PT112.S1.Q25

PrepTest 112 - Section 1 - Question 25

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Support A 1991 calculation was made to determine what, if any, additional health-care costs beyond the ordinary are borne by society at large for people who live a sedentary life. ███ ██████ ███████ ███ █ ████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ████████ █████████ ██████ ███ ██ ████████ ██████ █ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████████

Argument Summary

The author reports a 1991 calculation that found that, through the course of their lifetime, a sedentary person places additional costs averaging $1,650 beyond ordinary health-care costs on society. The author concludes that people who make the "voluntary choice not to exercise" thus place a "significant burden" on society as a whole.

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25.

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

a

Many people whose ██████████ ████████ ████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████████ ████ ████ ███ ███ ██ █████

Incorrect. We don't know where the people described in (A) fit into any of the categories mentioned in the stimulus. If these people's employment requires physical exertion, then maybe this counts as exercise. And not choosing to perform additional exercise outside of work isn't necessarily the same thing as "voluntarily choosing" to not exercise.

So since we can't say that these people count as "sedentary," let alone that they voluntarily choose not to exercise, we don't know how the fact in (A) is relevant to the stimulus. We can't say (A) weakens.

Illusory inconsistency
17%
b

Exercise is a █████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████ █ █████████ ██████
Incorrect. Maybe the doctors don't mention exercise because it isn't relevant to the patient's diagnosis. It's not clear how doctor-patient discussions affect the stimulus, anyway, so (B) doesn't weaken.
5%
c

Physical conditions that ██████████ ███████ ███████ ██ ████████████ ████ █████ █████ ██████████ █ ██████ ██ █████ █ █████████ ███████████
Correct. This suggests that the reason for the additional healthcare cost related to a sedentary lifestyle isn't that people are just voluntarily choosing not to exercise and suffering the consequences of that decision. Instead, certain physical conditions can cause a person first to become sedentary, perhaps against their will, and then to incur the costs of medical or nursing-home care. So (C) weakens the author's interpretation of the data.
Alternate explanation
72%
d

Individuals vary widely ██ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ██████████
Incorrect. Even if (D) is true, it could still be true that the "sedentary" individuals who place extra healthcare costs on society are people who choose not to exercise at all. So (D) doesn't weaken the author's conclusion.
5%
e

A regular program ██ ████████ ████████ █████ ██ ████████ ████████████ ██████ █ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███████
Incorrect. The fact that exercise provides these benefits doesn't do anything to weaken the author's claim that people who choose not to exercise lay a burden on society.
1%

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