PrepTest 147, Section 1, Question 16

What we’re looking for

Working the answers

• A

  This treats poor oversight as a real cause of the scandal: it led to corruption. The speaker then argues that oversight shouldn't be the only topic because improving it cannot eliminate every instance of corruption. The original instead says the alleged cause—low standards—wasn't the actual problem, but discussing it remains valuable. A broadens a discussion of a genuine cause; it doesn't welcome discussion of a wrongly alleged cause.

• B
  Correct

  The roles line up. Poor oversight is what observers blame, just as the media blamed low academic standards. Simple corruption is the real problem, matching the researcher's dishonesty. Finally, discussing oversight is welcome because oversight matters independently of this scandal, just as discussing standards is welcome because attention to standards is always needed. That gives us the full pattern: the attribution is mistaken, yet the resulting discussion has value on its own.

• C

  This attributes the scandal to both oversight failures and corruption, rather than distinguishing an alleged cause from the true one. It also concludes that it was good for the scandal itself to occur. The university president only welcomes the discussion that followed the research fraud. Thinking a discussion is useful doesn't require thinking the misconduct that prompted it was a good thing.

• D

  This does distinguish the alleged cause from the true cause, so part of the structure fits. Corruption is blamed when poor oversight was actually responsible. But the conclusion goes the other way: D says the mistaken attribution is harmful. The president says discussion of the wrongly blamed issue is welcome because that issue matters anyway. We need that positive judgment about the discussion, which D lacks.

• E

  Here corruption really did play the largest role in the scandal, and that is why focusing on it is welcome. The original welcomes discussion of standards even though low standards weren't responsible for the incident. E endorses attention to the main actual cause; the original endorses attention to an important concern despite its being mistakenly blamed. Those are different reasons for welcoming a discussion.