PT109.S3.Q7 > Analytics

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Support Unlike newspapers in the old days, today's newspapers and televised news programs are full of stories about murders and assaults in our city. ███ ███ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ████████ ████ ██ ██ ████ ████ ████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ ████████████

Structure: Phenomenon-Hypothesis

The author comments on a phenomenon: the fact that the news now, unlike the news in the past, is "full" of stories about murders and assaults. The first part of the author's conclusion is a causal hypothesis explaining this phenomenon: the reason for the change in the news is that "violent crime is now out of control." Beyond this, the author also concludes that "one should not leave one's home except for absolute necessities" (notice that there's no support for this highly specific claim).

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

Question Type

Weaken

The author assumes that the reason the news now reports so many stories about violent crime is that violent crime is now "out of control." But it could also be true, for example, that violent crime rates haven't increased, and the news is just more interested (for whatever reason) in reporting on such cases. An answer choice that provides an alternative explanation for the change in the news would effectively weaken the author's conclusion.

Newspapers and televised ████ ████████ ████ ████ █████████████ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████ ██████████ ███ ██ ███ ███ █████

Correct. This is similar to what we pre-phrased: if the news is just covering violent crime in more depth than in the past, it's possible rates of violent crime haven't actually increased. The media is just reporting on violent crime more often or more thoroughly.

80%

National data show ████ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ██ ███████ ███████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████████ █████

Incorrect. The idea that violent crime is out of control "everywhere," including in the author's city, strengthens — not weakens — the author's conclusion about his own city.

Police records show ████ ██████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ █████ ███ █████████████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ██████████████

Incorrect. This fact doesn't tell us whether violent crime itself has increased or is "out of control," and whether such an increase is driving the change in the news cycle. So (C) neither strengthens nor weakens the author's conclusion.

Murder comprised a ██████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████ ██████

Incorrect. (D) tells us more about specific types of violent crime, but the author's conclusion is about violent crime in general. So (D) neither strengthens nor weakens the author's conclusion.

News magazines play █ ████ █████████ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ███ █████

Incorrect. The author never mentions news magazines, only newspapers and TV news programs. Even if you assume that the argument is about news media in general, including news magazines, knowing that news magazines somehow play a "more important" role in informing the public about crime doesn't weaken the idea that violent crime rates have increased, and this increase is causing the media to report violent crime stories more frequently.

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PrepTest 109 - Section 3 - Question 7

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PrepTest 109 - Section 3 - Question 7

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