Logical reasoning PrepTest 151 · Section 3 · Question 16

Incorrect. There's no indication that the vehicle makers and model makers were the same people.

Incorrect. The stimulus only provides information about wooden vehicles and ceramic models, so no inference can be drawn about wooden models, or models of similarly fragile materials.

Incorrect. There's no indication that the early vehicle makers were attempting to preserve their vehicles through the ages, so their awareness of preservation methods is out of scope.

Incorrect. The stimulus only presents information about the relationship between preservation and finding remains, not difficulty in finding remains that have been through different preservation methods.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Must Be True

Stimulus Summary:
Wood generally disintegrates in a couple hundred years, so archaeologists don't find many early wheeled vehicles. However, ceramic models of these vehicles exist and are better preserved, so the main evidence on early wheeled vehicles comes from these models.

Answer Anticipation:
This question seems wide open, so we'll have to stay particularly flexible in the answer choices and check back with the stimulus often.

Answer Explanation:
The argument establishes that the main evidence on early wheeled vehicles comes from ceramic models rather than the vehicles themselves, and ceramic is preserved better than wood. If the main evidence comes from models rather than the vehicles, then it follows that the vehicles must not, generally, have been preserved through the ages. If that's the case, then it's inferable that most of the vehicles were made of a fragile material, as wood is established to be. This answer feels a bit like an answer to a Necessary Assumption question, which makes sense, since if we accept a flawed argument as having a true conclusion (as a Must Be True question with a conclusion instructs us to do), then the necessary assumption must also be true.

Key Takeaway:
When a Must Be True question features a flawed argument, the correct answer can potentially be a necessary assumption to the argument, since that assumption must be true in the context of accepting the argument as true.