PrepTest 48, Section 3, Question 23
Company president: Our consultants report that, in general, the most efficient managers have excellent time management skills. Thus, to improve productivity I recommend that we make available to our middle-level managers a seminar to train them in techniques of time management.
Company president: Our consultants report that, in general, the most efficient managers have excellent time management skills. Thus, to improve productivity I recommend that we make available to our middle-level managers a seminar to train them in techniques of time management.
Company president: Our consultants report that, in general, the most efficient managers have excellent time management skills. Thus, to improve productivity I recommend that we make available to our middle-level managers a seminar to train them in techniques of time management.
Company president: Our consultants report that, in general, the most efficient managers have excellent time management skills. Thus, to improve productivity I recommend that we make available to our middle-level managers a seminar to train them in techniques of time management.
Each of the following, if true, would weaken the support for the company president's recommendation EXCEPT:
The consultants use the same criteria to evaluate managers' efficiency as they do to evaluate their time management skills.
Successful time management is more dependent on motivation than on good technique.
Most managers at other companies who have attended time management seminars are still unproductive.
Most managers who are already efficient do not need to improve their productivity.
Most managers who are efficient have never attended a time management seminar.
Explanations
Tough question, to be sure.
The company president recommends we make a time management seminar available to our mid-managers to improve productivity. Why? Because our consultants are telling us that, generally, the most efficient managers have exceptional time management skills. Not the worst argument I've ever heard, but not proven.
It turns out to be a Weaken (Except) question. That means four of these answer choices will cast a least some amount of doubt on the conclusion or the evidence provided in support of it. We only have one premise, so it shouldn't be too tough to spot the wrong answers. The right answer will either strengthen the president's argument or leave it unaffected.
Let's see.
Tricky, but no, this is wrong. What if the consultants are measuring both efficiency and time management based on how full the managers' calendars happened to be? If we're using the same criterion for both metrics, we've basically created a biconditional relationship between time management skills and efficiency—that is, you'd either be BOTH efficient and good at time management or you'd be NEITHER. This definitely weakens the argument, as it casts doubt on what the consultants are reporting in the first place.
Nah, not even close. If we're more dependent on will power than skill, then what good is a seminar that trains a skill? This is a weakener.
Nope. Also a devastating weakener. If a majority of time-management-trained managers at other companies remain unproductive, then what good is it to send ours to such seminars? This is a weakener.
Yes, this is the answer. This answer choice leaves the argument unaffected. We don't care what's true of most managers, we're focused on the ones at the president's company, and their mid-managers at that.
No. Also a devastating weakener. If even a simple majority of efficient managers have never attended a time management seminar, then why are we sending ours? This weakens the argument.
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