Self-study
Conclusion From the fact that people who studied music as children frequently are quite proficient at mathematics, it cannot be concluded that the skills required for mathematics are acquired by studying music: Support it is equally likely that proficiency in mathematics and studying music are both the result of growing up in a family that encourages its children to excel at all intellectual and artistic endeavors.
Method of Reasoning
The stimulus operates by outlining a correlation between two conditions (those who studied music as children are often good at math) then concludes that there isn’t necessarily a causal relationship between the two conditions (in this case, we can’t conclude that studying music causes one to develop skills required for math), and that it is possible that it was actually a third factor (growing up in a family that encourages excellence) that caused both conditions.
17.
The pattern of reasoning in █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████
a
Although children who ████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ███████████ ██ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ██ ██ ██████ ████████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████ ███████████ ██ ███████
The stimulus operates by outlining a correlation between two conditions (students who don’t pay attention in school tend to perform poorly) then concludes that there isn’t necessarily a causal relationship between the two conditions (in this case, we can’t conclude not paying attention causes poor performance), and that it is possible that it was actually a third factor (undiagnosed hearing problems) that caused both conditions.
b
People who attend █ ██████████ ██ █ ███████ ███████ ███ ███████ █████ ███ ███ ████████ ████ █████ ██████ ████████ ██ █████ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ████████ ███████ ██████ ████████████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ███████ ████ █████████ ███████ ██ █████ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████████
Mismatched premises and conclusion. (B) identifies a correlation between attending a foreign university and being a top student in your native country, but it doesn’t suggest that it may have been a third factor that caused both of these conditions.
Additionally, the stimulus says that it would be wrong to make a causal conclusion, but (B) says that it would be wrong to make a comparative conclusion (that foreign secondary schools are better than those in this country).
c
People whose diet ████████ ██████████ █████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ████ █ ████████ █████ ████ ███████ █████████ ██ █████ ████████ ███ ██ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████ ████ █████████ █████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ████████ █████ ████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ███ ██ ██████ █████████████
Mismatched premises. While (C) does say that it would be premature to make a causal conclusion, (C) says that the correlation between having a lower incidence of heart disease and eating lots of fruits and vegetables may be coincidental, while the stimulus identifies a third factor that could have caused both conditions. (C) does not identify a potential third factor, so it does not parallel the stimulus.
d
Those who apply ██ ███████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ █ ████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ████████ █████████ ███ ███████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███ █████████ ███████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ████████████
Mismatched premises and conclusion. (D) says that studying biology and chemistry are necessary for medical school, but it is a mistake to conclude that studying biology and chemistry are sufficient for success as a physician.
While the stimulus says that it would be a mistake to assume a causal conclusion from a correlational relationship, (D) says that it would be a mistake to reverse the sufficient and necessary conditions of a conditional relationship.
e
Those who engage ██ ████████ ████████ ████ ██ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ██ █████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ████████ ████████ ██ █████████ ██████ ███████ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ████████ ███████████ █████ ██ ██ ████████ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ████████
Mismatches premises. Instead of saying that some third factor may be causing both vigorous exercise and health, (E) says that it is wrong to make a causal conclusion simply because a modified version of one of the two categories in question (less vigorous exercise) may also have positive results.