PT130.S3.Q22

PrepTest 130 - Section 3 - Question 22

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Columnist: Support Several recent studies show, and insurance statistics confirm, that more pedestrians are killed every year in North American cities when crossing with the light than when crossing against it. ████████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████ █████████ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████

Summarize Argument

The columnist concludes that crossing with the light is more dangerous than crossing against it. As support, she cites recent studies and insurance statistics which show that more pedestrians are killed every year when crossing with the light than when crossing against it.

Identify and Describe Flaw

This is the cookie-cutter flaw of confusing amounts with percentages. The columnist assumes that a greater amount of people dying implies a greater risk. She ignores the possibility that a much larger number of people overall may cross with the light.


For example, maybe 100 people cross with the light and 10 of them die, while 10 people cross against it and 8 of them die. In this case, 10% of people crossing with the light die, while 80% crossing against it die, meaning that crossing against the light is much more dangerous, even though a smaller number of people die.

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22.

The columnist's reasoning is most ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██

a

relies on sources ████ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ █████ █████████

b

presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ██████████ █████ ████ ██ █ ██████ ████████████ ███████ ████

c

does not adequately ████████ ███ ███████████ ████ █ ███████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ █████████ ██ █ ██████ █████

d

ignores the possibility ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███████ ██████████ █████ ██ █████ █████████ ██ ████████████ █████ ████ ███ ████ ███████

e

ignores possible differences ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ██ █████ ████████

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