Self-study
Conclusion Planting peach trees on their farm makes more sense for the Johnsons than planting apricot trees. ████████ ██████ ███████ █████ ████████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ████████ ██████████ █████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ █████ █████ ████ █████ ███████ █████ ██ █ ████ ███████ ████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that the Johnsons should plant peach trees rather than apricot trees. She supports this by saying that, while both are popular, peach trees are less expensive than apricot trees and they start producing fruit at a much younger age.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that planting cheaper trees will increase the Johnsons’ profit without considering any other costs of peach trees, like the cost of maintenance, or any other benefits of apricots, like a higher selling price.
She also assumes that, because peach trees produce fruit at a younger age, they will produce more fruit over time. She doesn’t consider whether peach trees stop producing fruit at a young age, or whether they simply produce far less fruit overall.
1.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ █████████ ██████ ███ █████████
a
Fresh, locally grown ████████ ████ ██ █ ████ ██████ █████ ████ ██ ██████ ███████ █████ ████████
This weakens the argument by pointing out an unaddressed benefit of apricots that may outweigh the cost of the trees. Even though peach trees are cheaper, apricots, which sell for a higher price, could actually generate more income than peaches long term.
b
Apricot trees tend ██ ████ █████ ██████████ ██ █ ███████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ██████
This strengthens the argument by highlighting another cost of apricots. If apricots stop being productive at a younger age, it might make more sense for the Johnsons to plant peaches instead.
c
It costs as ████ ██ █████ ███ █████████ █████ █████ ██ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███ █████████ ███████ ██████
This strengthens the argument by showing that water and fertilizer costs are the same for both trees. If these costs are the same but peach trees are less expensive to buy and plant, it might make more sense for the Johnsons to plant peaches instead of apricots.
d
The market for ██████ ███████ █████ ████████ ███ █████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ██████ █████ █████ ███ ██████████
(D) wants us to assume that the market for apricots has grown more than the market for peaches, but we don’t know this. Since “awareness of the health benefits of eating fresh fruit has increased,” it’s very possible that the market for peaches has grown just as much or more.
e
Peach production has █████████ ████████████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ██████
We don’t know whether (E) provides a cost or a benefit of planting peaches. If peach production has decreased, should they plant peaches to fill this gap in production? Or should they avoid planting them due to other factors affecting production? We simply don’t know.