Self-study
Support Whenever an artist endowed with both a high level of artistic skill and a high degree of creativity combines these two abilities in the process of creating an artwork, the resulting product is a great work of art. █████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███ ██ █████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████ █████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ███████████ █████
Summary
Great artwork is rare. Why? Because great artwork requires a combination of two qualities during creation.
Notable Assumptions
The concept of rarity in the conclusion is not addressed in the support. We need to know that the requirement for great artwork (combination of two qualities during art creation) rarely occurs.
Note: This is a biconditional relationship. The combination of the two qualities is also sufficient for great artwork. For the sake of proper conditional logic that could be relevant in a different question, recognizing this biconditional matters. For the sake of identifying this particular assumption, recognizing the biconditional doesn’t matter.
8.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████
a
Not every artist █████████ █ ████ █████ ██ ████████ ██████
It is the combination of two elements that needs to be rare, it doesn’t matter if one element is common. Every artist could have a high skill level, and creativity can be rare enough that great artwork is rare. Or both can be common, and the application in execution is rare.
b
A high degree ██ ██████████ ███ █ ████ █████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █ ████ ██ ████
This matches our prediction. If (B) is not true, and the combination is not rarely present in creation, then the support is severed from the conclusion that great artwork is rare.
c
An artist endowed ████ █ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ █ ████ █████ ██ ████████ █████ ████ ███████████ ███████ █████ █████ ██ ████
This sounds as though it’s restating the first sentence of the argument (which, if it were, would also be an incorrect answer). But it’s actually missing the part where artists need to combine these traits while they are creating.
d
Few artists are ███████ ████ █ ████ ██████ ██ ███████████
This is a slightly stronger version of (A) that addresses creativity instead of skill. The reason that it is unnecessary is the same: It’s the combination of two elements that needs to be rare, it doesn’t matter if either individual element is common or rare.
e
Anyone endowed with ████ █ ████ █████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ █ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███████ ████ █ ███ █████ █████ ██ ████
Similar to (C), this sounds like it’s restating our first premise (again, if it were, that would also be incorrect). (C) is different than the premise because it includes all people, rather than just artists, and limits great artwork to “only a few.” None of that is necessary.