PrepTest 124, Section 2, Question 2
Although Samantha likes both oolong and green tea,(14 more words not shown)
If the statements above are(9 more words not shown)
- ASamantha likes black(1 more words not shown)
- BNone of Samantha's(4 more words not shown)
- CSamantha's friends like(9 more words not shown)
- DOne of Samantha's(7 more words not shown)
- EOne of Samantha's(10 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
None of Samantha's friends likes both teas. That still leaves several possibilities: a friend could like oolong but not green tea, green tea but not oolong, or neither one. What a friend cannot do is like the pair that Samantha likes.
Keep the black tea fact separate. Every friend likes black tea, but we haven't learned whether Samantha does. Her friends' tastes don't automatically become hers.
What we’re looking for
The question asks which answer cannot be true. Four choices can fit the facts; one conflicts with them. We don't need to prove the four possibilities actually happened. We just need to check whether each one could happen without giving a friend both oolong and green tea.
Working the answers
- A
Samantha could like black tea. We know that she likes oolong and green tea, but nothing says those are the only teas she likes. Adding black tea to her list would not conflict with either fact about her friends.
- B
This could be true. Suppose every friend likes oolong and black tea but dislikes green tea. No friend would like both oolong and green tea, and every friend would like black tea. Both facts would still hold.
- C
Her friends could all have identical tastes. For example, they could all like black tea and dislike both oolong and green tea. The passage compares Samantha with her friends; it doesn't require the friends to differ from one another.
- D
Not liking both is different from having to like one. A friend who likes neither oolong nor green tea satisfies the restriction perfectly well. As long as that friend also likes black tea, the other fact is satisfied too.
- ECorrect
Samantha likes oolong and green tea. A friend who liked every tea Samantha likes would therefore have to like both of those. But we are explicitly told that none of her friends likes both. This answer conflicts with the facts, whatever other teas Samantha or her friends might like.
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