PrepTest 141, Section 2, 15. Marketing consultant, Last year I predicted…

How will the right answer fit in terms of support and conclusion?

Only the right answer will accurately describe the support and conclusions on most “vulnerable to criticism” prompts. Every once in a while you might need the more precise reading that only the right answer will accurately describe a flaw in the argument.

Highlight the main conclusion in the passage, if there is one:

the advertising campaign was ill conceived

Marketing consultant: [BACKGROUND]. But [BACKGROUND]. [SUPPORT]. Thus, [CONCLUSION].

Super unusual that “But” doesn’t actually introduce the argument. Buuut, the author doesn’t use the fact that LRG went with the competitor’s advice to support the conclusion. The argument is just that the ad campaign was “ill conceived”, because sales are down and “new products are selling especially poorly”.

You’re recognizing cause-and-effect here, right? How do we know the ad campaign caused the poor sales, especially when we have no info about any other factors?

Map the wording of the answers to the wording of the passage:

(A) …LRG’s sales would not have been lower still in the absence of the competitor’s advertising campaign.

This answer maps to the cause-and-effect the author claims between the ad campaign and the low sales, so I could see you hanging on to this one unless something better shows up. For the more advanced, it should strike you that this info doesn’t actually address our question above. We still don’t know if some other factor was a bigger driver of the drop in sales.

(B) …economic factors…may have caused LRG’s low sales figures

Boom! No one could argue this isn’t accurate. The author definitely failed to consider this. And if it’s true, then we should all agree that makes the conclusion sound pretty sketchy. If there’s another Great Depression on, ad campaigns probably aren’t responsible for bad sales numbers. You’re ready to eliminate (A) now.

(C) …in LRG’s industry…

Stop. There isn’t one word in the passage about what industry LRG is in. And there’s no comparison between how new products are expected to sell versus established products.

(D) …higher sales of established products are due to effective advertising

Don’t get sucked in here. If this wants to be right, it needs to be due to the advertising campaign the author makes their conclusion about. Info about “advertising” more generally doesn’t help you. This is what carefully mapping the wording of answers is all about.

(E) …a condition necessary for increasing product sales…

Where do you see the author say something is necessary for better sales? Yah me neither. It’s not in there. Goodbye (E).

(B) is the correct answer.

Common pattern/s in this question: Train to recognize cause-and-effect arguments every time they appear, and you’ll know you’re looking for a cause-and effect answer.