Self-study
Support Air traffic controllers and nuclear power plant operators are not allowed to work exceptionally long hours, because to do so would jeopardize lives. ███ ██████████ ██ █████████ ████████ ███ █████████ ████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████████████ ████████████ ██ ███████ █████████████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ████████ ███████████ █████ ████ ███ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ██ █ █████████████ ███████
Summary
The author concludes that resident physicians should not be allowed to work 80 hours or more a week. His reasoning is that air traffic controllers and nuclear power plant operators are barred from working exceptionally long hours. And, like physicians, their work has life-or-death consequences.
Notable Assumptions
The author relies on a comparison between physicians and other professions to make his point. But he only cites one similarity: they all involve life-or-death choices. What if these professions were different in other relevant respects? For example, shift changes might be simpler for air traffic controllers than for physicians. If so, it could be harder for physicians to work shorter hours.
The author therefore has to assume that there are no particular reasons why resident physicians might need to work 80-hour weeks.
10.
Which one of the following ██ ██ ██████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ███
a
There is no █████████████ ██████ ██ █████████ ████████ ████ ████████ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████ █████████████ ████ ██████
The negation is: “there is an indispensable [crucial] aspect of residency that requires exceptionally long hours.” If so, the author’s premises about other professions wouldn’t support his conclusion about resident physicians. The author must therefore assume that this is true.
b
Resident physicians have █ ████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███████ █████ █████ ██████████
The author doesn’t need to assume that this is true: his premise is that physicians have an effect, not necessarily that they have a strong direct effect. Even if they had less of a direct effect than the other two professions, it wouldn’t contradict his reasoning.
c
The more hours ███ █████ ██ █ █████ ███ ████ ██████████████ ███ ████████ █████ █████
This would strengthen the argument, but it isn’t necessary for the author to make such an absolute assumption. For example, perhaps only working more than 70 hours a week decreases work quality. The author could believe that, while sticking to his original reasoning.
d
Those who are ███ ███████ ██ ████ ████ ███ █████████████ ████████████ ██████ ████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ █████████████ ████ ██████
The conclusion and support are about professions with life-and-death consequences, so other professions are irrelevant here.
e
Some resident physicians █████ ████ ██ ████████ █████ █████████ ████████ ███████ ███████ █████████████ ████ ██████
The author’s reasoning is about the consequences of physicians’ work, not their desires. Even if all residents wanted to work long hours, it wouldn’t undermine the author’s argument that such hours are dangerous and should be prohibited.