PrepTest 122, Section 2, Question 12
It is primarily by raising interest rates that(84 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(25 more words not shown)
- AIt is presented(31 more words not shown)
- BIt is a(27 more words not shown)
- CIt is a(31 more words not shown)
- DIt is a(23 more words not shown)
- EIt is a(26 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
If the treatment takes time to work, waiting until the problem looks serious may be too late.
That's why the bankers try to get ahead of inflation. The passage says interest-rate increases can take up to two years to affect it. But acting early creates a public-relations problem: if inflation isn't visible yet, people may see the rate increase as an unnecessary brake on a growing economy. The bankers may be preventing a problem that the public never gets to see.
What we’re looking for
I can see the dilemma. Success today can make another early intervention harder to defend tomorrow. That's the final conclusion. Now we're asked about the opening claim that raising rates is the bankers' primary way of curbing inflation. It gives us part of the foundation: this is the tool they use. Combine that with the delay and we understand why they act early; combine early action with the public's reaction and we reach the conclusion.
Working the answers
- A
The opening claim helps explain the dilemma, but it isn't a complete explanation. Knowing that bankers use interest rates to curb inflation doesn't tell us why they raise rates early or why the public gets angry. We need the later facts about the delay and the public's perception as well.
- B
The two-year delay doesn't explain why rate increases are the bankers' primary tool. It helps explain when they use that tool: before inflation becomes excessive. B assigns the delay to the wrong explanatory job.
- CCorrect
The opening claim is a premise that helps support the final conclusion about public anger making future prevention harder. It contributes through the argument's chain: interest rates are the main tool, the tool takes time, early action can look unnecessary, and successful restraint can therefore make future action unpopular.
A premise can support a final conclusion through another supported claim. It doesn't have to do all the work alone or sit immediately beside the conclusion.
- D
The opening claim isn't something the argument tries to prove from the delay. The author takes it as a fact and combines it with the delay to explain the bankers' early action. D reverses the relationship between what is given and what those facts help establish.
- E
The claim about how the public perceives rate increases is another premise. The opening statement about the bankers' main tool doesn't establish that people will view its use as needless restraint. The author supplies that reaction separately, then uses both pieces to explain the eventual difficulty.
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