PrepTest 129, Section 2, Question 18
No one with a serious medical problem would(23 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(7 more words not shown)
- Apublic servants should(10 more words not shown)
- Bthe average public(14 more words not shown)
- Cpublic servants should(10 more words not shown)
- Dpublic servants should(10 more words not shown)
- Eone is a(17 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
If someone has a serious medical problem, the passage says that person would not rely on an average person's treatment recommendation. I can see the point: with something important at stake, the person would look for a better basis, such as qualified medical advice.
Now carry that reasoning to the public servant. The public's interests correspond to the patient's health. A good public servant cares about those interests, so the parallel conclusion should concern where the servant turns for guidance: do not base policy decisions simply on the average person's recommendations.
What we’re looking for
That does not mean never asking an ordinary person a question or never caring what the public thinks. The medical example is about relying on someone to prescribe the response to a serious problem. We want the completion to preserve that focus on the basis for a decision.
Working the answers
- A
One can listen to an opinion without relying on it to prescribe policy. Public opinion surveys could help identify people's needs or concerns without dictating the government's response. The medical analogy does not support disregarding their outcomes altogether.
- B
The original example does not say the patient knows more medicine than the average person. It says the patient would not rely on the average person to prescribe treatment. Similarly, we need a conclusion about whom public servants rely on, not a claim that the servants themselves know more than everyone else.
- C
This recommends increasing public servants' own knowledge. The medical example does not recommend that the patient become more medically knowledgeable; it concerns the source of treatment advice. C changes the issue rather than completing the parallel.
- DCorrect
Public servants should have a basis for decisions other than the average person's recommendations, just as a patient would seek a basis for treatment other than the average person's advice. This carries the decision-making relationship from health to public policy without adding a new comparison of personal knowledge.
- E
Knowing more than the average person is not offered as a definition of a good public servant. The passage begins with a good servant's concern for the public and asks what follows about relying on advice. E instead makes comparative knowledge enough to establish goodness, a relationship absent from the medical example.
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