met, not the necessary condition, so it's flawed and incorrect.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Valid

Question Type:
Parallel Reasoning

Stimulus Summary:
not Jury returned verdict → Media trucks outside courthouse
not Media trucks outside courthouse
Therefore - Jury returned verdict

Answer Anticipation:
This argument is a pretty straightforward conditional argument—it presents a conditional, establishes the necessary condition wasn't met, and then concludes that the sufficient condition would also not be met. That's a valid application of a conditional's contrapositive to a specific situation. We should look for an answer that states:
A → B
not B
Therefore - not A

Since this is question #19, though, expect the answer choices to be difficult!

Answer Explanation:
not Buy house → Rent apartment
not Rent apartment
Therefore - Buy house
Same structure, so this is the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
Practice conditional logic. If you are solid on it, you can get through a question like this very quickly and accurately!

Incorrect. This argument applies a conditional to a specific case, but not the contrapositive. It also assumes that Renate kept her promise, so it's invalid.

Incorrect. This answer choice doesn't rely on a contrapositive, so it's not parallel.

Incorrect. This answer choice features the negation of the sufficient condition, not the necessary condition. It also assumes the problem was solved in concluding that someone solved it, just not Renate.