#19 - Marc: The fact that the people of our country look

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Point of Issue/Agreement. The correct answer choice is (D)

This question is somewhat unusual because the question stem asks what Marc and Robert agree about rather than what they disagree about. Thus rather than a more typical Point of Issue question, this is a rare Point of Agreement question. But don't panic - we generally categorize Point of Issue and Point of Agreement questions together, since the same principles apply to both. We are still going to narrowly focus on what Marc and Robert are debating, only in a Point of Agreement question we want to narrow in on what they seem to have in common. The correct answer must be agreed upon by both Marc and Robert.

Marc says that the people of his country are nostalgic because they regret the recent revolution. Robert
agrees that the people are nostalgic but not because of the recent revolution. He implies that the people
may prefer the current situation to the pre-revolutionary regime, but do not prefer it to the situation
before that regime. Both Marc and Robert agree that there was a revolution, but this is unlikely to be the
correct answer choice. They also agree that the people of their country are not completely satisfied with
the current situation and feel nostalgia for the past. This agreement is best expressed by answer choice
(D).

Answer choice (A): Neither Marc nor Robert suggests that the people of their country should not be
nostalgic or that the people have mistaken impressions of the past.

Answer choice (B): Being nostalgic does not necessarily mean looking to past for solutions; it could
simply be a way to find comfort. Marc and Robert are discussing the cause of the nostalgia, not the
purpose of it. One cannot infer that they would both agree with this statement.

Answer choice (C): This answer choice goes one step further than answer choice (B). It suggests a
possible negative consequence of being nostalgic to find solutions for current problems. The stimulus
provides even less support for this answer choice than for the previous answer choice, as neither Marc
nor Robert indicates that the people are likely to repeat former mistakes.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. Marc says that the people “regret the
revolution” and Robert says “they are troubled.” Both phrases indicate the people’s dissatisfaction with
the current situation and this dissatisfaction is manifested in their nostalgia.

Answer choice (E): Marc believes that the nostalgia of his country’s people is for the period before the
recent revolution and Robert believe that this feeling is directed at the more distant past. Neither of these
beliefs implies a correlation between the amount of nostalgia and the amount of time past. There is no
mention of the degree of nostalgia in the stimulus so this answer choice cannot be correct.

[PVequalsnRT]

How can you tell that this is a must be true question instead of a point of agreement question?

[Luke Haqq]

Hi PVequalsnRT,

Great question! You're certainly on the right track to see similarity between must be true and point at issue/point of agreement questions.

PowerScore groups questions into 4 different families: (1) Prove, (2) Disprove (cannot be true), (3) Help (e.g., assumption, or strengthen questions), and (4) Hurt (weaken questions). PowerScore's full coursebooks provide a background on the different families of questions on pages 1-7 to 1-8.

Both must be true and point at issue/point of agreement questions fall into the first category of "Prove" questions. This family of questions includes must be true, main point, point at issue/point of agreement, method of reasoning, flaw in the reasoning, and parallel reasoning questions.

The full coursebooks also address point of issue questions beginning on 10-6, where the introduction to them notes that "Point at Issue questions are a variant of Must Be True questions." That's why you're right to see it potentially as a must be true question. However, the question stem provides more specificity--it asks for the answer choice that "provides the most support for the claim that Marc and Robert agree that ..."

This is where a point at issue question differs and is more specific than a must be true question. What's key for categorizing this particular question is noticing that the stimulus contains dialogue from two different speakers, and the question stem mentions agreement/disagreement (here, agreement). It's possible that a question could offer the dialogue between two speakers and merely be a must be true question. However, by asking for the way in which these speakers agree, this renders it more specifically into a point at issue question.

The language used by these speakers is somewhat confusing--it shows that they are both expressing opinions related to nostalgia and possible regret about a recent revolution, though perhaps it is not immediately apparent where they agree or disagree. For example, Marc's view is that people regret the recent revolution, while Robert disagrees with this. The question, though, is not concerned with disagreement but rather agreement. Their agreement is captured in answer choice (D): both "are concerned about the country's current situation and this is evidenced by their nostalgia." Marc takes nostalgia to evidence regret at the recent revolution; Robert agrees that they are nostalgic but thinks this is toward the more distant past. The fact that they agree on this point is why you know that (D) is correct.

Lastly, if you encounter a point at issue question and you've narrowed it down to a couple answer choices, a good strategy to remember is to put each author's name/initial next to the answer choice (so here, an M and an R). Then, based on whether it mentions agreement or disagreement in the question stem, look to the stimulus and see whether they agree/disagree and write a Yes/No next to each speaker so that you've tracked things clearly. This might be time consuming to do for every question, but it can be a time saver if you've narrowed it down to a couple!

[PVequalsnRT]

I'm more confused now because the first post classifies this as a must be true question, but is it actually a point of agreement question?

[PVequalsnRT]

Just wanted to bump this because i'm still confused

[Paul Marsh]

Hi PVequalrnRT! Sorry it took a couple days to respond, the forums have been busy during quarantine!

This is a point of agreement question. I've gone ahead and edited the first post to reflect that. Sorry about any confusion. Luke's post above is a nice summary of how Point of issue/agreement questions differ from regular Must be True questions. If you have any further questions about this one, or about Point of Agreement questions in general, please ask away.

Hope that helps!