Merriweather: It isn’t that the school paid more for each computer than it was worth, but that the computers that were purchased were much more elaborate than they needed to be.
Speaker 1 Summary
Sanchez says that the school did not spend too much money on some new computers. How do we know? Because the computers weren’t actually as expensive as many people believe. According to Sanchez, this makes their cost reasonable.
Speaker 2 Summary
Merriweather’s implied conclusion is that the school did spend too much on computers, even though they only paid what the computers were worth. How can this be? Because the school bought fancier computers than they needed, thus ultimately still overspending.
Objective
We want to find a point of disagreement. Sanchez and Merriweather disagree about whether the school spend too much on the new computers.
A
needed sixteen new computers
Like (B), neither speaker expresses an opinion about this. Whether or not the school needed new computers in the first place is not discusses by either Sanchez or Merriweather.
B
purchased more computers than it should have
Like (A), neither Sanchez nor Merriweather talks about this. The question of how many computers the school actually needed just doesn’t come up, so we can’t say either speaker states an opinion.
C
spent more in purchasing the sixteen computers than it should have
Sanchez disagrees and Merriweather agrees, so this is the point of disagreement. Sanchez explicitly states that the school did not overspend on the computers. Merriweather explains that the computers were fancier than necessary, thus implying that the school did spend too much.
D
paid more for each computer than it was worth
Both speakers disagree with this statement, meaning they are in agreement with one another. Sanchez takes the position that the school didn’t pay too much, and even Merriweather concedes that the school paid what each computer was worth.
E
has been harshly criticized for purchasing the sixteen computers
Neither Sanchez nor Merriweather discusses whether and how much people have criticized the school for this purchase, so we cannot say that either speaker has an opinion.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why did the moose herd continue to grow while the wolves that were supposed to prey on them prospered?
Objective
The right answer will describe some aspect of the environment, the wolves’ behavior, or the moose’s behavior that caused the wolves’ introduction to have little or no negative impact on the moose population’s growth.
A
The presence of wolves in an area tends to discourage other predators from moving into the area.
This doesn’t help. Even if other predators did not move into the area after the wolves were introduced, the wolves themselves are predators, and we would expect the moose herd’s growth to have been impacted by their presence.
B
Attempts to control moose populations in other national parks by introducing predators have also been unsuccessful.
This doesn’t help. We’re looking for the reason why this particular attempt to control the moose population did not work, not other examples of failed attempts.
C
Wolves often kill moose weakened by diseases that probably would have spread to other moose.
This is what we need. If wolves often kill sick moose, they’re protecting the healthy moose from contracting illnesses which might have otherwise killed off more moose and slowed the population’s growth. Also, the diseased moose the wolves kill presumably would have died anyway.
D
Healthy moose generally consume more vegetation than do those that are diseased or injured.
This is irrelevant. We’re not looking for information about how much vegetation healthy vs. diseased or injured moose eat, and this answer choice tells us nothing about what happened when the wolves were introduced.
E
Moose that are too old to breed are just as likely to die of natural causes as of attack by wolves.
We’re not interested in moose that are too old to breed, because the factor we’re examining is population growth. Furthermore, even if older moose are just as likely to die of natural causes, wolf attacks would still presumably kill additional moose, both older and younger.