PT144.S2.Q16 > Question

SECTION 1 · 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

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

SECTION 4 · lr

In a survey asking which party they want in the legislature, 40% said C, 20% said M, and 40% said L.

The author concludes that if the survey results are reliable, then most citizens would like to see a legislature that is roughly 40% C, 20% M, and 40% L.

The survey asked which party respondents would like to see in the legislature. It didn’t ask what % of the legislature should belong to each party. The author interprets the proportions that said they wanted to see a particular party in the legislature as relevant to the distribution of each party in the legislature.

Another framing of the flaw is that the author mistakenly thinks the overall breakdown of preferences for Conservative, Moderate, and Liberal legislatures is something that applies to most citizens’ individual preferences for the makeup of the legislature.

The conclusion isn’t about what “should” be the case. The conclusion is simply a statement about the preferences of most citizens.

(B) describes circular reasoning. The conclusion is not a restatement of the premise, because the premise is a statement describing the results of a survey. The conclusion is not a description of the results of a survey.

The 40/20/40 preference in the survey is the preference of the group of survey participants. But the author mistakenly thinks this 40/20/40 preference applies to individual participants in the survey.

The conclusion starts with “if the survey results are reliable” — this means the conclusion doesn’t assume the results are reliable. It makes a statement about what would be the case IF the results are reliable.

The conclusion uses the word “roughly” when describing the 40/20/40 breakdown. So the argument doesn’ draw a “precisely quantified” conclusion. A statement of “rough” numbers is not precise.

PrepTest 144 - Section 2 - Question 16

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