Self-study
Each of many different human hormones can by itself raise the concentration of glucose in the blood. ███ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ████████ █ █████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ████████ ████ ████████ ████ █████ █████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ █████ █████ ███ ███ ████ ████████ █████ ██ █████ ███████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ █████ █████ ████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███████████████ ███ ██████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The explanation for human hormone ability to raise glucose concentration is a survival trait of the brain. Most cells can get energy from multiple sources, but the brain can only use glucose and brain starvation can be fatal.
Identify Conclusion
The conclusion tells us the reason why different human hormones can raise blood glucose on their own: “The reason for this is probably a metabolic quirk of the brain.”
23.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
a
Each of many █████████ █████ ████████ ███ ██ ██████ █████ █████ ███████ ███████
This is the phenomenon that our conclusion sets out to explain. The argument doesn’t provide support for this claim, which means this isn’t the conclusion. The main conclusion is the explanation of (A): it’s a metabolic quirk of the brain.
b
The reason that ████ █████████ ████████ ███ ████ █████████████ █████ █████ ███████ ██████ ██ ████████ █ █████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████
The rest of the argument works to prove this, which makes it the main conclusion. This explains the phenomenon of hormone ability, and the rest of the argument provides support for this causal reasoning.
c
Although most human █████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ █████ █████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ████████
This is premise. This supports the sub-conclusion that a low level of blood glucose is dangerous for the brain.
d
If blood glucose ██████ ████ ███ ████ ████ █████ █████ ███████ █████████ ██ ████ ██ █████████████ ███ ██████
This is a sub-conclusion that supports the main conclusion, i.e. hormones can raise glucose levels because of a metabolic brain quirk. (D) tells us why it is so important for the body to be able to maintain healthy blood glucose levels.
e
The reason brain █████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ████████
This is a supported inference, but it isn’t the author’s main conclusion. The author is concerned with explaining a phenomenon (human hormone ability), but she isn’t focused on explaining (E)’s phenomenon.