PT119.S4.Q23

PrepTest 119 - Section 4 - Question 23

Show analysis

Conclusion The fact that people who exercise vigorously are sick less often than average does not prove that vigorous exercise prevents illness, for Support whether one exercises vigorously or not depends in part on one's preexisting state of health.

The Reasoning Pattern

The author observes a correlation: people who exercise vigorously are sick less often. You might look at that and think vigorous exercise must prevent illness. But the author says not so fast. The reason you can't draw that conclusion is that your preexisting health affects whether you exercise vigorously. In other words, maybe the causation runs in the opposite direction. Instead of vigorous exercise making people healthy, it could be that healthy people are more able to exercise vigorously in the first place.

The reasoning pattern here is:

  • Correlation: A and B tend to go together.
  • Someone might conclude: A causes B.
  • Author's response: That conclusion isn't proven, because B could cause A instead (reverse causation).

We need to find an answer that follows this same pattern: a correlation is observed, and the author argues that the correlation doesn't prove a particular causal relationship by pointing out the causation could run the other way.

User Avatar Analysis by Kevin_Lin
Show answer
23.

The reasoning in which one ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████

a

Having strong verbal ██████ ██████████ ██████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ███████ ████ ██ ██ ████████ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ███████ ████████ ██████ ██████

b

Musical and mathematical ██████ ███ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██████████████ ███ ███ ███████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████ ██████

c

Since how people ██████ ██ █████ █████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ █ ██████ ███████ █ █████ ██ █████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ██████

d

The fact that ██████ ████████ █████ ██████████ █████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ██ █ ████████ █████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ██████ ████████ ████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████ ██████████ ████ ██ █████ █████████

e

The fact that ███ ████████ ████ ███████ ████████ ████ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ████████

Confirm action

Are you sure?