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Re: A spy fails by being caught, and it is normally only through being cau [#permalink]
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tarunanandani wrote:
Stuck between B and E and finally chose E.
Can anyone explain why E is incorrect and B is correct?

Thanks in advance!


I decided B over E based on the word "very little" in the question. Answer B has the similar wording about probability "more likely" while the answer E gives no room for uncertainty with the word "it's impossible"
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Re: A spy fails by being caught, and it is normally only through being cau [#permalink]
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Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) A number of terms mismatch. Our spy argument split spies into two groups. This answer has three groups (successes, failures, and did-not-competes).

(B) Looks good! We have two sides of the same coin (conscious vs. unconscious motives), and a conclusion about learning more about one side. We wouldn't pick it on our first pass (since on Matching questions it's important to work wrong-to-right), but this ultimately is correct.

(C) Term/premise mismatch. Our argument about spies clearly defines the terms, whereas this argument explicitly tells us that we haven't defined them.

(D) Conclusion mismatch. Our argument concludes that we learn more about one side of the coin than the other. This conclusion is about counting the two sides. Additionally, there's a premise mismatch, since our two groups in the argument are mutually exclusive (you can't be both an unsuccessful and successful spy), but the groups here aren't (you can both be a teacher and a teacher who isn't called one).

(E) Premise/conclusion mismatch. Our conclusion here is about an alternative possible outcome, not the flipside of the same coin. To highlight the difference here's what a similar argument would look like that would be a correct answer


So answer is B
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A spy fails by being caught, and it is normally only through being cau [#permalink]
Very close call between B and E. But between B and E, B refers to an event which will anyway happen irrespective of any condition whereas E refers to an event which will not happen if a certain another event (intervention) has already happened. B is closest, a successful spy will not cease to exist if a failed spy got caught. Similarly unconscious thoughts will not cease to exist just because conscious thoughts have been expressed.

IMO B.
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Re: A spy fails by being caught, and it is normally only through being cau [#permalink]
Please explain how the answer choice E is incorrect and B is correct in this question, also I would like to know how to tackle such questions.
Thank you!
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Re: A spy fails by being caught, and it is normally only through being cau [#permalink]
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Re: A spy fails by being caught, and it is normally only through being cau [#permalink]
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