Self-study
Commentator: Support For a free market to function properly, each prospective buyer of an item must be able to contact a large number of independent prospective sellers and compare the prices charged for the item to what the item is worth. █████ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████████ █████████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████████ ███ ████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████████ █ ████████ ███████████ ████ ███████
Summary
The author concludes that the auto repair industry does not constitute a properly functioning free market. This is based on the following statement, which describes a requirement for being a properly functioning free market:
In order for a free market to function properly, each potential buyer of an item must be able to contact a large number of independent sellers, and compare the prices those sellers charge for the item to what the item is worth.
Missing Connection
The premise establishes a requirement for being a properly functioning free market. So if the author concludes that a certain market is not a properly functioning free market, we know the author is trying to trigger the contrapositive of the premise. In other words, the author’s assuming that market doesn’t meet the requirement. That’s how we can tell we’re looking for an answer that establishes the auto repair industry is not one in which each potential buyer can contact a larger number of independent sellers and compare the prices charged to what the item is worth.
26.
The conclusion of the commentator's ████████ ███████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████████
a
People do not ███████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ ████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ███████ ██████ ████ ███ ██ ██████
Although (A) establishes that people usually don’t actually compare prices, this doesn’t establish that people don’t have the ABILITY to compare prices charged to what the repairs are worth. They might be ABLE to, even if they tend not to.
b
Some persons who ███ ████████ ███ ████ ███████ ██████ █████████ ████ █████ ███████ ███ ██████
(B) establishes that the auto repair industry does not meet what’s required to be a properly functioning free market. If some people can’t determine what the repairs are worth, then they can’t compare prices to what the repairs are worth. So it’s not true that “each” potential buyer can compare prices to what the repairs are worth.
c
Not all auto ██████ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ██████████
(C) establishes that some auto repair shops don’t give written estimates. This doesn’t establish that buyers can’t compare the prices charged to what the repairs are worth. Maybe people get verbal price estimates in person or over the phone. Or maybe they can still get price estimates from a large number of sellers, even if it’s not all sellers.
d
Many auto repair █████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ███████ ███ ██████
We care about whether people can compare prices charged to what the repairs are worth. Whether the prices are higher or lower than the repairs’ worth is a separate, irrelevant issue.
e
Because it is ███ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ████████████ ███████
(E) doesn’t establish that people can’t compare prices charged to what the repairs are worth. Even if repairs don’t have a standardized price, the repairs can still have a worth to the potential buyer. The potential buyer can still compare prices charged to that worth.