PrepTest 124, Section 1, Question 4
This region must find new ways to help(43 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(10 more words not shown)
- AThe region needs(8 more words not shown)
- BShoe manufacturing is(10 more words not shown)
- CShoe manufacturing in(9 more words not shown)
- DBusiness in the(8 more words not shown)
- EOutdated public policy(6 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The shoe industry is struggling, so the region needs another kind of factory? Maybe. But manufacturing isn't the only way to earn a living. Depending on the region's opportunities, service businesses or farming might also help. The decline of one industry doesn't by itself settle which industry should replace it.
That objection targets the proposed expansion into new manufacturing areas. The broader recommendation is that the region must find new ways to help business grow. The author gives two reasons: the old shoe industry has suffered serious setbacks, and current public policy gets in the way of growth.
What we’re looking for
We're asked for the main conclusion, so we don't have to choose an economic plan or prove the author right. We need the recommendation those reasons support. It is the opening sentence: find new ways to help business grow. The manufacturing proposal is one part of that case, while the policy problem supplies another reason for the broader recommendation.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
This restates the opening recommendation. “Enhance business growth” means help business grow. Both the trouble with shoe manufacturing and the problem with public policy support the need to find new ways to do that.
- B
The passage says shoe manufacturing used to be a major industry and has experienced severe setbacks. It doesn't establish exactly how much income the industry still provides. Even if B were true, it would describe the economic problem that helps motivate the recommendation, not the main recommendation itself.
- C
This describes the setback the author uses as a reason for change. Ask what the author wants us to conclude from that decline. We need new ways to help businesses grow. C gives part of the support and stops before that broader point.
- D
This is a conclusion within the argument, which makes it tempting. The shoe industry's setbacks are offered as a reason to expand into other manufacturing areas. But that need then helps support the wider call for new ways to help businesses grow.
The final sentence about outdated policy also supports the wider call, without specifically establishing a need for another manufacturing industry. A captures the recommendation that the whole argument supports; D captures only the manufacturing part.
- E
Outdated policy is another reason for finding new ways to help business. The author isn't mainly trying to prove that the policy inhibits growth; that claim is offered to help justify the recommendation. E identifies a supporting reason rather than the main point.
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