PT15.S2.Q13 > Analytics

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Pedigreed dogs, including those officially classified as working dogs, must conform to standards set by organizations that issue pedigrees. █████ █████████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████████ █████████ ███ █ ███ ██ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ █ █████ ███ █████████ ███████ █████ █████ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ██████ ██████ ██████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ██████████ █████ ███ ████████ ███ ██ ████████ ████ █████ ██████ █████████ ██ ████████ ██████████████ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ████████ ████ █████ █████ ███████ ██████ ████ ███████ ███████ ████ █████ ████ █████ █████████ █████ ██████████ ████████ █████████████ ██████ ███ █████████ █████████ ███████ ███████ ██ █████████ ████ ██████████ ██ ███████ █████

Argument Breakdown

With a dense block of text like this, the first step is to carefully parse through and understand the argument. We're talking about pedigreed dogs, specifically working dogs. What about them? The standards that pedigree organizations set, which breeders must ensure their dogs meet. Here's what we learn about those standards:

(1) the standards apply to appearance, but not other characteristics like working traits that were the reason to develop the breed;
(2) breeders only focus on the traits defined by pedigree standards;
(3) traits that breeders don't focus on might become lost;
(4) working traits like herding might become lost (a sub-conclusion following from the previous premises).

From all this, the author concludes that pedigree organizations should include working ability in their standards for working dogs. This conclusion makes a value judgment, but looking closely at the premises, no value judgment is given as support.

13.

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

Question Type

Sufficient assumption

Because the conclusion jumps to a value judgment, the correct answer must also include a value judgment. We want an answer that tells us pedigree organizations should set standards that prevent working dogs' working traits from being lost.

There are many ways that this could be phrased; what's important is that the correct answer must take us from the premises to the conclusion. It must guarantee the logical validity of the argument.

Organizations that set █████████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ███ ███ █████████ ███████ ███ █ ██████████ ██████████████ ██ ████ █████████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ████ █████ ██████████████ █████ █████

(A) tells us when a standard should not be set; this is the inverse of what we need. The conclusion calls for additional standards to be set, but (A) can't get us there; it could only support a conclusion that certain standards should be removed.

14%

Any standard currently ██ ██████ ███ █ ███████ ██ ██ ████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ███ █████ ████

(B) just discusses the enforcement of standards, which is a different question than what standards should be set to begin with. The author isn't talking about enforcement, but rather about the actual content of the standards, so (B) doesn't apply to this argument.

Organizations that set █████████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ██████████████ ██████ ███ ██ █████ ██████████

Much like (B), (C) focuses on ensuring conformity to standards, but we need an answer about the content of the standards instead. Because it doesn't address the content of the standards, (C) doesn't guarantee the argument's validity.

Any standard that ██ ███ ███ █ ███████ ██ ██ ████████ ██████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ████████ ████ ██████████ ██ ████

(D) is very close but not quite right: it refers to the use to which something—in this case a dog—will be put, but the author cares about the use for which the dog was developed in the past. (D) doesn't match the argument, because the argument never discusses any future use working dogs are meant for. If (D) talked about the use to which something was originally put, it could be correct.

11%

Organizations that set █████████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████ ███ ████████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ██████████ ██████████

(E) bridges the premises to the conclusion and guarantees the argument's validity. It tells us that a pedigree organization, which sets standards for dogs, should try to ensure that those dogs can serve their original purpose. The premises tell us that working dogs' original purpose was their working traits, and that traits not set in the standards are at risk. (E) bridges those premises to the conclusion that working traits should be included in the breed standard.

70%

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PrepTest 15 - Section 2 - Question 13

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PrepTest 15 - Section 2 - Question 13

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