ISAT - International Student Admissions Argument Evaluation and Flaws 3

Question 1

'Every successful entrepreneur I know dropped out of college. Therefore, dropping out increases your chances of becoming a successful entrepreneur.' Evaluate the reasoning.

Accepted Answer

The argument suffers from survivorship bias -- it considers only successful dropouts while ignoring the vast majority who dropped out and did not succeed

Answer

Survivorship bias means looking only at successful dropout entrepreneurs while ignoring the much larger pool who did not achieve similar success.

Question 2

A health magazine claims: 'This supplement has been used for centuries in traditional medicine, so it must be effective.' What flaw undermines this reasoning?

Accepted Answer

The appeal to tradition assumes that historical use validates effectiveness, ignoring that longevity of practice does not constitute scientific evidence

Answer

Long historical use does not prove efficacy. Many traditional remedies have been shown ineffective when scientifically tested.

Question 3

'The crime rate went down after we installed more street lights. Therefore, better lighting reduces crime.' What additional information would most help evaluate this causal claim?

Accepted Answer

Whether other changes occurred simultaneously, such as increased police patrols, economic improvements, or demographic shifts

Answer

To evaluate the causal claim, we need to know whether confounding variables could explain the crime reduction.

Question 4

'Most people support the new policy, so it must be the right decision.' Which best describes this flaw?

Accepted Answer

Bandwagon fallacy (argumentum ad populum) -- popularity does not establish correctness

Answer

The argument assumes that majority support equals correctness. Popular opinion has historically been wrong on many issues.

Question 5

'Students who eat breakfast perform better academically. Therefore, schools should provide free breakfast to improve academic outcomes.' What assumption bridges the gap?

Accepted Answer

That the correlation reflects a causal relationship where eating breakfast directly improves cognitive function for academic tasks

Answer

The policy only makes sense if breakfast actually causes better performance rather than being correlated through other factors like family support.

ISAT - International Student Admissions Test Practice Test

ISAT - International Student Admissions Test Practice Test

ISAT - International Student Admissions Argument Evaluation and Flaws 3