Logical Reasoning

PT124 · S1 · Q23 Robust crops not only withstand

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Robust crops not only withstand insect attacks more successfully than other crops, they are also less likely to be attacked in the first place, since insects tend to feed on weaker plants.

Evidence

Robust crops not only withstand insect attacks more successfully than other crops, they are also less likely to be attacked in the first place, since insects tend to feed on weaker plants.

Killing insects with pesticides does not address the underlying problem of inherent vulnerability to damage caused by insect attacks.

Conclusion

A better way to reduce the vulnerability of agricultural crops to insect pest damage is to grow those crops in good soil—soil with adequate nutrients, organic matter, and microbial activity.

Evaluate

The argument assumes that crops that are grown in good soil are more robust than other crops.

23.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

  1. The application of nutrients and

    Too Strong

    An adequate microbial level could reached by some other means. This relationship describes how a set of conditions are achieved that describe good soil. However, the argument does not rely on determining how those conditions are achieved, but whether those conditions achieve a specific result—robust crops.

    1% picked this

  2. Insects never attack crops grown

    Too Strong

    The argument is relative in nature and does not go so far as assuming that insects never attack crops grown in good soil.

    8% picked this

  3. The application of pesticides to

    Weakens

    Pesticides do kill insect pests. So pesticides do limit the damage caused by insect pests.

    5% picked this

  4. Correct

    Crops that are grown in

    Why this is right

    This bridges the gap between good soil and robust crops.

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

    83% picked this

  5. Growing crops without the use

    Weakens

    This undermines the assertion that growing crops in good soil is a better way to mitigate damage from insect pests than using pesticides.

    2% picked this

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