PrepTest 143

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Bizarro Weaken

Stimulus Summary:
Phenomenon Ð Over a 10-year period, the inflation-adjusted income of a family went down 10%
Explanation Ð The governing party's mismanagement of the economy

Answer Anticipation:
The passage has a familiar phenomenon/explanation structure to it, and when that's present, the correct answers generally deal in alternatives—and viable alternative explanations weaken a conclusion that raises an explanation.

However, this is a Bizarro Weaken question, so we should rule out alternative explanations. Additionally, since there will be 4 answers that weaken it, we should also anticipate some that directly undermine the given explanation—any answer providing evidence that the ruling party didn't mismanage the economy would serve to undermine the given explanation.

Answer Explanation:
This answer can be tempting to eliminate because it sounds like it's setting up a spike in Ô96 as an anomaly that then returned back to the average, so the ruling party can't be blamed. However, it's just as likely that this increase was a moderate one that should have been continued, but it was mismanaged by the ruling party and thus resulted in a decline in income. Since the implications of this answer are unclear, we can't say it weakens the argument, so it's the correct answer.

Key Takeaway:
When an argument concludes an explanation for a phenomenon, then Weaken answers generally provide alternative explanations. Bizarro Weaken questions, on the other hand, will have a lot of answers that provide alternatives, so stay flexible and recognize that some will more clearly be an alternative explanation than others.

Incorrect. A family that goes from having multiple incomes to a single income is likely to see a decline in household income. If this shift was for noneconomic reasons, then this decline can't be seen as evidence of mismanagement of the economy.

Incorrect. If the causes of the decline were beyond the control of the ruling party, then they can't be blamed for that decline/mismanaging the economy.

Incorrect. This answer suggests the decline is the natural outcome of demographic shifts and not economic mismanagement.

Incorrect. If the changes were mostly caused by policies that the ruling party wasn't responsible for, then that undermines the argument that their economic mismanagement caused the decline in household income.