Aerobics instructor: Compared to many forms of exercise, kickboxing aerobics is highly risky. Overextending when kicking often leads to hip, knee, or lower-back injuries. Such overextension is very likely to occur when beginners try to match the high kicks of more skilled practitioners.
Summary
Compared to some other forms of exercise, kickboxing aerobics is highly risky. Overextending while kicking can cause hip, knee, or lower-back injuries. Overextension usually happens when beginners try to match the high kicks of skilled kickboxers.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
To reduce a person’s risk of injuries caused by overextension, that person should avoid overextending while kicking.
A
Skilled practitioners of kickboxing aerobics are unlikely to experience injuries from overextending while kicking.
This answer is unsupported. The aerobics instructor does not give us any information about the likelihood of skilled practitioners experiencing injuries.
B
To reduce the risk of injuries, beginners at kickboxing aerobics should avoid trying to match the high kicks of more skilled practitioners.
This answer is strongly supported. Since we know overextension can cause injury, then students should avoid overextending to reduce their risk of injury. An absent or reduced cause can lead to an absent or reduced effect.
C
Beginners at kickboxing aerobics will not experience injuries if they avoid trying to match the high kicks of more skilled practitioners.
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know if overextending while kicking is the only cause of injury to beginners. It is possible that beginners could experience injury some other way.
D
Kickboxing aerobics is more risky than forms of aerobic exercise that do not involve high kicks.
This answer is unsupported. We know that kickboxing aerobics is more risky than many forms of exercise, but we don’t know whether this comparison is to other forms that do not involve high kicks.
E
Most beginners at kickboxing aerobics experience injuries from trying to match the high kicks of more skilled practitioners.
This answer is unsupported. We do not know whether most beginners will for a fact overextend while kicking.
A
Even if the company had not been convicted of engaging in monopolistic practices, the trial probably would have had some effect on the company’s behavior.
B
The light shed on the company’s practices by the trial has emboldened its competitors, alerted potential rivals, and forced the company to restrain its unfair behavior.
C
The penalty imposed on the company will likely have little or no effect on its behavior.
D
The company’s trial on charges of engaging in monopolistic practices was worthwhile.
E
The penalty imposed on the company in the trial should have been larger.
A
indicates that the weather affects some arthritis sufferers more quickly than it does other arthritis sufferers
B
indicates that arthritis sufferers’ beliefs about the causes of the pain they feel may affect their assessment of the intensity of that pain
C
suggests that arthritis sufferers are imagining the correlation they assert to exist
D
suggests that some people are more susceptible to weather-induced arthritis pain than are others
E
suggests that the scientific investigation of possible links between weather and arthritis pain is impossible
Sociologist: A recent study of 5,000 individuals found, on the basis of a physical exam, that more than 25 percent of people older than 65 were malnourished, though only 12 percent of the people in this age group fell below government poverty standards. In contrast, a greater percentage of the people 65 or younger fell below poverty standards than were found in the study to be malnourished.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
People older than 65 are more likely to be malnourished than live in poverty, yet people younger than 65 are more likely to live in poverty than be malnourished.
Objective
The correct answer must offer an unsatisfactory hypothesis, one that fails to explain the differences between age groups. Every wrong answer, meanwhile, will resolve this discrepancy by stating a difference between people older than 65 and people younger than 65. This difference will result in a greater proportion of the older group being malnourished, a greater proportion of the younger group living in poverty, or both.
A
Doctors are less likely to correctly diagnose and treat malnutrition in their patients who are over 65 than in their younger patients.
This would explain the discrepancy. Younger people are more likely to live in poverty than be malnourished because they are more likely to receive treatment for malnourishment than older people.
B
People over 65 are more likely to take medications that increase their need for certain nutrients than are people 65 or younger.
This would explain the discrepancy. If people over 65 are more likely to need additional nutrients, their relative undernourishment is unsurprising.
C
People over 65 are more likely to suffer from loss of appetite due to medication than are people 65 or younger.
This would explain the discrepancy. If people over 65 are more likely to lose their appetite, they are likely to eat less and therefore be relatively undernourished.
D
People 65 or younger are no more likely to fall below government poverty standards than are people over 65.
This is a similarity between the groups and cannot explain their different outcomes. If people in both groups are equally likely to live in poverty, then people over 65 are more than twice as likely to be malnourished as people under 65, which is unexplained.
E
People 65 or younger are less likely to have medical conditions that interfere with their digestion than are people over 65.
This would explain the discrepancy. Younger people are more likely to have healthy digestion, making them more likely to fully absorb the nutrients in their food and thus less likely to be malnourished.