Practice bank
Critical reasoning: strengthen a prediction
VerbalCritical reasoningMedium
Librarian: "Extending the library's evening hours by two nights a week will increase total visits." Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the librarian's prediction?
- AThe library's materials budget has grown steadily over the past decade.
- BIn a survey of city residents, the most frequently cited reason for not visiting the library was that it closes before respondents leave work.
- CSeveral libraries in neighboring counties close even earlier than this library does.
- DThe library recently completed a renovation of its children's reading room.
- EMost of the library's collection can now be borrowed in digital form from home.
Try it before you scroll. Two minutes on the clock, then commit to an answer.
Correct answer: B
The prediction: later hours will bring more visits. The missing link is demand that current hours block. If many people want to come but cannot because of the closing time, opening later removes that barrier and visits should rise.
- (B) supplies exactly that link: the top stated barrier is the early closing time, so extending hours targets the main obstacle. Correct.
- (A) concerns materials spending, which says nothing about whether hours limit visits.
- (C) compares this library to others, but neighbors closing earlier does not show this library’s visitors are blocked by its hours.
- (D) describes an improvement already made; it cannot predict the effect of a future hours change.
- (E) actually weakens the prediction by suggesting visits matter less as borrowing moves online.
Strengthen questions reward precision: find the gap between premise and conclusion, then pick the choice that fills it. Here the premise is only the plan itself, so the gap is the entire causal mechanism. (B) fills it with direct evidence of blocked demand. Notice (B) would also be the answer to “the prediction depends on which assumption,” which is typical: strengtheners and assumptions are the same logical object at different strengths.