All practice questions

Match each flawed argument stimulus to the abstract description of the logical error it commits.

Read the following argument, then evaluate the statement below it.

Political Commentator: In any robust democracy, the ruling party will inevitably face plummeting approval ratings during an economic recession. The ruling Coalition Party is currently facing plummeting approval ratings amidst a severe economic recession. Therefore, despite recent claims to the contrary by international observers, it is clear that our country remains a robust democracy.

Statement: The commentator's reasoning is flawed because it infers that a certain political condition is absent merely on the grounds that a condition sufficient to guarantee its presence is absent.

Sociologist: A functioning democracy requires its electorate to have access to impartial political reporting. Over the last decade, however, the media landscape has been entirely consolidated by three massive entertainment conglomerates. Because these conglomerates are legally bound to prioritize maximizing their quarterly profits above all other objectives, the fundamental prerequisites for a functioning democracy are presently being undermined.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the sociologist's argument depends?

Match each logical argument on the left with the necessary supporter assumption on the right that correctly bridges the gap between its premise and its conclusion.

Match each flawed causal argument to the correct description of the logical fallacy it commits.

A supermarket chain previously offered a "Buy One, Get One Free" (BOGO) promotion on its premium coffee brand exclusively on weekends, while charging the regular full price on weekdays. Recently, the chain eliminated the weekend BOGO promotion entirely and permanently reduced the regular price of the coffee by 50 percent every day of the week, accurately advertising that customers could now get the promotional per-unit price anytime. In the year following this pricing change, the total number of bags of this premium coffee sold by the chain increased by 20 percent compared to the prior year. Nevertheless, the chain's overall profit derived from this premium coffee dropped substantially, even though the wholesale cost per bag and all associated operational costs remained constant.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy?

Consider the following argument:

Public Health Official: Last year, the city launched a comprehensive campaign to encourage drivers to wear seatbelts. The campaign drastically changed behavior: surveys confirm that the proportion of drivers in the city who regularly wear seatbelts surged from 40 percent last year to 80 percent this year. However, recent traffic reports reveal that the total number of severe injuries resulting from car accidents in the city has actually increased by 15 percent compared to last year. Clearly, wearing a seatbelt does not actually reduce a driver's risk of suffering a severe injury in a car accident.

Statement: The official's argument is actively weakened by the new finding that the total number of car accidents in the city also increased by exactly 15 percent over the past year.

Marine biologist: In a decisive effort to protect the endangered crested sea turtle, the regional government has recently enacted a comprehensive ban on all commercial net fishing within the Emerald Gulf. This legislative action was primarily justified by extensive ecological studies demonstrating that adult crested sea turtles frequently become fatally entangled in these commercial nets during their migratory patterns. Therefore, by eliminating this specific environmental hazard, the new ban will likely cause the overall crested sea turtle population to increase significantly over the course of the next decade.

Statement: Determining whether the commercial net fishing operations in the Emerald Gulf had been significantly depleting populations of predatory fish that feed heavily on crested sea turtle hatchlings is critical to evaluating the validity of the marine biologist's argument.

Consumer Advocate: The manufacturer of the Apex blender knew that its motor could overheat and catch fire if used continuously for more than ten minutes. Instead of redesigning the motor, the manufacturer simply included a warning in the user manual advising against continuous use beyond ten minutes. Because it is highly predictable that many consumers will not read the manual before using a kitchen appliance, the manufacturer is fully responsible for the property damage caused by the blender fires.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the consumer advocate's reasoning?

Many people believe that the most significant factor in the decline of honeybee populations is the widespread use of pesticides in modern agriculture. While it is true that certain pesticides, particularly neonicotinoids, have a detrimental effect on bee health, this view oversimplifies a complex ecological issue. In reality, the primary driver of the honeybee population decline is the loss of natural foraging habitats. As urban areas expand and industrial farming relies increasingly on single-crop fields, bees are deprived of the diverse floral resources they need to maintain strong immune systems and resilient colonies. Without adequate and varied nutrition from these natural habitats, bees become significantly more vulnerable to all other stressors, including pesticides and diseases.

Which of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

Criminologist: The city council insists its new zero-tolerance policing strategy is succeeding, citing a 15 percent reduction in overall violent crime over the six months since the strategy was launched. This evidence, however, is meaningless. Over those same six months, a regional economic collapse caused the city's total population to plummet by roughly 20 percent as residents relocated. Consequently, the zero-tolerance strategy has had absolutely no effect on the incidence of violent crime.

The criminologist's argument is vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it illicitly infers a causal relationship between the policing strategy and the reduction in crime based solely on a chronological correlation.

To successfully cultivate the rare ghost orchid, one must precisely control the humidity of the greenhouse and use a specialized fungal fertilizer. The botanical garden has maintained precise humidity control in its new greenhouse and applied the specialized fungal fertilizer. Thus, the garden will certainly succeed in cultivating the ghost orchid.

Which of the following arguments exhibits a flawed pattern of reasoning most similar to that exhibited by the argument above?

A technology firm, Cygnus Solutions, implemented a rigorous new quality-assurance protocol designed specifically to prevent major software bugs from reaching the final release of their applications. Following the implementation of this protocol, a post-release review showed that 80 percent of all user-reported software defects were categorized as "major bugs," marking the highest proportion in the company's history. Despite this, the head of engineering claims this data proves the new protocol was highly effective in reducing the absolute number of major bugs in their released software.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the engineering head's claim?

Meteorologist: Historical agricultural data reveals that the regional almond harvest faces critical risk only when the total seasonal volume of rainfall drops below 15 inches. Over the past five years, the percentage of days during the growing season on which any measurable precipitation occurred has decreased by nearly 40%. Consequently, the region must be moving dangerously close to the 15-inch threshold that threatens the almond harvest.

Which of the following most accurately describes a flaw in the meteorologist's reasoning?

Art Historian: Extensive chemical analysis confirms that the newly discovered portrait *Lady in Blue* contains genuine ultramarine pigment. Historical records demonstrate that only paintings created prior to the eighteenth century contain genuine ultramarine pigment. Therefore, *Lady in Blue* is undoubtedly a highly valuable artwork.

Statement: The assumption 'Any painting that is highly valuable was created prior to the eighteenth century' is a sufficient assumption that, if added to the premises, logically guarantees the art historian's conclusion.

Environmentalist: Two years ago, the city implemented a ban on the use of artificial fertilizers in all residential gardens to improve the water quality of the adjacent Lake Azure. Recently, tests showed that the concentration of toxic algae in Lake Azure, which feeds on synthetic nitrogen, has decreased by 40%. Therefore, the city's ban successfully achieved its intended goal.

Which of the following must be assumed in order for the environmentalist's conclusion to be properly drawn? (Select all that apply)

(1) In the nineteenth century, many historians viewed the Industrial Revolution primarily as a period of rapid technological progress that uniformly improved living standards. (2) They pointed to innovations like the steam engine and mechanized looms as evidence of a triumphant march toward modernity. (3) However, this traditional view fails to account for the severe social dislocations experienced by the working class. (4) In reality, the early decades of the Industrial Revolution resulted in a significant decline in the quality of life for many urban laborers, characterized by grueling work hours and unsanitary living conditions. (5) Consequently, historians must recognize that the era was defined just as much by profound social hardship as it was by technological advancement.

Which sentence explicitly states the author's main point? (Provide the number of the sentence, e.g., '3')

Transportation Planner: Any infrastructure project that expands highway capacity inevitably encourages urban sprawl. The newly approved North Corridor expansion will add two additional lanes to the existing highway. Therefore, the North Corridor expansion will undoubtedly result in increased carbon emissions for the region.

Which of the following are assumptions upon which the transportation planner's argument depends? Select all that apply.

Match each observed scenario to the abstract description of the apparent discrepancy it presents.

Consider the following argument by a linguist:

Any constructed language that lacks a mechanism for expressing counterfactuals cannot be fully adopted as a primary language by a speech community. The newly developed language, Novial-X, lacks complex temporal modifiers. Therefore, Novial-X will never be fully adopted as a primary language by a speech community.

The assumption that 'any constructed language that lacks a mechanism for expressing counterfactuals also lacks complex temporal modifiers' is sufficient to logically guarantee the linguist's conclusion.