#5 - In defending the Hyperion School of Journalism from

[Oscarg104]

Hi, I would like a thorough explanation regarding this question, as I do not understand why I got this one wrong. My selected answer was B.

[James Finch]

Hi Oscar,

This is a weaken question, so we're looking for the answer choice that will make the conclusion less likely to be true. The conclusion here is that the school's journalism program isn't worthless, with the sole premise being that it places 2/3s of its graduates in internships or jobs in journalism. The immediate prephrase I see is "the jobs are entry-level/don't actually lead to careers."

Answer choice (A) immediately comes at a similar idea, if opposite direction, to my prephrase: if the majority of students already have careers in journalism, getting a job after graduating from the school isn't a particular accomplishment. Immediate contender.

Answer choice (B) has such a broad, undefined scope ("some," "necessary") that it neither helps nor hurts the argument. Loser.

Answer choice (C) is clearly irrelevant. Loser.

Answer choice (D) would, if anything, strengthen the argument. Loser.

Answer choice (E) is also irrelevant, as we don't care how selective the school is at choosing students. Loser.

So only (A) can work, and is the correct answer.

Hope this clears things up!

[ericj_williams]

Hi Oscar,

This is a weaken question, so we're looking for the answer choice that will make the conclusion less likely to be true. The conclusion here is that the school's journalism program isn't worthless, with the sole premise being that it places 2/3s of its graduates in internships or jobs in journalism. The immediate prephrase I see is "the jobs are entry-level/don't actually lead to careers."

Answer choice (A) immediately comes at a similar idea, if opposite direction, to my prephrase: if the majority of students already have careers in journalism, getting a job after graduating from the school isn't a particular accomplishment. Immediate contender.

Answer choice (B) has such a broad, undefined scope ("some," "necessary") that it neither helps nor hurts the argument. Loser.

Answer choice (C) is clearly irrelevant. Loser.

Answer choice (D) would, if anything, strengthen the argument. Loser.

Answer choice (E) is also irrelevant, as we don't care how selective the school is at choosing students. Loser.

So only (A) can work, and is the correct answer.

Hope this clears things up!

I don't think it's so much that's not an accomplishment (not of value), but establishing an alternate cause.

You are getting jobs because not because of our program (the value), you're getting jobs because you had prior experience.