PrepTest 143 - Section 4 - Question 24 | Explanation & Discussion

Support One is likely to feel comfortable approaching a stranger if the stranger is of one's approximate age. ██████████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████████ ███ ██ ████ █████ █████ ████ █████████ ███████████ █████ ███████ ███████ ████ ███████████ ███████████ █ █████████

Argument Summary

The author tries to connect these two ideas: most long-term friendships started with comfort approaching a stranger, and being the same age is one thing that creates that comfort. So the author concludes that long-term friends are probably the same approximate age.

One Way to Comfort ≠ The Only Way

The first premise tells us that being the same approximate age is one reason you'll likely feel comfortable approaching a stranger. It doesn't tell us it's the only reason. Maybe you'd also feel comfortable approaching a stranger who's wearing your favorite band's t-shirt, or who's also studying for the LSAT, or who just looks friendly. The argument never rules out these other paths to comfort.

Here's a visual showing what the author fails to consider:

The red dashed boxes represent other possible reasons for feeling comfortable that the author ignores.

If these other paths to comfort exist, then knowing that a friendship started with comfort doesn't tell us the comfort came from being the same age.

Analysis by Kevin_Lin

24.

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

presumes, without warrant, ████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ████ █████████████ ███████████ █ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █ ████████

The argument's flaw is about what causes comfort when approaching strangers specifically. (A) raises a different issue: whether you'd feel uncomfortable approaching someone only if that person is a stranger. That's about the stranger/non-stranger distinction, not about what makes you comfortable with a stranger in particular. The argument never assumes anything about how you'd feel approaching non-strangers, so this isn't a flaw it commits.

infers that a ██████████████ ██ ███████ ██ █ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██████████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ ██████████

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

Like (A), this focuses on the stranger/non-stranger distinction. (C) is about whether you're less comfortable approaching a same-age person who's a stranger versus a same-age person who isn't a stranger. But the argument doesn't assume anything about how comfort levels compare between strangers and non-strangers. The flaw is about what leads to comfort when approaching strangers, not about whether stranger status itself affects comfort.

presumes, without warrant, ████ ███ █████ ██████████ █ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████████ █████ ██

(D) doesn't matter here, because the second premise already narrows our focus. We're told that most long-term friendships begin because someone felt comfortable approaching a stranger. So even if people sometimes approach strangers while uncomfortable, the long-term friendships we care about are specifically the ones that started with comfort.

fails to address ███████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███████████ ███████████ █ ████████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ███████████ ███

This accurately describes what the author overlooks. The argument tells us that being the same approximate age makes you likely to feel comfortable approaching a stranger. But it never addresses whether you'd also feel comfortable approaching a stranger who isn't your approximate age. If you would, then "felt comfortable approaching a stranger" doesn't reliably indicate "same approximate age." Those long-term friendships might involve differently-aged people who shared the same hobby or who met at work, etc., because there could be other paths toward feeling comfortable approaching a stranger besides being of the same age.

PrepTest 143 - Section 4 - Question 24

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