PrepTest 106, Section 1, Question 20
If the economy is weak, then prices remain(16 more words not shown)
If the statements above are(10 more words not shown)
- AEither the economy(6 more words not shown)
- BIf unemployment rises,(4 more words not shown)
- CThe economy is(5 more words not shown)
- DEither the economy(7 more words not shown)
- EEither unemployment is(7 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Investment isn't decreasing. That rules out more than it first appears to.
The argument tells us that unemployment rises only if investment decreases. So a decrease in investment is required for rising unemployment. We don't have that decrease, which means unemployment isn't rising. Now go back to the first sentence: a weak economy would bring rising unemployment. Since unemployment isn't rising, the economy can't be weak either.
That's the chain to keep straight: a weak economy would require rising unemployment, which would require decreasing investment. The last fact rules out that final condition, so neither of the earlier conditions can hold. We haven't proved that the economy is strong, that investment is increasing, or that nobody is unemployed. 'Not weak,' 'not decreasing,' and 'not rising' are more limited claims.
What we’re looking for
The question asks which choice must be false. We should expect a choice that conflicts with one of those results. Watch the task: a supported statement is something to eliminate here.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Both alternatives are ruled out. The economy isn't weak, as our chain shows, and investment isn't decreasing, as the passage explicitly tells us. An 'either/or' statement needs at least one of its alternatives to be true. Here neither is, so this statement must be false.
- B
The first sentence links a weak economy to both rising unemployment and constant prices. That doesn't by itself establish that rising unemployment causes or requires constant prices. But being unsupported isn't enough for this question: we need a statement that must be false. We know unemployment isn't rising, so the facts don't give us a case of rising unemployment with changing prices that would conflict with this conditional statement.
- C
This is supported, so eliminate it. A weak economy requires rising unemployment, and rising unemployment requires decreasing investment. Putting those rules together, a weak economy requires decreasing investment. That is exactly what 'only if' says here. It doesn't claim that the economy actually is weak.
- D
The economy isn't weak, but prices could still be constant. We know that a weak economy would keep prices constant; we don't know that weakness is the only way prices can remain constant. So the second half could be true, making this 'either/or' statement true. It isn't forced to be false.
- E
The second half is true: the economy is not weak. That is enough for this 'either/or' statement to be true, even though the first half, rising unemployment, is false. Compare A, where both alternatives fail.
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