#15 - New types of washing machines designed to consume

[lanereuden]

Can someone gave breakdown of this answer choice that is correct

I picked E because it had “can” in it as opposed to must or probably

[Robert Carroll]

lane,

It's definitely good to pick an answer with a conclusion expressed in terms of possibility, because that's what's true of the conclusion in the stimulus. Since answer choices (D) and (E) both have their conclusions expressed in such terms, we have to look closer at the stimulus to show why answer choice (D) is the one that matches.

The idea of the stimulus is that a washing machine that uses less energy may require a dryer that uses more energy, so that the supposed energy savings of using the washing machine can get canceled out by the extra energy of the dryer. In more abstract terms, trying to save resources on one part of an activity may not work out if the resource-saving step forces more resources than normal to be spent on another step.

With that in mind, you can see that answer choice (D) involves a situation where attempting to save resources (money, in this case) by buying a cheaper wood may turn out to waste resources in the long run, as the paint required by the cheaper wood may be more expensive.

Robert Carroll

[gingerale]

I was stuck between (C) and (D) and ended up going with (D). The principle I drew from the stimulus was that there are cases where something designed to produce an intended effect ends up producing an opposite effect that it was expressly meant to avoid. I ended up eliminating (C) because I didn't think the sole, intended effect of pine is not to be cheaper than cedar, although I suppose the writers are alluding to that possibility in (C) without actually saying it. Even so, why is (C) a better answer than (D)?

[KelseyWoods]

Hi gingerale!

First, just to clarify, the correct answer for this question is answer choice (D).

With Parallel questions, one of the most important things to look at is the conclusion. The conclusion in the answer choice needs to match the conclusion in the stimulus. If it doesn't match, then it doesn't really matter what the rest of that answer choice says--it's incorrect and can be quickly eliminated.

The conclusion in the stimulus states: "Thus using these new types of washing machines could result in an overall increase in the energy needed to wash and dry a load of laundry." The "could" there is important. Degree of certainty (certainty vs. probability vs. possibility) is always important to match in conclusions. The conclusion in the stimulus is that something is possible. So we need a conclusion in the answer choices that also states that something is possible. Answer choice (C)'s conclusion states: "Therefore, when many people are working in the reading room, those people are working less efficiently." That doesn't say that something is possible, or could happen. It says that people are working less efficiently. That conclusion is too certain to match the conclusion in the stimulus, so it's automatically out. Just looking at the conclusions, we can also quickly eliminate (A) and (B). Only (D) and (E) have similar conclusions so they're the only two answer choices we need to consider in any more depth. (And Robert explains above why (D) is better than (E).)

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey