In university towns

Answer choices

1. A

   Weak Conclusion Match20% picked this

   We know that children buy most of the snacks at cinemas, because popcorn sales increase as the proportion of child

   This isn't too bad. There is a correlation: more kids, relative to adults || popcorn But the conclusion should say, "So apparently kids are buying most of the popcorn". Instead it introduces an additional flaw of going from "popcorn" to "snacks".

   20%
2. B

   Bad Premise Match2% picked this

   We know that this houseplant gets more of the sunlight from the window, because it is

   There's not really a correlation in the evidence. It's just a comparison: this plant is greener than that one.

   2%
3. C

   Topic Trap Bad Conclusion Match3% picked this

   We know that most people who go to a university are studious because most of those people study

   The conclusion isn't causal; it's just describing a trait. This also feels like a relatively valid conclusion to draw. If most of these people study, then it's pretty fair to call most of these people studious. Watch out on Parallel questions for any answer that seems to be a little too close to the Topic of the original. Those are almost always trap answers trying to bait people into picking based on similarity of topic, rather than logic.

   3%
4. D

   Bad Conclusion Match14% picked this

   We know that consumers buy more fruit during the summer than they buy during the winter, because there are far more varieties of fruit

   We could say that the evidence presents us with a correlation: when summer is present there are more varieties of fruit. But then we could need a causal conclusion that sounds like "warmth causes more varieties of fruit". Summer = school year. Since the author was assuming there were more students during school year, this answer would need to be assuming there's more ____ during summer, and that that's what's causing more varieties of fruit. The conclusion doesn't even try to explain more varieties; it just tries to explain more fruit.

   14%
5. E

   Correct61% picked this

   We know that most of the snacks parents buy go to other people's children, because when other people's children come to visit, parents

   Why this is right

   There's a correlation in the evidence: other kids coming to visit || more snacks Does the author then conclude that one must be the reason for the other? Yes, the argument is saying that most of the snacks are going to those visiting kids. But there are other possible explanations: - maybe parents put out more snacks when visitors are there, but their own kids still eat most of the snacks. In the original argument, this would be similar to objecting: - maybe parking officers give out more tickets when students are in town, but it's still non-students who get most of the tickets.

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

   61%