Self-study
Most small children are flat-footed. ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ██ ████████ ████ █████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ██████████████ ███████████████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ████████ ████ ███████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ █████
Summarize Argument
The stimulus only offers a set of facts, not an argument; instead, the question stem tells us to weaken the claim that the traditional treatment for flat-footedness in children is effective. This treatment, according to the stimulus, is to give flat-footed children shoes with extra support, with the goal of fostering arch development.
Notable Assumptions
The claim that the traditional treatment for flat-footedness in children is effective is based on the assumption that wearing shoes with extra support actually does improve arch development. The stimulus doesn’t provide any data to support this, so it’s just an assumption.
4.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ █████████ █████████ ██████
a
Many small children ███ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███████████ █████████
This does not undermine the effectiveness of the traditional treatment. Whether or not children with normal feet also wear these special shoes doesn’t tell us anything about the effects of those shoes on arch development. This is just irrelevant.
b
Studies of flat-footed ██████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ █████████ ████ ███████
This does not undermine the effectiveness of the traditional treatment. We’re not interested in the pros and cons of flat feet versus high arches, we’re interested in whether the treatment for flat-footedness actually works. This doesn’t help with that at all.
c
Although most children's ███████████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ████████ █████ ████████ ████ ██████ ██████ ███████████ ███ █████
This does not undermine the effectiveness of the traditional treatment. This doesn’t tell us whether or not there’s any relationship between wearing special shoes and the improvement of flat-footedness, it’s just irrelevant.
d
Flat-footed children who ██ ███ ████ ███ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ██████
This undermines the effectiveness of the traditional treatment by rebutting the assumption that wearing special shoes actually improves arch development. If there’s no correlation between treatment and arch development, we can’t call the treatment effective.
Plausibility
Plausibility
Presenting evidence that corroborates (in Strengthen) or conflicts (in Weaken) with the author's hypothesized explanation or the predictions that follow from that explanation.
e
Some children who ███ ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ███ █████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ██████ ██████ ██ ████████
This does not undermine the effectiveness of the traditional treatment. We’re only interested in the correction of flat-footedness, so a fact about non-flat-footed children is totally outside the domain of this question.