PT132.S4.Q26

PrepTest 132 - Section 4 - Question 26

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Sociologist: A recent study of 5,000 individuals found, on the basis of a physical exam, that more than 25 percent of people older than 65 were malnourished, though only 12 percent of the people in this age group fell below government poverty standards. ██ █████████ █ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ███████ ████ █████ ███████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██ █████████████

Structure: Statements in Tension

We want to explain two apparently opposing trends uncovered by this study of 5,000 individuals. On the one hand, the study found that over 25% of people over 65 years old were malnourished, though less than 12% of people over 65 were below government poverty standards. On the other hand, the study found that more people under age 65 were under poverty standards than were malnourished.

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26.

Each of the following, if █████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███████

a

Doctors are less ██████ ██ █████████ ████████ ███ █████ ████████████ ██ █████ ████████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███████ █████████
(A) potentially resolves the tension in the stimulus. If you picked (A), maybe you thought (A) suggests that doctors under-diagnose malnutrition in people over 65, so that the number of people over 65 with malnutrition is even higher than the study found. This would increase the tension in the stimulus.

But (A) doesn't specify if doctors are under- or over-diagnosing malnutrition in people over 65. If they are over-diagnosing malnutrition in people over 65, this suggests that the number of people over 65 with malnutrition might not be as high as the study found, which would suggest a resolution for the tension in the stimulus. Since (A) provides a possible resolution for the stimulus, and we're looking for an answer choice that does not, (A) is not the answer we want.

9%
b

People over 65 ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████████ ████ ████████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ █████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ████████
(B) provides an explanation for why people over 65 might have higher rates of being malnourished even when they are not below poverty standards: they have a higher need for certain nutrients than people under 65. So (B) isn't the answer choice we're looking for.
7%
c

People over 65 ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ████████
(C) also provides an explanation for the trends found by the study. More people over 65 are malnourished because more people over 65 lose their appetite from medication than people 65 or younger. (C) isn't the answer choice we want.
6%
d

People 65 or ███████ ███ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ████ █████ ██████████ ███████ █████████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ███
(D) doesn't resolve the tension in the stimulus. All (D) suggests is that the percentage of people 65 or younger who are below government poverty standards is probably also 12%. (D) doesn't explain why more than 12% of people over 65 are malnourished, and less than 12% of people under 65 are malnourished. So (D) is the answer choice we're looking for.
73%
e

People 65 or ███████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ██████████ ████ █████████ ████ █████ █████████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ███
(E) resolves the tension in the stimulus. People over 65 might be malnourished more often because they have more digestive issues than people under 65. So (E) isn't the answer choice we want.
5%

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