The economy is doing badly.

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Strong: likely1% picked this

   If car sales are at their lowest in years, then it is likely that the

   This is way too strong of a statement. We think that if car sales and real estate are doing badly then it's likely the economy is doing badly. But if just one of them is doing badly, we have no ammunition for saying it's likely that the economy is doing badly. The author went out of her way to say that if only one of them is doing badly, the economy overall could still be healthy.

   1%
2. B

   Reversed Logic3% picked this

   If the economy is doing badly, then either the real estate market or the car sales

   Our last sentence can function like a "soft" conditional (because its outcome isn't certain, but merely probable). real estate bad and ? economy probably bad car sales bad As soon as we see this answer is putting "bad economy" into the trigger position (whereas the information we were given put it into the outcome position), we can tell that this is attempting some illegal reversal.

   3%
3. C

   Too Strong: likely17% picked this

   If the real estate market is healthy, then it is likely that the economy as

   First of all, the passage gave us no mechanism at all for supporting / proving that the economy is healthy. If we wanted to pretend the 4th sentence were a conditional, we could say this: real estate healthy or ? possible econ is healthy car sales healthy The idea of "X is consistent with Y" just means that they don't contradict. It is possible for X and Y to both occur. So while we can support the notion that a healthy real estate market can coincide with a healthy economy, we can't support the idea that a healthy real estate market by itself makes a healthy economy probable.

   17%
4. D

   Correct68% picked this

   If the economy is in a healthy state, then it is unlikely that the real estate and car sales markets

   Why this is right

   Our last sentence can function like a "soft" conditional (because its outcome isn't certain, but merely probable). real estate bad and ? economy probably bad car sales bad The contrapositive of that would look like this answer choice: economy probably real estate good healthy ? or car sales good (i.e. not bad) Consider this analogy: Danielle knows that when both of her parents are mad at the same time, it is quite probable that they are having a fight with each other. Thus, if one of her parents is in a good mood, then it is unlikely that they are having a fight with each other. Since X and Y occurring together make Z probable, if Z isn't occurring, then it's improbable that X and Y are both occurring.

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

   68%
5. E

   Reversed Logic12% picked this

   The bad condition of the economy implies that both the real estate and the car sales

   Our last sentence can function like a "soft" conditional: real estate bad and ? economy probably bad car sales bad The word "implies" is the same as the conditional arrow. "X implies Y" = X ? Y So this answer is just reading the conditional idea backwards. economy bad ? bad real estate & bad car sales

   12%