PrepTest 144 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 21

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Passage A.

Intro to Popper · Power of negative evidence

A single black swan disproves that all swans are white

Asymmetry · Between positive and negative evidence

Positive evidence has no value

Requirements of Science · Search for negative evidence; making falsifiable predictions

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Critique of Popper · Negative evidence is not as powerful as he believes

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Premise · Theories have to work together to entail predictions

So a failed prediction means some theory is false, but it's unclear which one.

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Prediction · Orbit of Uranus

Multiple theories working together to entail the predictions. This can be framed as an application of Passage A.

Prediction · Failed

At least one of the theories is wrong.

Passage Style

21.

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

Question Type

Stated

Split Method: After passage A, eliminate any answer choices that aren’t at least mentioned by author A. Then, after passage B, choose the remaining answer choice that’s illustrated by author B.

Sequential Method: Overall, passage B is an illustration of how negative evidence was used to disprove an assumption (in the case of Uranus) and disprove and theory (in the case of Mercury). Author A talks about using negative evidence in both of these ways. So the right answer could be either about the disproving of auxiliary assumptions or the disproving of theories.

repudiating an experimental ██████

To repudiate means to deny or reject. Author A doesn’t mention rejecting experimental results. She only mentions that experimental results can turn out differently than expected. This is enough to eliminate A.

Author B doesn’t discuss experiments at all.

11%

revising a theory

Author A doesn’t mention revising any theories. She talks only about how theories can be disproven, and how doing so is complicated.

Author B doesn’t illustrate revising a theory; he illustrates disproving a theory.

16%

disproving a theory

Author A mentions disproving a theory.

Author B illustrates the disproving of a theory.

69%

predicting a planet's █████

Author A doesn’t mention this.

theories that are ███ ████████ ██ ██████████

Author A talks about theories in general and how they can be tested using observations in a general sense, but doesn’t distinguish between theories that are and aren’t testable by experiment.

Author B illustrates how Newton’s theory of gravity was tested by direct observations rather than by experiment, but that doesn’t suggest the theory itself isn’t testable by experiment. So author B doesn’t illustrate (E).

PrepTest 144 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 21

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