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Is there a rule of thumb about when it's okay to consider common sense outside information and when it's not? For example, in PT132.S4.Q17, wrong answer choice (E) cites smoking as an explanation for cancer/heart disease even though the stimulus didn't mention smoking. However, in other questions (that I can't think of to link) answer choices with external information were written off. Would appreciate any insight, it's really starting to trip me up...
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The stimulus will generally give you all the information you need without any outside information. Even if you knew nothing about smoking's effects on cancer, the fact that the two groups had different lifestyle factors could in itself resolve this discrepancy, as we know that there could be some effect, even without outside knowledge of what that would be. However, if you do have to make an assumption, it should be EXTREMELY reasonable-very common public knowledge. In most cases, though, you can reason it out and shouldn't depend on outside knowledge-some questions prey on this and the right AC is something that would seem contradictory to common knowledge but is still supported by the stimulus.