PrepTest 123, Section 2, Question 18
By Brandon Beaver | Published April 9, 2025
Type: Most Supported
Difficulty:
Explanations
The passage tells us modern science essentially involves disproving hypotheses and that disproving a prevailing hypothesis would bring a scientist the most recognition for their work.
Then, we get a conundrum. Because the person who disproved global warming would get massive recognition, it’s reasonable that some scientists would reject it, but it’s surprising that so few find evidence against it despite lots of people researching it.
It turns out to be a Most Supported question, so we need the answer choice that jives with the facts in the passage.
Let’s see.
A
Nah, we have no support for this. The passage didn’t discuss the accepted standards of scientific debate. Didn’t read? Don’t pick!
B
Yes, this works. Since overturning conventional wisdom brings the most recognition, the person who disproves global warming would receive such recognition. That’s the incentive. Truly, all scientists would share this incentive, so most is more than justified.
C
No way. The passage never insinuates that global warming is true for certain.
D
No, much too strong. In this hypothetical scenario, we don’t know if any scientist has offered an alternate hypothesis, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a single one.
E
No, thanks. We don’t know what the prevailing primary motives are amongst scientists researching global warming. The passage doesn’t cover it, so we can’t pick it.
Passage
Modern science is built on the process of posing hypotheses and testing them against observations—in essence, attempting to show that the hypotheses are incorrect. Nothing brings more recognition than overthrowing conventional wisdom. It is accordingly unsurprising that some scientists are skeptical of the widely accepted predictions of global warming. What is instead remarkable is that with hundreds of researchers striving to make breakthroughs in climatology, very few find evidence that global warming is unlikely.
Question 18
The information above provides the most support for which one of the following statements?
Most scientists who are reluctant to accept the global warming hypothesis are not acting in accordance with the accepted standards of scientific debate.
Most researchers in climatology have substantial motive to find evidence that would discredit the global warming hypothesis.
There is evidence that conclusively shows that the global warming hypothesis is true.
Scientists who are skeptical about global warming have not offered any alternative hypotheses to explain climatological data.
Research in global warming is primarily driven by a desire for recognition in the scientific community.