PrepTest 122, Section 1, Question 21
Many successful graphic designers began their careers after(29 more words not shown)
If all of the statements(12 more words not shown)
- AAll graphic designers(10 more words not shown)
- BNot all formally(6 more words not shown)
- CThe more attentive(17 more words not shown)
- DNo graphic designers(11 more words not shown)
- EThe most successful(8 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The designers took different paths, but the successful ones have something in common: they didn't ignore their clients.
“Many” and “a significant number” tell us that both routes exist. They don't tell us which route is more common, or which produces better designers. Some successful designers had formal training; others learned on the job. Keep both groups rather than trying to turn those descriptions into percentages.
Now apply the final rule to the people we know succeeded. Whatever their training, they could not have ignored a client's wishes. Imagine a client asking for a tomato and receiving a pineapple instead. The example makes the concern easy to picture, but the rule comes from the passage: ignoring a client's wishes rules out success.
What we’re looking for
For the must-be-true question, we can combine that rule with either group. Some formally trained designers didn't ignore their clients, and some designers who learned on the job didn't either. We aren't claiming that everyone with either kind of training succeeds.
Working the answers
- A
Ignoring clients is one way to fail. Why would it be the only way? A designer could listen carefully but miss every deadline or lack the skill to carry out the request. That designer could be unsuccessful without ignoring a client's wishes. The passage rules out success for people who ignore clients; it doesn't explain every possible failure.
- BCorrect
Some formally trained designers are successful. None of those successful designers ignored a client's wishes. So at least some formally trained designers do not ignore clients, which is exactly what “not all ... ignore” means. We have actual members of the group who establish the answer.
- C
We have a requirement, not a sliding scale. The passage tells us what happens if a designer ignores a client's wishes. It doesn't say that each extra degree of attentiveness makes success more likely. Listening could be essential while other skills determined who did better among the people who listened.
- D
A designer who learned on the job could ignore a client and fail. That would fit everything we're told. D would work if it were limited to successful designers, but it covers every designer who learned on the job.
- E
We never rank the successful designers. Knowing that both training routes produce successful people doesn't establish which route produces the most successful people. Formal training could produce the top performers, informal training could, or neither group could consistently do better.
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