Wrong Answer Choices: Outside the Scope

As you already know, one of the most important skills, when critically reading test
passages, is to focus on the scope of the argument — how much of a particular topic it
covers.

Many wrong answer choices touch upon issues related to the topic of the argument,
but that are not within the scope of the argument. These choices are "outside the
scope," and anything that is outside the scope of an argument can not affect the
argument.

We already saw the following passage before during our work on the Denial
Test. Reread this passage and identify the scope.

Today's so-called pacifists are either the victims or the propagators of a false logic.
They claim that weapons reductions would result in a so-called climate of peace,
thereby diminishing the likelihood of conflicts leading to war. But what are the facts?
In the past ten years, during which time we have seen increased spending for such
defense requirements as state-of-the-art weapons systems and augmented combat
personnel, there have been fewer military actions involving our forces than in any
previous decade in the twentieth century. Our own installations have not been attacked
and our allies have rarely found it necessary to ask for our armed support. In other
words, defense readiness is, in the real world, the most efficient peace-making tool.

This author discusses the effect of our defense readiness on the need for military action
over the past ten years. When you evaluate answer choices, make sure to keep this
scope in mind and reject answers that fall outside the scope.

Wrong Answer Choices: Outside the Scope, continued

Now review the question stem and use the elimination approach to find the
correct answer. Evaluate each answer choice's scope, and then click on the
choice to see whether it may be eliminated.