PrepTest 154, Section 1, Question 21
Restaurant critic: Most people agree that the food(43 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(14 more words not shown)
- AThe best way(15 more words not shown)
- BAny restaurant can(10 more words not shown)
- CThe quality of(13 more words not shown)
- DA business will(16 more words not shown)
- EThere is no(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Better food doesn't automatically mean more customers. Price and location could matter too.
The Traintrack Inn has an advantage the critic identifies: a location convenient enough to bring in a steady stream of people almost by itself. Imagine a restaurant at a ski resort with few nearby alternatives. Its food might be ordinary and expensive, yet hungry skiers could still buy it because going elsewhere would be a hassle. That's a possible illustration of convenience bringing customers without exceptional cooking.
This also gives us a reason the restaurant might not bother to improve. If customers keep coming anyway, perhaps it doesn't need to compete on food quality. A restaurant without that advantage might have more reason to offer food worth traveling for. We aren't told every detail about Marva's location or business; we're looking at the connection the critic's explanation suggests.
What we’re looking for
The principle question asks us to support that reasoning. I would look for a rule explaining why a restaurant with a dependable flow of customers might keep offering ordinary food. The missing step runs from having customers without exceptional food to lacking a reason to improve the food.
Working the answers
- A
Even if improving products were the best way to attract customers, that wouldn't explain why this already popular restaurant continues to serve ordinary food. The critic is explaining a business whose location supplies customers without an exceptional product. A praises product improvement without connecting the convenient location to the lack of it.
- B
This supports the idea that a convenient location can bring more customers. But the passage already gives us that advantage for the Traintrack Inn. The remaining question is why that advantage helps explain the ordinary food. A rule about gaining popularity by moving doesn't address the restaurant's incentive to improve its product.
- C
If food quality were the most important factor in popularity, the contrast between the two restaurants would be more surprising, not better explained. The critic instead points to a location advantage that can bring customers despite merely ordinary food. C doesn't support that explanation.
- DCorrect
This says a business improves its products only when improvement is needed to attract customers. The Traintrack Inn's location nearly supplies a steady flow by itself, so the pressure to improve the food is low. D connects the dependable customers to the lack of exceptional food, which is the step the explanation needs.
- E
“No relationship” is far stronger than the critic needs. Food quality could matter a great deal while location also matters, allowing one restaurant with ordinary food to be more popular than another with better food. One such contrast doesn't require denying any relationship between quality and popularity.
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