Self-paced
A recent study of perfect pitch—the ability to identify the pitch of an isolated musical note—found that Support a high percentage of people who have perfect pitch are related to someone else who has it. █████ █████ ███████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ██████ ███████ █████ ██ █ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that perfect pitch is a result of genetics. She supports this hypothesis by pointing to a correlation: those with perfect pitch tend to also have relatives with perfect pitch.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that perfect pitch is something that can be inherited genetically. She also assumes that there are no alternative hypotheses to explain the observed correlation—that is, she assumes that there are no other, non-genetic factors that could lead to sets of relatives all sharing perfect pitch.
3.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████████
a
People who have █████████ ████ ███████ █████ █████████ ███████ ██ ████ ███████ ████████ ████ ██ ███████
This rules out the alternative hypothesis that musical training, rather than genetics, is the reason why perfect pitch tends to run in the family.
Alternate explanation
Alternate explanation
Weaken: Introduce or suggest an alternate explanation for the target phenomenon.
Strengthen: Helps to eliminate an alternate explanation for the target phenomenon.
b
All of the ███████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ██████
Irrelevant. The argument centers on whether the results of the study suggest that perfect pitch is due to genetic factors. Whether the researchers also had perfect pitch has no bearing on the study’s results or the conclusions that can be drawn from those results.
c
People with perfect █████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ █████ ██ █ ███████
This fails to address why perfect pitch tends to run in families, or to suggest that genetics are indeed the cause.
d
People with perfect █████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █████ ████████ ███████ ███████ █████████
This weakens the argument by suggesting an alternative hypothesis: musical training, rather than genetics, may be the reason why perfect pitch tends to be shared by certain relatives.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
e
People who have ████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ██ ████ █████████
This fails to address why perfect pitch tends to run in families, or to suggest that genetics are indeed the cause.