PrepTest 131, Section 1, Question 5
Landscape architect: If the screen between these two(42 more words not shown)
In which one of the(15 more words not shown)
- AIf there is(39 more words not shown)
- BIf visitors are(42 more words not shown)
- CThe subsoil in(36 more words not shown)
- DAny path along(35 more words not shown)
- EA space the(39 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
If we build a hedge, we have two choices: hemlocks or Leyland cypress trees. Then we lose the cypress option because those trees cannot grow this far north. That leaves hemlocks if we are going to have a hedge at all.
That last condition matters. The architect does not establish that a hedge will be built. Perhaps the budget cannot cover either kind of tree and the project will be abandoned. The conclusion only tells us what the hedge must be made of if we proceed.
What we’re looking for
This reasoning makes sense. For the parallel question, keep its structure: undertaking a project requires one of two alternatives; one alternative is unavailable; therefore, if the project goes ahead, it must use the other. We need an answer that preserves those relationships.
Working the answers
- A
This gives the entrance only one possible approach, a ramp. It then rules out the ramp and concludes that there will be no entrance. The original starts with two alternatives and preserves the project conditionally by selecting the remaining one. To match, A would need something like a ramp or stairs, then the loss of the ramp leaving stairs.
- B
Automobile travel creates a need for parking, and the current design has none. The conclusion calls for a changed design if car travel is likely. There are not two alternative ways to build something followed by the elimination of one. B responds to an unmet requirement by changing the plan.
- C
This does give two possibilities, clay or shale, and it specifies that the whole area has only one kind of subsoil. Finding shale in one hole would therefore establish shale throughout the area. But this confirms one alternative through a discovery; it does not separately rule out an alternative and conclude that a proposed project must use the other. The conditional project structure is missing as well.
- DCorrect
The path corresponds to the hedge. Concrete and stone correspond to the two possible tree types. Concrete cannot be used in this location, just as Leyland cypress cannot grow in the hedge's location. The conclusion preserves the same condition: if the path is built, it must use the remaining material, stone. It does not assert that the path will definitely be built.
- E
The playground and picnic area supply two alternatives, but the argument then gives objections to both: noise from one and litter from the other. It recommends leaving the meadow alone. The architect instead rules out only one alternative and says that proceeding requires the remaining one. E abandons both proposed uses rather than selecting between them.
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