PrepTest 131

Incorrect. The Columnist doesn't attempt to prove that attending a live concert is richer than listening to a recording. Rather, she attempts to disprove one explanation for that phenomenon.

Incorrect. The Columnist's argument is attempting to undermine an explanation for the statement in question, so that statement can't be a reason for its own explanation—that reverses the connection.

Incorrect. The Columnist does discuss a potential explanation for the phenomenon, but she rules it out and doesn't provide an alternative, so she doesn't purport to explain it.

Incorrect. The Columnist's argument purports to refute an explanation for this phenomenon, not the phenomenon itself.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Argument Structure

Stimulus Summary:
Phenomenon: Live music is richer than listening to a recording
Explanation 1: Seeing the performers makes the difference
Rebuttal: Seeing someone read a story isn't much different from listening to them read the story
Conclusion: Explanation 1 is wrong

Answer Anticipation:
This stimulus is interesting. The first sentence seems to be something the author would pivot away from—"Some think live music is richer, but . . . " However, she doesn't. Instead, she follows up noting this phenomenon by raising what "[s]ome say" explains it. At this point, since that view is attributed to "[s]ome," our experience should tell us that the author is going to pivot away from that explanation.

And she does! The following sentence starts with a pivot word ("However"), and the author notes that this explanation must be wrong/there must be another explanation. She reaches this conclusion by bringing up an analogous situation—listening to someone read vs. watching someone read.

So heading back to the initial sentence, which is the statement in question, we see that it's not an opposing point. Instead, it's a phenomenon that has a proposed explanation that the author rejects. She never actually raises her own explanation, just rejects another. The correct answer will have to highlight this structure.

Answer Explanation:
The position that the Columnist tries to undermine is that the reason live music is richer than recordings is because of the ability to see the performers, as this answer choice reflects. The argument and this answer are both a bit convoluted, but tracing the structure of the argument using phrases we've seen before ("Some say . . . ", "However . . . ") can make it a lot easier to break down.

Key Takeaway:
Argument Structure questions are all about breaking down the argument into its parts—something that you have to do in other question types before finding assumptions and then affecting the validity of the argument. Since these questions have fewer "steps," they tend to make the structure much harder to break down. Since you won't have to think about assumptions here, slow yourself down and really dig into the keywords and flow of the argument to understand the role of each statement in relation to the whole. And when you're lost, find the conclusion and work backwards from there!