Logical reasoning PrepTest 144 · Section 2 · Question 17

Question prompt

City leader: If our 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.

Question Type

Strengthen Questions

Answer choices

  1. A
    The city should implement Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. There's no indication that the new tourism plan is the least expensive job creation measure—just that it's cheaper than one other option.
  2. B
    In general, it is Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. The Leader discusses one scenario where it's reasonable to spend money to convince a manufacturing company to build a plant in the city, but that's not enough to justify this general conclusion.
  3. C
    The city cannot afford Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. There's no indication that the city lacks funds to carry out both plans.
  4. D
    It would be reasonable Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    Correct. Argument or Facts:
    Facts

    Question Type:
    Must Be True

    Stimulus Summary:
    Adopt new tourism plan → Increase tourism by at least $2b AND Create as many jobs as a new auto plant
    It would be reasonable spend money to convince a company to build an auto plant here, and adopting the tourism plan is cheaper

    Answer Anticipation:
    If the benefits of the new tourism plan are at least the same as those of the auto plant and it's cheaper to implement, then it seems like a better course of action than the auto plant. If it would be reasonable for the city to invest money in making the auto plant happen, then it's strongly supported that it's reasonable to invest the money in adopting the new tourism plan.

    Answer Explanation:
    Since the new tourism plan matches a benefit of an auto plant, has an additional benefit, and costs less, and it would be reasonable to spend the higher amount on getting that plant, then it's reasonable to adopt the tourism plan.

    Key Takeaway:
    Many Must be True questions rely on comparisons to draw their inferences. When comparisons are heavily featured in the stimulus, see if there are any points of comparison that can be inferred between the elements of the comparison. Here, the tourism plan and the building of a new plant were compared along many metrics, but only one was said to be reasonable. That raises the possibility that an inference about the reasonableness of the other might be inferable based on the other points of comparison.
  5. E
    The only way the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. It seems as if getting a new auto plant to be built in the city would work, as well.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 19%
  2. B 7%
  3. C 14%
  4. D Credited 59%
  5. E 1%

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