Clarification of "strengthen the argument"

willpjen

Hi all,

I recently answered a question (PrepTest 112 - Section 3 - Question 26) during a drill that confused me. In short, there was an argument about a fifth force (as opposed to the traditional four) existing within scientific models of the universe. My confusion results from the question's phrasing: "which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument that there is a 5th force?"

I found this phrasing confusing, as it is not clear to me which argument it is referring to. Is this asking for the answer choice which most strengthens the idea that there is a fifth force? Or, more specifically, is the question asking to identify the answer choice which most strengthens the argument provided in the stimulus which concludes there is a fifth force?

These two possible arguments referred to by the question are quite similar. They have identical inclusions, and one includes the other. And, through process of elimination, I arrived at the correct answer. But I am concerned about questions of this nature appearing again. How do you interpret this? Is it clear to you?

All opinions are invited and appreciated!

Thank you

natemanwell1

There are not two arguments in the question. In fact there is not even an argument that there is a fifth force in the question. We only know that there is a piece of evidence which supports a fifth force, the conclusion is that there is evidence that supports a fifth force, not that there is a fifth force. So the question is directing you to strengthen an argument that does not exist in the question. When doing a strengthen question there is a general technique and a specific technique. The general technique is to [close the gap from both ends most on net, or from the weaker end of the gap if possible]. The specific technique, in order from best option to worst option, is to [find a sufficient condition, remove an alternative explanation, remove an obstacle, state that an expected correlation holds, state that there is a necessary condition]. The final step is to identify what answer type the incorrect answers are. A says that the the best possible equipment was not available before the 1970s, but the question describes an experiment in 1986, meaning that there were 6 years when this equipment was available, and also there is no evidence in the argument that such equipment would need to be extremely sophisticated for the experiment, so there is no implication we can draw from this answer choice with respect to the question. B states that there was a previously established scientific result, the prediction of a larger amount of gravity, so this answer choice disagrees with the argument, and scientific results may be overturned. C says some scientists disagree, but we have no idea why they disagree. D says there was no degree of precision, so a small force could easily have been incorrectly measured, weakening the argument. E is totally irrelevant to the question. B fits the type of removing an obstacle (an opposing scientific result), however, to be truly correct, this question would need to read "no OTHER established result," or at least clarify what it means by "established."