PrepTest 133, Section 1, Question 24
In university towns, police issue far more parking(32 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(15 more words not shown)
- AWe know that(22 more words not shown)
- BWe know that(17 more words not shown)
- CWe know that(20 more words not shown)
- DWe know that(29 more words not shown)
- EWe know that(26 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
More tickets when students are around doesn't tell us whose cars get the tickets.
Maybe students take up parking spaces, leaving other residents to park illegally. Maybe the police patrol more actively during the school year and ticket local residents more often. The students could even ride bikes while increased enforcement produces the extra citations. These are possible stories, not established facts. They show why the timing alone doesn't identify the recipients.
What we’re looking for
For the parallel-flaw question, track the entire move. A group is present during one period and absent during another. More of something happens when that group is present. The author concludes that most of that thing goes to the group. We need an answer that makes that same unsupported assignment, not just any argument involving quantities.
Working the answers
- A
This is tempting. It also links a change involving children with more purchases and then assigns most purchases to children. But the comparison is different: the proportion of children to adults rises, rather than a group being present versus absent. A proportion could rise because fewer adults attend, even without more children.
There's also a shift from popcorn sales in the evidence to all snack purchases in the conclusion. The original compares total citations with citations issued to students; it doesn't change the kind of item being counted. A shares a broad concern, but E preserves the original setup more closely.
- B
A greener plant supposedly receives more sunlight than another plant. That infers a cause from a plant's appearance. There is no group arriving and leaving, no comparison of how many items are distributed during those periods, and no conclusion that the group receives most of those items. The roles don't match.
- C
This moves from people studying to describing them as studious. Studying because a course requires it might not demonstrate a general inclination to study, but that is a different concern. C doesn't compare periods when a group is present and absent or use that comparison to identify who receives something.
- D
More kinds of fruit being available doesn't establish that people buy a greater quantity of fruit. The availability-to-purchases jump is different from the tickets argument. Summer and winter supply two periods, but there is no visiting group to whom the argument assigns most of the purchases. A seasonal comparison alone isn't enough.
- ECorrect
Visiting children correspond to students being in town. The extra snacks handed out during visits correspond to the extra parking citations issued during the school year. Then the conclusion assigns most snacks to the visitors, just as the original assigns most citations to students.
But the parents' own children might also get more snacks when friends visit. We haven't been told who receives the additional snacks, much less who receives most of all the snacks bought. The visitors' presence and the larger total don't establish that they are the main recipients.
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