PrepTest 102, Section 4, Question 19
Inez: In these poor economic times, people want(75 more words not shown)
Anika's response proceeds(1 more words not shown)
- Aindicating that a(11 more words not shown)
- Bclaiming that a(17 more words not shown)
- Carguing that an(14 more words not shown)
- Dquestioning the assumption(13 more words not shown)
- Eoffering a counterexample(13 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
An appraisal might reassure a buyer that an antique is authentic. I can see Inez's idea: remove questionable objects, and people may feel more confident spending their money.
I would wonder how customers learn about the inspections. A benefit they don't know about might not change their willingness to buy. That is one possible question, but Anika takes a different route.
She says the customers are already antiques experts. They can assess what they are buying themselves. Then she adds a cost: professional appraisals would force the fair to raise prices. The plan offers these buyers little new help while making purchases more expensive.
What we’re looking for
The question asks how Anika responds. My initial description is that she rejects the prediction by adding facts about the customers and the cost of the plan. That's a rough description; we should look for an answer that explains what those facts do to Inez's expected benefit.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Inez expects the plan to make customers more willing to buy. Anika points toward the opposite effect: buyers who already have expertise would face higher prices without needing the added assistance. Those prices could make them less willing to buy. A captures how the new facts challenge the predicted result, rather than merely noting that Anika supplies more information.
- B
“While effective” is the problem. Anika doesn't concede that the plan will make customers more willing to buy and then complain about a separate downside. She begins by rejecting that prediction. The customers' own expertise and the added prices are reasons the intended effect may not occur.
- C
Anika doesn't propose a different way to increase purchases. Saying this plan is unnecessary or counterproductive is not the same as offering a replacement plan that achieves the goal more easily. We would need an actual alternative to support C.
- D
Anika doesn't deny that professional appraisers with special knowledge are available. Her point is that the customers already have relevant expertise too. Experts can exist without their paid assistance producing the benefit Inez expects.
- E
There is no example of another fair or shop trying the plan and failing. Anika reasons from facts about this fair's customers and the expenses it would incur. A counterexample would supply a case against a general claim; that isn't the method used here.
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