PrepTest 157, Section 3, Question 6
Winchester Township cannot afford to keep its several(55 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(7 more words not shown)
- AMany Winchester residents(13 more words not shown)
- BMost Winchester residents(11 more words not shown)
- CThe only possible(13 more words not shown)
- DIt would cost(11 more words not shown)
- EEach of Winchester's(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What good is a better library if people can't get to it?
A wider selection of current books sounds appealing. But a library also has to fit into residents' lives. Maybe I can walk to my neighborhood branch, pick up a popular book, and talk to people I know. A huge collection five or ten miles away might be much less useful to me if I can't travel there easily.
That's the jump in the recommendation. The author shows that one large library would have a better collection, then treats that as better meeting residents' needs. Do those needs consist only of book selection? What about access or the neighborhood connection? The smaller branches might serve people well even with fewer books.
What we’re looking for
To weaken the argument, I'd look for a need that consolidation would serve worse. We can accept that the town can afford the new library and that its collection would be broader. Those advantages won't settle the recommendation if residents lose something more useful to them.
Working the answers
- A
Irregular hours are a problem with the existing branches. That doesn't show the proposed large library would serve residents worse. We aren't told its hours, so we can't assume it solves the problem, but this criticism of the current system doesn't undermine the recommendation to change it.
- B
Complaints about the current selection make the promised improvement seem useful. Residents apparently do care about a broader collection. That's a reason in favor of the plan, not a reason to doubt it.
- CCorrect
Most residents couldn't readily access the only available location. Now the larger collection comes with a serious disadvantage: getting to it. A well-stocked library that is difficult for most people to reach may meet their needs less well than nearby branches. We don't need to claim nobody could use it. The access problem for most residents is enough to challenge the recommendation.
- D
A significant cost isn't necessarily an unaffordable cost. The passage already says closing the branches would let Winchester afford the larger library. This answer neither overturns that premise nor shows that the expense would prevent the new library from meeting residents' needs. Cost alone doesn't establish the relevant downside.
- E
Trying to cater to everyone's tastes doesn't tell us how well the branches succeed. They might attempt to provide a broad selection and still lack the books residents want. We need evidence that something about the current arrangement serves residents better than the proposed one. An attempt isn't that evidence.
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