PrepTest 156, Section 3, Question 10
Passage A is adapted from a book review(497 more words not shown)
Passage A(12 more words not shown)
Passage B(493 more words not shown)
The primary purposes of the(11 more words not shown)
- APassage A argues(14 more words not shown)
- BPassage A proposes(15 more words not shown)
- CPassage A argues(12 more words not shown)
- DPassage A questions(16 more words not shown)
- EPassage A argues(15 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
A opens the door to a possibility: paranormal phenomena may be real despite the failed experiments. B tries to shut it by saying the tests establish that psychic powers are unreal and that Dyson's attempted reconciliation doesn't work.
What we’re looking for
That is the relationship we need to describe. The references to general philosophies and quantum physics serve this disagreement; they do not turn the two arguments into a debate about every kind of knowledge.
Working the answers
- A
A discusses a general philosophical view, but its argument concerns the particular possibility of paranormal phenomena. B does not supply one specific counterexample to a general rule; it directly attacks that possibility and the reasons offered for it.
- B
A does not announce a wide-ranging new theory, and B's objection isn't limited to a few details. B rejects the central paranormal hypothesis.
- CCorrect
A argues that paranormal phenomena are possible. B rejects that argument by appealing to scientific tests and disputing the application of complementarity. This captures both the strength of A's claim and the direction of B's response.
- D
A describes two extremes and says most people fall between them. We aren't told the view it challenges is mainstream, so this adds an unsupported claim about its popularity.
- E
A does not identify a self-contradiction in a theory, and B does not resolve one as merely apparent. We have a disagreement over possibility and evidence, not that pattern of reasoning.
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