StrengthenDiff: Easy
Logic Breakdown
Passage Summary: More families are moving out of Weston than moving in according to address records, so the author predicts the city's population is shrinking.
Conclusion: The upcoming census will likely reveal that Weston's total population has decreased over the past decade.
Reasoning: Data from address changes at post offices and driver's license bureaus shows twice as many households leaving the city as entering it.
Analysis: The argument assumes that household moves are a perfect proxy for total population change. It overlooks the possibility that the households moving in are much larger than those moving out, or that the birth rate within the city is high enough to offset the migration. To strengthen this, we should look for an answer that confirms household size is consistent or that other factors like birth and death rates aren't significant enough to reverse the trend. It’s a classic case of assuming that one specific data point tells the whole story of a complex system.
Conclusion: The upcoming census will likely reveal that Weston's total population has decreased over the past decade.
Reasoning: Data from address changes at post offices and driver's license bureaus shows twice as many households leaving the city as entering it.
Analysis: The argument assumes that household moves are a perfect proxy for total population change. It overlooks the possibility that the households moving in are much larger than those moving out, or that the birth rate within the city is high enough to offset the migration. To strengthen this, we should look for an answer that confirms household size is consistent or that other factors like birth and death rates aren't significant enough to reverse the trend. It’s a classic case of assuming that one specific data point tells the whole story of a complex system.
Passage Stimulus
Passage Redacted
Unlock Full Passage16.Which one of the following, if true, most helps strengthen the argument?
Correct Answer
D
D links the household moves to person counts: most who moved out were parents with children (larger households), whereas those staying or moving in were older people living alone (smaller households). That makes a population decline more likely given the 2:1 outflow of households.
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