"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why would replacing traditional electric generators with cold-fusion power plants result in a reduction of no more than 25 percent in the average residential electric bill when cold fusion would provide nearly limitless power from inexpensive raw materials?
Objective
The correct answer must be the only answer that doesn’t help to explain why transitioning to cold-fusion power plants would reduce the average residential electric bill by no more than 25 percent. Any correct answer will either fail to address costs associated with transitioning to cold-fusion power plants or make transitioning seem more financially appealing.
A
Cold-fusion power plants would be more expensive to build and maintain than traditional electric generators are.
If this is true, the extra expenses associated with building and maintaining cold-fusion power plants may largely offset how cheap cold fusion would be relative to energy provided by traditional electric generators.
B
Environmental regulations now placed on burning coal or fuel oil are less costly than the regulations that would be placed on cold fusion.
The costliness of regulations placed on cold fusion may largely offset how much cheaper cold fusion would be than energy provided by burning coal or oil.
C
Most electric companies would be willing to incorporate cold-fusion technology into their power plants.
It doesn’t matter whether electric companies would be willing to incorporate cold-fusion technology. (C) fails to address why transitioning to cold fusion wouldn’t significantly reduce average residential electric bills.
D
Only a relatively small portion of any residential electric bill is determined by the electric company’s expenses for fuel.
If only a relatively small portion of residential electric bills are determined by fuel expenses, then the money saved on transitioning to cold fusion may not significantly alter residential electric bill costs.
E
Personnel costs for the distribution of power to consumers are unrelated to the type of raw materials an electric company uses.
If personnel costs are unaffected by the type of raw materials an electric company uses, transitioning to cold fusion may not significantly reduce average residential electric bills.
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that more theaters should change to repertory theater. This is because stagehands, actors, and managers all like repertory theater.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that theaters should do what their stagehands, actors, and managers like. This means she believes that their preferences take precedence over other concerns, particularly on the audience’s side. If repertory theater alienated a large number of regular theater-goers, this would likely be a poor strategy. The author also assumes that stagehands, actors, and managers don’t already like the way theaters operate. If this was the case, then there would be nothing to differentiate repertory theater from the status quo.
A
In a repertory theater, a large capital outlay is required at the beginning of each season.
It might be difficult for some theaters to acquire a large capital outlay. This seems to weaken the author’s argument.
B
In a repertory theater, patrons need to pay overly close attention to the schedule in order to make their theater plans.
This suggests patrons are less likely to come to repertory theaters. Who pays overly close attention to their schedules just to go see a play?
C
In a repertory theater, storage space for sets for more than one production must be available.
This points to a problem with repertory theater. Many theaters might not have adequate storage space to accomodate.
D
In a repertory theater, plays can be rescheduled to meet audience demand.
Not only do stagehands, actors, and theater managers like repertory theater, but repertory theater also offers a key advantage: plays can be schedule to meet demand. Thus, repertory theaters won’t be running plays with profit-decreasingly low ticket sales.
E
In a repertory theater, some actors who change roles from night to night find it difficult to master all of the roles they play.
While actors like the variety, they struggle to master the roles they play. This makes the plays worse, which likely has negative effects on ticket sales.
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The researcher concludes that whenever a child exhibits a learning deficit, the hippocampus is malfunctioning. Why? Because, if memory fails to work correctly, it leads to a learning deficit. And all short-term memory failures are caused by hippocampus malfunctions.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of confusing sufficiency and necessity. The author implicitly argues that hippocampus memory malfunctions always lead to learning deficits. Therefore, learning deficits are always the result of hippocampus malfunctions.
The problem is that we don’t know that—there could be learning deficits that are the result of factors other than hippocampus malfunctions.
The problem is that we don’t know that—there could be learning deficits that are the result of factors other than hippocampus malfunctions.
A
draws a general conclusion based on too small a sample of learning deficits
We have no indication that the researcher’s sample size of learning deficits is insufficient.
B
presumes, without giving justification, that all learning deficits in children involve short-term memory
The author has to presume this: if he doesn’t, there could be learning deficits not caused by memory problems, and therefore not necessarily caused by hippocampus malfunctions.
C
presumes, without giving justification, that short-term memory is disabled whenever the hippocampus is disabled
This is the reverse of what the author presumes. Namely, he thinks that the hippocampus is disabled whenever short-term memory is disabled.
D
fails to quantify precisely the length of time during which the mind holds a piece of information in short-term memory
The precise length of time is irrelevant; all the author needs to establish for his argument is that the length of time is limited.
E
takes for granted that learning deficits in adults have a cause unrelated to the cause of learning deficits in children
The author doesn’t presume this—learning deficits in adults aren’t mentioned here—so it can’t be the flaw.
Summarize Argument
The novelist concludes that grammar books are useless as references for authors. He argues in support that sentences fall into two categories: those writers believe to be grammatical and those they believe to be ungrammatical. In either case, he claims, authors have no reason to consult a grammar book.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The novelist suggests there are only two options: being sure that a sentence is grammatical or being sure that it’s ungrammatical. This is the cookie-cutter flaw of creating a false dichotomy. What if you’re unsure whether a sentence is grammatical? Perhaps you’d find a grammar book useful in that case.
A
infers, from the claim that authors should not consult grammar books, that they will not in fact do so
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of confusing "is" for "ought;" it’s not applicable here, because the novelist never indicates that authors should not consult grammar books.
B
infers, from the claim that an author does not mistakenly think that a sentence is ungrammatical, that the author will feel sure that it is grammatical
The word "mistakenly" implies a judgment about a sentence's true grammatical status. But the novelist doesn't say anything about what sentences are truly grammatical or ungrammatical—only what authors believe to be grammatical.
C
overlooks the possibility that grammar books are useful as reference sources for people who are not authors
The novelist’s conclusion is about the use of grammar books by authors specifically. So their use by non-authors is irrelevant.
D
presumes, without providing justification, that grammar books cannot have any use except as reference sources
The novelist’s conclusion is about using grammar books as reference sources—whether they have other uses is irrelevant.
E
ignores the possibility that there is a middle ground between being sure that a sentence is grammatical and thinking that it is ungrammatical
This is the cookie-cutter flaw of creating a false dichotomy. The novelist commits this by overlooking a third option: instead of being certain that a sentence is grammatical or ungrammatical, one can simply be unsure.