26. (B) Question Type: Identify the Flaw The historian concludes on the basis of the number of satirical plays written about Flavius that this Roman governor, who removed state funding for the arts, was widely unpopular. But playwrights are unlikely to be a representative sample in this case, becau...

Thanks for the question! You're right that this is an unusually worded problem, but we can treat it as a weakening question: a statement that shows the explanation to be "at best incomplete" is akin to a statement that weakens it. The argument introduces a discrepancy between the increasin...

Thanks for the question! The current maps, according to the argument, use 60-year-old data gathered from a few hundred primitive weather stations. The new ones will be more useful because they use thousands of modern weather stations and input from gardeners. We're being asked to identify the statem...

Thanks for the question! This is an interesting one. We're being asked to "justify the argumentation," so we know we're looking for an assumption. The author argues that because Envirochem and Zanar are worse for the environment than TSX-400, either those two should be banned as well or TS...

Let's see if we can shed some light on this! Here we're dealing with an inference question (what do the statements most strongly support? ), which means we're being asked to draw a conclusion based on the statements given. You may also have noticed that the stimulus is composed of two conditional st...

Thanks for the question! This is an identify the flaw question, which really means we're looking for an assumption. So our first job is to identify the core of the argument, which is something like this: A group of mountain climbers performed worse in speech, understanding, and judgment due to oxyge...

Thanks for the question! You're right, this one is a real doozy. As you said, we're asked to resolve this paradox: even though Ravonia lost 12,000 jobs in logging and wood processing (about 15% of its timber industry), in the same 10-year period the total amount of wood taken from its forests actual...

Hey Pradeep! Thanks for the question. Here we're asked to justify the reasoning, which really means we're looking for an assumption that strengthens the argument. The argument breaks down like this: Climbers shouldn't attempt to climb Mount Everest for two reasons: the risk of death or serious injur...

Great question! I've uploaded an image depicting both the initial setup and the setup with the new constraint swapped in. Notice that it's not really a question of "merging" the new constraint; rather, you're substituting it in for one of the original ones. Personally, I find it much easie...

Please see the attached pdf for the solution.

Thanks for the question, Pradeep! Let's think about your claim that if we were to negate answer (B), the argument would fall apart: "Independent bookstores typically do sell the kinds of books that that are available in chain bookstores." Does that mean that independent bookstores = chain ...

23. (B) Question Type: Inference This question is somewhat unusual in that it asks to choose something that must be false on the basis of the facts given. That means the wrong answer choices will all be "must be true" or "could be true" statements. (As it turns out, they all could be true; there’...

24. (C) Question Type: Assumption The author bases his conclusion that the lancelet’s contracting vessel is a heart on two premises: 1) it resembles the structure of other sea animals’ hearts, and 2) its contractions resemble the contractions of other animals’ hearts. If we assume that a vessel tha...

23. (C) Question Type: Inference If the fact that modern "brushless" car washes are easier on most cars’ finishes is important for cars with new clear-coat finishes, then it’s probably true that these modern car washes don’t usually scratch cars with older finishes, which we’re told are less easil...

21. (B) Question Type: Analyze Argument Structure This argument begins with the conclusion, then offers a supporting premise, then provides a more specific example of that premise. Answer (B) correctly identifies the second sentence’s role as a premise, or "an explanation of" the conclusion. (A) i...

20. (E) Question Type: Matching This is a tough one because of the quantifier overlap! We can diagram the pattern of reasoning like this: All M are K All K are S Some K are not M Therefore, some S are not M Answer (E) matches this pattern: All B are T All T are D Some T are not B Therefore, some D ...

17. (D) Question Type: Assumption A department store will give a refund if a watch stops working the day after it’s bought, as long as it has not been used differently from the way it was intended to be used. By that standard, the consumer argues, the jewelry store, though not a department store, s...

16. (C) Question Type: Inference Although this isn’t worded like an inference question, we can treat it like one because we’re looking for something that must be true on the basis of the statements given. The critic says that improvements in communication and transportation have increased life’s pa...

14. (D) Question Type: Must Be False The regulation details the conditions under which food of a type that doesn’t normally contain fat may be labeled "nonfat": 1) most people mistakenly believe it ordinarily contains fat and 2) the label also states that it ordinarily contains no fat. A...

12. (E) Question Type: Assumption To qualify as an effective law, a command must be backed up by an effective enforcement mechanism, which is why societies have police: the enforcement power of police makes societies’ laws effective. From this, the author concludes that international law is not eff...