PrepTest 138, Section 2, Question 7
Several companies that make herbal teas containing ginseng(43 more words not shown)
The reasoning in the argument(6 more words not shown)
- Arejects an argument(10 more words not shown)
- Bconcludes that a(16 more words not shown)
- Cdraws an inference(12 more words not shown)
- Dfails to address(16 more words not shown)
- Efails to address(19 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
I'm willing to question the tea companies' advertising. If people who drink the tea report less stress, perhaps another ingredient helps, or perhaps those people were less stressed to begin with. We'd need evidence before confidently crediting ginseng.
But the author has a burden too. The passage says no definitive scientific study links ginseng with stress relief. That leaves the claim unconfirmed; it doesn't establish that ginseng has no such effect. Ginseng might help even though the available research hasn't settled the question.
What we’re looking for
So when the conclusion declares the marketing claims false, it goes beyond the evidence. That's the jump I want the flaw answer to capture: 'We haven't established this' becomes 'This isn't true.' We don't have to defend the advertising or decide whether ginseng actually works to see the problem.
Working the answers
- A
The author doesn't reject the claim because tea companies are dishonest or because marketers are unreliable people. The stated reason is the lack of a definitive scientific study. That's a problem with how the author uses the available evidence, not an attack on the source's character.
- BCorrect
This describes the jump directly. The claim has not been shown true by definitive scientific research, and the author treats that as enough to call it false. A claim can remain unproven while still being true. We need evidence against it to reach the author's conclusion.
- C
No sample of people or products is offered as the basis for the author's conclusion. The passage says there is no definitive study linking ginseng with relief; it doesn't describe a study whose participants fail to represent a larger group. Don't invent a defective sample to explain a different error.
- D
People could buy the tea because they enjoy it and also hope it improves their health. Either way, their reasons for buying don't settle whether the specific advertising claim about ginseng is false. The argument's conclusion concerns that claim, not whether buying tea can be enjoyable.
- E
Another ingredient could relieve stress, but that wouldn't tell us whether ginseng does. Both ingredients might help, or only the other ingredient might help. The companies specifically credit ginseng, so showing a possible benefit from something else doesn't identify why the author is wrong to dismiss that claim on the evidence given. The missing distinction is between unproven and false.
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