LR Question 1 Explanation
QUESTION TEXT: Planting peach trees on their farm makes more sense for…
QUESTION TYPE: Weaken
CONCLUSION: The Johnsons should plant peach trees, rather than apricot trees.
REASONING: Peach trees cost less, and grow fruit earlier than apricot trees do.
ANALYSIS: This argument has a classic flaw: it’s given us some advantages for peach trees, and pretended that this means that we know peach trees are better.
We don’t know that. There could also be disadvantages to peach trees that make them a lousy purchase. Perhaps they attract many pests.
There could also be other advantages to apricot trees that make them an even better choice. Maybe they require no upkeep.
___________
- CORRECT. If apricots sell at a higher price, then it might make sense to plant apricot trees instead of peach trees.
- This is a disadvantage for apricots, and supports planting peaches.
- This tells us that both trees are equal in this respect. It doesn’t help us choose apricots.
- The most tempting wrong answer. But we already knew that peaches and apricots are equally popular in this area. And, this answer doesn’t tell us that the market for apricots has grown faster than the market for peaches.
- This is a fact about the past. It doesn’t say what farmers should do in the future. Peach production could have declined for innocent reasons that don’t affect the future.
More Resources for Weaken Questions
- Intro Course lesson: This intro course lesson covers Weaken questions.
- Mastery Seminar lesson: This LR Mastery seminar lesson covers weaken questions.
For A it may be that they sell at a higher price because they cost much more than peaches. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they will make a profit higher than peaches.
I didn’t finish reading D while doing this question. Otherwise, I would have also eliminated it because it said all fresh fruit. That also includes peaches so it would be also increasing the demand for both.
How does A weaken the conclusion?
Right, it doesn’t necessarily mean that apricot trees will yield a higher profit. We’re not given any numbers. But we’re looking for the answer choice that could most seriously weaken the argument. We’re told in (A) that the price is much higher for apricots. This could potentially compensate for the much lower planting and purchasing costs of peach trees and call into question the conclusion that peaches are a better choice for the Johnsons. The other choices either strengthen or are irrelevant to the argument, so (A) is the best answer.