PrepTest 114, Section 4, Question 7
When drivers are deprived of sleep there are(39 more words not shown)
Each of the following illustrates(7 more words not shown)
- APeople who have(15 more words not shown)
- BElementary school students(18 more words not shown)
- CIndustrial workers who(17 more words not shown)
- DPeople who have(22 more words not shown)
- EPeople who are(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Feeling confident isn't the same as being fit to drive. The passage says sleep deprivation slows responses and reduces concentration, yet drivers don't reliably recognize those changes. They think they can notice when they are about to fall asleep, but that confidence is misplaced.
What we’re looking for
The principle to carry into the answers is a problem with self-assessment: a person whose condition reduces their ability may also be a poor judge of that condition. This is an EXCEPT question, so four scenarios will fit and one won't. Look for the same relationship between impairment and judging one's own capacity, not just any situation in which someone makes a poor judgment.
Working the answers
- A
This fits. Alcohol takes the place of sleep deprivation, and judging whether one is too drunk to drive takes the place of judging whether one is too tired. In each scenario, the person experiencing the condition is a poor judge of being fit to continue driving.
- BCorrect
Disliking arithmetic isn't an impairment like the conditions described in the other choices. And deciding whether multiplication tables belong in a curriculum isn't a judgment about one's own current capacity.
These children might let their preferences influence what they think should be taught. That is a possible reason for poor judgment, but it is a different kind of problem. The passage concerns people failing to recognize their own reduced ability. B doesn't illustrate that principle, making it the exception.
- C
This fits the same pattern. The workers have been exposed to harmful fumes and are poor judges of whether they should keep working. As with the tired drivers, the question concerns recognizing whether one's own condition makes continuing an activity inappropriate.
- D
The blood donors have become faint, but they don't judge well whether they are ready to leave. Their own physical condition and their assessment of their readiness are the two pieces we need. That parallels the drivers' poor judgment about continuing while tired.
- E
In the scenario this choice presents, people receiving treatment are poor judges of their own need to continue it. That is a problem of assessing their own condition, rather than deciding whether a disliked activity should be part of the school's curriculum. It fits the self-assessment pattern, leaving B as the exception.
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