PrepTest 141, Section 4, 18. So far this summer…

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

Only the right answer will use the same kind of support and the same kind of conclusion that passage uses. It will be the only one with the same flaw too, but you don’t necessarily need to recognize that to be sure you’re picking the right answer.

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

it will probably rain in the valley within the next week.

[SUPPORT]. But [SUPPORT]. Since [SUPPORT], [COCLUSION].

So if you’re predicting next week’s weather, what “usually” happens in summer is stronger evidence than what the weather has been so far this summer? That’s ridiculous. The right answer will also have to favor what usually happens over the most recent evidence to predict what will happen in the next little bit.

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

(A) …there are sometimes a few errors…So there may be errors…

Nope, “sometimes” and “may be” don’t map to the passage, which said “usually” and “probably”.

(B) …Hence, there are probably no errors…

Oh, so close. But the conclusion should be that there probably are errors in order to match the passage.

(C) On average, there are a few errors…but has encountered no errors…So there are probably errors in the pages…

Every bit of this maps to the passage. This also takes evidence about what usually happens over the most recent evidence to say what will “probably” happen in the last little bit of something.

(D) …But there are seldom any errors…

The first part about “several issues” is no good either, since it doesn’t have that all-but-the-last-bit, but I’d expect you to be sure this is wrong by the time you get to “seldom any errors” since that doesn’t map to “usually a few” like in the passage.

(E) …Aisha has probably made a mistake…

Clearly a whole different kind of conclusion, since it’s not making a prediction at all.

(C) is the correct answer.