Self-study
“Though they soon will, Conclusion patients should not have a legal right to see their medical records. ██ █ ███████ █ ███ ███ ███████ ███ █████ ██████ ██████ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ████████████ ███████ ██ ████ █████████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ███████ █████ ███ █████ ██ ████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███████ ██ ██ ██████████ ██ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ██ ████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ███████
WTF Kind Of Question Is This?
Hot take: this is a Resolve / Reconcile / Explain question. From the stem alone, we know the doctor is gonna give us two reasons [for something], and the second reason is gonna seem to render the first one moot. The right answer will RESOLVE that apparent conflict by adding in some new information. So our lens on the stimulus is pretty specific:
- Find the two reasons.
- Understand why they seem to undercut each other.
- Anticipate the kind of information that would explain why they don’t.
When a stem is weird like this one is, it really pays to squeeze out all the meaning you possibly can from it. Just knowing your actual job is more than half the battle in this question.
Anticipating The Answer
Once you’re looking at this question through the right lens, you should realistically aspire to bring something like the following into the answer choices:
We’re looking for some reason why medical staff is gonna have to run around fetching files even though no one’s asking for them.
You can get here pretty straightforwardly by following the process outlined above. The two reasons are:
- Medical staff are gonna waste hella time running around grabbing files.
- No patients are gonna ask for their files.
These seem to undercut each other because if no one’s asking for their files, why are the staff running around grabbing them?
Our job is to find the answer to that question. You can brainstorm some scenarios if you’d like, but the question is the important thing to keep in mind – anything that answers the question well is golden.
12.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ██████
a
The new law ████ ███████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ █ ███████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ████████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ████████ █████
(A) provides a reason why medical staff are gonna have to run around fetching files even though no one’s asking for them – we gotta have the files all prepped and ready regardless.
Framing the question correctly is the true crux. Once you’ve done that, recognizing (A) as a match should be a snap.
b
The task of ██████████ ███ █████████ █████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██ █ ██████████ ██████ ██████
(B) is wrong because it doesn’t address the gap between we’re running around all day fetching files and no one’s asking for files.
Even if it’s just the lowly interns running around, we’re still left wondering why they’re running around if no one’s actually asking for their files.
This answer choice is probably best understood as bait for people who think they’re in a strengthen or weaken question.
c
Any patients who █████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ███████ █████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ███ ██████████ █████████ ██ █████
(C) does crank up the volume on the doctor’s first reason – not only are medical staff wasting time fetching files, they’re also wasting time explaining all sorts of dumb stuff!
But it leaves the same lingering question as the stimulus: what if literally no one’s asking to see their medical records? How much time are they wasting then?
d
The new law ████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ████████ ███ █████ ████████ ████████ ████████████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ ███ ████
(D) is wrong because considering whether or not doctors can charge for their time doesn’t help us understand why medical staff are gonna have to run around fetching files even though no one’s asking for them.
If you’re asking the right question, seeing that (D) doesn’t answer it is a snap.
(D) is probably best understood as bait for people who think they’re in a strengthen or weaken question.
e
Some doctors have ███ █████ ███ █ ██████ ██ ████████ █████ ████████ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ████████ ███ █████ ██████████ ████████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ████ ███████
Are these doctors wasting tons of time running around fetching records? Or have they not wasted any time because no one has asked for their records?
(E) says the scenario the doctor describes has been happening in the real world for a while now, but it doesn’t address the gap between we’re running around all day fetching files and no one’s asking for their files.