PrepTest 140, Section 3, Question 17
Science teacher: In any nation, a flourishing national(44 more words not shown)
The science teacher's statements provide(9 more words not shown)
- AIf scientists communicate(18 more words not shown)
- BThe extent to(26 more words not shown)
- CNo nation can(15 more words not shown)
- DIt is essential(21 more words not shown)
- EAn essential component(19 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Follow the requirements all the way down. A successful economy needs a flourishing scientific community. That community needs many young people excited enough to decide to become professional scientists. Getting that excitement requires good communication between scientists and the public.
So good communication is needed for the successful economy too. If that communication never happens, a required step toward the excited young people is missing. Without those young people, the scientific community lacks something it needs; without the flourishing community, the economy lacks something it needs.
What we’re looking for
Notice which way the reasoning goes. Good communication is a requirement, not a promise that everything else will work out. Scientists could communicate well while some other obstacle prevents young people from becoming excited enough to choose that career. For the supported inference, I'd look for a connection between points along this chain—especially the economy at one end and communication at the other.
Working the answers
- A
This turns the communication requirement into a guarantee. The passage says the needed excitement requires good communication; it doesn't say that communication by itself produces the excitement. A also says only that scientists communicate, leaving out the requirement that they communicate well.
- B
Necessary doesn't mean the principal factor determining how much the community flourishes. The young people's enthusiasm could be indispensable while funding, facilities, or other conditions also matter greatly. The teacher doesn't rank the factors or identify the main one.
- CCorrect
A successful economy requires the flourishing community, which requires the young people's commitment, which requires good communication. That connects the first requirement with the last: scientists must at some point have communicated well with the public for the economy to succeed under this account.
- D
The passage requires many young people to become excited enough to resolve to become scientists. It doesn't say most of the excited young people must actually become scientists. A decision to pursue a career is different from entering it, and 'many' doesn't establish a majority. D changes both the group claim and the required outcome.
- E
The communication requirement concerns sustaining a flourishing national scientific community by exciting young people. That doesn't establish that every individual scientific project needs its own scientists to communicate well with the public. A particular experiment might succeed without that public interaction. The national chain doesn't give us a rule for every endeavor.
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