Logical Reasoning

PT106 · S1 · Q1 A student has taken twelve courses

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A student has taken twelve courses and received a B in a majority of them.

Conclusion

The student will probably get a B in this new course.

Evidence

The student has taken twelve courses so far, and got a B in most of them.

Evaluate

is the form of this argument.

To weaken that sort of argument, we would say, "No, no! This time is different." To strengthen that sort of argument, we want to say,

Goal

Look for four answers that make this time feel similar to those previous twelve examples (similar difficulty level / interest level / quality of teacher / time of day / etc.)

1.

Each of the following, if true, strengthens the argument EXCEPT:

  1. Correct

    The student previously studied alone

    Why this is right

    This weakens, by pointing out an important difference: before, he was alone, but now he's getting help (so maybe he's probably going to get an A, with help).

    Skill tested: Strengthen · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    84% picked this

  2. The twelve courses together covered

    Supports

    Since we want this new course to be a representative example of the previous twelve, knowing that the previous twelve were a wide range of topics makes it less likely that this new course would be some unprecedented topic. Like if all twelve earlier ones were math, but this new course were Spanish, then we wouldn't feel comfortable applying his performance in math classes to how he might do in Spanish class. But since the twelve classes addressed a broad range, this "mostly B's" performance seems more indicative of his performance as a student in general.

    7% picked this

  3. The student previously studied in

    Supports

    Any sort of sameness we get strengthens the legitimacy of the comparison. If the student were suddenly switching study habits, then we might not feel good predicting "Past = Present".

    3% picked this

  4. The student received a B

    Supports

    This strengthens by making the evidence more compelling. "a majority of 12" could be as low as 7. If the student got 7 B's, and 5 D's, we might not feel as comfortable saying "probably get a B". Meanwhile, according to this answer, if the student got 11 B's, and 1 D, we feel a lot better saying "he'll probably get a B".

    4% picked this

  5. The current course is a

    Supports

    Sameness = strengthening. Since this new course is literally a continuation of a class where he got a B, this makes us feel better at predicting a similar performance.

    2% picked this

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