PrepTest 151

Incorrect. The argument isn't about the difficulty of making music devoid of meaning but rather whether some music is devoid of meaning.

Incorrect. The argument's conclusion is about whether the radically nonconformist musicians are creating music devoid of meaning, not whether audiences are accepting it as such, so this answer is out of scope.

Incorrect. The appeal of this music is out of scope of the argument.

Incorrect. Audience enjoyment is outside the scope of this argument, which is just about whether the music of this group of musicians is devoid of meaning.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Strengthen with Sufficient Premise

Stimulus Summary:
Opposing point: Music has no meaning and is just random noise.But they explain this before their performance, so their music has meaning and isn't just random noise.

Answer Anticipation:
The argument sets up an opposing point about music being devoid of meaning, and it then reaches a conclusion that the opposing point is wrong ("fails to conform to their theory")—in other words, even those musicians' music has meaning. That's based on one fact—the musicians from the opposing point make speeches about the intention behind their music before performing it. However, that doesn't directly state anything about meaning, so the correct answer will have to connect those ideas: Any music that's prefaced by an explanation of the intentions behind it has meaning and isn't just a random series of sounds.

Answer Explanation:
This answer choice connects the ideas from the premise to the conclusion. Thinking about this conditionally, we'd get: Music has no meaning → ~Start performance by explaining intentions. Or, the contrapositive: Start performance by explaining intentions → not Music has no meaning. That connects the premise to the conclusion, so this is our answer.

Key Takeaway:
Strengthen with Sufficient Assumption questions generally have answers that can be anticipated, and they usually take the form: If (term established in a premise), then (the conclusion). We can see that here—the correct answer directly connects the premise to the conclusion. The only trick they have up their sleeves is to give the contrapositive, so don't forget to look for that!