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drinking age

by kushal.adhia » Mon Nov 08, 2010 6:47 am
Many people argue that setting the minimum age for drinking alcohol at 21 in the United States actually promotes teenage drinking. Believers in this position say that teenagers derive excitement from breaking the rules and drinking before they are allowed to. However, in several European countries where there is no legal drinking age, the incidence of teenage drinking is similar to the rate in the United States.

Which of the following statements can most reasonably be inferred from the information above?

A. Setting the minimum age for drinking alcohol at 21 cannot be the only factor that affects the incidence of teenage drinking.
B. Setting the minimum age for drinking alcohol at 21 does not play a role in causing teenagers to begin drinking.
C. Setting a drinking age does not reduce the amount of alcohol consumed by teenagers.
D. Drinking alcohol can cause teenagers to engage in other illegal and illicit activities, such as smoking tobacco.
E. A higher percentage of teenagers drink in the United States than do in France

What is wrong with B ?
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by e-GMAT » Mon Nov 08, 2010 10:56 am
I am assuming that the correct answer is Choice A. This is a classic inference question where the argument shows 2 contradicting positions. The argument talks about different regulations for teenage drinking in US and Europe, and states that the despite the difference in regulations the in incidence of teenage drinking is similar in both continents.
For the purposes of discussion, I will focus only on choices A and B.

Inference questions are like "must be true" questions, therefore we should look for an answer choice that must be true based on the information in the passage. Lets examine the answer choices.

Choice A: Setting the minimum age for drinking alcohol at 21 cannot be the only factor that affects the incidence of teenage drinking.

Let's use the negation principle. If the minimum age were the only factor that affects the incidence of teenage drinking then we would have definitely see a difference in incidence rates between US and Europe since US has minimum age limit while Europe does not. However, the argument clearly states that in-spite of the difference in regulations, the incidence rates are no different. Hence, there must be other factors that have an impact on the incidence of teenage drinking (such as available of alcohol, cost of alcohol. etc.) Hence, choice A is correct.

Choice B: Setting the minimum age for drinking alcohol at 21 does not play a role in causing teenagers to begin drinking.

This choice takes an extreme position. Note that the argument does not provide us with enough information to infer that the minimum age does not play a role. While you may be tempted to assume the same due to similar incidence rates, there may be other factors that may have neutralized the impact of regulation in US
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by kushal.adhia » Mon Nov 08, 2010 11:09 am
The correct answer is indeed A

Thank you.
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