Hiker: With the storm approaching quickly we need to make a decision

Hiker: With the storm approaching quickly we need to make a decision on how to proceed. We can try to descend the mountain to seek shelter, but then we will undo our progress and lose our chance to reach the summit – and we may not make it all the way down, anyway. We can continue on our current course and hope that the storm misses us or passes quickly, but doing so risks a true disaster. So we should bivouac here, using the time before the storm to set up a safe, secure camp to weather the elements.

The hiker’s argument does which of the following?

A. Claims that her decision is the only logical course of action.
B. Chooses a course of action based on experience in similar situations.
C. Makes a unilateral decision by dismissing the recommendations of others.
D. Recommends a choice based on the elimination of alternative options.
E. Outlines the risks and benefits of all available courses of action.


­IMO option D is correct because the author recommends an option at the end after doing a detailed analysis of the other available options and thinks it will be a better recommendation.

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Veritas Prep Official Explanation

In Method of Reasoning questions, the correct answer must be a completely-accurate description of the argument - your goal then should be to attack each answer choice to find a word or phrase that doesn't fit. Method of Reasoning makes for good process of elimination.

Choice A is incorrect in that the hiker does not single her decision out as the ONLY logical decision: she considers the merits of two other decisions and arrives at one she feels is best. Choice A is too strong.

Choice B is incorrect because the concept of experience never comes up in the argument. Similarly, choice C mentions the recommendations of others but in the argument as given the only options discussed come straight from the hiker herself.

Choice D is correct: she eliminates two options and arrives at the third, so it is true that she recommends a course of action based on the elimination of others.

And choice E is incorrect in large part because of the word "all" - you do not know that the three options she discusses are the only available options, so "all" could include others. And she does not talk about the risks associated with the third plan, so she does not discuss the risks even of "all" plans that are included.

The correct answer is D.