PrepTest 119, Section 2, Question 20
Professor Donnelly's exams are always more difficult than(19 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(11 more words not shown)
- ALewis is a(18 more words not shown)
- BPorter's new book(24 more words not shown)
- CProfessor Whitburn is(26 more words not shown)
- DShield's first novel(19 more words not shown)
- EMathematics is more(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
That dinosaur question could have been easy. There are two reasons the argument fails to rule that out.
First, Donnelly's exams are harder than Curtis's. That doesn't tell us they are hard. Second-grade math can be harder than first-grade math while both are easy for an older student. The comparison alone doesn't establish an absolute level of difficulty.
Second, even a hard exam can include an easy question. Imagine Donnelly adding a simple bonus question about dinosaurs that nearly everyone answers correctly. The exam as a whole could remain difficult while that particular question is a gift.
What we’re looking for
So the argument moves from a comparison between whole exams to an absolute judgment about one question. This parallel-flaw question expressly asks for both errors. Keep both on the checklist: “more difficult” becomes “difficult,” and a description of the whole is passed down to one part.
Working the answers
- A
A better baker could make a disappointing cake, so there is a questionable move from the baker's general ability to this particular product. But the conclusion remains a comparison: this cake is better than most of Stockman's. It doesn't declare the cake good in an absolute sense. We need that second jump too.
- BCorrect
The new poetry book is better than the earlier books, just as Donnelly's exams are more difficult than Curtis's. This poem belongs to the new book, just as the dinosaur question belongs to Donnelly's exam. Then the conclusion calls the poem good, just as the original calls the question difficult.
Both mistakes are present. The new book could be better than some poor earlier books and still not be good. And even if the new book were good overall, this particular poem could be weak. “Better book” therefore doesn't establish “good individual poem.”
- C
We start with a teacher who assigns a lot of reading and end with a comparison between this year's class and last year's. The original starts with a comparison and ends with an absolute judgment. C also doesn't transfer a quality from a whole to one of its parts. It lacks the pair of errors we're matching.
- D
This makes one of our mistakes: the most complicated of an author's plots could still be quite simple. But the conclusion continues to describe that same plot. It doesn't move from the whole plot to one chapter or another component. D supplies the comparison-to-absolute error without the whole-to-part error.
- E
Going from entire subjects to particular tests may raise a problem about whether the general comparison applies to those cases. But the conclusion still compares one test with another. It never says either test is difficult in an absolute sense. Like A, it misses the second error required by the question.
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