PT127.S2.Q1

PrepTest 127 - Section 2 - Question 1

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This region's swimmers generally swim during the day because they are too afraid of sharks to swim after dark but feel safe swimming during daylight hours. ███ ███ ██████ █████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ███ ████

Summarize Argument

The author concludes that it is not more dangerous to swim at night than during the day in the region, even though swimmers generally swim during the day because of a fear of sharks. As support, the author says that all recent shark attacks on swimmers were during the day.

Identify and Describe Flaw

This is a percentages v. amounts flaw. While the number of shark attacks during the day is much higher than at night, we know that more people swim during the day. We can’t conclude that it’s not more dangerous to swim at night because we don’t know the rate of attacks during the day vs. at night.

As an example, if there are 50 attacks during the day and 2 attacks at night, but 10,000 people swim during the day and 10 people swim at night, it’s much more dangerous to swim at night, even though the number of night attacks is fewer.

Show answer
1.

The reasoning in the argument ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██

a

overlooks the possibility ████ ████ ██████ ███ █████████ █████████ ███████

b

bases its conclusion ██ ████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████

c

overlooks the possibility ████ ████████ █████ ████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████████████ ██ ███ ████

d

presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ █████████████ █████ █████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ██████ ███ ████████

e

fails to take ████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ █████ █████ ████████ ████████████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ██ █████

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