Q6 - The decisions that one makes can profoundly

[mshinners]

Question Type:
Principle Strengthen (though these are often Sufficient)

Stimulus Breakdown:
We get a nice and early "So", letting us know the conclusion right up front. The author concludes that you shouldn't regret the missed opportunities of youth (many principle questions have a "should" conclusion).

Why shouldn't you? Because early decisions can have profound impact on your life, and some of these missed opportunities, had they been pursued, would result in never forming some of those close personal relationships that everyone deeply cherishes. Robert Frost comes to mind...

Answer Anticipation:
These questions boil down to connecting what we're told in the premises to the judgment in the conclusion. Here, we need an answer that says something along the lines of: If an action would cause you to lose something that you cherish, you shouldn't regret not doing that action. A broad, generally applicable rule!

We're also expecting some answers about whether you should/should not actually have done those things. Those will be traps, because my argument concludes whether you should regret not doing them, not whether you should have done them.

Correct Answer:
B

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) Out of scope. While this answer gives us a principle that would allow us to conclude that you shouldn't regret something, it's based on increasing/decreasing the number of relationships. The argument talks about losing some of the close relationships, but, with other decisions, these could have been replaced with other relationships. In short, it's about the specific relationships, not about the number of relationships.

(B) As is usually the case for this question type, our prediction ended up pretty spot on. This connects the premise (you would lose something you cherish) to the conclusion (you shouldn't regret it).

(C) Out of scope. The argument doesn't talk about having "little effect" - if anything, it seems like it had quite an effect.

(D) Reversal/unwarranted comparison. First, this answer tells us what people who already regret something should do, while our argument is about what conditions should lead you to (not) regret something. Second, it's not about different levels of cherishing things.

(E) Out of scope. My argument is about not regretting missed opportunities, and this answer has nothing to do with that.

Takeaway/Pattern: Principle Strengthen questions are very predictable - look for an answer that says, "If {premise}, then {conclusion}." Also, be very aware of new terms in the conclusion (here, "should not regret"), as it will almost always show up in the correct answer (and often in very few incorrect answers, letting you quickly eliminate them).

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