PT103.S1.Q14 > Analytics

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 Question 26

SECTION 2 · lr

SECTION 3 · lr

SECTION 4 · 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 Question 13

PASSAGE 3

Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21

PASSAGE 4

Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26 Question 27

The Biocarb Company’s president concludes that a new sterilization plant will not cause pollution. Why not? Because the medical waste treated at the plant will be sterilized by exposure to superheated steam until it is cleaner than food could ever be.

The president broadly assumes that there won’t be any potential sources of pollution from operating the plant, other than waste which has been fully sterilized. For example, there won’t be byproducts from the process of running the plant’s autoclave which could constitute pollution.

The president also assumes that the waste won’t pose a risk of pollution even after sterilization, for example if it contains plastics or heavy metals that might be harmful despite being free of pathogen contamination.

Whether or not the president’s argument holds up doesn’t depend on what the environmental activists believe, so this is not necessary.

This falls under the broad assumption that there aren’t potential pollution risks other than the fully sterilized waste. If this were negated, and the handling of unsterilized waste posed a threat of pollution, the premises about sterilization couldn’t support the conclusion.

The argument isn’t about the overall cost-benefit of the factory, just about whether it poses a pollution risk, so the presence or absence of other arguments is irrelevant.

Any beliefs that people do or don’t have about the factory wouldn’t affect the president’s argument, which is about material reality, so this is not necessary either way.

As long as the waste will reliably be sterilized, it doesn’t matter whether steam treatment is the surest method or just a very, very sure method. In other words, this isn’t necessary to assume.

Question

92% of people who answer get this correct

This is a moderately difficult question.

CURVE

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

25% 134

142

75% 150

Question Stem Tags

Necessary assumption

Popularity Avg. score

160

92%

165

153

155

153

You don't have any history with this question.. yet!

PrepTest 103 - Section 1 - Question 14

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Confirm action