PT131.S3.Q23

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

SECTION 2 · 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 3 · 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

SECTION 4 · rc

PASSAGE 1
Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8

PASSAGE 2
Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15

PASSAGE 3
Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22

PASSAGE 4
Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26 Question 27

PrepTest 131 - Section 3 - Question 23

Question

Explanation

Analytics

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Support To predict that a device will be invented, one must develop a conception of the device that includes some details at least about how it will function and the consequences of its use. ███ ████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███████████████████ ███ █████████ █████ ██████████ █ ████████ ███████████ ███ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ██████

Summarize Argument

Predicting an invention is self-contradictory. Why? Because predicting an invention entails developing a detailed conception of how that invention will function. But if you manage to do that, congrats, you just invented the thing. So that’s not prediction. That’s just invention. Hence, predicting an invention is impossible.

Describe Method of Reasoning

Author argues that something (predicting an invention) is impossible because a necessary condition of that something (developing a detailed conception of how that invention will function) rules that something out by definition (you can’t predict an invention that already exists).

Analysis by J.Y.Ping

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23.

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

constructing a counterexample ██ █ ███████ ██████████ █████ ███ ██████

Descriptively inaccurate. Author does not construct a counterexample. There is no general hypothesis about the future to disprove.

appealing to definitions ██ █████ ███ █████████████ ██ █ ████ ██ ██████████

Descriptively accurate. The author implicitly appeals to the definition of “predict” (stating that something will happen) and explicitly appeals to the definition of “invent” (developing a detailed conception) to infer that a kind of occurrence (predicting an invention) is impossible.

countering a hypothesis ██ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ ████ ██████████

Descriptively inaccurate. We’ll grant that the “hypothesis” is that “it’s possible to predict an invention.” But the author does not demonstrate that the implications of that hypothesis are false. Rather, the author demonstrates that the hypothesis is self-contradictory.

pointing out how █ ███████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████████ ███ ██ ██████ ██████████

Descriptively inaccurate. Argument does not contain any problem that is “widely thought to be scientific” nor does the author point out any problem as being actually “conceptual.”

attempting to show ████ ██████████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ███████ █████ █████

Descriptively inaccurate. Author does not attempt to show that predicting any event implies that it has in fact already taken place. That would mean prediction in general would be impossible. Author only attempts to show that predicting a specific type of event (inventions) would be impossible.

Difficulty

Question

61% of people who answer get this correct

This is a very difficult question.

CURVE

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

25% 149

160

75% 170

Analysis

Question Stem Tags

Method of reasoning or descriptive

Stems that ask us to articulate, in abstract terms, the structure of the argument in the stimulus. Learn more.

Answer Popularity

Popularity Avg. score

155

61%

166

25%

162

155

13%

159

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