A
Beginning chess players are better at thinking through the consequences of chess moves than experts are.
B
A beginning chess player should use pattern-recognition techniques when deciding what move to make.
C
One’s chess skills will improve only if one learns to use pattern-recognition techniques.
D
In playing chess, an expert player relies crucially on his or her memory.
E
Any chess player who played other games that require pattern-recognition skills would thereby improve his or her chess skills.
Farmer: Because water content is what makes popcorn pop, the kernels must dry at just the right speed to trap the correct amount of water. The best way to achieve this effect is to have the sun dry the corn while the corn is still in the field, but I always dry the ears on a screen in a warm, dry room.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why does the farmer dry the kernels inside and not in the field?
Objective
A hypothesis resolving this discrepancy will state some advantage to drying the kernels indoors or some disadvantage to drying them in the field. This must be a good enough reason, in the farmer’s judgment, to dry the kernels indoors.
A
The region in which the farmer grows popcorn experiences a long, cloudy season that begins shortly before the popcorn in fields would begin to dry.
This explains why the farmer dries the kernels indoors. The weather is not sunny consistently enough for the sun to dry them in the field.
B
Leaving popcorn to dry on its stalks in the field is the least expensive method of drying it.
This widens the discrepancy. It is another reason for the farmer to dry the kernels in the field.
C
Drying popcorn on its stalks in the field is only one of several methods that allow the kernels’ water content to reach acceptable levels.
This is necessary for the farmer’s choice to be sound, but not enough to resolve the discrepancy. Sun drying is the most effective method, so the farmer’s decision not to use that method remains a mystery.
D
When popcorn does not dry sufficiently, it will still pop, but it will take several minutes to do so, even under optimal popping conditions.
This offers no reason for the farmer to dry the kernels indoors. It implies that improperly dried kernels are functional, but gives no disadvantage to sun drying and no advantage to drying indoors.
E
If popcorn is allowed to dry too much, it will not pop.
This is not a disadvantage of sun drying, which is the best way to ensure the kernels trap “the correct amount of water.” It is not stated whether indoor drying or sun drying produces kernels with more water.
Factory manager: One reason the automobile parts this factory produces are expensive is that our manufacturing equipment is outdated and inefficient. Our products would be more competitively priced if we were to refurbish the factory completely with new, more efficient equipment. Therefore, since to survive in today’s market we have to make our products more competitively priced, we must completely refurbish the factory in order to survive.
Summarize Argument
The manager concludes that the company must refurbish the factory to survive. She supports this by saying that to survive, they must make their products more competitively priced and refurbishing the factory would make their products more competitively priced.
Identify and Describe Flaw
This is both the flaw of confusing sufficiency and necessity and confusing one solution with the only possible solution.
The manager treats “refurbish” as necessary for “competitively priced.” But according to her premises, “refurbish” is merely sufficient.
In other words, refurbishing the factory is one way to make products more competitively priced, but it may not be the only way. By concluding that the factory must be refurbished, the manager overlooks the possibility that there might be other solutions.
A
fails to recognize that the price of a particular commodity can change over time
The manager doesn't mention that prices can change over time, but this doesn’t describe a flaw in her argument. Her argument addresses the price of her factory’s automobile parts compared to the price of other factories’ parts. Whether prices change over time is irrelevant.
B
shifts without justification from treating something as one way of achieving a goal to treating it as the only way of achieving that goal
The manager shifts from treating refurbishing the factory as one way of making products more competitively priced to treating it as the only way. In her premises “refurbishing” is a sufficient solution, while in her conclusion it’s a necessary solution.
C
argues that one thing is the cause of another when the evidence given indicates that the second thing may in fact be the cause of the first
The manager doesn’t make this mistake. Instead, she argues that one thing is necessary for another when her evidence indicates that it is in fact only sufficient.
D
recommends a solution to a problem without first considering any possible causes of that problem
The manager’s argument is actually flawed because it recommends— and even requires— a solution to a problem without first considering other possible solutions to that problem.
E
fails to make a definite recommendation and instead merely suggests that some possible course of action might be effective
The manager does make a definite recommendation: refurbishing the factory. She also establishes that refurbishing the factory would be effective at making products more competitively priced.
A few recently hatched North American pythons also have the disease.
The disease is hard to detect.
All pythons die within six months of getting the disease.
There are a lot of cheap pythons in pet stores since a big shipment of pythons arrived from Africa.
People interested in buying pythons should beware.
Many pythons hatched in Africa will die within six months.
A
Some pythons hatched in North America may appear fine but will die within six months as a result of the liver disease.
B
Pythons that hatch in Africa are more susceptible to the liver disease than are pythons that hatch in North America.
C
Any python that has not died by the age of six months does not have the liver disease.
D
The pythons are inexpensively priced because many of them suffer from the liver disease.
E
Pythons hatched in neither Africa nor North America are not afflicted with the liver disease.
A
Even five servings of fruits and vegetables a day is insufficient unless the intake is varied to ensure that different vitamins are consumed.
B
Certain commonly available fruits and vegetables contain considerably more nutrients than others.
C
Nutritionists sometimes disagree on how much of a fruit or vegetable constitutes a complete serving.
D
Many commonly consumed foods that are neither fruits nor vegetables are fortified by manufacturers with the vitamins found in fruits and vegetables.
E
Fruits and vegetables are also important sources of fiber, in forms not found in vitamin pills.
Rahima: Your argument for subsidizing art depends on claiming that to gain widespread popular acclaim, artists must produce something other than their best work; but this need not be true.
A
disputes an implicit assumption of Sahira’s
B
presents independent support for Sahira’s argument
C
accepts Sahira’s conclusion, but for reasons different from those given by Sahira
D
uses Sahira’s premises to reach a conclusion different from that reached by Sahira
E
argues that a standard that she claims Sahira uses is self-contradictory
2.*Small* adult frogs have a low body weight to skin surface area ratio, making them unable to survive in arid climates.
3. The Yucatán peninsula has an arid climate in the north and a wet climate in the south.
4. Frogs' moisture requirements are the most important factor determining where they can live in the Yucatán peninsula.