Self-study
More women than men suffer from Alzheimer's disease—a disease that is most commonly contracted by elderly persons. ████ ███████████ ███ █████ ████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ██ ██████ █ ██████ █████ ███ █████ ████ ███████████ ████████ ██ █████ █████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████ ██████ ██ ████████████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ ███████ ███████████ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ ██ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ███ ████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
The author proposes an alternative explanation for women’s higher chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease: it might be because of lower estrogen levels later in life, rather than because of women’s longer average life span. This is supported by evidence that taking estrogen after menopause might protect women against Alzheimer’s. Also providing support is the claim that men continue to produce testosterone, which is converted into estrogen in the body, thus providing men with stable estrogen levels in old age. This shows how estrogen could actually explain the gender difference in Alzheimer’s.
Identify Conclusion
The conclusion is the author’s claim that women’s longer life span may not be the reason women are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s, and that it may be due to hormone levels instead.
3.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████
a
A decrease in █████████ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ████
This is a good restatement of the author’s conclusion. The evidence given supports the idea that less estrogen in old age leads to a higher Alzheimer’s risk, which the author presents as an alternative explanation to the life span theory.
b
As one gets ██████ █████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███████████ ███████ █████████
The relationship between Alzheimer’s and age is not the central focus of the argument. The author’s point is to support a hypothesis that might explain this correlation, not to prove that the correlation exists to begin with.
c
Women who go ███████ █████████ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ████ █████ █████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ███████████ ███████████ ████████
This is not stated in the argument. It might be implied by the relationship suggested between Alzheimer’s and estrogen. Even then, there could be other factors we don’t know about.
d
The conversion of ████████████ ████ ████████ ███ ████ █████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ████████
This is stated as support for the author’s claim that estrogen levels may explain the difference in women’s and men’s risks of Alzheimer’s, and nothing else supports this claim. It’s a premise, not a conclusion.
e
Testosterone is necessary ███ ██████████ ███████████ ███████ ██ █████ ████
This is never stated, and is generally a much stronger claim than anything the author says.