Self-study
Support A study found that most of the strokes diagnosed by doctors occurred in the left side of patients' brains. ████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ █████████ ███████ ██ ██ ███████████ █████ ████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that strokes in the right side of the brain are more likely to go undiagnosed than strokes in the left side of the brain. Why? Because most strokes diagnosed by doctors are left-side strokes.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes doctors diagnose more left-side strokes because they correctly identify them at a higher rate, and not for any other reason. In particular, this means assuming strokes are no more likely to occur in the left side of the brain than the right.
12.
The conclusion of the argument ██ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ███ ████████
a
patients who have ███████ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ████████
This is irrelevant. It doesn’t suggest that other health problems make a right-side stroke harder to diagnose than a left-side stroke.
b
it is very ██████ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ████
This strengthens the author’s primary assumption: that left-side strokes are no more common than right-side strokes. It casts doubt on the possibility that left-side strokes are diagnosed more often simply because they occur more often.
Alternate explanation
Alternate explanation
Weaken: Introduce or support an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
Strengthen: Helps to eliminate an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
c
doctors vary greatly ██ ███ ████████ ██ █████ █████████ ██ ███████
This suggests strokes are often poorly diagnosed—but not that right-side strokes are under-diagnosed. It doesn’t say doctors are better at diagnosing left-side strokes than right-side strokes.
d
the symptoms of ██████████ ███████ ████ ██ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ █████████ ███████
This doesn’t say symptoms of left-side strokes are harder to detect than symptoms of right-side strokes. It suggests that left-side and right-side strokes tend to be diagnosed differently, but not that diagnosing right-side strokes is more difficult.
e
other studies have █████████ ████ █ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███████████
This is irrelevant. It doesn’t say minor strokes are more likely to occur in the right side of the brain, or that left-side minor strokes are more likely to be diagnosed than right-side minor strokes.