PrepTest 154

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument/Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed/Flawed

Question Type:
Point at Issue

Stimulus Summary:
M: Internet news sites can report in real time, which newspapers can't compete with, so technology is causing newspaper sales declines.

F: Newspapers are too long, whereas internet news sites are concise. Technology isn't the reason sales are lagging for newspapers.

Answer Anticipation:
Both Mark and Fatuma agree that newspaper sales are declining (and internet news sites are doing better), but they disagree on the reasons for it. Mark believes it's technology; Fatuma believes it's the conventions of how newspapers present the news. Since they agree on the phenomenon but not the explanation, the correct answer will likely reflect their diverging explanations.

Answer Explanation:
This answer reflects Mark's explanation, so he'd agree with it. And since Fatuma presents a different explanation, she'd disagree with this assessment, making it the point at issue between them.

Key Takeaway:
Note that a lot of these answers reflected the benefits of internet news sites over newspapers that played into the specific explanations offered by the speaker. Just because someone doesn't believe in an explanation doesn't mean we can commit them to disagreeing with a benefit related to that explanation, which is how we eliminated (B), (C), (D), and (E). Contrast these answers with (A), which raised the explanations themselves ("because of"), thus allowing us to pick an answer that brings up a subject Fatuma doesn't discuss, but in a way that lets us say she'd disagree with it since she presents a different reason for the decline in sales.

Incorrect. Fatuma establishes this in her argument, but Mark doesn't talk about article length.

Incorrect. Fatuma establishes this in her argument, but Mark doesn't talk about articles getting to the point.

Incorrect. Fatuma establishes this in her argument, but Mark doesn't talk about newspaper conventions.

Incorrect. Mark establishes this as a part of his argument, but Fatuma doesn't discuss the speed of reporting.