PrepTest 132

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Errors in Reasoning

Stimulus Summary:
S: In a study with a large, representative, randomly assigned sample, people either received M or N. Only people who received M were cured of athlete's foot.

R: So anyone note cured didn't receive M.

Answer Anticipation:
The Reporter's statement is conditional and sounds strangely like the Scientist's statement, only with a few negatives thrown in. You may see where we're going with this . . .

The information from the study is, itself, conditional ("The only . . . "). We can diagram it out as: Cured → Medication M. Everyone who was cured was in the group that received M.

The Reporter's statement: not Cured → not M. As we predicted, that's an illegal negation of the Scientist's statements. She established results that everyone who was cured received M, and the Reporter treats that to mean that everyone who received M was cured (check the contrapositive of the Reporter's statement). The correct answer should reflect this conditional logic flaw.

Answer Explanation:
The Scientist's statements show that some of the people who took medication M were cured—in other words, M can cure athlete's foot. However, the Reporter's statement treats M as if everyone who took it was cured—it always cures athlete's foot. While we anticipated an answer phrased around conditional logic, this hints at the same flaw in different language, so it's the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
Your Anticipation won't always be spot on. Sometimes, your anticipation is wrong (in which case, there's a good chance you're going to get the question wrong—it happens!); sometimes, the correct answer is phrased in different terminology while referencing the same concept. In the latter case, you still have a good chance of getting the question right as long as you consider each answer choice and stay flexible!

Incorrect. The Reporter qualifies his statement as applying to "anyone in the study," not to the population as a whole.

Incorrect. Since the Reporter's statement is limited to discussing those "in the study," he's not assuming that anyone can get access to these medications. Additionally, the Reporter just talks about what happened in the study, not what would happen if people were using the medications.

Incorrect. The study saw everyone receive either medication M or N. Since there were no people in the study who received neither medication, this answer is out of scope.

Incorrect. Taking the contrapositive of the Reporter's statement, he believes that everyone who took medication M was cured, so he's not assuming anything about people who could only be cured by not taking medication M—in fact, there's no one in the study or referenced in the reporter's comments who would back that up!