PrepTest 106, Section 3, Question 12
Letter to the Editor: Your article on effective(63 more words not shown)
Each of the following statements(7 more words not shown)
- AVexone is effective(10 more words not shown)
- BNot all of(15 more words not shown)
- CEvery species of(10 more words not shown)
- DThe cockroach infestations(18 more words not shown)
- ERoach Ender was(10 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Effective against only one species sounds limited. But even that wouldn't tell us how useful vexone is without knowing how common that species is. The letter, though, makes a much stronger claim: vexone works against every cockroach species infesting North America.
The writer points to studies of Roach Ender, which contains vexone. I'd question whether that establishes which ingredient does the work. If the product contains other compounds, one of those might account for its effectiveness. That would be a gap to examine if we were evaluating the proof.
What we’re looking for
Here we're asked which choice does not conflict with the writer's view. We need to keep that task separate from our doubts about the evidence. Four choices should clash with what the writer maintains; the exception can agree with it. The writer's position is that vexone has been used effectively against all the relevant species.
Working the answers
- A
“Only two” excludes the remaining species. The writer claims effectiveness against all of the more than 4,000 species infesting North America. A directly conflicts with that broad claim.
- B
The writer presents successful studies of Roach Ender as demonstrating control across all the relevant species. B says some major species cannot be controlled by that product. That conflicts with the comprehensive effectiveness the writer claims for the tested product.
- CCorrect
This restates the writer's position: vexone can control every cockroach species infesting North America. Because the question asks for the exception to the conflicting statements, agreement is exactly what we want.
We shouldn't invent a distinction between “utilized effectively” for cockroach control and “can be controlled” to make C conflict. In this passage those describe the same claimed success. Nor do we have to accept that the writer has proved which ingredient is responsible. C matches the view, whether or not its evidence ultimately convinces us.
- D
The writer specifically says vexone has been used effectively against all the species infesting North America. D says the infestations treated with it have not included all those species. That conflicts with the writer's account of its use, not merely with a prediction about what it could do.
- E
The writer claims the product studies demonstrate effectiveness against all the species in the stated group, and that group contains more than 4,000 species. Restricting the claimed testing coverage to exactly 4,000 leaves species outside that all-species account.
The numerical contrast is more than 4,000 versus exactly 4,000. C, by comparison, directly preserves the writer's universal claim without placing that lower cap on its scope.
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