PrepTest 142, Section 2, Question 3
Commentator: If a political administration is both economically(48 more words not shown)
If all of the statements(12 more words not shown)
- AThe present administration(3 more words not shown)
- BThe present administration(5 more words not shown)
- CIf the present(10 more words not shown)
- DIf the present(12 more words not shown)
- EIf the present(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What about the economy? We know this administration protected individual liberties, but that gives us only half of the combination that guarantees success.
The opening rule requires two things together: economic success and protection of individual liberties. Meet both, and the administration counts as an overall success. Neglecting the environment doesn't automatically disqualify it; the passage specifically allows an administration to succeed despite that neglect.
Also, this combination needn't be the only way to succeed. Perhaps an administration could count as successful for some other reason, such as winning a war. That's a hypothetical possibility, not another rule we've been given. It shows why missing information about the economy doesn't prove failure.
What we’re looking for
For the must-be-true question, keep the unknown part conditional. If this administration is economically successful, then it has both pieces of the stated guarantee and is an overall success.
Working the answers
- A
We aren't told whether the economy is doing well. Protecting individual liberties doesn't establish economic success, and neither does neglecting the environment. A supplies the missing fact instead of drawing a conclusion from the facts given.
- B
We can't declare failure merely because we haven't established success. The economy might be doing well, in which case both conditions would be met. Even if it weren't, the passage hasn't ruled out every other way to count as an overall success.
- CCorrect
The administration has already protected individual liberties. Add economic success, and it satisfies both conditions in the first sentence. The resulting overall success follows directly. Notice that C doesn't claim the missing economic fact is true; it states what would follow if it were true.
- D
Economic success would establish overall success when combined with the protection of liberties. It would not establish environmental care. The passage explicitly leaves room for overall success despite environmental neglect, so changing the economy doesn't require changing the environmental record.
- E
Improving environmental protection would add a fact about the environment, while the stated guarantee requires economic success. We have no rule saying that environmental protection, even combined with protected liberties, guarantees overall success. E substitutes a different condition for the one the rule actually uses.
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