A
The proportions of service requests for the other computer brands in the tally were clustered much closer to the ProBit level of service requests than to the KRV level.
B
For some computer brands, but not for others, most service requests are made to the manufacturer’s service department rather than to an independent service company.
C
The company that did the tally receives more service requests for ProBit brand computers than does any other independent computer service company.
D
The computer brands covered in the computer service company’s tally differ greatly with respect to their market share.
E
ProBit has been selling personal computers for many more years than has KRV.
Counselor: To be kind to someone, one must want that person to prosper. Yet, even two people who dislike each other may nevertheless treat each other with respect. And while no two people who dislike each other can be fully content in each other’s presence, any two people who do not dislike each other will be kind to each other.
Summary
The stimulus can be diagrammed as follows:
Notable Valid Inferences
If you are fully content with one’s presence, then you want them to prosper.
If you like someone, then you want them to prosper.
If you are fully content with one’s presence, then you are kind to them.
A
Some people who like each other are not fully content in each other’s presence.
Could be true. Liking someone is the necessary condition of being fully content, but being fully content isn’t a necessary condition of liking someone. It could be the case that people who like each other are not fully content in each other’s presence.
B
Some people who are fully content in each other’s presence do not want each other to prosper.
Must be false. As shown in the diagram, everyone who is fully content in someone’s presence wants that person to prosper.
C
Some people who treat each other with respect are not fully content in each other’s presence.
Could be true. The only thing that we know about respect is that it is possible for two people who dislike each other to treat each other with respect. It could be the case that people who aren’t fully content with each other’s presence can treat each other with respect.
D
Some people who want each other to prosper dislike each other.
Could be true. Wanting someone to prosper is a necessary condition of liking someone, but liking someone isn’t a necessary condition of wanting someone to prosper. It is possible to want someone to prosper while disliking them.
E
Some people who are kind to each other do not treat each other with respect.
Could be true. If someone is kind to someone, we know that they want that person to prosper, but that is the only thing we can definitively say. It is possible to be kind to someone and not respect them.
A
Most pharmaceutical manufacturers increased the size of their sales forces so that their sales representatives could devote more time to each physician.
B
Physicians who receive visits from pharmaceutical sales representatives usually accept free samples of medication from the representatives’ companies.
C
Most pharmaceutical companies did not increase the amount of money they spend promoting drugs through advertising targeted directly at consumers.
D
Most physicians who agree to receive a visit from a pharmaceutical sales representative will see that representative more than once during a given year.
E
The more visits a physician receives from a pharmaceutical sales representative, the more likely he or she is to prescribe drugs made by that representative’s company.
Principle: People should not feed wild animals because it makes them dependent on humans and less likely to survive on their own.
Situation: Bird lovers commonly feed wild birds to attract them to their yards and gardens.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
How can feeding wild birds be justified when doing so makes the birds dependent on humans and less likely to survive on their own?
Objective
The stimulus provides a general principle and then a specific example of a behavior that defies the principle’s suggestion. In order to justify the specific example, the right answer must add some information about the lived reality of the bird lovers and the birds that the general principle fails to account for or consider.
A
Congregating around human bird feeders makes wild birds more vulnerable to predators and diseases.
This is the opposite of helpful. Instead of explaining why feeding birds could be justified, (A) adds another reason why it isn’t.
B
Some species of wild birds benefit humans by consuming large numbers of mosquitoes and other insect pests.
We need an answer that justifies feeding birds, not an explanation of how birds benefit humanity. Additionally, by describing how birds benefit humans, (B) adds to the importance of protecting birds, which does the opposite of justifying feeding—and thereby harming—them.
C
Wild birds are much more likely to congregate in yards where they are fed than in yards where they are not fed.
This makes sense—of course birds are more likely to flock to a place where they’re provided with food! If this answer went further and told us that bird congregation is good for birds in some way, it might’ve been right. As it is, (C) doesn’t provide the justification we need.
D
Most bird lovers are very active in efforts to preserve the habitats of threatened species of wild birds and other animals.
This has nothing to do with feeding birds, so it doesn’t justify that act. It might make us more sympathetic to bird lovers—at least they’re trying to preserve habitats even though they’re also harming birds by feeding them—but it doesn’t justify the choice to feed the birds.
E
Human settlement is so pervasive in the habitat of most wild birds that they must depend in part on human sources of food for survival.
This is the justification we’re looking for! Even if it’s theoretically bad to feed birds because it makes them dependent on humans, the reality is that most wild birds already depend on humans, so feeding them is actually important for their survival.
Michaela: I think doctors who complain about patients doing medical research on the Internet are being a little unfair. It seems only natural that a patient would want to know as much as possible about his or her condition.
Sam: It is not unfair. Doctors have undergone years of training. How can you maintain that a doctor’s opinion is not worth more than something an untrained person comes up with after searching the Internet?
Summary
In response to Michaela’s claim that doctors are being unfair when complaining about patients doing their own medical research, Sam states that these doctors are not being unfair because doctors have years of training. Sam asks how Michaela can believe a doctor’s opinion is not worth more than an untrained person.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
The opinions of untrained patients are worth just as much as a doctor’s opinion.
A
health information found on the Internet is trustworthy
This answer is unsupported. Sam does not make a judgment call whether this information is in fact trustworthy or not.
B
the opinion of a patient who has done Internet research on his or her condition should have at least as much weight as the opinion of a doctor
This answer is strongly supported. Sam asks Michaela how she can maintain that a doctor’s opinion is not worth more than that of an untrained person.
C
the opinion of a patient’s own doctor should not be given more weight than the opinions of doctors published on websites
This answer is unsupported. The stimulus does not give us any information allowing us to make comparisons between doctors. We only have information to compare the opinions of doctors and untrained persons.
D
a doctor’s explanation of a patient’s symptoms should be taken more seriously than the patient’s own view of his or her symptoms
This answer is unsupported. Sam’s response indicates she believes a patient’s opinions should not hold as much weight as that of a doctor’s, not that doctor’s opinions should be taken more seriously.
E
patients who do not research their conditions on the Internet give their doctors’ opinions more consideration
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus what type of patients take their doctor’s opinions more seriously.