Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
Personal conflicts aren’t unavoidable; they usually happen because people act irrationally. For example, it’s easier for people to assume someone has bad qualities rather than good ones, even if there is more evidence of the person’s good qualities. If someone thinks a friend is unreliable, one mistake can confirm that belief. However, it usually takes years of seeing a friend act reliably to feel certain that the friend is reliable.
Identify Conclusion
Personal conflicts are not inevitable.
A
Many people assume that personal conflicts are inevitable.
This is context. It explains a common belief, setting up the author’s argument that this belief is wrong. While many people think personal conflicts are unavoidable, the main conclusion is the author’s argument against this belief: that personal conflicts aren't inevitable.
B
Even when there is more evidence of good qualities than of bad ones, people find it easier to ascribe bad qualities than good ones.
This is a premise. It supports the author’s conclusion that personal conflicts aren't inevitable but arise because people act irrationally. The statement that people “find it easier to ascribe bad qualities than good ones” gives an example of this irrational behavior.
C
It is irrational to allow a single instance to turn one’s suspicion that a friend is unreliable into a feeling of certainty.
This is a premise. The idea that it's irrational to let one instance make one certain a friend is unreliable backs up the author’s claim that humans act irrationally. This, in turn, supports the main argument that personal conflicts happen because of this irrational behavior.
D
Personal conflicts are not inevitable.
This accurately rephrases the main conclusion. The author argues that personal conflicts are not inevitable, even though many people think they are, and concludes that the belief in their inevitability is "just not so."
E
Unlike a suspicion that a friend is unreliable, a belief that someone is reliable is normally built up only after many years of personal interaction.
This is a premise. It supports the conclusion that personal conflicts aren't inevitable but arise because people act irrationally. The idea that it takes years to trust a friend but only one mistake to doubt that friend provides an example of people’s irrational behavior.
Summarize Argument
The cartographer concludes that we shouldn’t think people aren’t misled by maps, even though they’re rarely misled by words. People are taught to be cautious about language, but there’s virtually no education about maps.
Identify Argument Part
The referenced text supports the conclusion. It’s part of a distinction that shows why conclusions about how people process language can’t be applied to how people process maps.
A
It is offered as an analogical case that helps to clarify the meaning of the argument’s conclusion.
The cartographer is arguing that a conclusion can’t be drawn from the analogy between maps and language. The referenced text doesn’t clarify the meaning of the argument’s conclusion—it helps spell out why maps and language are dissimilar cases.
B
It is a conclusion drawn from the claim that education in the sophisticated use of maps is almost nonexistent.
The referenced text isn’t a conclusion. There’s no support for the claim that people are taught to be cautious interpreters of language.
C
It is part of a distinction drawn in order to support the argument’s conclusion.
The referenced text distinguishes how people are educated in language from how people are educated in maps. In turn, this distinction supports the conclusion that we shouldn’t assume people won’t be misled by maps simply because they’re not misled by language.
D
It is offered as support for the contention that maps have certain relevant similarities to language.
We don’t have relevant similarities here. Instead, we have relevant dissimilarities in how people are educated. The referenced text helps demonstrate those.
E
It is the conclusion drawn in the argument.
There’s no support for the referenced text, so it can’t be a conclusion. Instead, it’s support for the linguist’s main conclusion—we shouldn’t believe most people aren’t susceptible to being misled by maps.
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that a small republic’s military recruitment rate for 18-year-olds is largely dependent on the recruitment rate for high school dropouts. This hypothesis is based on an observed correlation over 6 years: as the proportion of high school dropouts increased, so did the recruitment rate for 18-year-olds. Additionally, 18-year-olds in the republic are usually either high school graduates or dropouts.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that just because the proportion of dropouts and the recruitment rate for 18-year-olds increased at the same time, most 18-year-old military recruits are dropouts. In other words, the author assumes that the correlation was caused by the military being able to recruit more dropouts, and that they weren’t instead recruiting more graduates.
A
A larger number of 18-year-old high school graduates were recruited for the republic’s armed services in 1986 than in 1980.
This does not weaken the argument, which is about proportions and rates, not about absolute numbers. The number of 18-year-old graduate recruits increasing implies nothing about their recruitment rate, which could have increased, decreased, or stayed the same.
B
Many of the high-technology systems used by the republic’s armed services can be operated only by individuals who have completed a high school education.
This does not weaken the argument because who is able to operate military technology is unrelated to who the military is able to recruit. We also don’t know how many people are needed to operate the tech: maybe it’s just a few, so they could still mostly recruit dropouts.
C
Between 1980 and 1986 the percentage of high school graduates among 18-year-olds recruited in the republic rose sharply.
This weakens the argument, because it rebuts the author’s assumption that the observed correlation implied a causal link. This instead shows us that the increased recruitment rate was not dependent on recruiting more dropouts, but rather more graduates.
D
Personnel of the republic’s armed services are strongly encouraged to finish their high school education.
This does not weaken the argument, because the domain of the argument is limited to who the republic’s military is recruiting. Whatever education people pursue after they have already been recruited is irrelevant.
E
The proportion of recruits who had completed at least two years of college education was greater in 1986 than in 1980.
This does not weaken the argument, because the argument is purely about 18-year-old recruits, who we already know are usually either high school graduates or high school dropouts. Recruits who join later, after several years of college, are outside the argument’s domain.
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that the program to improve high school morale is working. Why? Because students who think they are failing tend to drop out, and the dropout rate last year was much lower than the previous year.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes there’s no other reason last year’s dropout rate was abnormally low or the previous year’s dropout rate was abnormally high. In addition, she assumes a higher school morale makes students more likely to think they’re succeeding, and that there’s no other reason besides the program for morale to have improved.
A
There was a recession that caused a high level of unemployment in the city.
This suggests dropout rates last year were low because there were fewer opportunities for employment. It offers an alternative explanation for the improving dropout rate that doesn’t depend on the morale-boosting program.
B
The morale of students who dropped out of high school had been low even before they reached high school.
This doesn’t mean the program to improve morale failed. It’s possible the program improved the morale of some students who entered high school with low morale, and that those students therefore didn’t drop out.
C
As in the preceding year, more high school students remained in school than dropped out.
This doesn’t mean the change in dropout rate was insignificant. The author does not suggest a dropout rate is high only if more than half of current students drop out.
D
High schools in the city established placement offices to assist their graduates in obtaining employment.
This is not necessarily an incentive for students to stay in school. Students who see themselves struggling may not expect to graduate anyway, making these placement offices for graduates a poor motivator for them.
E
The antidropout program was primarily aimed at improving students’ morale in those high schools with the highest dropout rates.
This is irrelevant. It’s not stated whether schools with the largest dropout rates experienced any improvement—only that the city’s overall dropout rate improved.