Logical reasoning PrepTest 140 · Section 3 · Question 23

Incorrect. While the stimulus establishes economics as one factor in lawsuits, it doesn't establish it as the main factor.

Incorrect. The stimulus establishes that economic incentives lead doctors to treat patients rudely, but it doesn't connect either of those ideas to doctors treating medicine as a science rather than an art. In fact, there's no reason given for why doctors have undergone this shift in perception.

Incorrect. While the lawsuits are said to arise out of patients' perceptions, it doesn't state that those perceptions are wrong. The stimulus also never states how to determine if a lawsuit is justified, so this answer is out of scope.

Incorrect. There's no language that would allow a statement about what "should" be done to be validly drawn, and language like "entirely different" is too strong based on the relatively weak language throughout the stimulus.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Must Be True

Stimulus Summary:
Most lawsuits are driven by a belief of negligence or carelessness
Some doctors think medicine is a science, not art, and act less compassionately
Economic factors lead to rude behavior, making patients feel bad
Doctors listen better → Lawsuits can be avoided

Answer Anticipation:
This stimulus is a random mish-mash of statements about doctors, lawsuits, and perception of their services and medicine in general. There's one conditional statement we diagrammed out that may lead to an answer. The third and final statements both talk about rude behavior, so we can combine those to find a potential inference. However, with all the information here, the relatively weak statements ("most," "many," "less," "sometimes," etc . . . ), and the lack of clear connections between the statements, we need to dive into the answer choices knowing that we'll be checking the details against the statements in the stimulus instead of having a solid anticipation.

Answer Explanation:
The stimulus states that doctors are less compassionate, treat patients rudely, discourage them from asking questions, and patronize them. This would qualify as fostering a perception that they don't care about their patients. By creating a generalization from the details in the stimulus, this answer is strongly supported.

Key Takeaway:
When a Must Be True question doesn't have clear overlap between statements or inferences to be made, head into the answers knowing that you're going to need to pay attention to the details to eliminate answers that are off. Also, when you have a stimulus like this, there's a good chance the correct answer will be a weak generalization from some of the statements made.