Logical Reasoning

PT3 · S4 · Q12 The more television children watch

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The more television children watch, the less competent they are in mathematical knowledge.

Conclusion

If U.S. children are to do well in mathematics, they must watch less television.

Evidence

The more TV children watch, the less competent they are in math. U.S. children watch a lot more TV than South Korean children, and U.S. children also know much less advanced measurement and geometry than South Korean children.

Evaluate

The author treats TV-watching as the cause of the U.S./South Korea math gap. But the comparison only supports that conclusion if we can rule out other obvious differences between the two countries — like quality of math instruction. If U.S. instruction in advanced measurement/geometry is much worse than South Korea's, the math gap could be explained by instruction, not TV, and reducing TV might not fix it.

Goal

The correct answer should rule out a major alternative cause for the math gap — that is, establish that U.S. instruction is not substantially worse than South Korean instruction.

12.

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

  1. Children in the United States

    Bad Assumption

    The author doesn't rely on a claim about interest. The argument is about TV-watching as the cause of the math gap. Negation test: even if U.S. children are equally interested in math, the argument that TV reduction is necessary still goes through, since the argument is about TV's effect on competence, not motivation. Not necessary.

    1% picked this

  2. South Korean children are more

    Bad Assumption

    The author doesn't need a discipline comparison either. Negation test: even if South Korean kids are no more disciplined than U.S. kids, the argument still concludes that given the negative effect of TV, U.S. kids must watch less. The argument is about TV's effect, not about discipline. Not necessary.

    2% picked this

  3. Children who want to do

    Reversal / Negation

    This reverses the argument's direction. The author's claim is that less TV is necessary for doing well in math, not that wanting to do well in math causes less TV. Negation test: even if many kids who want to do well still watch lots of TV, the argument can still go through — the author would just say those kids are sabotaging themselves. Not necessary.

    10% picked this

  4. A child’s ability in advanced

    Too Strong

    The conclusion only requires that less TV would help. This answer makes a much stronger claim — that watching less than one hour a day increases ability. Negation test: even if no specific one-hour threshold exists, the conclusion that U.S. kids need to watch less TV could still hold (any reduction might help). Not necessary.

    11% picked this

  5. Correct

    The instruction in advanced measurement

    Why this is right

    This rules out the major alternative explanation. The author uses the U.S./South Korea comparison to blame TV for the math gap, but the comparison only supports that conclusion if instructional quality is roughly comparable. Negation test: suppose U.S. instruction in advanced measurement and geometry is substantially worse than South Korea's. Then the math gap could be explained entirely by instruction, not TV — and reducing TV might not help at all. The conclusion that less TV is necessary collapses. So this assumption is necessary.

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

    76% picked this

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