PrepTest 147, Section 1, Question 25
Some advertisers offer certain consumers home computers free(73 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AAt least some(38 more words not shown)
- BNo advertisers could(19 more words not shown)
- CThere are at(40 more words not shown)
- DThe advertisers would(35 more words not shown)
- EConsumers who use(25 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The computer is free because the advertising produces extra sales. That makes the arrangement less mysterious: it's like a service that costs its users nothing directly but earns money from the ads those users see. Here, browsing information lets advertisers tailor the ads to each person's interests, and we're expressly told the resulting sales pay for the giveaway.
What we’re looking for
For the most-supported conclusion, I'd stay close to that result. The targeted advertising must be getting at least some users to buy more from these advertisers than they otherwise would.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
This states the extra purchasing that supports the business model. The advertisers can afford the free computers because targeting individual users increases sales. That supports the conclusion that at least some users spend more with these advertisers than they would without browsing on such a computer. It doesn't require every user to buy more or tell us how large any one person's increase is.
- B
The passage explains one way to afford giving computers away. It doesn't establish that no other arrangement could work if users didn't browse the Internet. An advertiser might have another source of revenue or another reason to fund a promotion. We can't turn this successful strategy into the only possible strategy.
- C
Spending more isn't the same as having spent little or nothing otherwise. A user who would already have spent one hundred dollars might now spend one hundred twenty. That increase fits the passage perfectly without showing the user would otherwise have spent very little. C adds an unsupported claim about how low the earlier spending would have been.
- D
We know the ads play continuously, but we aren't told continuous display is required for the promotion to pay off. Perhaps showing targeted ads half the time would still generate enough extra sales. The passage describes the existing arrangement without proving that reducing the frequency would make it unaffordable.
- E
No option to stop sharing browsing information is described. A system could offer that choice, but the passage doesn't tell us this one does. We shouldn't import assumptions about the privacy controls a user might expect from other computers or services.
More Must Be True questions
Learn the LSAT our way
Our platform drills Must Be True questions at your level and adjusts as you improve.