Self-study
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. ███ ██████ ███████ ███ █ ████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ████████ █████████ ██████ ███ ██ ████████ ██████ █ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that people who choose not to exercise impose “significant” additional costs on society. Why? Because a calculation showed the average sedentary person contributes $1,650 in extra healthcare costs to society over their lifetime.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that a burden of $1,650 over each sedentary person’s lifetime adds up to a “significant” total. In addition, she assumes that people who live a sedentary life do so because they choose not to exercise.
25.
Which one of the following, ██ ████ ███ ███ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████████
a
Many people whose ██████████ ████████ ████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████████ ████ ████ ███ ███ ██ █████
Such people may not be counted as sedentary. There’s no indication the 1991 calculation relied on an estimate of how many people live a sedentary lifestyle.
Illusory inconsistency
Illusory inconsistency
Answer is attractive because it seems to (but doesn't actually) contradict the premises or conclusion.
b
Exercise is a █████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██████ █ █████████ ██████
Patients may still seek medical care for conditions caused by a sedentary lifestyle, even if that lifestyle is not identified as the cause. This helps explain why some people choose not to exercise, but doesn’t address any burden they might place on society.
c
Physical conditions that ██████████ ███████ ███████ ██ ████████████ ████ █████ █████ ██████████ █ ██████ ██ █████ █ █████████ ███████████
This implies those physical conditions are responsible for much of the healthcare burden, rather than voluntary decisions not to exercise. It challenges the author’s assumption that sedentary people simply choose to avoid exercise.
Alternate explanation
Alternate explanation
Weaken: Introduce or support an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
Strengthen: Helps to eliminate an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
d
Individuals vary widely ██ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ██████████
This refers to people who exercise regularly, not those with a sedentary lifestyle. It doesn’t say the collection of people with a sedentary lifestyle is ill-defined.
e
A regular program ██ ████████ ████████ █████ ██ ████████ ████████████ ██████ █ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███████
This offers more detail to the argument. These benefits of exercise help explain why a sedentary lifestyle is unhealthy—they don’t address the apparent burden people who don’t exercise place on society.