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#32725
Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True—CE. The correct answer choice is (B)

In this stimulus, we learn about the dreadful results of whipping cream in a blender. The facts present a causal relationship:
  • ..... Cause ..... ..... ..... ..... Cause/Effect ..... ..... ..... Effect
    Blender’s container ..... :arrow: ..... Enough air ..... :arrow: ..... Whip cream effectively
The author also remarks that using a special attachment can “help somewhat,” but cannot fully compensate for the container’s poor air intake. The question stem asks us to identify an answer choice that is supported by the information contained in the stimulus. Apply the Prove Test to eliminate any answer choice that cannot be proven by the stimulus.

Answer choice (A): This answer choice is tempting, because the author describes an instance in which ineffectively whipped cream becomes a “thick, velvety substance.” Note, however, that this particular effect results from whipping cream in a blender. There could be many alternative, equally ineffective ways of whipping cream that produce different results: some might cause the cream to separate and form butter, others might break it down into a soupy, runny, mess. We simply do not know if ineffective whipping techniques generally make the cream into a thick velvety substance. All we know is that they do that sometimes (when we use a blender).

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice. At the end of the stimulus, the author remarks that the special attachment cannot fully compensate for the container’s poor air intake. Since the poor air intake is what prevents the cream from being whipped effectively (see the causal relationship above), we can conclude that the special attachment does not suffice to whip cream completely effectively: it only helps somewhat.

Answer choice (C): This answer choice contains an exaggeration. While we know that using a special attachment helps compensate for the container’s poor air intake, it is unclear whether it always produces a fluffier result. The language in the stimulus is rather tenuous (the attachment “helps somewhat”) suggesting that the outcome is neither perfect nor guaranteed.

Answer choice (D): This answer choice may seem attractive, because poor air intake is the reason why we cannot effectively whip cream in a blender, and the special attachment “helps somewhat.” It is unclear, however, exactly how the attachment helps. While it might help by reducing the amount of air required, it could also increase the amount of air available in the container. We simply cannot prove the exact means by which the special attachment helps whip cream in a blender, which makes answer choice (D) incorrect.

Answer choice (E): The stimulus contains no information to help us determine what the most common way of producing whipped cream is.
 gargantua
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#19449
Hi,

When I first read this stimulus, I thought it was fairly straightforward, and I did not have a hard time understanding the facts presented. As I went through the answer choices, I kept A because I thought it was combining the first and second sentences of the stimulus - that the cream is whipped ineffectively becomes the thick substance and that "generally" was a good way to describe that. I understood and broke down answer choices C, D, and E, and I could see how they did not make sense. I ended up choosing A just to guess quickly, but did not really eliminate B. I still thought B was correct because that is what the stimulus said - that the attachment does not fully compensate for lost air, but A caught me. Could you help me to see why A is wrong?

Thank you so much for your help.
 David Boyle
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#19458
gargantua wrote:Hi,

When I first read this stimulus, I thought it was fairly straightforward, and I did not have a hard time understanding the facts presented. As I went through the answer choices, I kept A because I thought it was combining the first and second sentences of the stimulus - that the cream is whipped ineffectively becomes the thick substance and that "generally" was a good way to describe that. I understood and broke down answer choices C, D, and E, and I could see how they did not make sense. I ended up choosing A just to guess quickly, but did not really eliminate B. I still thought B was correct because that is what the stimulus said - that the attachment does not fully compensate for lost air, but A caught me. Could you help me to see why A is wrong?

Thank you so much for your help.
Hello gargantua,

"Generally" is much too general and unprovable a statement here. Maybe whipping cream badly and making it velvety comprises less than 1% of cases where cream is whipped ineffectively. Maybe 99% of cases involve the cream becoming lumpy instead of velvety, somehow. If that's true, you can't say that "generally" bad cream-whipping produces velvetiness, since the vast majority of cases of ineffectively-whipped cream don't comprise velvetiness, but rather, lumpiness.

Hope this helps,
David
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 conorrjohnston
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#105052
HI! I got this question right, but I was wondering if another problem with answer choice (A) is that it translates "whip cream in a blender" into "creame that has been whipped ineffectively" ; an assumption that the premises produce an "ineffective" method. I suppose that tracks, but I eliminated the answer for that reason and was wondering if this was a misguided approach.

Thank you!
 Robert Carroll
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#105143
conorrjohnston,

The second sentence of the stimulus already tells us that a blender is an ineffective method. So that's not new info. What is new is the assumption that the blender is the only way to get this particular ineffective result.

Robert Carroll
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 Dancingbambarina
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#110493
This is a cause/effect chain. Are there relatively common and is there a way to be totally sure we are not looking at a third cause causing the cause and effect? Or becasue the causality is in the premise, is this this highly unlikely.

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