Self-study
Conclusion The rise of book megastores in the 1990s increased sales of best-sellers, but decreased sales of less commercial, more literary books. ██ █████ ████████████ █████████ ██████ █████████ ███ █████ █ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██████ █████████ ████ ███████████ ██████ ███ █████ █████ ███████ █████████ ██ ████████████ ███████████ █████ ███████████ █████ ██ █████ ███████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that the rise of book megastores in the 1990s increased sales of bestsellers while decreasing sales of less well-selling, literary books. This is because the share of sales of bestselling hardcover books nearly doubled between 1986 and 1996, and mega bookstores heavily discounted best-sellers, which discouraged the sale of other hardcover books.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the decline in sales of less commercial, more literary hardcover books equates to a decrease in the total number of these books being sold instead of another cause (like a shift from hardcover to paperback). If this were true, the sales of hardcover noncommercial books could decrease, but the total number of less commercial books could increase or stay the same if more paperback versions were sold.
25.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████ ███ █████████
a
Bookstore customers are ████ ██████ ██ ████████ █ ████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ██ █ ███████████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ████
If anything, this supports the argument by reinforcing the idea that best-sellers dominated sales over less commercial books. It does not weaken the claim that megastores caused the decline of less commercial books.
Failed alternate explanation
Failed alternate explanation
Weaken Qs: Answers that try to introduce an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to explain a different phenomenon.
Strengthen Qs: Answers that try to eliminate an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to eliminate an explanation for a different phenomenon.
b
In the 1990s, █████████ ██████████ ████ ████████ █████████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ███████ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ████████████
This does not weaken the argument because it does not address the cause of the decline in commercial book sales. If anything, it gives more credence to the claim that customers were more attracted to books written by bestsellers.
Failed alternate explanation
Failed alternate explanation
Weaken Qs: Answers that try to introduce an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to explain a different phenomenon.
Strengthen Qs: Answers that try to eliminate an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to eliminate an explanation for a different phenomenon.
c
In the 1990s, ████ ███████████ ████ ████████ █████ ████████████ ███ █████ ███████ ███████████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██████ ████ ████████ █████████
This undermines one of the author’s key assumptions. If non-commercial books were increasingly printed in paperback, then the decrease in sales of hardcover books could be attributed to a change in format rather than the discounts offered by megastores.
Alternate explanation
Alternate explanation
Weaken: Introduce or support an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
Strengthen: Helps to eliminate an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
d
By 1996, there ████ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ██ █████
This has nothing to do with the reasoning of the argument. It does address the reasoning for how megastores caused the decline in non-commercial book sales.
Failed alternate explanation
Failed alternate explanation
Weaken Qs: Answers that try to introduce an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to explain a different phenomenon.
Strengthen Qs: Answers that try to eliminate an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to eliminate an explanation for a different phenomenon.
e
Books that are ███ ████████ ██ ██ ████████████ ███ ████████ ████ █████ ██ ███████████ ██████████ ████ ██ ████ ███████████
This supports the argument because it highlights how megastores prioritize best sellers, which leads to a decrease in sales of noncommercial more literary books.
Failed alternate explanation
Failed alternate explanation
Weaken Qs: Answers that try to introduce an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to explain a different phenomenon.
Strengthen Qs: Answers that try to eliminate an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to eliminate an explanation for a different phenomenon.