PrepTest 158, Section 3, Question 12
Professor Shanaz: People generally notice and are concerned(75 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(28 more words not shown)
- AIt is a(23 more words not shown)
- BIt is a(27 more words not shown)
- CIt is used(15 more words not shown)
- DIt is presented(24 more words not shown)
- EIt is the(6 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
If people are focused on contaminated water, I can see why an ozone campaign might struggle to get their attention. But could something change what they notice?
Professor Shanaz starts with a claim about behavior: people generally notice and worry about only the most obvious public health problems. The water threat is widespread and well known. Ozone, meanwhile, can harm severe asthmatics even at legally permitted levels. A danger can be real without being the danger that draws broad public attention.
Still, imagine a publicity campaign making the ozone risk more obvious. People could become concerned about a danger they hadn't noticed before.
Or consider another air pollutant: visible smoke from factories might motivate people to demand cleaner air even if they remain unaware of ozone. The argument focuses on ozone but predicts little public pressure for air pollution controls more broadly.
What we’re looking for
Those are reasons to question the prediction. The question, however, asks what the first claim does in the reasoning. It supplies the general idea about public attention that the professor uses to predict little grassroots support for stricter controls. We can identify that supporting role without accepting the prediction.
Working the answers
- A
This correctly starts with “premise,” but names the wrong claim being supported. People's habits of attention don't establish that contaminated water poses a more widespread threat than ozone. That comparison is additional information the professor uses alongside the claim about attention to predict what people will do.
- BCorrect
The claim about what people notice helps support the prediction that widespread efforts for stricter air pollution controls are unlikely now. If attention goes mainly to the most obvious problems, and the public is focused on the widespread water threat, the professor thinks the ozone danger is unlikely to generate a broad movement. B identifies both the supporting role and the conclusion it supports.
- C
The professor gives us the public's current awareness of the water problem as part of the situation. The argument isn't primarily trying to explain how people came to know about contaminated water. It uses that awareness, together with the general claim about attention, to forecast limited action on air pollution.
- D
How people allocate their attention doesn't establish ozone's medical effects. The danger to severe asthmatics is separately presented as supported by indisputable evidence. The opening sentence concerns human behavior, not evidence that a particular pollutant causes harm.
- E
The conclusion is the final prediction about a grassroots effort for stricter air pollution controls. The opening claim helps the professor reach that prediction. It is something the argument starts from, not the point the argument is trying to establish.
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