PrepTest 157, Section 2, Question 19
Committee chairperson: No new course will be approved(60 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(10 more words not shown)
- AIf there are(18 more words not shown)
- BIf all of(23 more words not shown)
- CIf there is(20 more words not shown)
- DIf the new(20 more words not shown)
- EIf there are(21 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
There can be at most one new course that isn't upper-level.
Here's why. Every new course needs a proposal already received by either the committee or Dean Wilson. The committee has received proposals only for upper-level courses. Dean Wilson has received just one proposal. So if a new course isn't upper-level, it must come from that single proposal to the dean. There can't be two new non-upper-level courses available through that route.
What we’re looking for
The last fact adds a rule about prerequisites: every upper-level course will have one next year. We're asked what follows from all these facts. The limit of at most one new non-upper-level course is the clearest thing I've connected so far; now we'll see how the choices use it. Keep two limits in mind: receiving a proposal doesn't guarantee approval, and saying upper-level courses require prerequisites doesn't forbid prerequisites in other courses.
Working the answers
- A
A new lower-level course could have a prerequisite too. The rule requires prerequisites for upper-level courses; it doesn't reserve prerequisites exclusively for them. So even with no new upper-level courses, the dean's possible lower-level course might have a prerequisite.
- B
All approved new courses could be upper-level even if many committee proposals were rejected. For example, the committee might approve half its proposals and reject the rest. Every approved course would still be upper-level. The description of approved courses doesn't tell us the approval rate for submitted proposals.
- CCorrect
More than one new course means they can't all come from the dean's single proposal. At least one must come from a proposal received by the committee, whose proposals are all upper-level. Every upper-level course will have a prerequisite. So at least one of the new courses must have one.
- D
This would establish that all the proposed new courses are upper-level, so any new courses approved would have prerequisites. But the answer says all courses offered next year. Existing lower-level courses might still be offered without prerequisites. The rules about new proposals don't eliminate that possibility.
- E
There might be no new courses at all. The committee could approve none of its proposals, and the dean's proposal could also be rejected. That would give us no new upper-level courses without establishing approval of the dean's proposal. A proposal provides a possible route to approval, not a promise of it.
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