PT5.S3.Q23 - There are about 75 brands of microwave popcorn

Comments

• Prudenter Discere Alum Member

  June 2018 234 karma

  I think I figured it out, can someone confirm it, basically, since 75 brands of popcorn account for more than half of sales account, then we can substitute microwave products of that take 3 min less with the 75 brands of popcorn.

  Could someone help me understand the logical reasoning property attached to this question.
• keets993 Alum Member ⭐ ⏰ 🍌

  June 2018 6050 karma

  Hi there,

  You're absolutely correct. We know that microwave popcorn accounts for a little more than half of the money from sales of microwave food products. We also know that microwave popcorn takes three minutes to pop. Therefore, we can conclude that more money is spent on microwave food that takes 3 minutes or less (popcorn) than on microwave food products that take longer to cook. How can we support this? Well microwave popcorn takes 3 minutes or less to cook AND it accounts for more than half of sales of microwave food. This is a classic case of substitution: they took a specific fact about something (microwave popcorn & sales) and substituted it with another descriptor for that term, taking 3 minutes to cook.
• Prudenter Discere Alum Member

  June 2018 234 karma

  Hi #keets993, thank you for the clarity of your explanation. I've seen this pattern for two other questions. Is this a type of case that I should be on the lookout for. Just asking. Thanks in advance, and these questions seem to be very subtle because you have to make an implicit assumption. Secondly, how do you avoid all the distractors in the stimulus that makes you focus on the relationship between the fact sets? Third a more general question, does a wrong MBT answer choice just not have the logical equivalence? More simply asked what is the relationship between a wrong answer choice and the fact set? Is it even appropriate for me to ask the question?
• keets993 Alum Member ⭐ ⏰ 🍌

  June 2018 6050 karma

  First, I guess this pattern is something to be on the lookout for/aware of but at the same time, especially since this test is so repetitive. At the same time, the other four answer choices are so incredibly wrong.

  Second, there isn't really a way to avoid the 'distractors,' because you won't know what's not relevant until you get to the answer choices. I was focusing on the relationship between the volume and the paying more for convenience but that wasn't even discussed. You just have to be confident in eliminating the answer choices you know aren't supported and then go back and reread the stimulus when you feel paralyzed. With more difficult questions, there are usually two or three gaps to exploit. The most obvious won't be an option, so that's when you eliminate what you know to be incorrect and reconvene your strategy.

  Third, the relationship between the stimulus and wrong answer choices is that the wrong answer choice won't be supported. It could be true but it's not a must be true. You can't bring any outside knowledge or any thing else that's not in the stimulus. It's definetly a good question to ask because it's not just about getting a question right. Your reasoning is what needs to be solid, you can have questions wrong here or there but your reasoning for why the four AC's are wrong and why the correct one is correct is what will help your confidence and timing. You have to ask yourself "based on what I just read, is this true 100% of the time?" Is it a must be true? The standard for must be true is really high. There can't be any room for doubt.