People with Williams syndrome, a rare mental condition, are often high

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KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

A

The author says that conventional methods of measuring intelligence, such as IQ tests, classify people with Williams syndrome as retarded, on a par with Down's syndrome sufferers, because they're poor at math and can't tell left from right. He calls this label "misleading," pointing out that people with Williams syndrome are often gifted in other areas, such as language and music, whereas Down's syndrome sufferers have limited abilities in all areas. His point in telling us this is that the conventional tests don't do a good job of evaluating the people with Williams syndrome, since they miss the gifts that these people have. That's (A): His argument is that conventional intelligence tests can't accurately measure people with disorders like Williams syndrome.

When you're asked for the author's point, be careful not to be misled by choices that simply restate a part of the author's argument. For instance, (B) may or may not be true (it's not stated by the author), but it's not the author's main point. He compares the two syndromes to make another point, about the failure of conventional intelligence tests. (C) is closer: the author seems to imply (C), but this isn't what he's trying to prove. It's merely a piece of his argument, something that he implies on the way to making his point about the failure of intelligence tests to measure people with Williams syndrome. (D) discusses what might happen when people with Williams syndrome are diagnosed as mentally retarded, but the author's focus is on the mislabeling itself, not on its possible results. Like (C), (D) seems reasonably inferable from the argument, but isn't the point of the argument. As for (E), the author never suggests that the mathematical and spatial skills of people with Williams syndrome either can or should be developed.­