Self-study
Music critic: Conclusion How well an underground rock group's recordings sell is no mark of that group's success as an underground group. █████ ████ ██ █ █████████ █████ █████ ██ ███ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██ █████████████ ████████████ ████████████ ████ ███████████ █████████ ████████ ██ █████████ ███ █ █████████ ███ ██ ████ █████ ███ ████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ █████████████
Summary
The author concludes that an underground rock group’s sales does not indicate their success as an underground rock group. In other words, if recordings sell well, that doesn’t imply the underground rock group is successful. And if sales are low, that doesn’t imply the underground rock group is successful, either.
Why does the author believe this?
Because if a recording sells well, it might be because the music is too trendy to be considered truly underground.
And if a recording has low sales, it might be due to the group’s incompetence.
Notable Assumptions
Notice that the conclusion introduces the idea of whether something is an indicator of success as an underground rock group. But the premises don’t tell us anything about what constitutes success or lack of success as an underground rock group. The premises only tell us that high sales could result from being too trendy, and low sales could result from being incompetent. We want to connect the premises to the idea that sales don’t indicate a group is successful as an underground rock group. For example:
If an underground rock group’s sales are high because the music is too trendy, that group is not necessarily successful as an underground rock group.
If an underground rock group’s sales are low due to incompetence, that group is not necessarily successful as an underground rock group.
These principles would help us establish that you can’t just look at high or low sales and infer that a group is successful as an underground rock group.
24.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ████████ █████████
a
If an underground ████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██ ██ ███████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ███████
(A) undermines the argument, because it establishes a way that sales can indicate something about success as an underground group. According to (A), if the recordings DO sell either especially well or especially poorly, then the underground rock group is NOT successful as an underground group. We don’t want to establish a connection that allows us to infer, merely from the level of sales, that a group is successful or that a group is unsuccessful.
b
An underground rock █████ ██ ████████████ ██ ██ ███████████ █████ ██ ██ ██ ███████████ ██ ██ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██ █████████████ ████████████ ██ █████
(B) connects the premises to the idea that sales don’t indicate success as an underground rock group. If, as (B) says, being too trendy indicates lack of success as an undergroup group, then we can’t just look at high sales and infer the group is successful. And if, as (B) says, being incompetent indicates lack of success as an undergroup group, then we can’t just look at low sales and infer the group is successful, either. So neither high sales nor low sales indicates a group is successful as an underground group.
c
Whether an underground ███████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ███████████ █████████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ █ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ████████
We’re concerned with whether a group is successful “as an underground rock group.” This is different from just being a success. In addition, (C) only helps establish that failing to sell well is not a mark of success. But it leaves open the possibility that selling well might be a mark of success. We want to show both that selling well and selling poorly do not establish success as an underground rock group.
d
An underground rock █████ ██ ██████████ ██ ██ ███████████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ █████
(D) establishes something about the situation in which a group is competent. But the premises don’t involve a situation in which a group is competent. Rather, one of the premises involves a situation in which a group might be incompetent.
e
For an underground ████ ██████ ██████████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ █████████████ ███████████ █████ ███ ███ ██ ██████████ █████ ██ ████████
(E) establishes something about competent groups and groups that do create authentically underground music. But the premises concern groups that might be incompetent or that might not have created authentically underground music.