PT130.S3.Q17

SECTION 1 · lr

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26

SECTION 2 · rc

PASSAGE 1
Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7

PASSAGE 2
Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13

PASSAGE 3
Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20

PASSAGE 4
Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26 Question 27

SECTION 3 · lr

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25

SECTION 4 · lr

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25

PrepTest 130 - Section 3 - Question 17

Question

Explanation

Analytics

Show analysis

A group of mountain climbers was studied to determine how they were affected by diminished oxygen in the air at high altitudes. ██ ████ ███████ ████ █████ ██████ █████ ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ██████████ ███ ████████████ ████ █████████ ████ ███████████ ██ ████████ ████████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ███████████ █████ ██████████

Summarize Argument

The author concludes that the area of the brain controlling speech is not distinct from the area controlling other functions. He supports this by noting that the mountain climbers in the study slurred their speech, took longer to understand simple sentences, and showed poor judgment after climbing above 6,100 meters.

Identify and Describe Flaw

The author concludes that the area of the brain controlling speech isn’t separate from the area controlling other functions because multiple brain functions worsened at high altitudes. He assumes that all these functions are controlled in the same area, ignoring the possibility that multiple areas could have been affected by the altitude.

In other words, the altitude might have impacted multiple distinct brain areas, or the entire brain, affecting both speech and judgment, even though they are controlled in distinct areas.

Analysis by EleanorRoberts

Show answer

17.

The argument is most vulnerable ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ███████████ ████

the climbers' performance ██ ███████ ██████████████ ███ █████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██████ ███████████ ████████ █████ ██████ ██████

If oxygen deprivation affected the climbers’ entire brains, then it’s possible that all of the affected functions are controlled in distinct areas of the brain and that oxygen deprivation is simply worsening them all at the same time.

the climbers' performance ██ ███████ ██████████████ ███ █████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ███████

If the climbers’ speech, comprehension, and reasoning were better than average before the study, it wouldn’t change the fact that these functions worsened at higher altitudes. So, even if the author does overlook (B), it doesn’t describe a flaw in his argument.

the climbers showed █████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ██████████████ ███ █████████

We should expect that the climbers didn't all experience the exact same level of impairment. What’s important is that all the climbers still showed worsened performance in these functions, even if the impairment was at different levels.

some of the ███████ █████████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ ███████ █████ ██████

Even if some effects were apparent just before 6,100 meters, (D) doesn't change the fact that the climbers’ experienced worsened performance due to diminished oxygen at high altitudes.

many of the ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████ ████ █████ █████ ██████ ███ ██████

The climbers still all experienced worsened performance in speech, understanding, and judgement, regardless of whether some of them had special training for the climb.

Difficulty

Question

86% of people who answer get this correct

This is a slightly challenging question.

CURVE

Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right

25% 122

137

75% 152

Analysis

Question Stem Tags

Flaw or descriptive weakening

Stimulus Tags

Part v. whole

Sampling

Answer Popularity

Popularity Avg. score

86%

163

154

10%

160

154

155

Question history

You don't have any history with this question.. yet!