PT157.S2.Q17

SECTION 1 · rc

PASSAGE 1
Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5

PASSAGE 2
Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12

PASSAGE 3
Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19

PASSAGE 4
Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26 Question 27

SECTION 2 · lr

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25

SECTION 3 · lr

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25

SECTION 4 · rc

PASSAGE 1
Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7

PASSAGE 2
Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14

PASSAGE 3
Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22

PASSAGE 4
Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26 Question 27

PrepTest 157 - Section 2 - Question 17

Question

Explanation

Analytics

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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.

Analysis by MichaelWright

Show answer

17.

Which one of the following █████████ ████████ ██████ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████

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.

Establishing an in-house █████ ████ ███████ ███████ █████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████████ ████ ████████████ ██ ██ ████ ███████ ████████ █████████████ ████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ████████ █████ █████

(B) is wrong because of the word enables, which makes its premise causal instead of correlative.

Quitting smoking will █████ ████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████ ████ ████ █████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███████

(C) is wrong because of the words lower and decrease, both of which make its premise causal instead of correlative.

People with larger-than-average ███████ ██ ██████ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ████ █ ███████████████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ███████

(D) is wrong because of the phrase find it helpful, which makes its premise causal instead of correlative.

In deciding who ████ ████ █████ █████████████ ██████ ██████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ █████████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██ ███ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ██████████████ ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ █████

(E) is wrong because of the phrase target people, which makes its premise causal instead of correlative.

Difficulty

Question

88% of people who answer get this correct

This is a slightly challenging question.

CURVE

Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right

25% 127

138

75% 148

Analysis

Question Stem Tags

Parallel flawed method of reasoning

Stems that tell us the stimulus will exhibit flawed reasoning, then ask us to identify the answer choice that preserves that flaw.

Stimulus Tags

Causal reasoning

Stimuli that feature the logic of causation (e.g. phenomenon-hypothesis, causal chain, experiments).

Phenomenon-hypothesis (LR)

Stimuli that describe a state of affairs (phenomenon), then offer a conclusion as to what has caused that state of affairs (hypothesis). A sub-type of causal reasoning.

Answer Popularity

Popularity Avg. score

88%

162

153

151

152

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