Self-study
Support The average tax refund received by taxpayers who use tax preparation services is about 50 percent higher than the average refund received by those who do not. ██ ██ ███ ████ █ █████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ █ ███ ███████████ ████████
Common Flaw: Correlation =/= Causation
In practice, this question tests your ability to recognize when an argument improperly draws a causal conclusion from correlative premises. If you missed this question, or even if it took you a while to answer correctly, the main lesson you should take away is to review the unit on causal reasoning.
This stimulus’ causal reasoning lies within the claim “if you want a large refund, you should use a tax prep service.” This suggestion implies that using a tax prep service will contribute meaningfully to the goal of securing a large refund.
Once you’ve identified correlation / causation as the flaw, addressing the answer choices is straightforward. As it happens, every wrong answer is wrong because it features a causal premise.
17.
Which one of the following █████████ ████████ ██████ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
a
People who invest ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ █████████ ████ ██████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ █ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ███████
(A) mirrors the stimulus in drawing a causal conclusion from a correlative premise: these two things are correlated, so if you want one, you should do the other.
b
Establishing an in-house █████ ████ ███████ ███████ █████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████████ ████ ████████████ ██ ██ ████ ███████ ████████ █████████████ ████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ████████ █████ █████
(B) is wrong because of the word enables, which makes its premise causal instead of correlative.
c
Quitting smoking will █████ ████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████ ████ ████ █████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███████
(C) is wrong because of the words lower and decrease, both of which make its premise causal instead of correlative.
d
People with larger-than-average ███████ ██ ██████ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ████ █ ███████████████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ███████
(D) is wrong because of the phrase find it helpful, which makes its premise causal instead of correlative.
e
In deciding who ████ ████ █████ █████████████ ██████ ██████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ █████████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ██████████████ ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ █████
(E) is wrong because of the phrase target people, which makes its premise causal instead of correlative.