Q11 - Many newspapers have cut back on book reviews

by **ohthatpatrick** Sat Sep 08, 2018 6:05 pm

Question Type:
ID the Conclusion

Stimulus Breakdown:
Conclusion: Ill-advised move to cut back on book reviews in favor of stuff more appealing to potential readers.
Evidence: You might decrease readership by alienating your loyal (presumably book-loving) readers while trying to cater to potential readers who are more likely to just watch TV anyway.

Answer Anticipation:
The only challenge in ID the Conclusion is finding the conclusion. We embark on our hunt by reminding ourselves that in 99% of cases on ID the Conclusion, the Conclusion appears EARLIER than the Evidence. It's most common for the Conclusion to be the first sentence or to be some form of "they're wrong" rebuttal, followed by support for that opinion. We need an answer that sounds like "it's ill advised to cut back on book reviews in favor of supposedly-more-popular things". Synonyms for "ill advised" could be "it would be bad" / "shouldn't do it" / "unlikely to be happy with this" / etc.

Correct Answer:
A

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) Yeah, this sounds like "the move is ill-advised". An equivalent meaning is, "you shouldn't have done that move".

(B) This is the background fact, not the author's "ill advised" opinion about that fact.

(C) This is detail within the background fact. There's nothing here that sounds like "ill advised"

(D) This sounds like the last sentence (a common trap in ID the Conclusion).

(E) This is just another rephrasing of the last sentence. This is the reason WHY the move was ill-advised. The conclusion is just saying "the move was ill-advised".

Takeaway/Pattern: ID the Conclusion is as close as we get to free points. All we have to do is find the Conclusion and then pick an answer with equivalent meaning. To get better at the first task, remind yourself of how ID the Conclusion arguments are almost always structured (Conclusion, and THEN Evidence). To get better at the second, bracket off the conclusion and keep reminding yourself as you look at answers that you just want what's in the brackets. This one used 'borrowed language': "SUCH a move ... is ill advised". Take the time to insert the borrowed language in ... "Cutting back on book reviews ... is ill advise".

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