PrepTest 141, Section 2, Question 3
Some video game makers have sold the movie(58 more words not shown)
The reasoning in the argument(9 more words not shown)
- Adraws a general(9 more words not shown)
- Binfers that a(18 more words not shown)
- Crestates as a(10 more words not shown)
- Dtakes for granted(16 more words not shown)
- Etreats a requirement(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Did the bad movie actually cause the later games to sell poorly?
Maybe the sequels were better, but only a little better. If I already own the original, a five percent improvement might not make me want to pay for a whole new game. The sequels could have sold poorly even without the movie. Their improved quality doesn't eliminate other explanations for disappointing sales.
What we’re looking for
I'm open to the author's story: an unpopular movie might hurt the game's reputation. But a movie that people hated followed by games that sold poorly doesn't establish that the movie caused the drop. For the flaw question, that's the problem I'd initially look for in the choices. Let's see whether the answers address it or identify another weakness.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Here's another problem: the author reaches a broad business conclusion from one game's experience. The conclusion says selling movie rights is rarely good for business, while the evidence concerns only Nostroma. Even if the movie caused every bit of that game's later trouble, why think its experience represents most games? Other adaptations might help sales or make selling the rights worthwhile in other ways. This criticism works without settling my initial question about what caused Nostroma's poor sales.
- B
The author tells us that both critics and the public hated the movie. Public dislike isn't inferred merely from critics' dislike; it's separately included in the evidence. The two groups could disagree in another case, but that isn't the reasoning here.
- C
Repeating a conclusion as its own support would look like “Sixteen-year-olds should be allowed to vote because they should be allowed to vote.” Here we have an example about a movie and later game sales offered to support a general business judgment. The example may be inadequate, but it isn't just the conclusion restated.
- D
We aren't predicting the games' popularity by assuming it will equal the movie's popularity. The passage gives us the games' poor sales as a fact. An argument that said “The movie was unpopular, so next year's game will be unpopular too” would raise this concern. Our author instead uses an actual case to make a broader claim about selling movie rights.
- E
That mistake would involve treating a requirement as a guarantee: “Every popular game needs good marketing; this game has good marketing, so it must be popular.” Our argument doesn't give a requirement for popularity and then claim that meeting it guarantees success. It reasons from one disappointing example to a general business conclusion.
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