Consumer advocate: Support Even relatively minor drug-related interactions can still be harmful to patients. ███ ████████ ███████ █████ ████ █████ █████ ██ ████████████ ██████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ███████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ███████ ████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ███████ ████ █████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ████████████ █████████████
Weighing factors is the most convenient lens through which to view this question. The argument’s conclusion is that it would be a good idea overall to notify everyone of every drug interaction. This is supported by the idea that doing so would have one upside – it would prevent patients from experiencing minor discomfort 😱.
Any answer choice that notes a potential downside of the proposed plan will weaken the argument. Things like “when people get spammed with too many notifications they stop taking their meds altogether.”
You can also view this stimulus through a value judgment lens. There’s a notable jump from a premise that says “here’s a fact” (minor drug interactions are harmful) to a conclusion that says “we ought to do this very particular thing” (the government should require lots of notifications).
Anything that breaks this link would weaken the argument. Things like “the government shouldn’t be involved in healthcare decisions,” for example.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████████ █████████
Providing information on █████ ████████████ ████████████ █████ ███████ ████ █ █████████ █████████ ██ ███████ █████████████
(A) suggests that including too many minorly harmful drug interactions can muddy the waters, making patients less likely to notice interactions that are much more harmful. Like this:
Side effects include sniffles, dry mouth, instant death, or a light rash.
Through the weighing factors lens, (A) weakens the argument by providing a downside to the “notify everyone of everything” plan that could substantially outweigh the upside noted in the stimulus. Sure, notifications might prevent some minor discomfort, but they could also cause a bunch of instant death.
Many drugs have █████ ██████████ ████████████ ████████████ ████ ████ ████████
For starters, aspirin in particular isn’t important to the argument – it’s just an example of a drug with minor interactions.
And under the stimulus’ plan, any drugs with fewer interactions would just need fewer notifications – if anything, that’d be a good thing.
Providing information about ███ ████████████ ████████████ █████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████████ █████ █████████ ███ ██████████
The phrase “only negligible” is the killer here. If (C) said “providing information about all drug-related interactions would result in hella for real big-time price increases…” it’d be right.
As it stands, though, (C) is a strengthener. It limits the price increases that would result from the proposed policy – they would be negligible at most.
Current research is ████ ████ ████ ████████████ ████████████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ███████████
“Known” in the stimulus’ conclusion kills this answer choice. The proposed policy would require companies to report all known interactions, so (D)’s worry about unknown interactions isn’t relevant.
Put differently, the stimulus’ conclusion is that requiring notification about known interactions is a good idea because it could prevent some minor harms. Perhaps (D) says “it won’t prevent all harm – it won’t prevent harm from unknown interactions,” but the argument isn’t saying it will.
Answer is attractive because it seems to (but doesn't actually) contradict the premises or conclusion.
Pharmacists usually draw █████████ █████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████ ███ ████████ ████ ██████
Perhaps (E) seems to weaken by saying “consumers are already aware of these interactions because pharmacists point them out.”
But pharmacists are only pointing out the printed warnings, and this argument is precisely about what information should be included on those warnings. As it stands, there’s no mechanism ensuring minor interactions will be included in those warnings.
Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.
It takes about five minutes.
Take the free diagnosticWant to know why the right answer is right?
7Sage membership unlocks explanations of every question. Every answer choice. On every official PrepTest. Start with a free account.
By signing up you agree to our
terms of service.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google
Privacy Policy
and
Terms of Service
apply.