PrepTest 116, Section 3, Question 9
Most lecturers who are effective teachers are eccentric,(17 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(7 more words not shown)
- ASome good communicators(2 more words not shown)
- BAll good communicators(3 more words not shown)
- CSome lecturers who(7 more words not shown)
- DMost lecturers who(5 more words not shown)
- ESome noneccentric lecturers(8 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
We have effective teachers of both kinds: eccentric and noneccentric. Now follow what the last sentence tells us about all of them.
Every effective teacher is a good communicator. So the eccentric lecturers who teach effectively must communicate well, and the noneccentric lecturers who teach effectively must communicate well too. We don't have to pick one personality type as the only kind capable of teaching.
What we’re looking for
There isn't a conclusion to challenge. The question asks what follows from these facts. I'd predict that some eccentric people are good communicators, and some noneccentric people are too. To check an answer, trace it back to a group whose existence and characteristics the passage actually establishes. Don't quietly change which group a statement describes.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Most of the lecturers who teach effectively are eccentric, so there are eccentric effective teachers. Every effective teacher is a good communicator. Those eccentric effective teachers therefore give us examples of good communicators who are eccentric. A says only that some such people exist, which is enough.
- B
Being an effective teacher guarantees good communication. Good communication doesn't guarantee effective teaching. Someone might explain an idea clearly yet fail to teach effectively for another reason. The passage gives us a requirement of effective teaching, not a promise that everyone meeting that requirement becomes an effective teacher.
- C
We don't know anything about lecturers who teach ineffectively. The passage hasn't even established that any exist. All lecturers could be effective, or the ineffective ones could all be eccentric, without contradicting the facts. C needs a particular kind of ineffective lecturer that we were never given.
- D
The original majority is among lecturers who are effective teachers. D changes that to lecturers who are good communicators. The second group could include many people who communicate well without teaching effectively.
Imagine ten effective lecturers: six eccentric and four noneccentric. All ten communicate well. Add ninety more lecturers who communicate well but teach ineffectively, none of them eccentric. The original statements still hold, but only six of the hundred good communicators are eccentric. We can't carry the majority from the smaller group into the larger one without knowing who else is there.
- E
This directly conflicts with the final sentence. If those lecturers are effective teachers, they must be good communicators. Their being noneccentric doesn't exempt them from a rule that covers every effective teacher.
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