Artistic success as an actor is directly dependent on how well an

Question

Artistic success as an actor is directly dependent on how well an actor has developed his craft. This has been demonstrated by the discovery of a positive relationship between the number of classes taken by an actor and the number of professional productions in which that actor has appeared in the past two years.

Each of the following, if true, casts doubt on the author’s argument about artistic success for actors EXCEPT:

(A) The figures for the number of classes taken were based solely on information provided by actors.

(B) Success as an actor cannot necessarily be judged exclusively by recent credits.

(C) For most successful actors, it is not the quantity but the quality of their classes that has helped to develop their craft.

(D) There is no relationship between the number of professional productions in which an actor has appeared and true artistic success.

(E) Most successful actors have taken only a small number of intensive classes.

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Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation:

A

Step 1: Identify the Question Type

In the question stem, the phrase “casts doubt on” indicates that this is a Weaken question. The word “EXCEPT” tells us that the correct answer, in this case, is the one that does not weaken the argument. Look for an answer that strengthens the argument or that has no effect on it at all.

Step 2: Untangle the Stimulus

The conclusion is the first sentence, which states that an actor’s “artistic success” depends on the “development of his craft.” (Note: it is easy to identify the second sentence as evidence supporting the first sentence because it begins with “this has been demonstrated by.”) The evidence is that there is a positive correlation between the number of classes taken and the number of professional appearances by an actor.

Step 3: Predict the Answer

In this argument, two central assumptions bridge the terms of the evidence to those of the conclusion: first, that the number of classes taken is equivalent to how well developed an actor’s craft is and, second, that artistic success correlates to the number of productions an actor has appeared in. If an answer choice attacks either of these assumptions, it can be eliminated as a weakener.

Step 4: Evaluate the Choices

First, examine the choices looking for answers that sever the link between taking a large number of classes and having a well-developed craft. (C) effectively attacks this assumption by suggesting that the sheer number of classes is not enough to guarantee developed craft. (E) points out that an actor can achieve success even if he takes only a few classes. Both of these choices can be eliminated. Next, examine the choices seeking answers that sever the link between professional productions and artistic success. (B) suggests that success is determined by more than an actor’s resume, and (D) destroys the relationship explicitly. This leaves (A), which has no effect on the author’s argument because it doesn’t matter who provides the figures on the number of classes taken. Choice (A) is the correct answer.

rjg_25 · Answer

Why B cannot not be the answer? Recent credits!!

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

rjg_25 
 "Recent credits" is another way of saying "productions the actor has recently appeared in." The argument is using this as a measure of artistic success, but B says you can't actually do that without more information, so it DOES weaken the argument. It's not the EXCEPT we're looking for.

8Harshitsharma · Answer

How to reject answer choice E? Even though it talks about most successful actors, can't it be like the remaining actors were successful according to the criteria given in the passage?

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

8Harshitsharma

E is kind of a weird answer. Do we really need the classes to have been intensive? But the idea is that if MOST successful actors (meaning > 50%) haven't taken many classes, then the correlation between # of classes and # of roles might not tell us much about the value of "developing craft." This could be because you can be successful without being in a lot of productions, or it could be that the correlation is based on very minor differences. For instance, maybe people who took 2 classes have a lot more roles than people who took 1. In that case, it would be hard to conclude that the difference was because people in 2 classes had developed their craft a whole lot more.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Artistic success as an actor is directly dependent on how well an

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