Q1 - Advertisement: GreenBank gives all of its customers

[smiller]

Question Type:
This is a Flaw question. Don't be fooled by the wording of the stimulus. If an argument's reasoning is "misleading" then it's "vulnerable to criticism," or simply "flawed."

Stimulus Breakdown:
The premises of the argument compare a specific cost of banking (ATM fees) at two different banks. From this, the conclusion claims that it costs more to bank at one bank than the other.

Answer Anticipation:
This is an unsupported generalization. The claim in the conclusion that "it costs more" to bank at TekBank isn't limited to any specific cost; this indicates that the total cost is higher. However, it's possible that GreenBank charges every customer outlandish monthly fees that far outweigh TekBank's ATM fee.

Correct Answer:
(C)

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) This is not a flaw in the advertisement's argument. There is no recommendation in the stimulus.

(B) This is also not a flaw in this particular argument. All of the claims in the argument are about the costs of banking at the two different banks, and all are relevant. The premises aren't trying to divert attention from a more relevant issue; they just aren't sufficient on their own to support the conclusion.

(C) This is the correct answer. The ATM fees are only one component of the overall cost of banking, but the conclusion is about the overall cost.

(D) This is the opposite of what we need. Be careful with this one. It's also possible to describe the flaw in the stimulus as a "part to whole" fallacy, meaning it takes a property of one part (ATM fees) and attributes it to the whole (overall cost of banking). But answer choice (D) is describing a "whole to part" fallacy, which is not the same thing and not a flaw in this stimulus.

(E) The stimulus doesn't contain an "absence of evidence" flaw. The argument provides evidence that supports the conclusion, it's just not enough evidence. We should also be wary of (E) because this argument isn't concluding that a claim is false. Nowhere in this argument does anyone claim that it costs less to bank at TekBank than at GreenBank.

Takeaway/Pattern: Incorrect answers to Flaw questions often describe flaws that don't actually appear in the stimulus. Break each answer choice down, piece by piece, and make sure it accurately matches parts of the stimulus.

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