PrepTest 123, Section 3, Question 8
Advertisement: Fabric-Soft leaves clothes soft and fluffy, and(52 more words not shown)
The advertisement's reasoning is most(12 more words not shown)
- Aany of the(7 more words not shown)
- BFabric-Soft is more(10 more words not shown)
- CFabric-Soft is much(8 more words not shown)
- Dthe consumers tested(10 more words not shown)
- Ethe consumers tested(10 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Better than going without it doesn't mean better than everything else.
I'm happy to hear that 99 percent of the consumers preferred the towel washed with Fabric-Soft. That's evidence that they liked what the product did in this comparison. But where are the other fabric softeners? If another product made the towels even softer or more pleasant, this test wouldn't tell us.
The advertisement jumps from “people preferred our treated towel to the towel without our product” to “our product is the most effective fabric softener available.” Those are different competitions. Winning the first doesn't establish that you win the second.
What we’re looking for
For the flaw question, I'd look for the missing comparison. Did the consumers get to evaluate the alternatives that Fabric-Soft is supposed to beat? An impressive percentage can't make up for testing the wrong comparison.
Working the answers
- A
An allergy could be a reason a particular consumer shouldn't use a product. It doesn't address the jump to calling this the most effective fabric softener. The problem is that the test hasn't established how Fabric-Soft performs against competing softeners.
- B
Environmental harm matters when choosing a product, but the claim here is about effectiveness as a fabric softener. A product could soften clothes very well and be bad for the environment, or vice versa. This comparison wouldn't establish whether another softener performs better.
- C
Price and effectiveness aren't the same. Fabric-Soft could cost more than every competitor and still be less effective than one of them. Or it could be cheap and work very well. Learning which price comparison is true wouldn't supply the missing performance comparison.
- D
Is a fabric softener worth paying for? That's a question about value. The advertisement's conclusion is about which softener is most effective. Consumers could think using a softener is worth the expense while preferring a competitor's results. D doesn't fix the comparison we need.
- ECorrect
The test needs a basis for comparing Fabric-Soft with the other available fabric softeners. Preferring a towel washed with Fabric-Soft to one washed without it doesn't give consumers that comparison.
Imagine another softener produces a towel everyone likes even more. The reported 99 percent preference could remain exactly as stated, yet Fabric-Soft wouldn't be the best. That's why the impressive result doesn't establish the advertised conclusion.
More Flaw questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Flaw questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.