PT140.S2.Q11 > Analytics

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

SECTION 3 · lr

SECTION 4 · rc

PASSAGE 1

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6

PASSAGE 2

Question 7 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

PASSAGE 4

Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26 Question 27

The class concludes that the colder the storage conditions for these fruits, the longer they will stay fresh. They support this with an experiment in which similar fruits were stored at 30, 20, and 10 degrees in similar conditions. The fruits at 20 degrees lasted longer than those at 30 degrees, and the ones at 10 degrees stayed fresh the longest.

The class’s reasoning is flawed because they draw a broad conclusion based on a small range of temperatures (10-30 degrees). They assume that colder storage always keeps the fruits fresh for longer, ignoring the possibility that there could be temperatures that are too cold. In other words, just because the fruits lasted longer at 10 degrees than at 30 doesn’t mean they’ll last longer at 0 degrees.

This is the cookie-cutter flaw of hasty generalization. The class doesn't make a generalization about fruits that they did not test. Instead, they draw a conclusion about “these varieties of fruits,” meaning the fruits that they did test.

The class doesn’t mention other factors, but it doesn’t need to because the experiment controlled for them. By keeping the other conditions similar for each selection of fruits, the class tested the effect of temperature.

The experiment showed that within the narrow range of 10-30 degrees, colder storage keeps the fruits fresh longer. They then apply this to all temperatures, assuming that colder storage always works, without considering that some temperatures might be too cold.

The class never mentions a thermometer at all. Even if they did, we have no reason to believe that the thermometer might be unreliable. The flaw in the class’s argument has to do with how they apply their experiment’s findings, not with their thermometer.

The class concludes that colder storage helps the fruits last longer; they don't need to explain why. Even if they did explain why, this wouldn’t fix the fact that they apply their results too broadly.

Question

88% of people who answer get this correct

This is a moderately difficult question.

CURVE

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

25% 138

146

75% 154

Question Stem Tags

Flaw or descriptive weakening

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Popularity Avg. score

154

157

88%

165

152

153

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PrepTest 140 - Section 2 - Question 11

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