PrepTest 143

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Strengthen with Necessary Premise

Stimulus Summary:
C: Rock music is useless, but at least classic rock had artistic album covers. Now that everyone streams music, rock is completely useless.

Answer Anticipation:
This music critic is really down on rock music. She thinks that the music itself is not just bad but damaging. However, there is one upside to it—the classic albums have "innovative visual art." So music bad, associated art good.

Now, with everyone getting their music digitally, the critic concludes that there is nothing good about rock music. In stating that the move to digital music has removed any value from rock music, the critic is assuming that the move to digital music has removed the one thing she thought was valuable about the genre—the associated art. So the correct answer should highlight that digital music doesn't also have art associated with it.

Answer Explanation:
If digital music is distributed with art, that art might still be innovating and bring value to the genre that even the Critic would recognize. Since the argument is based on digital music not having the only valuable asset of rock music, this answer is necessary for the argument to hold.

Key Takeaway:
The negation test—seeing the effect on the argument if the answer weren't true—is a great way to think through Strengthen with Necessary Premise answers. It's not a crutch—it's a primary way to approach these questions, and often the fastest!

Incorrect. If anything, the argument is assuming that rock LPs are not still produced.

Incorrect. Even if other genres also had innovative album covers, rock music still had them and it still provided value to the genre. The argument holds even if rock isn't the only genre of music that had innovative visual art, so this answer is out.

Incorrect. If there are still LPs being produced with innovative art, they may be rock LPs and may give value to the genre even the Critic would have to recognize. This answer cuts against the argument.

Incorrect. Rock music doesn't need to have gotten worse for the argument to work—the Critic already established that she believes rock music had no value in the 60s and 70s outside of the album art. It could have stayed just as unsophisticated and socially destructive and the argument could still work as long as the innovative art has disappeared from the album covers.