PrepTest 106, Section 3, Question 7
Sam: In a recent survey, over 95 percent(63 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(11 more words not shown)
- AIt argues that(11 more words not shown)
- BIt provides evidence(20 more words not shown)
- CIt offers a(10 more words not shown)
- DIt points out(12 more words not shown)
- EIt presents new(8 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Satisfied after one year—but what might show up after five?
Sam's survey tells us that over 95 percent of last year's Starlight buyers were highly satisfied. We can accept those reports. The question is whether satisfaction so soon after purchase establishes that the cars are remarkably free from manufacturing defects.
Sam relies on the idea that a buyer wouldn't be highly satisfied with a defective car. Tiya points out the missing issue: the buyer may not know about the defect yet. A manufacturing problem could already be present but only become apparent after several years. Someone happily driving the car in its first year could therefore be reporting satisfaction with a car that has a hidden problem.
What we’re looking for
The response question asks how Tiya's point affects Sam's argument. She challenges the use of that short-term satisfaction as support for the broader claim about defects. The conclusion is not merely that buyers enjoyed their first year; it is a claim about the cars themselves.
Working the answers
- A
Tiya is challenging Sam's support, not agreeing with the conclusion and supplying a better reason for it. Her point gives us a reason to hesitate before inferring freedom from defects from the survey.
- B
The respondents could have been accurately surveyed and honestly pleased with their purchases. Tiya doesn't dispute what they reported. She questions what those reports can establish about defects that may still be hidden.
- CCorrect
If some manufacturing defects remain unnoticed for years, recent satisfaction isn't a reliable way to rule those defects out. That undermines the connection between Sam's evidence and his conclusion.
Tiya doesn't have to show that the survey is false. Her point works even if every report is accurate: satisfied owners might simply not have discovered a defect yet.
- D
Sam doesn't assume the conclusion as a premise and then repeat it. Sam offers survey results and a claim connecting satisfaction to the absence of defects. Tiya questions that connection; she doesn't accuse Sam of treating the conclusion itself as evidence.
- E
Tiya gives new information, but it doesn't establish that Starlights actually have many manufacturing defects. Perhaps these cars are remarkably free of them. The possibility of delayed discovery shows that the survey hasn't settled the matter either way.
Both “a consideration” and “new information” can describe a factual point. The important distinction between C and E is what that point establishes: a weakness in the support for the conclusion, or evidence that the conclusion is false. Her point establishes the weakness.
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