PrepTest 141, Section 2, 2. Jeneta: Increasingly, I’ve noticed

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

Only the right answer will support the conclusion that there isn’t really a discrepancy. More generically, it would be okay to say only the right answer will contrast the two key statements in the passage.

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

There’s no conclusion in the passage. The prompt basically implies the conclusion that there’s a discrepancy but that it can be explained. If that’s making sense, I’d tag it like this:

[SUPPORT]. [BACKGROUND]. But [SUPPORT].

You should recognize the comparison in the passage is between what folks say after a purchase and what folks say after a favor. The right answer has to have that same comparison.

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

(A) This gets the comparison in the passage wrong by comparing salespeople to one another. But also, if I do someone a favor that doesn’t explain why I would say “thank you” to that person.

(B) Again, this doesn’t bring in the comparison between a purchase and a favor. And being “free to say what they want” still doesn’t explain the “thank you”.

(C) What the salespeople think doesn’t matter. We’re trying to explain why the customer says “thank you”, not what the salesperson is doing.

(D) This answer doesn’t map to any of the wording in the passage except “being thanked”. There’s no purchase, no favor, no reasoning why a person would say “thank you”. This couldn’t possibly explain it.

(E) You gotta love the wording here: “In a commercial transaction, as opposed to a favor” is making the same comparison the passage makes. And if “the benefits are mutual”, it makes sense to reply back with the same “thank you” the customer received.

(E) is the correct answer.

Common pattern/s in this question: Comparisons will come up in pretty much every “agree” and “disagree” prompt, but there’s typically only one of these prompts in each section.