PT153.S2.Q25

PrepTest 153 - Section 2 - Question 25

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Support Katelin says that we will be hit by a major snowstorm tomorrow. ██ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ██ ████ █████████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ██ ███ ███ ██ █ █████ ██████████

The Big Brain Approach

If you’re well versed in the curriculum and you’re tracking the dynamics that matter most, you can dispense with this question entirely during your shallow dip – I’m talking a minute or less.

Every wrong answer fails because it introduces one or more type of claim that the stimulus does not. All these claim-types are common and fundamental enough that you should aspire to flag them right away when they suddenly appear in the answer choices:

There are no might/possibly claims in the stimulus – (A) and (D)
There are no most claims in the stimulus – (C) and (D)
There’s no causal language in the stimulus – (E)
There are no knowledge claims in the stimulus – (A) and (E)

If you’ve done your homework, your experience of this question should run as follows:

1: Recognize “facts vs. beliefs” as the stimulus’ flaw (for more on that, see the explanation below).
2: Eliminate (A), (C), (D), and (E) for the reasons stated above during your shallow dip.
3: Confirm that (B) matches, then pick it and move on.
Facts vs. Beliefs In The Stimulus

Here’s how the facts vs. beliefs vs. knowledge distinction appears in the stimulus:

Premise 1: Katelin believes a snowstorm is coming.
Premise 2: It is a true fact in the world that the car show will be canceled if the snowstorm hits.

For Katelin to make the connection that the car show will be canceled, she must be aware of the fact in Premise 2. But people aren’t always aware of everything – it’s a big leap to assume that just because some fact is true in the world, it must also exist as a belief in some particular person’s head. So that’s this argument’s flaw – the belief claim in its conclusion isn’t supported by Premise 2’s fact claim:

Conclusion: Katelin (probably) believes the car show will be canceled.
Show answer
25.

The questionable pattern of reasoning ██ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ████████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████

a

Jorge says that █████ ███████ █████████ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ ██████ ████████ █████ ██ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ████ ██████ █████ ██ ██ ██████ █████ ████ █████████ █████ ███ ██ ███████ ██ ████

b

Bo says that ███ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███ █████ █████████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ████████ ██ ████████ ████████ ████ █████████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ █████████

c

Wanda says that ██ ████ ██ ████████ █████ ██ ████ ██████████ █████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ █████ ████████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ██████████

d

My chemistry professor ████ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██ █████████ █████████ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ██████

e

Dr. Bowder says ████ ██████ ██████ █████████ █████ ██████████ ███ █████ ███ █████ ████ ████████ ████████ █████ ███████████ █████████ █████ ██████████ ███ ██████ ████████ ████████ ████ ██████ ██████ █████████ █████ ████████████

Confirm action

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