PrepTest 103, Section 1, Question 15
Grow-Again ointment is a proven treatment for reversing(43 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(7 more words not shown)
- AWhen using an(16 more words not shown)
- BGrow-Again is more(14 more words not shown)
- CThe rebate, if(11 more words not shown)
- DBaldness in men(14 more words not shown)
- EGrow-Again is a(17 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What does the five-drop dose tell us about whether a discount will attract customers?
Taking extra ointment doesn't improve the treatment. Fine. That could limit how much an existing user needs. But a rebate could bring in someone who hasn't been buying the product at all. Maybe that person wants the treatment but thinks it costs too much. A lower effective price could change the decision to buy, even if the daily dose stays exactly the same.
So the argument has focused on how much one person uses and jumped to how much the manufacturer sells. More users could mean more sales without anyone applying a sixth drop.
What we’re looking for
We're asked to strengthen the claim that the rebate won't increase sales and would be unprofitable. I want something that shuts down the possible benefit of the rebate, especially the possibility that it attracts customers who otherwise wouldn't buy.
Working the answers
- A
This concerns what people believe, not whether applying more actually works. If customers mistakenly think extra ointment helps, a lower price might encourage them to buy and use more. That would give us another reason to doubt the prediction of unchanged sales. It does not support the argument merely because the real recommended dose is fixed.
- B
Different users getting different results doesn't tell us how they respond to the rebate. The treatment could work better for some men than others and still attract new buyers when the price falls. We need information about the proposed sales strategy, not just differences in effectiveness.
- CCorrect
This rules out the new-customer benefit we predicted. If the rebate would not attract people who otherwise might not use Grow-Again, then lowering the price would not increase sales through that route. Combined with the limited useful dose for existing users, that makes the manufacturer's pessimistic conclusion more plausible.
It doesn't prove that the rebate cannot help in any way. But a strengthen answer only needs to improve the support, and C directly removes an important reason sales might rise.
- D
Other causes of baldness don't show that a rebate on this treatment would fail. The argument already specifies hereditary baldness as the condition it treats. There could still be people with that condition who would buy at the reduced price but not at the original price.
- E
This removes one possible financial advantage of higher production: a significant drop in manufacturing cost per unit. But unchanged unit costs do not prevent extra sales from being profitable. A company could earn a smaller positive margin on each unit and make more money by selling more units. E doesn't address whether the rebate brings in those additional purchases, which is the central unsupported claim that C strengthens.
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