PrepTest 123, Section 3, Question 4
Many corporations have begun decorating their halls with(39 more words not shown)
The reasoning in the argument(11 more words not shown)
- Afails to consider(23 more words not shown)
- Btakes for granted(24 more words not shown)
- Cfails to consider(23 more words not shown)
- Ddoes not adequately(18 more words not shown)
- Efails to consider(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Would a poster make you work harder? I can imagine someone finding it inspiring. I can also imagine employees rolling their eyes at management's attempt to get them excited. I don't know whether these posters will work, and neither reaction settles the question.
The author's reason for expecting failure is that almost all the employees are already motivated. But “motivated” isn't an on-off switch. What if they're at a seven out of ten and the posters take them to a nine? Already caring about doing a good job doesn't mean you couldn't care more.
And if there are employees who aren't motivated yet, perhaps the posters could help them too. The stated fact doesn't rule out either possibility. We don't have to believe motivational posters are a great idea to see that the author hasn't justified dismissing them as unlikely to work.
What we’re looking for
For the flaw question, I'd focus on the first point: the argument overlooks an increase in motivation among employees who already have some. The intended purpose is to boost motivation. Showing that motivation already exists doesn't show that it can't be boosted.
Working the answers
- A
What would happen at corporations that don't use the posters? That's a different question. The conclusion concerns the corporations already using them. We need to examine whether the author's evidence supports that prediction, not predict what a separate set of corporations would experience.
- B
The argument isn't using these corporations to make a claim about corporations in general. Its evidence concerns employees at these corporations, and its conclusion concerns these corporations' posters. They don't need to be a representative sample of everyone else for the author to make a claim about them.
- C
Maybe the posters produce some other benefit. Employees might even bond over making fun of them. But that wouldn't establish that the posters achieve their intended purpose of boosting motivation. The conclusion isn't that the posters will do nothing good at all. It's that they're unlikely to achieve the particular thing they're meant to do.
- D
Of course productivity could also depend on other things—perhaps employees have better equipment, more sleep, or fewer distractions. But pointing to another influence doesn't tell us whether posters can increase motivation. The author needn't treat motivation as the only influence on productivity to make this argument. The missing consideration is whether existing motivation can grow.
- ECorrect
Already motivated doesn't mean as motivated as possible. Return to the seven-out-of-ten employee: the poster might take that person to a nine. Then it would boost motivation, exactly as the corporation intended, even though the employee was motivated beforehand.
We aren't proving that the posters actually have that effect. We are identifying a possibility that the author's reason for dismissing them doesn't address.
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