Logical reasoning PrepTest 157 · Section 2 · Question 5

Question prompt

Columnist: Many people with 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.

Argument or Facts

Argument

Valid or Flawed

Flawed

Strategy Overview

Identify the conclusion Identify the premises Make sure the premises support the identified conclusion, and that the identified conclusion does not support anything else in the passage Find the answer choice that restates the conclusion

Answer Anticipation

Our job is straightforward on Main Point questions: find the main conclusion the author wants to convey. When searching for main conclusions, it helps to look for words associated with conclusions — like "therefore," "hence," and "thus" — or "shift" words — like "however," "but," and "nevertheless." Authors often use these words to introduce conclusions. In this case, the "shift" word "However" appears in the last sentence. That suggests that the claim that "learning about other cultures probably will not satisfy their longing" is the columnist's main conclusion. This claim also appears in a two-part sentence, with the premise word "for" in the middle of the sentence. This sentence structure suggests the part that follows "for" is a premise, and the part that comes before "for" is the conclusion. So, we can be confident that "learning about other cultures probably will not satisfy their longing" is the columnist's main conclusion. To confirm that this sentence is the conclusion, we need to identify the argument's premises and verify that they all support the identified conclusion. So, why does this columnist believe learning about other cultures will probably not satisfy people's longing for a connection to the global community? The second half of the sentence gives us a reason — the internet mostly helps people find information, not build connections. (The first two statements in this argument express background information about why and how some people use the internet.) So, the claim that learning about other cultures will probably not satisfy people's longing for a connection to the global community has support, making it a conclusion. And because that claim doesn't support any other statement in this passage, we know it's the main conclusion. Now, we just need to look for an answer choice that expresses the same idea as that main conclusion.

Answer choices

  1. A
    It is common for Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    This expresses the same idea as the first sentence in the argument. This sentence just provides background information about why some people use the internet. The conclusion discusses why these people will probably not establish a connection with the international human community online.

  2. B
    The longing for emotional Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    This expresses the same idea as the second sentence in the argument. This sentence just provides background information about how some people use the internet. The conclusion discusses why these people will probably not establish a connection with the international human community online.

  3. C
    People who have access Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    This mischaracterizes the last sentence in the passage. That sentence says that people use the internet primarily for acquiring information rather than developing feelings of interconnectedness. "Rather than" means these people aren't using the internet to develop feelings of interconnectedness — not even as a "secondary[]" purpose. Plus, the last sentence is a premise to the argument's main conclusion, anyway. The conclusion argues these people will probably not develop feelings of interconnectedness with the international human community.

  4. D
    For people desiring connection Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    This expresses the same idea as the main conclusion we identified, so we can select it and advance to the following question.

  5. E
    When people long for Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    This answer choice combines information from every claim other than the main conclusion of the argument. (It's arguably a bit stronger than the claims from the argument since this says people "tend" to engage in certain behaviors while the argument says people "often" engage in these behaviors.) The main conclusion takes this information and concludes that people who long for connection to a global human community probably won't find that connection on the internet.

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 3%
  2. B 4%
  3. C 4%
  4. D Credited 71%
  5. E 18%

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