PT127.S1.Q9

PrepTest 127 - Section 1 - Question 9

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In a recent study, each member of two groups of people, Group A (composed of persons sixty-five to seventy-five years old) and Group B (composed of college students), was required to make a telephone call to a certain number at a specified time. ███ ████ ████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ███████████████ █████ █ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██ ████ █ █████████ ████ █████████ ██ █ █████████ ████ ████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ █████ █ ███ ████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █ ██████ █████

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis

The author hypothesizes that at least one type of memory doesn’t decline with age. This is because an experimental group of older people were better at remembering to make telephone calls at a specific time than a group of college students.

Notable Assumptions

The author assumes that the results of the study are explained by the subjects' memories, and by at least one distinct "type" of memory. But if there was some other relevant difference—for example, if the group of older people were more likely to ask someone to remind them of the phone call, or if the younger people had busier schedules--then the results of the study could be explained by that difference instead.

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9.

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

a

There was the ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ██████

This strengthens the conclusion. If there had been four hundred students and only four older people, then students would actually have a lower overall rate of forgetting, and the conclusion would seem improperly drawn. But since there were the same number of students and older people, the conclusion seems stronger.

Plausibility
2%
b

The same group ██ ███████████ ████████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ███████

This isn't helpful at all. The study is about when people remembered to make the calls, which we already know was recorded automatically. It doesn't matter who answered the calls, if anyone answered at all.

84%
c

Among the college ████████ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ █████ █████ ████

This establishes that there was a significant age difference between the two groups, and they didn't overlap. This makes the study seem more reliable.

Plausibility
9%
d

Both groups had ████████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ██████

This defends against a potential weakener: that the two groups had unequal access to phones. By ruling out that possibility, the study seems more reliable, and the conclusion more likely to be valid.

Alternate explanation
4%
e

The members of ███ ███ ██████ ████████ █████ ████████████ █████████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ████ █████ █████████ ██████

This helps strengthen the conclusion. If the college students had received their instructions a week before the test, versus the older people receiving their instructions the day before, that would make the study's results less useful. But this establishes that both groups had the same amount of time where they had to remember to make the call.

Alternate explanation
1%

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