Self-study
Brownlea’s post office must be replaced with a larger one. ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████ █████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ █ ████ ██ █ ███████████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████████████ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ███████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████
Argument Summary
The stimulus starts by giving us some context: Brownlea needs to replace its post office, and can't expand the old one. We're then told that land where the post office is currently located, in the center of Brownlea, is more expensive than land on the outskirts of town. The argument concludes that the new post office could "clearly" be built more cheaply on the outskirts, since the cost of acquiring a site is a "significant" part of the total construction cost.
Analysis: Ways to Weaken
The argument assumes that since land is cheaper on the outskirts of Brownlea than in the town center, and the cost of acquiring a site is a "significant" part of the total building cost, the total construction cost will therefore be lower if the new post office is built on the outskirts of Brownlea.
First of all, this assumes that the town would have to acquire a new building site in the center of town, rather than (say) demolishing the old post office and using the same land. Second, even if the town would have to buy a new building site in both scenarios, we have no idea how large a "significant part" of the total construction cost is: land could be cheaper on the outskirts of town, but if other costs are higher than they would be in the center of town, that could ultimately cause the total construction cost to be higher than it would be in the center of town.
So good ways to weaken this argument would be to show that the cost-benefit analysis of building on the outskirts is incomplete. The argument identifies one cost savings (cheaper land), but to conclude that the outskirts option is cheaper overall, we'd need to know that no other costs offset that savings. An answer choice could do this by telling us that the town wouldn't have to pay the whole cost of a new building site in the center of town (reducing the supposed savings), or by telling us about other costs that would be higher on the outskirts than in the center (offsetting the savings entirely).
7.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ████████████ ██████ ███████████
a
The new post ██████ ████ ████ ██ ██ █████ ██ ██████████ ████ █ █████████ ███ ████████ ████████ █████
This doesn't weaken. We don't know how the new citywide building code would affect construction costs, and in any case, it would presumably apply whether the post office was built in the center of town or on the outskirts. We're looking for an answer choice that would tell us that building on the outskirts of town would not necessarily be cheaper than building in the center, and this doesn't do that.
b
If the new ████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ███████ █ ███████ ████ ███ ██ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ████
Correct. This answer choice tells us that there are additional costs associated with building on the outskirts of town that wouldn't apply to building in the town center. Even if land is cheaper on the outskirts of town, adding a parking lot to the post office would mean buying more land than would be needed in the center of town. This effectively weakens the argument that just because land is cheaper on the outskirts, and forms a significant part of the total construction cost, the total construction cost would be lower on the outskirts.
c
If the new ████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ ███████
This doesn't weaken. Expanding the city bus routes might lead to additional costs for the city overall, but it doesn't seem like doing this would affect the construction cost of the new post office.
d
If the new ████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ████ █████████ ███ ██ ████ ██████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ██████
This doesn't weaken. Like (C), this points to a potential additional cost down the line of building the new post office on the outskirts of town. But potentially having to pay mail carriers more in the future, once the post office is built, wouldn't add to the construction cost of the post office.
e
If the new ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███████████ ██ ████ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ██ █████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ██ █████████
If anything, this potentially strengthens the argument. If construction work had to be done at irregular hours, this suggests that there would be even more costs (from paying workers for overtime or weekend work, for example) associated with building in the city center than at the outskirts. So (E) certainly doesn't weaken the argument.