PrepTest 132, Section 2, Question 18
Vanessa: All computer code must be written by(74 more words not shown)
Each of the following assignments(20 more words not shown)
- AOlga and Kensuke(28 more words not shown)
- BJohn is experienced(36 more words not shown)
- CAlthough not among(24 more words not shown)
- DYolanda is the(28 more words not shown)
- EKevin and Amy(23 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Vanessa wants a second programmer looking at the code so it won't make sense only to its author. I can see the goal, though two people might share an unusual style that still confuses everybody else.
Jo worries about a different cost: holding back the strongest programmers. Could we pair two top performers and let them work quickly together? Maybe that would be a useful objection to Jo. But the question asks us to apply the two stated principles, not improve them.
What we’re looking for
Vanessa requires pairs at one workstation. Jo requires that the most productive programmers be allowed to work alone. Jo's protection is for the top performers, not everyone who would prefer solitude. Four assignments fit both rules; we want the exception. An assignment forcing a top performer to work with someone else would satisfy Vanessa and violate Jo.
Working the answers
- A
Olga and Kensuke have roughly average productivity. Their feeling that they work better alone doesn't put them in Jo's protected group of the most productive programmers. Working together at one workstation follows Vanessa's rule and doesn't violate Jo's stated rule.
- B
John's experience doesn't make him one of the most productive programmers; the answer explicitly says he isn't. Tyrone isn't very productive yet either. Pairing them at one workstation satisfies Vanessa without restricting someone whom Jo says must be allowed to work alone.
- C
Chris is more productive than Jennifer, but that doesn't make Chris one of the team's most productive programmers. The answer explicitly rules that out. Relative superiority over one coworker isn't the same as belonging to the top group. Pairing these two is consistent with both principles.
- DCorrect
Yolanda is the most productive programmer. Jo says she must be allowed to work by herself, but this assignment makes her work with Mike at the same workstation.
Mike's high productivity doesn't solve the conflict. Pairing strong performers might sound sensible to us, but Jo's rule gives the strongest programmers the option to work alone. D takes that option away, so it is the exception we're looking for.
- E
These programmers' unusual code may remind us of a concern about Vanessa's policy. But the assignment follows her actual rule: pair them at one workstation. Neither is unusually productive, so Jo's protection of the most productive programmers doesn't apply. Doubting whether a policy works isn't the same as showing that an assignment violates it.
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