Self-paced
Conclusion People who say that Dooney County is flat are clearly wrong. ██ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███ █ ████████ █████████████ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ █ ████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ █████████
Summary
Dooney County isn’t flat. How do we know? The author sets up a conditional argument with two key premises:
(1) If farmland is flat, then farmers don’t build terraces to prevent erosion on that land.
(2) In Dooney County, there are terraces on farmland (at least, so the author hears).
13.
The reasoning in the passage ██ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
If we paint ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ███ ██ ████ ████ ██ █████ ██ █████ █████ ██████████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ ████ █████
This recommends an alternative: paint it dark blue. But the stimulus doesn't recommend an alternative. It observes a fact and tries to use the contrapositive of a conditional chain. (A) doesn't try to trigger the contrapositive of a conditional chain.
b
People with children ████ ████ █████ ████ █████ ███████ █████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██████ ███████
This states two related facts (people with children need more space; people without children can afford bigger houses) but doesn't set up a conditional chain.
c
People who get █ ███ ██ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██████ ███ ███ █ ███ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████████ ██ ██ ████ ███ ██ ███████ █ ███ ██ █████████
This matches the stimulus. People who exercise a lot have no trouble falling asleep, so they don't use sleep medication. Then the argument observes that Jack takes many kinds of medication and concludes he must not be getting exercise.
We know that exercisers don't use sleep medication. But all we know about Jack is that he takes many kinds of medication. The argument assumes sleep medication is among them, just as the stimulus assumes Dooney County's terraces are erosion terraces.
d
If I go ███████ ████████ ████ █ ██ ███████ █ ███ █████ █████ ███ ██████ ██████ ██████ █████ ██████████ █ ██████ ████ ███████
This argument doesn't work by trying to trigger a contrapositive.
e
People who have ████ ███████ ████ ██ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ███ █ ████
This argument doesn't work by trying to trigger a contrapositive.