PrepTest 150, Section 2, Question 19
If you study history, then you will appreciate(32 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(16 more words not shown)
- ABy studying ancient(37 more words not shown)
- BIf you learn(31 more words not shown)
- CTraveling to other(30 more words not shown)
- DStudying hard while(46 more words not shown)
- EOne can become(41 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
These are two ways to reach the same result. Why would taking one route force you to take the other?
Studying history leads to appreciation of the differences among civilizations. Reflecting on your own civilization also leads to that appreciation. The argument then jumps from studying history to reflecting on your own civilization. That link wasn't given. You could get the appreciation from studying history without taking the other route.
Consider a deliberately simplified hypothetical: suppose everyone with diabetes is sick and everyone with cancer is sick. It still wouldn't follow that everyone with diabetes has cancer. Under those rules, either illness guarantees sickness, but that shared result doesn't make one illness lead to the other.
What we’re looking for
For the parallel flaw, we need two ways to obtain one result, followed by an unsupported claim that the first way leads to the second. Keep the result separate from the two routes that produce it.
Working the answers
- A
This moves onward from an appreciation of ancient art to an understanding of modern art. Studying ancient art starts the process; appreciating what was accomplished is a step along the way; modern-art understanding is a further result. Our original instead gives two separate routes to the same appreciation and incorrectly connects those routes. A doesn't give a second independent way to reach the original result and then say the first way requires that second way.
- BCorrect
Learning Latin is one way to improve vocabulary. Studying great literature is another way to improve vocabulary. The conclusion then says learning Latin leads you to study great literature. Latin matches studying history, great literature matches reflection, and better vocabulary matches appreciation of civilizations. As in the original, sharing an outcome doesn't establish the proposed link between the two ways of reaching it.
- C
Traveling leads to cultural appreciation, which often encourages studying history. That is a sequence leading from travel toward history study. The conclusion then claims history study increases the desire to travel, turning the sequence back toward its starting point. This may be questionable reasoning, but it isn't the original's mistake of treating two separate routes to one outcome as though one route leads to the other.
- D
Studying hard helps form good habits, and a positive attitude helps retain those habits. Forming habits and keeping them are different roles, not two independent ways of producing the same result. The conclusion concerns the workplace benefit of diligent study, supported by the statement that these habits serve you well at work. It doesn't conclude that studying hard must produce the positive attitude, which would be closer to the original's unsupported connection.
- E
Reading the newspaper leads to being informed, and being informed leads to appreciating other cultures. The conclusion follows that chain from newspaper reading to cultural appreciation. Unlike the original, the middle idea is both the result of the first step and the starting point of the next. There aren't two independent routes to being informed that the conclusion mistakenly links together.
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