PT154 S2 Q5 ExplanationSalmon farmer: Farm-raised salmon

Answer choices, explained

1. A

   Correct91% picked this

   Farmed salmon are fed with large quantities of small fish caught in areas where wild

   Why this is right

   This highlights the potential gap between the evidence and the intermediate conclusion. If this answer is true, the process of farming salmon could reduce the amount of food available for wild salmon. Wild salmon might starve even if a declining market allows them to "live and multiply freely." If this happens, it's not guaranteed that the wild salmon numbers will increase.

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

   91%
2. B

   Out of Scope1% picked this

   Though some wild salmon may be of lesser quality than farmed salmon, some

   This answer doesn't give us much new information, if any. The first sentence already states that the quality of farmed salmon is more consistent than wild salmon. And that first sentence is an opposing idea that the argument pivots away from. Quality doesn't play a direct role in the actual argument. This answer doesn't weaken any link between the evidence and intermediate conclusion, or between the IC and the main conclusion.

   1%
3. C

   Opposite (if anything)2% picked this

   Most people who eat salmon are not aware of any differences between the taste of wild salmon and

   The taste of fish is an element of the quality, so we might say that this answer is out of scope for the same reason that choice B is out of scope. Quality doesn't play a direct role in the actual argument. However, the conclusion does indicate that quality isn't the best reason to prefer farmed fish over wild fish. If anything, this answer gives us another reason to believe that quality (taste) isn't the best reason. This answer might strengthen the argument, not weaken it.

   2%
4. D

   Out of Scope3% picked this

   Limits on the number of salmon that can be taken from the wild have led to increases in

   This answer is similar to choice B. It doesn't really give us any new information. The first sentence already states that farmed salmon is cheaper. And price doesn't play a direct role in the actual argument. This answer doesn't weaken any link between the evidence and intermediate conclusion, or between the IC and the main conclusion.

   3%
5. E

   Out of Scope3% picked this

   Wild salmon are more likely than farmed salmon to have consumed pollutants that may be

   This answer seems to be giving us another reason to prefer farmed salmon. But it doesn't impact the actual argument. It doesn't impact the assumption that more wild salmon being allowed to live and multiply freely will result in their numbers increasing. And it doesn't impact the assumption that an increase in the number of wild salmon due to a preference for farmed salmon creates an ecological benefit.

   3%