Self-study
In a recent study of arthritis, researchers tried but failed to find any correlation between pain intensity and any of those features of the weather—humidity, temperature swings, barometric pressure—usually cited by arthritis sufferers as the cause of their increased pain. █████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ █ ███████████ ████ ██████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ █████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ███ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ████ █████ ████████
Summary
The stimulus discusses a study where researchers tried and failed to find any correlation between pain intensity in arthritis sufferers and various weather features (humidity, temperature swings, barometric pressure). Arthritis sufferers in the study who believed in such a correlation gave widely varying accounts of the time delay between the weather change and the increased pain.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
There is no correlation between weather features and pain intensity.
24.
Of the following, which one ████ █████████ █████████ ███ █████████
a
indicates that the ███████ ███████ ████ █████████ █████████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ █████ █████████ █████████
This is too strong to support. There is no indication that the weather impacts pain intensity at all, much less that it impacts some more quickly than others.
b
indicates that arthritis ██████████ ███████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ █████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ████
This is a tricky answer choice, but it is too strong to support. You have to make an assumption that the arthritis sufferers are correct. There is no support that the beliefs about their pain impact the assessment of that pain.
c
suggests that arthritis █████████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████████ ████ ██████ ██ █████
The argument's premises (that there is no correlation and widely varying accounts) support the conclusion that this perceived correlation is imaginary. Remember, your job is to complete THIS argument, not provide assumptions to lead to another conclusion.
d
suggests that some ██████ ███ ████ ███████████ ██ ███████████████ █████████ ████ ████ ███ ██████
The stimulus says that there is no correlation.
e
suggests that the ██████████ █████████████ ██ ████████ █████ ███████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ██████████
This is too strong to support. The stimulus only says that there is no correlation, not that such correlation is impossible.