PrepTest 148, Section 3, Question 22

What we’re looking for

Working the answers

• A

  The opening says plants thrive if they receive abundant moisture, light, and nutrients. That presents those conditions as enough for thriving. The greenhouse example then provides the combination and explains the healthy plants. Unlike the original, A doesn't start with a rule saying only that thriving requires certain conditions and then mistake those requirements for a guarantee.

• B

  This does give a conditional rule: when every country has equal market access, globalization will provide the desired resource-use benefit. It also says that equal access will occur in twenty years, then predicts the benefit at that time. The rule runs from equal access to the benefit, and the example follows that direction. It doesn't say a benefit requires access and then conclude that access alone must deliver it.

• C
  Correct

  A viable business idea must satisfy four requirements: clarity, cost-effectiveness, practicality, and responsiveness to demand. The website idea has those properties, so the argument calls it viable. That repeats the original mistake. A viable business must meet the requirements, just as a good waste-disposal solution must meet its requirements. But neither opening rule says those listed conditions are enough to guarantee the favorable result. Both arguments establish the requirements and then claim the result anyway. Four requirements instead of two doesn't change that flawed relationship.

• D

  'Those competitors—and only those' gives us both directions. Meeting every listed criterion makes a competitor eligible, and eligibility is restricted to people meeting the criteria. So when you meet them all, the stated rule supports your eligibility. The original gives only requirements for being a good solution; D expressly makes its requirements enough as well.

• E

  The meal's carbohydrates and protein are requirements for being nutritious. But the argument hasn't shown either is missing. If almost 80 percent of the calories are fat, the remaining calories could include both carbohydrates and protein. E rejects the outcome without establishing that a required condition is absent. The original makes a different error: it establishes the required conditions and treats them as a guarantee of the outcome. Both are flawed, but the precise mistakes differ.