PrepTest 116, Section 3, Question 24

What we’re looking for

Working the answers

• A

  All recent graduates care about salary, including the ones who care about work environment. But A covers everyone who cares about work environment. What about a retiree who takes a job to stay busy and wants pleasant surroundings, without caring much about the pay? That possibility leaves the stated facts intact and makes A false.

• B
  Correct

  Take the recent graduates who care about work environment. We know some exist. Every one of them also belongs to the larger group of recent graduates, all of whom care about vacation policy. So those particular people care about both.

  We aren't guessing that two unrelated groups happen to overlap. The overlap is guaranteed because the graduates who care about work environment are already inside the group that universally cares about vacation. That establishes at least some people with both priorities.

• C

  We know that a few veteran employees care about stress. We don't know whether any veterans disregard work environment. Perhaps every veteran considers it important. That possibility is consistent with the passage, so C doesn't have to be true.

• D

  Caring about vacation doesn't identify someone as a recent graduate. Other workers may care about it too, and we don't know that all of those workers care about salary. A worker outside the recent-graduate group could value time off without considering pay important. D takes a connection established within one group and extends it to everyone with one of the group's priorities.

• E

  What if a veteran employee cares about both stress and salary? The passage allows that. It identifies the workers who care about stress but never says those workers don't care about pay. Knowing that recent graduates care about salary doesn't make them the only people who do. E rules out an overlap we have no basis to rule out.