#25 - If you complete 24 graduate credits and a thesis in our

[Dave Killoran]

Complete Question Explanation

Parallel. The correct answer choice is (A).

The first sentence of the stimulus presents a compound conditional relationship:

• 24 grad credits
  AND Eligible Master's degree
  Complete thesis

As a reference, the contrapositive of that statement is:

• 24 grad credits
  Eligible Master's degree OR
  Complete thesis

The above is just a straight conditional relationship, so what information are we given next? Next we learn about Roger, and Roger has indeed completed 24 graduate credits in the department, BUT he is not eligible for a master's degree.

Based on the contrapositive above, we know that when someone is NOT eligible for a master's degree, then either they do not have the 24 graduate credits or they haven't completed a thesis, or both. But Roger does have the 24 credits, so that must mean Roger has not completed a thesis yet. That's what the argument then concludes, and so we have a valid argument.


Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. This argument operates in an identical fashion to the one in the stimulus. The first sentence sets up a compound conditional relationship:

• Mayor approves budget
  AND Botanical garden opens this week
  city council approves budget

The answer then proceeds to tell us the garden can't open this week even though the city council approved the budget, so we can properly conclude that the mayor has not approved the budget.



Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[lemonade42]

Hi! Is this flawed reasoning because we have 24 + Thesis ---> Masters
and since the stimulus gives us 24 ---> Masters
so we can't conclude Thesis because we only know what is sufficient for Masters and not Masters? Because if we concluded Thesis , then that would mean 24 + Thesis ---> Masters which is kind of like a MN of the original conditional relationship.

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Lemon,

I posted a full explanation of the stimulus and (A) above. There is no error here--it's valid argument.

Thanks!