Science writer: Scientists' astounding

Answer choices

1. A

   Illegal Opposite13% picked this

   If a problem can be formulated in such a way as to make a scientific solution feasible, scientists will usually be called

   What we know is that if it can't be formulated feasibly, scientists usually won't be called upon to solve that problem.

   13%
2. B

   Too Strong17% picked this

   Any problem a scientist can solve can be formulated in such a way as to make

   Nothing in this paragraph is conditional or 100%, so we can't say that every single problem a scientist can solve can be formulated to make a scientific solution feasible. Maybe a scientist has a problem such as a crying 5 year old daughter, and he can solve that problem by hugging her and consoling her (that is not a problem being formulated in such a way as to make a scientific solution feasible). The gist of the paragraph was that If it's formulated scientifically feasibly, then scientists are amazingly successful at solving it. This is almost doing an illegal backwards version of that: If scientists are successful at solving, then formulated feasibly.

   17%
3. C

   Correct55% picked this

   Scientists would probably have a lower success rate with research problems if their grounds for selecting such

   Why this is right

   This is the classic "If not Causal Difference-Maker, then not Effect" answer that we see on Most Supported in LR and RC. Since the paragraph is establishing that the the real reason that scientists have such a high success rate solving problems is that they get to pick their own problems or formulate problems assigned to them, we can reasonably say that "if they weren't getting to pick / formulate their own problems, then they wouldn't have as high a success rate". If X was the reason for Y, then it's not bulletproof to say "If X hadn't happened, Y wouldn't have happened", but it's highly supportable to say, "If X hadn't happened, then Y probably wouldn't have happened".

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

   55%
4. D

   Too Strong / Contradicted8% picked this

   Most of the problems scientists are called upon to solve are problems that politicians and business leaders want solved, but whose formulation

   Do we know if 51% or more of the problems that scientists work on are ones that came from politicians / businesses? We were told that scientists typically (at least 51% of the time) select their own problems, so this answer seems contradicted.

   8%
5. E

   Too Strong7% picked this

   The only reason for the astounding success rate of science is that the problems scientists are called upon to solve are usually

   We should be nervous about saying something as strong as "the only reason" for their success. First of all, hard work and intelligence are also probably reasons for the success of scientists at solving problems. Secondly, even in the context of what's mentioned in this paragraph, there are two factors mentioned: - scientists pick their own problems or - scientists formulate the problems assigned to them in scientifically feasible ways

   7%