PrepTest 144

Incorrect. Doris bases her argument on the condition that we want students to be more outspoken, so she doesn't necessarily agree with this answer. Zack doesn't make any comment on it, so this answer is completely out of scope.

Incorrect. Doris believes this if making students more outspoken is desirable. Zack is silent on the issue, so this answer is completely out of scope.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument/Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed/Flawed

Question Type:
Point at Issue

Stimulus Summary:
D: Student government is filled with outspoken people, so getting students to join will make them more outspoken.

Z: You're mixing up the causality—the outspokenness causes students to join student government, so your suggestion won't work.

Answer Anticipation:
A good old debate about a correlation/causation flaw! Doris sees that being in student government is correlated with being outspoken, and her conclusion shows that she assumes being in student government causes an increase in outspokenness.

Zack rebuts that she's probably reversing the causality—that outspoken individuals are drawn to student government. However, he errs in saying that this means joining student government will "do nothing" to make them more outspoken—even if the causality primarily flows in one direction for those who naturally sign up for student government, for those forced/encouraged to join it might have an effect.

But we're not here to dissect their arguments! That was just good practice. Instead, we need to find the point at issue between them. And while they agree on the correlation between student government and outspokenness, they disagree on what is the cause and what is the effect, and so they disagree on whether joining student government will make students more outspoken. Since this is question #3, it's more likely that the correct answer will highlight the opposed conclusion about whether Doris's recommendation will work rather than the debate over causality since that was more of an unstated, underlying disagreement.

Answer Explanation:
This answer highlights the opposing conclusion of the two speakers. Doris believes that, if "we" want students to be more outspoken, "we" should encourage them to join student government—committing her to believing that student government increases outspokenness. Zack states that it will "do nothing" to make students more outspoken, so he disagrees with this answer.

Key Takeaway:
Don't get bogged down in analyzing the logic of arguments in Point at Issue questions—we did it here just for some practice! Instead, just focus on what both statements discuss in order to identify shared topic areas where there are differing opinions.

Incorrect. If anything, this is a point of agreement between them. Doris states it, and Zack also says that students who are in government are there because they're outspoken.

Incorrect. Doris believes that being in student government will help students become more outspoken, but she doesn't raise it as the only way for that to happen, so we don't know her opinion on this answer. Zach doesn't ever comment on whether it's possible to make students more outspoken—just that making them join student government won't work—so we can't commit him to this answer, either.