- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 8950
- Joined: Feb 02, 2011
- Wed Jun 28, 2017 1:06 pm
#36491
Complete Question Explanation
Must Be True—PR. The correct answer choice is (E)
This stimulus provides an accurate discussion of an interesting fact—the standard keyboard could
have been much more efficient.
When the typewriter was invented, the qwerty keyboard was used as the standard keyboard, and
even today keyboards still have that same standard layout. Another layout called the Dvorak
keyboard that would enable typists to type much faster, but the implementation of such a switch,
the author explains, would be impractical; the societal costs of switching from a qwerty keyboard to
a Dvorak (not just in financial terms, but also in time and frustration) would outweigh the benefits
gained from the faster typing.
The question that follows asks for the proposition illustrated by the author’s example of the qwerty
keyboard. It can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to precisely prephrase the answer to such
a question, but as a rough approximation, the example of the qwerty keyboard was provided to show
that sometimes it’s better to stick with a well-entrenched standard than to pay the costs associated
with change.
Answer choice (A): The author does not even mention the issue of accuracy, so there is no basis
for the presumption that the Dvorak’s increase in speed would be accompanied by a decrease in
accuracy. Since the passage is not about gaining speed at the expense of accuracy, this choice can be
eliminated.
Answer choice (B): The passage is not about settling on the most efficient standard; instead, the
author is discussing a situation in which the standard is not the most efficient option available.
Although the Dvorak is a more efficient alternative to the qwerty keyboard, the costs outweigh the
benefits of making the change.
Answer choice (C): The first part of this answer choice takes the right direction, but then it goes
completely off track. The passage is about people sticking with an entrenched standard rather than
moving on to a more efficient alternative. According to the passage, however, the standard remains
not because people dislike change but because the total costs of making the change outweigh the
benefits.
Answer choice (D): Although the author does mention frustration among the costs associated with
changing to a Dvorak keyboard standard, there is no comparison of the importance of financial
versus emotional considerations. While it could be true that emotional considerations are sometimes
more important than financial considerations, this is not the principle reflected by this stimulus, so it
cannot be the correct answer choice.
Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. What the qwerty keyboard has going for it
is the fact that it is the standard, already well in place. Based on the excessive costs associated with
a switch to the Dvorak keyboard, choosing to stick with the qwerty keyboard becomes the more
practical choice. Even though the Dvorak keyboard would add efficiency once the switch were made,
those gains in efficiency would be outweighed by the various costs associated with implementation
of the change.
Must Be True—PR. The correct answer choice is (E)
This stimulus provides an accurate discussion of an interesting fact—the standard keyboard could
have been much more efficient.
When the typewriter was invented, the qwerty keyboard was used as the standard keyboard, and
even today keyboards still have that same standard layout. Another layout called the Dvorak
keyboard that would enable typists to type much faster, but the implementation of such a switch,
the author explains, would be impractical; the societal costs of switching from a qwerty keyboard to
a Dvorak (not just in financial terms, but also in time and frustration) would outweigh the benefits
gained from the faster typing.
The question that follows asks for the proposition illustrated by the author’s example of the qwerty
keyboard. It can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to precisely prephrase the answer to such
a question, but as a rough approximation, the example of the qwerty keyboard was provided to show
that sometimes it’s better to stick with a well-entrenched standard than to pay the costs associated
with change.
Answer choice (A): The author does not even mention the issue of accuracy, so there is no basis
for the presumption that the Dvorak’s increase in speed would be accompanied by a decrease in
accuracy. Since the passage is not about gaining speed at the expense of accuracy, this choice can be
eliminated.
Answer choice (B): The passage is not about settling on the most efficient standard; instead, the
author is discussing a situation in which the standard is not the most efficient option available.
Although the Dvorak is a more efficient alternative to the qwerty keyboard, the costs outweigh the
benefits of making the change.
Answer choice (C): The first part of this answer choice takes the right direction, but then it goes
completely off track. The passage is about people sticking with an entrenched standard rather than
moving on to a more efficient alternative. According to the passage, however, the standard remains
not because people dislike change but because the total costs of making the change outweigh the
benefits.
Answer choice (D): Although the author does mention frustration among the costs associated with
changing to a Dvorak keyboard standard, there is no comparison of the importance of financial
versus emotional considerations. While it could be true that emotional considerations are sometimes
more important than financial considerations, this is not the principle reflected by this stimulus, so it
cannot be the correct answer choice.
Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. What the qwerty keyboard has going for it
is the fact that it is the standard, already well in place. Based on the excessive costs associated with
a switch to the Dvorak keyboard, choosing to stick with the qwerty keyboard becomes the more
practical choice. Even though the Dvorak keyboard would add efficiency once the switch were made,
those gains in efficiency would be outweighed by the various costs associated with implementation
of the change.