Self-study
Some heartburn-medication advertisements imply that unrelieved heartburn is likely to cause esophageal cancer. ████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ████ █████ █ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ██████ █████████ ████ █ █████████ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ██ █████ █████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ███████ ██ ██████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
Some advertising for heartburn medications is false because unrelieved heartburn is not likely to cause esophageal cancer. In reality, only about 5 percent of people with severe heartburn have a condition that raises the risk of cancer. So, only about 5 percent of people—those with this condition—are at a higher risk of developing cancer due to heartburn.
Identify Conclusion
The conclusion is the author’s contention that some heartburn medications are falsely advertised because it is not true that unrelieved heartburn is likely to cause esophageal cancer.
16.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██████████ █████ ██ ███ █████████
a
Only those people ████ █████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ████ ██████████
This is a premise. The stimulus notes that only 5% of people—those with Barrett's esophagus—have a higher risk of cancer to support the conclusion that heartburn isn’t "likely" to increase the risk of cancer. If only 5% of people are at risk, it’s unlikely for the average person.
b
An increase in ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ██████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████████
This is a premise. It provides background on a condition called Barrett's esophagus, which the author mentions to support her conclusion. Since readers may be unfamiliar with Barrett’s esophagus, this claim gives them the information needed to follow the author’s argument.
c
Unrelieved heartburn is ███ ██████ ██ █████ ██████████ ███████
This accurately states the main conclusion. The author argues that some heartburn-medication ads are untrue because unrelieved heartburn is not likely to cause esophageal cancer. Since only 5% of people are at risk, the average person is not "likely" to have an increased risk.
d
Some heartburn-medication advertisements █████ ████ ██████████ █████████ ██ ██████ ██ █████ ██████████ ███████
This is context. The claim that some heartburn-medication ads imply unrelieved heartburn is likely to cause esophageal cancer helps explain the author's argument, which concludes that this advertising is false since heartburn only increases cancer risk in about 5% of people.
e
The dangers touted ██ ████████████████████ ██████████████ ████ ██████ ██████████ ███ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███ █████ ███████████████
The stimulus doesn’t make this claim. A premise states that only 5% of people will have a higher risk of esophageal cancer from heartburn but doesn’t suggest that only 5% of people who see the ads have this condition. People with the condition may be more likely to see the ads.