PT110.S3.Q18

PrepTest 110 - Section 3 - Question 18

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A person is more likely to become disabled as that person ages. █████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ████████ ████████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ██████████ ███████ ████████ ███████ ████ █ ███████ █████ ██ ██ ██ ████ ████ ██ █ ███████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ██ ██ ███ █ ███████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ ███████████ ██ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ████████ ████ █ ██████████ ███████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ██████ ██████

Phenomenon-Hypothesis · Alternative Explanations

This question exhibits a textbook phenomenon-hypothesis structure, and seeing it through that lens helps make sense of why (E) is correct despite never directly addressing the author’s explanation – (E) is relevant because it introduces an alternative explanation.

Phenomenon: As they age, people become more disabled.
Phenomenon: As they age, people get fewer disability benefits.
(Assumption: Other hypotheses don’t apply.)
________
Hypothesis: This is because more jobs offer disability benefits now than in the past.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with the explanation offered above. It’s just not a complete explanation – there could be other factors in play as well.

Show answer
18.

Which one of the following, ██ ████ █████ ████ ████████ █████ ████ ███ ███████████ █████ ██ ██ ████ ███████████

a

The treatment of █████ ████████ ████████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████

The phenomenon we’re trying to describe involves older people receiving fewer benefits. (A) suggests we’re getting better at treating disabilities nowadays, which points to the opposite outcome. That is, if we’re better at treating disabilities now than we used to be, we should expect better outcomes for more recently disabled people (i.e. younger people), and therefore a lower rate of disability benefits for those people.

5%
b

Some people receive ██████████ ███████ ████████ █████ ██████████ █████████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ███████████

The phenomenon we’re explaining is about the proportion of adults receiving disability benefits from any source – this encompasses both government- and employer-provided benefits. So if (B) felt tempting because “maybe these old folks are getting their benefits elsewhere,” no they aren’t.

Failed alternate explanation
12%
c

Medical advances have █████████ ███ ███████ ████████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ██ █████ ████

We’re talking about proportions within each age group, not about the comparative sizes of each group. That is, we’re asking “what % of the 75+ crowd gets benefits?” and not “how big is the 75+ crowd compared to the other age groups?”

An increase in the average lifespan means more people are older these days, but it doesn’t explain why a smaller proportion of those older people receive disability benefits.

4%
d

For persons receiving ██████████ ███████ █████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███████ █████████ █ ███████ █████ ██ █████ █████████████ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██ █████ ████

The issue at hand is whether or not people receive disability benefits, not how much money they receive.

4%
e

Under most employers' ██████ ██████████ ███████ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ████ █ ██████████ ███████ ███ █████ ██████████ ███ ██ ███

(E) is correct because it introduces an alternate explanation for the phenomenon that could apply alongside the author’s, showing that the author hasn’t found a complete explanation.

If (E) were true, we would expect to see a sharp drop-off in disability benefit rates after the age of 65, entirely unrelated to the actual rate of disability. That’s exactly the phenomenon we do see, and what the author is hoping to explain. So perhaps older people receive benefits at lower rates (partly) due to this retirement-age cutoff making them no longer eligible despite their ongoing disabled status.

Alternate explanation
75%

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