PrepTest 143, Section 3, Question 23
Amateur gardeners who plant based on the phases(73 more words not shown)
The argument requires assuming which(4 more words not shown)
- AUsing the phases(21 more words not shown)
- BThe phases of(13 more words not shown)
- CAmateur gardeners who(18 more words not shown)
- DAmateur gardeners cannot(13 more words not shown)
- EProfessional gardeners only(9 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The moon might give gardeners a schedule without doing anything to the plants.
That was my first thought. Following a routine could affect someone's results even if the thing setting the routine has no direct biological influence. Imagine using the moon's phases to schedule study sessions: any benefit could come from studying regularly, not from the moon making the studying work.
But the author gives us a more specific story. Some amateur gardeners plant during the first warm spell, then lose plants when frost follows. The author concludes that gardeners using the moon's phases are less likely to suffer that loss.
What we’re looking for
How does their schedule protect them from the frost? We've been told the phases don't affect plant growth, and we haven't yet connected that calendar to when the planting happens. For the required assumption, we need a fact that connects the moon-based practice to avoiding the risk described. We don't need the moon itself to change the weather.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
The moon-based schedule usually produces later planting than the first warm spell. That supplies the missing timing difference. The gardeners following the first warm spell expose their plants to a frost that may follow; gardeners waiting longer have a way to avoid that early risk.
If the moon-based gardeners generally planted at the same time as the first group, the timing story wouldn't explain their lower risk. A doesn't guarantee that every later planting escapes every frost. It gives the difference in practice that this explanation of the groups' results relies on.
- B
The moon doesn't have to cause or prevent a frost. A schedule could lead gardeners to plant at a different time while leaving the weather completely unchanged. The argument needs a difference in exposure to frost, not a lunar influence on the frost itself.
- C
The two groups could plant the same kinds of plants and have different results because they plant at different times. A difference in plant type might offer another explanation, but the argument doesn't require that difference for its timing-based account.
- D
A method can work even when the person using it doesn't understand why. Someone can follow a useful exercise routine without understanding the underlying physiology. Likewise, a gardener could benefit from a planting schedule without knowing what makes its timing helpful. Understanding isn't a requirement supplied by this argument.
- E
The comparison is between two groups of amateur gardeners. What professionals usually do doesn't establish the missing difference between those amateur groups. Professionals could follow another practice entirely, and the author's explanation would still need the timing connection in A.
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