PrepTest 131, Section 2, Question 3
Despite the enormous number of transactions processed daily(34 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(8 more words not shown)
- ABanks initially process(20 more words not shown)
- BRecent changes in(21 more words not shown)
- CBanks are required(16 more words not shown)
- DThe average ratio(14 more words not shown)
- EThe development of(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Banks handle an enormous number of transactions, but the claim concerns a particular kind of mistake: accidentally putting a large sum of money into an account. Why would those errors be caught so reliably?
Perhaps large transactions receive extra scrutiny. A bank might process countless purchases of coffee or gasoline, then flag anything above a certain amount for a person to review. A mistaken credit of $100,000 could get attention even if no one individually examines every small purchase. Those amounts are just an example of how a safeguard could work.
What we’re looking for
The question asks us to support the claim that the bank's internal procedures will detect large mistaken credits. My prediction is some extra check on large transactions. It needn't be the manual review I imagined; we need a reason the large volume of ordinary business won't allow these particular errors to slip through.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Here is the extra safeguard. The first set of programs handles the transactions, and a different set double-checks the large ones. An error that survives the initial processing thus gets another chance to be caught. The two sets of programs aren't guaranteed to be flawless, but this targeted second check gives a direct reason to believe large mistaken credits are unlikely to escape detection.
- B
Identification requirements concern whether the person making a deposit or withdrawal is who they claim to be. They don't explain how an accidental credit is detected after the bank makes the mistake. Verifying a customer's identity and checking the accuracy of the bank's entries are different safeguards.
- C
A monthly statement might enable a customer to notice an error. But the claim is that the bank's internal audit procedures detect it. Sending the customer a list of transactions doesn't tell us that the bank has identified an incorrect one.
- D
More auditors per account sounds potentially helpful. But an increase over 100 years doesn't tell us how effective the current procedures are, whether the ratio is now adequate, or whether large errors receive special attention. To get to 'extremely unlikely to miss the error,' we would have to supply those missing connections. A gives the relevant checking procedure directly.
- E
Preventing hackers from tampering with computers is useful, but the error here is accidental. A system could resist outside attacks and still make an internal processing mistake. E doesn't tell us how that mistake would be discovered.
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