Logical reasoning PrepTest 154 · Section 1 · Question 10

Incorrect. This answer features two conditionals that lead to different outcomes, so it's not parallel.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Valid

Question Type:
Parallel Reasoning

Stimulus Summary:
Appeal to moderates → Lose election
not Appeal to moderates → Lose election
Therefore, Thompson will lose the election

Answer Anticipation:
The stimulus uses two conditionals that represent all possible situations to show that an outcome is inevitable. The correct answer will need to similarly establish these two "comprehensive" conditionals that lead to the same outcome, concluding that the given outcome is going to happen.

Answer Explanation:
This answer choice highlights that whether or not the company moves, it will lose employees, so them losing employees is inevitable. That's the same structure as the stimulus—two "comprehensive" conditionals are established (Move and not Move), both leading to the same outcome, which is concluded as going to happen.

Key Takeaway:
Parallel Reasoning questions often feature conditional logic that you can match up to the answer choices to find the correct answer. However, sometimes, there's a bigger structure to these arguments that can be helpful to note so that you can move through the answer choices quickly and without fully diagramming them. Here, noting that the two conditionals presented a comprehensive set of possibilities as sufficient conditions, and the same outcome as necessary conditions, would allow for a very quick run through the answer choices.

Incorrect. This answer choice features two conditionals that chain together, not two conditionals that talk about a comprehensive list of possibilities.

Incorrect. The conditionals here both talk about raising property taxes, just to different levels, so they don't cover all possible situations.

Incorrect. The outcomes presented here aren't the same, and the conclusion isn't about an inevitable outcome, so this answer isn't parallel.