PrepTest 133, Section 2, Question 8
Engineers are investigating the suitability of Wantastiquet Pass(57 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(12 more words not shown)
- ANeither report presents(10 more words not shown)
- BBoth reports include(3 more words not shown)
- COne report was(19 more words not shown)
- DOne report focuses(16 more words not shown)
- EOne report cost(11 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
How can the erosion be both light and heavy if both reports are accurate? There must be a difference hidden inside those descriptions. Maybe the reports examine different parts of the pass. Maybe they measure different kinds of erosion. Little erosion in one place wouldn't prevent serious erosion somewhere else.
What we’re looking for
That's what we need to explain: how the two statements can both be true. Finding a reason that one report might be unreliable won't do, because we're expressly told that both are accurate. I'd look for a difference in what the reports actually measured.
Working the answers
- A
A missing chemical analysis might make us wonder how much the reports tell us about the soil. But it doesn't show how little erosion and heavy erosion can both be accurate descriptions. A limitation of both reports isn't the missing distinction between their claims.
- B
Both reports using satellite photographs gives them something in common. It doesn't tell us why the photographs support different, yet accurate, conclusions. They could still be studying the same thing and contradicting each other; B doesn't resolve that problem.
- C
Different authors could explain why two reports disagree, but disagreement alone isn't our puzzle. We need to explain why neither report is wrong. A university team and a consulting firm could reach different conclusions for any number of reasons. C doesn't identify a difference in their subjects that would let both conclusions stand.
- DCorrect
They aren't measuring the same kind of erosion. One report concerns topsoil across the region; the other concerns riverbanks affected by seasonal floods.
The region could lose relatively little topsoil overall while flooding seriously wears away its riverbanks. In that situation, 'little erosion' and 'heavy erosion' describe different processes. Both reports can be accurate, and the heavy riverbank erosion can still warrant concern about a bridge. We no longer have one report denying what the other establishes about the same subject.
- E
Cost doesn't tell us what each report measured. Even if one took twice as much money to prepare, that alone wouldn't explain why the two apparently conflicting claims were both true. We're looking for a difference in subject matter, not a difference in budget.
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