Traditionally, students at Kelly University

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Strong: only5% picked this

   Professors who distribute the paper evaluation forms selectively distribute them only to students

   The author is certainly insinuating, by saying that some professors distribute the evaluations selectively, that they are probably trying to bias the results in favor of good evaluations. But doing that doesn't require that you only give it to people you personally like. You might only give it to students who you think like you (after all, you're just trying to give it to students who will rate you well). You also might only give it out to classes that you think, by enlarge, liked you, even if that means you still give the evaluations to some students in that class, who might not like you that much.

   5%
2. B

   Too Strong: wisely and insightfully34% picked this

   Students can wisely and insightfully assess a professor’s performance before the end

   This is close to being accurate, but the author doesn't need to assume that early-semester responses are wise and insightful. She just has to assume that they're an accurate reflection of how those students would have evaluated the teaching performance by the time the semester ended. Whether an evaluations is an accurate reflection of student opinion is very different from whether the student opinion is wise and insightful.

   34%
3. C

   Too Strong: any1% picked this

   The traditional system for evaluating teaching performance should not be used

   The author has not been so extreme that we could accuse her of saying "this old evaluation system should never be used again at any university!!" The author's conclusion isn't even normative / prescriptive language (e.g. should, ought). It's just descriptive: in the new system, X will happen.

   1%
4. D

   Too Strong: nearly all7% picked this

   Nearly all professors who fail to distribute the paper evaluation forms do so because they believe the students

   Our author hasn't committed herself to this extreme and cynical of an accusation. She might believe that most professors who fail to distribute the evaluations aren't afraid of bad evaluations, they're just unwilling to give up 10-15 minutes of precious class time in their final class for students to sit there and fill out the evaluations.

   7%
5. E

   Correct54% picked this

   Dissatisfied students are in general not more likely than satisfied students to submit

   Why this is right

   Whenever we're doing Necessary Assumption and we see an answer choice ruling out an idea with "not", we are enticed. We want to slow down, negate it, and see if it becomes an objection. (If it doesn't, eliminate. If it does, pick it) Would it hurt the argument to say that "angry students are in general more likely than happy students to submit a computerized eval"? Definitely. The author is claiming that the computerized system will accurately reflect student opinion, but it sounds from this negation like the computerized system will skew towards negative reviews in a way that will not be reflective of overall student opinion.

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

   54%