PrepTest 154

Incorrect. Oscar believes they're in the best position to judge teacher performance, and Bettina believes that many years later they can fully appreciate that teacher.

Incorrect. Bettina is committed to believing this, but Oscar doesn't talk about how students' opinions develop over time, so this answer is out of scope of his argument.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument/Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed/Valid

Question Type:
ID the Disagreement

Stimulus Summary:
O: Students are in the best position to judge a teacher, so their evals provide the best assessment.

B: Students often only appreciate teachers years after class ends and they fill out the evals, so peer evaluations might be better or at least a good supplement.

Answer Anticipation:
Oscar's argument is pretty straightforward and a bit repetitive, so there's not much to dig into there. He says students are in the best position to judge teachers, and Bettina raises an issue with their assessment's overall accuracy without directly contradicting Oscar. She does raise an alternative—peer assessment—that might be a good replacement or supplement student evaluations, so she's committed to believing that there might be a better option out there to basing teacher assessment completely on student evals.

Answer Explanation:
This answer reflects Oscar's conclusion, so he is committed to agreeing with this. Bettina believes that student evals might be better replaced with peer evaluations, so she doesn't agree that they provide the optimal assessment. This is the point at issue between them.

Key Takeaway:
Note the difference in language between the correct answer—(C)—and similar answer (D). The subtlety to Bettina's conclusion here—something might be better or a good supplement, not just something is good or better—leads to that split. Be certain that you don't "smooth out" these important nuances when you're summarizing a stimulus in your head!

Incorrect. Oscar clearly disagrees with this, but Bettina doesn't rule out the possibility of using student and peer evaluations together.

Incorrect. Bettina establishes this as a premise, but Oscar doesn't talk about it, making it out of scope of his argument.