PrepTest 120, Section 4, Question 15
People who have doctorates in the liberal arts(44 more words not shown)
The conclusion of the argument(10 more words not shown)
- ACompanies would hire(20 more words not shown)
- BSome people who(11 more words not shown)
- CThe only people(18 more words not shown)
- DPeople with doctorates(12 more words not shown)
- EOnly people not(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Can't someone want to become smarter and make money? The argument puts those interests on opposite sides without telling us why they can't overlap. We know people with liberal-arts doctorates want to improve their intellects. We also know companies rarely hire people unconcerned with making money in business. But the first description doesn't put these graduates into the second group. A person could enjoy studying ideas and also care very much about earning a good salary. As things stand, the company's stated reluctance needn't apply to that person.
What we’re looking for
The question asks us to make the conclusion follow. We need a rule that closes off that overlap: anyone interested in improving their intellect is unconcerned with making money in business. That would place these doctorate holders in the group companies rarely hire. Keep the direction clear as the answers rearrange the same words.
Working the answers
- A
This tells us what companies would do if these graduates cared about making money. It doesn't establish whether they do care, and it doesn't put them in the group companies rarely hire. We need a connection explaining the predicted lack of hiring.
- B
Some people interested in the liberal arts could be people without doctorates. Even if some were doctorate holders, that would leave the rest unaccounted for. A limited group who don't care about money doesn't justify the broad conclusion about companies rarely hiring people with these doctorates.
- C
Read from the people who aren't interested in making money: C says all of those people are interested in improving their intellects. But our starting group is people interested in improving their intellects. C doesn't tell us that every person in that group is unconcerned with money.
Someone could care about both learning and earning while C remained true. That is exactly the possibility we needed to rule out. C connects the two ideas in the wrong direction for this argument.
- D
Wanting a job doesn't tell us whether companies will hire you. More specifically, an interest in business employment doesn't establish the lack of interest in money that would bring these people under the hiring premise.
- ECorrect
Only people unconcerned with making money are interested in improving their intellects. Start with the doctorate holders: they want to improve their intellects, so E puts them among the people who don't care about making money in business. The premise says companies rarely hire such people, giving us the stated conclusion about these graduates. This doesn't change “rarely” into “never”; it supplies the missing connection to the group the premise describes.
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