PrepTest 137

Incorrect. First, the conclusion here is about the average reader, not a particular reader. Second, the premise is about book reviewers, and the stimulus is about readers—that's a jump not present in the stimulus, where both premise and conclusion were about test pilots.

Incorrect. Similar to (A), this answer jumps from a premise about book reviewers to a conclusion about average readers. It also establishes only that "[m]any" of those book reviewers who read it were entertained by the book, whereas the stimulus notes that all of the test pilots who tested the plane found it not difficult to operate.

Incorrect. This is definitely a tempting answer—it bases a conclusion about what a future reviewer will likely think about a novel based on previous reviews. However, there's a subtle difference between the stimulus and this answer. There, the premise is about every test pilot who flew the plane. This answer isn't about every person who reviewed this book—it's only about the reviewers who enjoyed the book. Since that's a subset of the reviewers, this answer doesn't match the stimulus.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Parallel Reasoning

Stimulus Summary:
All past test pilots have found the plane easy to operate, so the test pilot flying it tomorrow will probably find it easy to operate.

Answer Anticipation:
As soon as we see the conclusion is a prediction about the future, we should start thinking about The Gambler's Fallacy, or a past-to-future jump. Just because every example that has happened follows a certain pattern doesn't mean that pattern will continue into the future. It's possible that something about the plane will change between now and the future, or the pilot tomorrow will be different in some key way from all the previous pilots. The correct answer, therefore, should use prior examples to predict the pattern in those examples will carry into future examples.

Answer Explanation:
This answer establishes that none of the people who have reviewed a new book has enjoyed it, and it concludes from that that another reviewer won't enjoy it in the future. This makes the same jump from the past to the future without shifting the group being discussed, so it's the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
The groups being discussed in a question are frequently relevant in analyzing the logic of an argument. Shifts in groups, samples being unrepresentative, relationships between groups being different—all of these are common issues with arguments on the test. Whenever groups are brought up, start tracking them, as shifts need to be noted.

Incorrect. Similar to other answers that were incorrect, this answer jumps from a premise about reviewers to a conclusion about the general public. The stimulus stuck to discussing test pilots, so this answer isn't parallel.