PrepTest 23, Section 2, Question 26
By Brandon Beaver | Published December 6, 2024
Type: Weaken
Difficulty:
Explanations
The author says we should further restrict teenage driver’s licenses because teenagers have insufficient driving skills.
They attempt to further justify this claim by saying teenagers cause a much larger proportion of traffic deaths (14%) than the proportion of drivers they represent (7%).
It’s a Weaken Except question. Four of these answer choices will make it less likely that we should further restrict teen licenses due to teen driving skills. One will not, and that will be our answer.
Let’s see.
A
Nope. This weakens the argument by way of an alternate cause—if teens drive old, crappy cars, maybe the cars are to blame for the disproportionate traffic fatalities.
B
No, again. This points to another alternate cause. Teens make dumb decisions about seatbelts, but that doesn’t mean they lack driving skills. The deaths could be coming from failure to follow simple safety protocols.
C
Nah, this is another alternate cause. If teens spend way more time in the car than other drivers, then their disproportionate traffic deaths could simply be a function of how much time these teens spend driving.
D
Subtle, but yes. This accounts for teens causing deaths—they get in “more serious” accidents—but it leaves open the possibility that these more serious accidents stem from a lack of basic skills. This doesn’t mean the lack of skills is the cause, but it doesn’t present an alternative, so the conclusion is no weaker.
E
Nope. This is another alternate cause. The disproportionate number of teen-related traffic fatalities might be explained by the frequently large number of passengers in teen-related accidents.
Passage
Editorialist: Additional restrictions should be placed on d
Question 26
Each of the following, if true, weakens the argument that te