PrepTest 102, Section 2, Question 21
If this parking policy is unpopular with the(32 more words not shown)
If the statements above are(10 more words not shown)
- AWe should attempt(11 more words not shown)
- BWe should modify(13 more words not shown)
- CWe should modify(13 more words not shown)
- DIf this parking(12 more words not shown)
- EIf this parking(13 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Someone is going to dislike this parking policy. The argument tells us that; we don't have to guess which group will object.
The two groups trigger different responses. If the faculty dislikes the policy, we should modify it. If the students dislike it, we should adopt a new policy. Keep “modify” and “adopt a new policy” separate. Changing part of the existing policy isn't necessarily the same as replacing it.
At least one group will be unhappy, so at least one of those responses is called for. We aren't told that exactly one group will object. Both could, in which case both stated rules would apply.
My first prediction is that we should either modify the policy or adopt a new one. We can't just leave it alone on the ground that everyone likes it, because the last premise rules that situation out.
What we’re looking for
For the inference question, let's test the answers against those rules. An answer might express a particular case rather than repeat my broad prediction. But it still has to follow from what we're told, without adding a new goal or a new restriction on changing the policy.
Working the answers
- A
Making the policy popular is a new recommendation. The passage gives us rules about modifying or replacing an unpopular policy, not running a campaign to improve its image. We could follow the stated rules without trying to persuade either group to like the existing policy.
- B
This adds a restriction: modification is allowed only if it won't reduce popularity among students. The faculty rule has no such restriction. If the faculty dislikes the policy, we're told to modify it, without being told what that change would do to the students' opinion. B adds a condition the passage never requires.
- C
This uses a new trigger for modification: the change won't reduce popularity with the faculty. Our actual trigger is that the current policy is unpopular with the faculty. Knowing that a proposed change wouldn't hurt popularity doesn't establish that the policy is currently unpopular. C substitutes a different condition.
- D
If the students like the policy, the faculty must dislike it, because the argument says at least one group will. Now apply the faculty rule: we should modify the policy. D instead says to adopt a new policy. That response belongs to student unpopularity, which D's condition doesn't give us.
- ECorrect
Suppose the faculty likes the policy. The faculty then can't supply the unpopularity the final premise requires, so the students must dislike it. And if the students dislike it, we should adopt a new policy.
That's the full path: faculty approval leaves student disapproval; student disapproval calls for replacement. E gives one particular case of the broader modify-or-replace prediction. It doesn't assume that faculty approval itself is a reason to replace the policy.
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