PT119.S2.Q20

PrepTest 119 - Section 2 - Question 20

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Professor Donnelly's exams are always more difficult than Professor Curtis's exams. ███ ████████ █████ █████████ ███ ██ █████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ██████████

Method of Reasoning

Because Professor Donnelly’s exams are always more difficult than Professor Curtis’s exams, the author concludes that a given question from Professor Donnelly’s exam must be difficult.

Identify and Describe Flaw

As the question stem points out, there are two cookie-cutter flaws in this argument:


Part vs. whole: The author erroneously assumes that, because Professor Donnelly’s exams are more difficult than Professor Curtis’ overall, an individual question from Professor Donnelly’s exam must be more difficult.
Relative vs. absolute: The author assumes that a relative relationship (Professor Donnelly’s exams are more difficult than Professor Curtis’) proves an absolute quality (Professor Donnelly’s exams are difficult).

Show answer
20.

Which one of the following ████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████

a

Lewis is a ██████ █████ ████ █████████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████

b

Porter's new book ██ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ █████ ██ ██ ████ ██ █████

c

Professor Whitburn is ████████ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ███████ █ ███ ██ ████████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ███████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ██ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ██████ ██████

d

Shield's first novel ███ █ ████ ███████████ ████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ███ ████████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ████████

e

Mathematics is more █████████ ████ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ██ ███████ █████

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