QUESTION 6

Assuming the premises in the

following argument are true, do they support the causal

(10 marks)

Recent research suggests that

practicing origami (the traditional Japanese art of paper folding) could lead

to increased literacy and numeracy skills for primary school children. Researchers

worked with schools in Victoria to offer origami as a weekly recreational

activity for year 3 students for two terms. In total, five classes participated,

totalling 100 students. At the end of the two terms, the children took the National

Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) test, which measures literacy

and numeracy skills. Results showed that all but 6 students from the classes that were offered origami as a recreational activity had achieved above-average

scores on that test. The researchers believe that the high scores can be

explained by an increased ability to focus promoted by time spent making neat folds.

QUESTION 5

Read the passage below. Identify and state the sample, population

and

(10 marks)

QUESTION 4

Read the passage below and

(a) identify and state the main

conclusion of the article;

(b) identify and state ALL of the

claims that are relevant for the argument leading to that conclusion and at the same time are supported only by an appeal to authority (and not by a sub-argument), and

(c) choose ONE of those claims

supported only by an appeal to authority identified in (b) and state again what the claim is and whether

you accept the claim

(10 marks)

Scorpios will

see their health improve in 2025! It's common for people to make New Year's

resolutions, and statistics have shown that 79% of these resolutions concern

improving health. These same statistics report only 4% of people actually

following through with these goals, and according to professional astrologer

and psychic Evan Nathaniel Grim, one zodiac sign whose health will improve in

2025 may just be part of that small percentage.

"Saturn

and Neptune will enter their sixth house, joining Chiron and amplifying the

call to master their daily wellness and health practices," Grim explained.

"The position of transiting Saturn represents the area of our life where

we can face challenges or delays, but also represents possibilities for great

achievements."

Scorpio,

expect 2025 to be filled with encouraging energy! According to Grim, strength

training is appealing for Scorpios throughout 2025 as the zodiac sign's main

goal is to achieve long-term results, and the astrologer noted that with hard

work, you will be successful.

Adapted from “The One Zodiac Sign Whose Health

Improves In 2025, According To An Astrologer”, yourtango.com, Accessed May 2026

Background Information on Evan Nathaniel Grim:

Evan

Nathaniel Grim is a professional astrologer and psychic who discusses astrology

on social media. He has more than 450,000 followers on TikTok and 320,000 on

Instagram. He also offers personalised astrological readings on his own website.

Young people can easily get a graduate job if they aren’t lazy. Fortunately, young people today are not lazy. So, I doubt that they’ll have much difficulty finding grad-jobs.

QUESTION 6

Assuming the

premises in the following argument are true, do they support the causal

(10 marks)

Researchers claim

to have shown that using AI in university assignments causes students to have a

more negative view of their ability to solve problems. The researchers emailed 3,000

randomly selected Monash students. Of those contacted, 2,780 agreed to

participate in the semester-long study. The researchers then grouped students in

two groups: those who said they use AI in their assignments, and those who said

they do not use AI in their assignments. At the end of the semester, participating

students answered a questionnaire designed to measure their view of their

ability to solve problems. The researchers found that students who said they use AI for their assignments had a significantly more negative view of their

ability to solve problems than students who said they do not use AI in their

assignments. The researchers believe this is caused by awe of machine

intelligence making students who use AI more humble about their problem-solving

abilities.

QUESTION 5

Read

the passage below. Identify and state the 

(10 marks)

In

order to determine how much alcohol older Australians (50 years or older)

consume in a year, Liquorland, a liquor retailer, conducted an in-store survey. 500 randomly selected Liquorland customers were approached and asked if they were 50 or older to qualify for

participation. They were offered a $20 Liquorland gift card for participating. As such, 438 customers participated in the survey. The survey

asked participants for their Liquorland loyalty card number, which allows

customers to receive promotional pricing. Liquorland used this number to check

their purchases for the last year. Liquorland then calculated how many standard

drinks each of those customer had purchased during that period. They concluded

that Australians aged 50 years or older consume an average of 883 standard

drinks a year.

QUESTION 4

Read the passage below and

(a) identify and state the main

conclusion of the letter signed by the nearly 400 millionaires and billionaires;

(b) identify and state ALL of the

claims that are relevant for the argument leading to that conclusion and at the same time are supported only by an appeal to authority (and not by a sub-argument), and

(c) choose ONE of those claims

supported only by an appeal to authority identified in (b) and state again what the claim is and whether

you accept the claim

(10 marks)

Dick Smith

is one of only three Australians among the nearly 400 millionaires and

billionaires who signed an open letter last month calling on all governments to

increase taxes on the super-rich.

The open

letter, timed to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos, argued that extreme

wealth was distorting political dynamics and driving social exclusion.

Smith told

Guardian Australia he joined the call for a wealth tax because it would

“benefit us greatly”.

He added

that “increasing taxes on the super-rich is the best way to ensure our economy has

a healthy future”.

He also

mentioned that in Australia, “the wealth of the super-rich has grown faster than

the economy as a whole for four decades. If the wealth of the super-rich grows

faster than the economy as a whole for a sustained period of time the government

and most other parts of society are placed in a very desperate and unfair

situation.”

Smith and

his wife have given away more than $90m throughout their careers and are aiming

for a total of $100m before they die. When asked why more wealthy Australians

did not sign the letter calling for higher taxes on the super-rich, Smith said that

the super-rich “are not concerned with the wider consequences of their growing

wealth.”

Adapted from “WEALTH TAX: Three Australian

millionaires say the nation’s super-rich should face higher taxes”,

Background Information on Dick Smith:

Dick Smith

is an Australian entrepreneur. He is the founder of Dick Smith Electronics,

Australian Geographic, and Dick Smith Foods. A major philanthropist, he

supports a number of charities and conservation efforts. In 1980, he sold electronics

retailer chain Dick Smith Electronics to Woolworths for $25 million.

Anita’s new album was released recently. If she didn’t send demos of the album to a lot of local record labels, she wouldn’t have been able to release it. So that must be what she did.

QUESTION 1

Put the argument from the following passage into standard form and construct an argument map diagram. There is no need to include unstated premises (assumptions) in your answer.  

(17 marks)

Every child finds out at some point that their parents have been lying to them about the existence of the tooth fairy. Inevitably, this leads to a sense of betrayal. Whenever children feel betrayed by adults, they lose trust in them. So, parents should not pretend there is a tooth fairy in the first place.

Opal

Banking Union, a large Australian bank, wants to determine the degree of

customer satisfaction with its services. It commissions web developers to add a

feature to their online banking app: after one month of use, each new customer

receives a prompt which asks them to report any issues they have encountered by

typing in a textbox. They can also dismiss the prompt by clicking "I haven't encountered any issues”. After collecting data for 12 months, the bank receives

over 35,000 responses. Of these responses, 12,000 reported an issue, and the

remainder selected “I haven't encountered any issues”. In their internal annual report,

Opal Banking Union reports that roughly 30-40% of their customers were

dissatisfied with the bank’s services, and thus they must do much more to

improve the customer experience.