PrepTest 124, Section 3, Question 22
A recent survey indicates that the average number(29 more words not shown)
Each of the following, if(10 more words not shown)
- ARecent cutbacks in(12 more words not shown)
- BDue to the(22 more words not shown)
- COver the past(15 more words not shown)
- DBookstore owners reported(19 more words not shown)
- ECiting a lack(24 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Reading fewer books per person doesn't necessarily mean bookstores make less money.
Buying and reading are different activities. Someone could buy a gift or add a book to a shelf and never read it. And per person isn't the same as the total: a growing population could buy more books overall even while each person reads fewer.
Then there's profit. Stores could make more on each sale, or earn money from coffee and other products. None of those possibilities has been established; they are different ways the two reported trends could fit together. We should keep them open instead of assuming increased profits must mean more books read.
What we’re looking for
This is an EXCEPT question. Four choices help explain the combination, and one doesn't. For each answer, ask what it contributes to the explanation of rising bookstore profits despite declining reading per person.
Working the answers
- A
The connection takes a step: if the library can't buy a popular new novel, a reader who wants that novel may have to purchase a copy instead of borrowing it. That shifts some reading from free library access to bookstore sales.
So people could read fewer books overall while buying a larger share of the books they do read. A provides a route to higher bookstore profits without requiring an increase in reading per person. Eliminate it.
- BCorrect
Avoiding a new shoplifting problem isn't the same as improving on the store's previous results. The equipment keeps bookstores largely unaffected by the increase in theft hitting other retailers. It doesn't say bookstores now lose fewer books than they did before.
This could help explain why profits didn't fall because of additional theft. It doesn't explain why bookstore profits rose. Don't add a further story that would-be thieves started buying the books instead; the answer doesn't give us that.
- C
Coffee bars provide another source of profit. A bookstore can earn more money selling coffee even if customers read fewer books. That directly addresses the mistaken assumption that bookstore profits have to move with the amount of reading. Eliminate this explanation.
- D
A shift to more profitable hardbacks can raise profits without increasing the number of books read. A store might sell fewer copies but earn more on the copies it sells. D changes the financial return on sales, which is one of the possibilities we anticipated.
- E
These customers are shifting magazine purchases to bookstores instead of getting subscriptions elsewhere. That gives bookstores business from another product. More magazine sales can contribute to their profits even while book reading per person declines. Like the coffee answer, this explains how the store can benefit without more books being read.
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