Self-study
Support Damming the Merv River would provide irrigation for the dry land in its upstream areas; unfortunately, Support a dam would reduce agricultural productivity in the fertile land downstream Support by reducing the availability and quality of the water there. ███ ████████████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ████████████ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ █ ███ █████ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ████████████ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █ ██████
Method of Reasoning
The argument considers a possible course of action (damming the river) and weighs the net effect of how that action would affect a certain objective (agricultural productivity). Because the losses would be greater than the gains, the argument concludes that taking the action would provide no net gain for that objective.
22.
The reasoning in the argument █████ ████ ███████ █████████ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
Disease-causing bacteria in ████ ███ ██ █████████ ██ ███████████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ██████ ████████ ██ ██ ██ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ███ ██ ██ ███
Mismatched premises and conclusion. The stimulus balances different quantities of the same characteristic (agricultural productivity) in different areas; (A) balances the importance of two different characteristics (health and taste).
The conclusion of the stimulus specifically discusses the net impact of an action (building a dam) on a quantity (agricultural productivity), while the conclusion of (A) is about what is “better” to do.
b
Increasing the price ██ █████████████ █████████ █████ ████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ███████████ ████ ██████ █████ ███ █████ ████ █████████████ █████████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███████████ ███ ██ ███████ ████████████ █ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ █████████ ███████ ████████
Mismatched premises. The stimulus says that building the dam would increase agricultural productivity in one area but reduce it in another area; (B) says that increasing the price of calls will discourage private callers, but it does not say how increasing the price will impact the amount of calls made by businesses. Thus, we don’t know the net effect of the price change on company profits.
c
A new highway ████ █████ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ███ ███████ ███████ █████████ ██████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██████████ ███████ █████████ █████
The argument considers a possible course of action (building a new highway) and weighs the net effect of how that action would affect a certain objective (reducing commuting time for suburban commuters). Because the losses would be greater than the gains, the argument concludes that taking the action would provide no net gain for that objective.
d
Doctors can prescribe ███████████ ███ ████ █████ ██████████ ███ ███████████ ███ ██████████ ███ █████ █████████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██████████ ██ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███ █ ██████ ███ █████ ██████████
Mismatched premises and conclusion. The stimulus balances different quantities of the same characteristic (agricultural productivity) in different areas; (D) sets out to give a recommendation between two treatment options (antibiotics and rest).
The conclusion of the stimulus specifically discusses the net impact of an action (building a dam) on a quantity (agricultural productivity), while the conclusion of (D) is about what is “better” to do.
e
A certain chemical ████ ████ ██████ █████ ████ ██████ █████████ ███ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███████ █████ ██████ ████ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████████ ███ ██████
Mismatched conclusion. (E) makes a conclusion about which type of garden will benefit from the use of a certain type of chemical, while the stimulus makes a conclusion about the net effect of an action (building a dam) on a quantity (agricultural productivity).