PT132.S2.Q8

SECTION 1 · 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

PASSAGE 3
Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21

PASSAGE 4
Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26 Question 27

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 · rc

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

PASSAGE 2
Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13

PASSAGE 3
Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20

PASSAGE 4
Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26 Question 27 Question 28

SECTION 4 · 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

PrepTest 132 - Section 2 - Question 8

Question

Explanation

Analytics

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A leading critic of space exploration contends that it would be wrong, given current technology, to send a group of explorers to Mars, since the explorers would be unlikely to survive the trip. ███ ████ ███████████ ███ █████ █████ █████ ██ █ ███████████████ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ███████████ ████████ █ █████ ███████████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██ ████ █ ██████ ██████ ██ ██ ██████

Summarize Argument: Counter-Position

The author concludes that explorers to Mars would not be unlikely to survive the trip to Mars. This is based on the fact that there would be a well-engineered backup system at every stage of the trip. In addition, at each stage of the trip, a fatal accident is unlikely if the backup system is in place.

Identify and Describe Flaw

The author overlooks the possibility that the risk of a fatal accident for the trip overall is greater than 50%, even if the risk at each individual stage is less than 50%. In other words, the author overlooks the possibility that what is true about the part (having a less than 50% chance of accident) might not be true about the overall whole.

Analysis by Kevin_Lin

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

infers that something ██ ████ ██ █ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████

The argument infers that something is true of a whole (the trip will involve less than 50% chance of death) merely from the fact that it is true of each of the parts (each stage involves less than 50% chance of death).

infers that something ██████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ █████

The conclusion is not that a fatal accident “cannot” occur. The conclusion is simply that it is unlikely to happen during a trip to Mars. Also, the premises do not establish that a fatal accident is unlikely to occur. That is the author’s flawed assumption based on the premises.

draws a conclusion █████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ██ ████████ █████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ ████

The conclusion is simply that a fatal accident is unlikely to happen. Also, the premises do not establish that a fatal accident probably won’t happen on the trip. That is the flawed assumption based on the premises about each stage.

infers that something ████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ ████

The author does not infer that anything “will” (as in, with 100% certainty) work. The conclusion is simply that a fatal accident is unlikely during the trip.

rejects a view ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██

The author does reject the view that people are unlikely to survive the trip, but not because of an inadequate argument in support of the view. The author’s premises involve the chance of death at each stage of the trip. This isn’t related to the weakness of an opposing argument.

Difficulty

Question

51% 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% 154

163

75% 172

Analysis

Question Stem Tags

Flaw or descriptive weakening

Stems that ask us to articulate a flaw in the stimulus' argument, either in abstract terms or by pointing out a weakness.

Stimulus Tags

Part v. whole

Stimuli that assume characteristics that apply to something as a whole must also apply to all its parts, or vice versa.

Answer Popularity

Popularity Avg. score

51%

167

19%

157

158

20%

160

161

Question history

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