PrepTest 138, Section 2, Question 14
City dog licensing records show that more cocker(45 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(12 more words not shown)
- Awhether cocker spaniels(13 more words not shown)
- Bwhether there are(15 more words not shown)
- Cwhether the city's(20 more words not shown)
- Dwhether the number(19 more words not shown)
- Ewhether residents of(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The records count registered dogs. Do they count all the dogs that are actually out there?
Flynn Heights has more registered cocker spaniels than all the other neighborhoods combined. That makes it a sensible place to consider when a stray is found nearby. But a dog doesn't stop existing because its owner never registered it. There could be many cocker spaniels in a nearby neighborhood that barely appear in the records.
There could also be another local source of the stray, such as a nearby shelter. We don't know. The important concern is whether the registered population gives us a reliable picture of where a stray cocker spaniel is likely to come from.
What we’re looking for
The evaluation question asks for useful information, so either answer to the right question should matter. I'd want to test whether dogs outside Flynn Heights are missing from the count, rather than assume that the licensing records capture the relevant population fairly.
Working the answers
- A
We've already found a cocker spaniel. Whether that breed strays more often than other breeds doesn't tell us which neighborhood this particular cocker spaniel probably belongs to. We need information about possible origins within the breed.
- B
Cocker spaniels being more common than other breeds inside Flynn Heights doesn't compare cocker spaniels in Flynn Heights with cocker spaniels elsewhere. Other breeds don't resolve whether the records give an accurate picture of this breed's distribution.
- C
The number of stray dogs found around Flynn Heights doesn't establish who owns those dogs. Officers could find many strays there that came from elsewhere, or fewer strays that mostly belonged nearby. The argument concerns the probable home of an already-found cocker spaniel, not which area generates the most sightings.
- D
Pets per resident include animals other than cocker spaniels: cats, fish, and other dogs could drive that figure. It also measures a per-person rate rather than the distribution of cocker spaniels across neighborhoods. That doesn't settle the records' usefulness for this dog.
- ECorrect
If Flynn Heights residents are much more likely to license dogs, their neighborhood may be overrepresented in the records. Imagine nearly every owner there registering a dog while owners next door rarely do. The larger registered total could reflect paperwork rather than a larger actual cocker-spaniel population.
If licensing is similarly common across neighborhoods, that particular concern is reduced. The answer matters because it tests whether the evidence tracks dog ownership or just differing registration habits.
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