Self-study
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Structure: Statements in Tension
We're given two statements that might seem in tension with each other: room air conditioners from Japanese manufacturers tend to be "more reliable" than those from US manufacturers, but both types of room air conditioners have the same average lifetime of fifteen years.
Analysis: Ways to Reconcile
There's not really much of a tension here. There's no reason to assume that being "more reliable" implies having a longer average lifetime. Being "more reliable" could just mean performing more consistently during the fifteen years of that average lifetime, in which case there would be no conflict between the two statements in the stimulus.
13.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ █████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██████
a
Reliability is a ███████ ██ ███ ████ █ ███████ █████████ ███████ ███████ ███████
Correct. This clarifies that greater "reliability" is not the same thing as greater overall lifetime, but a measure of how long a product functions within that lifetime without needing repair. So (A) tells us that Japanese room air conditioners can function for longer periods within their lifetime before needing to be repaired than American room air conditioners, which explains how they can be "more reliable" while having the same overall average lifetime.
b
Production facilities of █████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ██████ █████████████ ███ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████
Incorrect. Even if some production facilities for US manufacturers are located outside the US, we don't know how many of those facilities exist, so we don't know if this fact would significantly affect the average lifespan of "US-manufactured" room air conditioners. And we certainly don't know that these production facilities are located in Japan, which is the only other place we're concerned about.
c
Damage to room ███ ████████████ ██████ ████████ ███ ████████████ ████ ███ █████ ████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ██ ██ ██████
Incorrect. This statement applies equally to the US and Japan and doesn't give us any insight into how Japanese air conditioners can be "more reliable" than American ones while having the same average lifetime.
d
Room air conditioners ████ ████ ████████████ ███ █ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ████ ██ ██████
Incorrect. Knowing how long these air conditioners have been manufactured in the US versus in Japan doesn't resolve the tension in the stimulus.
e
Japanese manufacturers often ███ ████ ████████ ██████████ ██ █████ ████ ███ ████████████ ████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██████████████
Incorrect. (E) might explain why Japanese air conditioners are more reliable than American ones, but it doesn't clarify why they also have the same average lifetime. In other words, this answer choice explains one of the two statements, or one "side" of the tension, but doesn't help resolve the tension between the two statements. In fact, if Japanese manufacturers use more reliable components than US manufacturers, this might actually intensify our expectation that Japanese air conditioners will have a longer lifetime on average than American ones, which increases the tension from the stimulus instead of resolving it.