Self-study
Support A study of 86 patients, all of whom suffered from disease T and received the same standard medical treatment, divided the patients into 2 equal groups. ███ ███████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███████ █████ █████████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███ █████ █████ ████████ ███████ █████ █████████ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ █████ ███ █████ ████████ ███████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ████ ███████ █ ████ ███████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that support group meetings do not help patients with disease T live longer. This conclusion is based on a study that divided patients with disease T into a group that attended support group meetings and a group that did not attend such meetings. After 10 years, an equal percent of patients from each group had died.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the group that attended support group meetings did not, on average, live longer than the group that did not attend such group meetings.
25.
Which one of the following ███████████ ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████████
a
Of the 4 ████████ ███ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ █ ███ ███ ████████ ██████ ███████ █████ ████████ █████ ██████ ████ ███ █ ███ ███ ████
This doesn’t show that the group that attended support meetings lived longer, on average, than the other group. We have no reason to think that the people who attended support meetings who died within 10 years lived longer than the people who died in the other group.
Illusory inconsistency
Illusory inconsistency
Answer is attractive because it seems to (but doesn't actually) contradict the premises or conclusion.
b
For many diseases, █████████ ██████ ███████ █████ ████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ██████████
Whether support meetings are standard doesn’t reveal anything about whether they are or are not effective in helping people live longer.
c
The members of ███ █████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███████ █████ ████████ █████ █ █████ ███████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██████
This constitutes evidence suggesting that the support group meetings might have helped people live longer. Even if an equal percent of people died in each group, the ones who attended the support meetings might have survived longer within that 10-year period.
d
Some physicians have ██████ ████ █████████ ██████ ███████ █████ ████████ █████ ████████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██
It’s not clear how a decrease in faith in a treatment could affect the effectiveness of the treatment. In addition, (D) simply says some physicians have argued this; this doesn’t suggest those physicians are right.
e
Everyone in the █████ █████ ███████ ████████ ██████ ███████ █████ ████████ ████████ █████ █ ████ ████ █████ ████████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ███ ████████
It’s not clear whether these reports indicate that the meetings actually helped patients cope with the disease. In any case, this answer doesn’t suggest that better ability to cope increases one’s lifespan.