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Question

Some argue that accumulating wealth is largely a matter of luck. Yet multiple studies worldwide show a strong correlation between individuals’ wealth and their level of education. Therefore, accumulating wealth must be chiefly the result of making informed career and business decisions.
 
The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument ______________

A. assumes, without justification, that only highly educated individuals make informed career and business decisions.
B. overlooks the possibility that people who make informed decisions may still come from poor backgrounds.
C. assumes, without justification, that everyone has equal access to making informed career and business decisions.
D. overlooks the possibility that a third factor could independently lead to both higher education and greater wealth.
E. fails to acknowledge that some people who do not make informed decisions nevertheless become wealthy.

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

Official Solution:

Some argue that accumulating wealth is largely a matter of luck. Yet multiple studies worldwide show a strong correlation between individuals’ wealth and their level of education. Therefore, accumulating wealth must be chiefly the result of making informed career and business decisions.
 
The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument ______________

A. assumes, without justification, that only highly educated individuals make informed career and business decisions.
B. overlooks the possibility that people who make informed decisions may still come from poor backgrounds.
C. assumes, without justification, that everyone has equal access to making informed career and business decisions.
D. overlooks the possibility that a third factor could independently lead to both higher education and greater wealth.
E. fails to acknowledge that some people who do not make informed decisions nevertheless become wealthy.

Argument Summary: The argument suggests that gaining wealth is not just a matter of luck but strongly correlated with high educational levels, inferring that wealth results from informed career and business choices. This is based on research showing a correlation between education and wealth.
 
Flawed Assumption: The primary weakness lies in the assumption that correlation (between education and wealth) implies causation (that education directly leads to wealth through informed choices). This is a logical fallacy where two correlated events are incorrectly assumed to have a cause-and-effect relationship.

A) Presumes that only highly educated people make informed choices: This choice incorrectly emphasizes exclusivity ("only"), which the argument does not claim. The argument suggests that education correlates with making such choices, not that it is the sole pathway.
 
B) Overlooks family wealth factors: This choice introduces an irrelevant factor (family wealth) that the argument does not depend on. The argument focuses solely on individual education and choices, not family background.
 
C) Assumes informed choices are available to everyone: This choice misrepresents the argument's scope. The argument claims a general trend between education and wealth, not a universal opportunity for making informed choices.
 
D) Ignores potential common causes:   This option identifies the argument's critical oversight: it does not consider that another factor might lead to both high education and wealth accumulation, suggesting that the observed correlation might not be causal.
 
E) Ignores outliers who gain wealth without informed choices: This choice is weak because the argument already allows for exceptions by stating that wealth is "largely" due to informed choices, implying it's not the only path.

Answer: D

rocky620 · Answer

AndrewN  sir,

Shouldn't the wordings in option D be, "  some other thing  " instead "  of the same thing  ".
In its current form   the same thing   can even refer to   making informed career and business choices  , which is not overlooked.

So I chose option A (even though it is very strong).

Kindly help.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  rocky620 . I agree that "the same thing" in answer choice (D) is a little vague, but it is not a dealbreaker. I would also say that (A) could use a comma after "justification," but the lack of punctuation is not what makes (A) a worse choice. How about we look at the two below?

Yes, as you noted yourself, (A) is quite strong in declaring that  only  a certain group of people can  make informed career and business choices . The passage  indicates a  strong correlation  between gaining wealth and high educational levels , leaving room for outliers, or those who might gain wealth without having achieved a high level of education, not to mention those who do not end up wealthy but are highly educated.

Choice (D) has to be considered within the question stem, or it will prove overwhelming, too difficult to qualify. The question stem points us to  the reasoning in the argument . That argument is found in the final line of the passage, and it can be boiled down to the latter part:  gaining wealth is largely the result of making informed career and business choices . Getting back to the answer choice,  the same thing  should be understood as  the same argument could be made , but we need further direction. That direction comes in the next part,  causally contribute . Aha, so now we understand that there is a causal relationship that  the answer choice  is commenting on. That distinction is as follows:

Passage : making informed business and career decisions  via education  (line 2) → gaining wealth
 Answer choice (D) : making informed business and career decisions →   education + gaining wealth

We can now appreciate how "the same thing" could be said, or the same argument made, that gaining wealth is a result of making informed decisions, only that education can be on either side of the causality arrow. That is a valid criticism of the argument, if education itself is supposed to  lead to  making informed decisions. In short, choice (D) is qualified.

I hope that helps address your concerns. Thank you for thinking to ask.

- Andrew

TBT · Answer

Hi,
Can someone please explain why E is wrong? Didn't understand the explanation for E.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  TBT . Before we get into answer choice (E), how about we look at the passage for reference? I will trim off the other answer choices as well.

Choice (E) is saying that the argument does not take into account that   some  people become wealthy  even though  they have NOT made informed career and business choices . But a closer look at the final line of the passage refutes such an idea. If  gaining wealth is  largely  the result of making informed career and business choices , then there is an allowance for other factors that contribute to becoming wealthy. On a related note, if I said,  His health is largely the result of all the running he does , I think you can appreciate that other factors, such as diet, could also contribute to an improved state of health. Getting back to our answer choice, the  some  in  some people  is also problematic. Once again, the argument does not state that  every  person who becomes wealthy does so by making informed career and business choices; it just suggests that  many  people gain wealth by doing so.

On the whole, we can see that (E) does not hold up to scrutiny, so we can see it off. Sometimes if an answer choice does not make sense, it can help to rearrange certain components. The  who  clause in (E) effectively places the information about  some people  on hold until it resolves, but shifting that part to the end can make the answer choice easier to follow.

I hope that helps with your question. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

Bunuel · Answer

The question or/and solution has been revised and edited. Thank you  sayantanc2k  !!!

bb · Answer

The solution has been further revised and improved to be more readable and easier to follow.

bumpbot · Answer

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