Self-paced
Tom: Employers complain that people graduating from high school too often lack the vocational skills required for full-time employment. ██████████ █████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ███████ ████ ██████ ████████ ██ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████
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Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
Tom points out that employers have been complaining about high school graduates lacking the vocational skills they need for full-time employment. Based on the premise that these vocational skills are best acquired on the job, Tom suggests that requiring high school students to work part-time jobs will be a way for them to gain these vocational skills. Mary responds by pointing out a problem: there are already too few part-time jobs available for students, and a requirement to work will not create more jobs.
Describe Method of Reasoning
It's important to see that Mary doesn't necessarily disagree with some of Tom's basic ideas: the idea that high school graduates often lack vocational skills, or Tom's premise that such skills are best acquired on the job. Her argument is aimed at Tom's conclusion, his suggestion that requiring students to work part-time jobs will help them acquire these skills. Mary counters this point by exposing an assumption in Tom’s argument: that part-time jobs exist for students required to work them. By pointing out that there are already too few part-time jobs and that jobs will not be created by simply requiring students to work, Mary implies that creating this requirement for high school students won't actually solve the problem of their lack of vocational skills, as Tom suggests it will.
25.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ █████████
a
It analyzes an ███████████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ███████████
Inaccurate. Mary doesn't say anything about what would happen if schools tried to enforce this requirement. She just says why the requirement would be impossible to enforce: there aren't enough jobs to begin with. To infer from this that there would necessarily be undesirable consequences if schools tried to enforce the requirement anyway would be to make assumptions going beyond the stimulus. Maybe the requirement would just exist on paper and be impossible to follow, without creating any undesirable consequences for students or the job market.
b
It argues that ███ ███ ████████ ██ ███████████ █████ ███ ██ █████████ ████
While Tom does seem to think the trend of high school graduates lacking vocational skills is avoidable — after all, he suggests a solution to the problem — Mary's response isn't about whether the trend is avoidable or unavoidable. She just points out a problem with Tom's proposed solution.
c
It provides information ████ ██ ████████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ █████████
Mary doesn't disagree with any of Tom's stated premises: the fact that employers are complaining, or that vocational skills are best acquired on the job. Her response targets an unstated assumption behind Tom's main point.
d
It presents a █████████████ ████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ █████ ████████ ████████
This is correct. Tom claims that requiring high school students to work part-time jobs will help solve the problem of high school graduates lacking vocational skills. This assumes that jobs are available for these students. Mary undercuts this assumption by pointing out that there aren't even enough jobs available for the students who already want to work, let alone for all the students who will be required to work in Tom's proposed scenario. So instituting this requirement won't actually help solve the problem.
e
It defends an ███████████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████
Mary does not propose an alternative solution to the problem. Her argument is limited to addressing Tom’s proposed solution.