Self-study
Conclusion Gyms and fitness centers are sometimes good places to buy used exercise machines. ████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████ ███████ █████████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ████████ █████ ████████ ████████ ████ █████████ ████ ████████████ ████ ████ ███ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ████████ ████████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ███████████
Summary
The author concludes that gyms and fitness centers are sometimes good places to buy used exercise machines.
Why?
Because when these places decide to upgrade their machines, they often sell their old machines at reasonable prices.
In addition, these machines are generally built better than machines designed for the home, and are likely to have been well maintained.
Notable Assumptions
The argument sounds pretty persuasive. Technically the characterization of gyms and fitness centers as sometimes a “good” place to buy used exercise machines is new, because it’s not explicitly mentioned in the premises. So the correct answer might be about connecting the premises to this concept. For example, this is a principle that would help the argument:
If a place sells used exercise machines that are built better than those for home use, at reasonable prices, and those machines are likely to have been well-maintained, then that place is a good place to buy used exercise machines.
11.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
a
Any good source ██ ████ ████████ ████████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ███████████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███████
This reverses a principle that could strengthen. (A) tells us that IF a place is a good source of used exercise machines, then it will offer some well-maintained machines at reasonable prices. But we’re trying to prove that a place is a good source of machines; we’re not trying to prove what else must be true IF we start off knowing that a place is a good source of machines.
b
The best kind ██ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██ █ ███████████████ ███████ ████████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ █ ██████████ ██████
(B) tells us that the best kind of used exercise machine is one designed for home use. This doesn’t help us prove that gyms and fitness centers, which use machines that aren’t designed for home, are a good place to buy used machines.
c
Any place where ███ ███ ███ ████████████████ ████ ████████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ██ █ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ █████████
Helps build a bridge from the premises to the conclusion. We know gyms and fitness centers are places you can get well-maintained, used exercise machines at reasonable prices. (C), then, allows us to conclude that those places are a good place to buy used exercise machines.
d
No place that █████ ████ ████████ ████████ ████████ ███ ████ ███ ██ █ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ █████████
(D) allows us to conclude that certain places are NOT good places to buy used exercise machines. But we’re trying to prove that gyms and fitness centers ARE good places to buy used exercise machines.
e
No good source ██ ████ ████████ ████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ ███████
(E) tells us that if a place is a good source of used exercised machines, then it won’t sell poorly maintained exercise machines at high prices. But this doesn’t help us prove that a place IS a good place to buy used exercise machines. We want “good source of used exercise machines” to appear on the right side of an “if, then” rule.