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PT13.S4.Q2

SECTION 1 · 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 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 Question 26

SECTION 3 · rc

PASSAGE 1
Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8

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

PASSAGE 3
Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20

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

SECTION 4 · 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

PrepTest 13 - Section 4 - Question 2

Question

Explanation

Analytics

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The company that produces XYZ, a computer spreadsheet program, estimates that millions of illegally reproduced copies of XYZ are being used. ██ ███████ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ █████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ███████ █ ████████████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ ███ █████ █████████ █████ ████████ ██ █████████ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████████

Objective: Explain a Confusing Phenomenon

The stimulus talks about software XYZ, of which there are currently millions of pirated copies being used. If these copies had been paid for, that would have generated lots of revenue for the company which owns XYZ—a company which is also trying to boost sales. So why hasn't the company taken legal measures to prosecute all this pirating?

To explain this phenomenon, we're looking for a hypothesis consistent with all the facts. This hypothesis might tell us that the company wouldn't benefit from taking legal measures: it would be too costly, or have some other drawback. For example, it could cause reputational harm that would deter potential customers from buying XYZ. Whatever the answer, it will resolve our confusion.

Analysis by AlexandraNash

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

XYZ is very █████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ███████ █ █████████████ ███████████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ █████ ██ █████████

We already know XYZ is being pirated, so it being difficult to do so doesn't make a difference. Anti-piracy measures or no, the company is still missing out on lots of sales, and not taking action.

The legal measures ████ ███ ███████ ████ ████████ ███ █████ ████ ███████ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████ █████████ ███████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███████

(B) actually removes a barrier to legal action, making the phenomenon even more confusing. Now we know the company could take measures... so why aren't they?

Many people who ████████ █ ████████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ ███

In other words, all this piracy might be acting as a trial period that's actually necessary for sales. This explains why the company might not take action: ending piracy would cut off a potential customer base, which would be a real drawback.

The number of █████████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ██ ████

The piracy problem is bad! We knew it was bad, but (D) makes it even worse—which also makes our confusion worse. We still don't know why the company isn't addressing all this piracy.

The company that ████████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ██████ █████ ██████ ███████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ██████████

Without information on the effects of this strategy, (E) doesn't explain much. If we knew that legal action had been harmful somehow for the company that produces ABC, that could explain why the company producing XYZ isn't following suit. But without that, (E) isn't useful.

Difficulty

Question

92% 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% 129

140

75% 151

Analysis

Question Stem Tags

Resolve reconcile or explain

Stems that ask us to resolve an apparent paradox, reconcile two seemingly inconsistent facts, or explain a counterintuitive phenomenon presented in the stimulus.

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Stimulus Tags

Causal reasoning

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

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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.

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Weighing factors

Reasoning that involves considering or overlooking multiple factors pulling in different directions — whether causal forces with counteracting effects or costs and benefits of a decision — and determining how they balance out overall.

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Answer Popularity

Popularity Avg. score

158

92%

168

161

165

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