#6 - A purse containing 32 ancient gold coins that had been

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True. The correct answer choice is (C)

This stimulus contains a fact set, so you should attempt to put the facts together and prephrase what must be true on the basis of them:

• Fact 1: The golden coins found in the purse were minted in Morocco;
  
  Fact 2: The Jordanian city was a popular stopover for pilgrims on the route between Morocco and Mecca;
  
  Fact 3: The purse of a trader in the city would have contained a different set of coins than the one found in this purse.

It is reasonable to conclude on the basis of these facts that the purse belonged to a pilgrim traveling between Morocco and Mecca. Answer choice (C) is therefore correct.

Answer choice (A): The relative value of Moroccan coins is of no importance to this argument and cannot be inferred on the basis of the information provided. This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (B): Just because 32 of the coins found had been minted in Morocco does not mean that most gold coins available during that time had been minted there. “Some” does not entail “most.” This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. See discussion above.

Answer choice (D): It is perfectly possible that gold coins were not the only medium of exchange. There is no reason to suspect the contents of the purse were representative of all media of exchange used in the ancient city. This answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (E): This answer is outside the scope of the facts presented in the stimulus and is therefore incorrect.

[CJ12345:]

Hi, Powerscore,
I was deciding between C and E and eliminating C eventually. I could see how C could be correct but the language of C seems too certain compared to that of E ("unlikely"), and there is no direct support in the stimulus indicating C is correct. Thus, in this kind of situation, how should I decide between these two contenders (they are both not perfect)? How to approach answers that have a relatively strong tone like C?

Thanks

[Luke Haqq]

Hi CJ12345:!

You're right to note the somewhat strong tone of answer choice (C). It might be even more compelling if the word "probably" were inserted. However, even without that, it's still the most strongly supported answer choice. It makes sense that the coins would have belonged to a pilgrim because (1) they were minted in Morocco but found far from there, specifically found at a stopover on a particular pilgrimage, and (2) they would have contained a more diverse set of coins if they were from a trader.

By contrast, there's a lack of support in the stimulus for answer choice (E). There's no mention one way or another about the extent to which pilgrims and traders interacted with one another. The word "unlikely" in (E) doesn't change the lack of support for it in the stimulus.