OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
Following a period of lingering malaise after a recent remarkable economic upturn in the solar-powered energy sector, Company X, a major maker of solar-powered generators, claimed that its rapid upturn resulted from the inventory still on hand in its warehouse.
Which of the following, if it could be carried out, would be most useful in evaluating the company’s hypothesis as to the causes of its rapid economic upturn?As always, you should begin by reading the question first—and the key word that should jump out at you in this question is “evaluate.” In this particular passage, the conclusion is in the second half of the argument: Company X claims that its economic upturn was particularly fast-moving because the company already had existing inventory on hand.
This is an evaluate-the-argument question and will almost certainly contain a gap in its reasoning. You should, as always, look to see whether the argument is causal, statistical, or analogical. Take a moment before you keep reading, and look at the passage again to see if you can spot which type of argument this is.
In this case, the argument was causal. Company X says the cause of its rapid turnaround was the inventory it had in its warehouses—which presumably let the company immediately take advantage of the new demand for its product. The company implies that the sole cause of the rapidity of its economic upturn was its inventory. While this may be true, it is also possible that there are other causes. If you didn’t spot the causal argument, don’t worry. You would probably have seen it when you attacked the answer choices. Let’s look at them now:
A. Comparing the length of the economic downturn experienced by Company X to the length of the upturn later experienced by Company X
The length of the economic downturn that preceded the upturn seems like it would be outside the scope of this argument, and, in any case, would not have much to do with whether the speed of Company X’s upturn had anything to do with the inventory it had on hand once the upturn began. If you were thinking that the length of time would matter because the inventory might be out of date, you overthought the problem. Eliminate it.B. Comparing the rapidity of the economic upturn for Company X to that of other major makers of solar-powered generators, which did not have inventory on hand
If Company X’s competitors, which did not have inventory on hand, did just as well or better during the economic upturn, then Company X’s explanation for its speedy upturn might be incorrect. In other words, there might be some other cause. Would this comparison be useful in evaluating Company X’s argument? This seems like it would be very useful, but let’s hold onto it while we look at the other answer choices.C. Calculating the average sales increases within the individual business units of Company X
This answer choice might help us to understand in more detail the extent of the upturn at Company X, but it gives us no insights into the causes behind the rapidity of their economic upturn. Let this one go.D. Comparing the total number of solar-powered generator sales by Company X just before the economic upturn to the total number of solar-powered generator sales by Company X just after the economic upturn
Like the comparison in the previous answer choice, this comparison would no doubt detail exactly the extent of the rapid economic upturn for Company X, but not explain the cause of the rapid upturn. Eliminate it.E. Using economic theory to predict the most likely date of the next economic upturn for Company X
A future economic upturn (presumably preceded by a downturn) is surely well beyond the scope of this question. We are concerned only with evaluating the reason that Company X believes is the cause of its speedy economic upturn. Eliminate it.Given the fact that we’ve eliminated all the other possible answers, choice B looks even better.
close
07 Mar 2023, 02:30
35%
(medium)
32%
(02:00)
wrong 
