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CR Strengthen- Sleep deprivation

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by vishalwin » Sat Dec 12, 2015 7:53 am
Medical doctor: Sleep deprivation is the cause of many social ills, ranging from irritability to potentially dangerous instances of impaired decision making. Most people today suffer from sleep deprivation to some degree. Therefore we should restructure the workday to allow people flexibility in scheduling their work hours.

Which one of the following, if true, would most strengthen the medical doctor's argument?

(A) The primary cause of sleep deprivation is overwork.
(B) Employees would get more sleep if they had greater latitude in scheduling their work hours.
(C) Individuals vary widely in the amount of sleep they require.
(D) More people would suffer from sleep deprivation today than did in the past if the average number of hours worked per week had not decreased.
(E) The extent of one's sleep deprivation is proportional to the length of one's workday.


Please explain option C.
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |

by GMATGuruNY » Wed Dec 16, 2015 6:26 am
vishalwin wrote:Medical doctor: Sleep deprivation is the cause of many social ills, ranging from irritability to potentially dangerous instances of impaired decision making. Most people today suffer from sleep deprivation to some degree. Therefore we should restructure the workday to allow people flexibility in scheduling their work hours.

Which one of the following, if true, would most strengthen the medical doctor's argument?

(A) The primary cause of sleep deprivation is overwork.
(B) Employees would get more sleep if they had greater latitude in scheduling their work hours.
(C) Individuals vary widely in the amount of sleep they require.
(D) More people would suffer from sleep deprivation today than did in the past if the average number of hours worked per week had not decreased.
(E) The extent of one's sleep deprivation is proportional to the length of one's workday.
Premise: Most people suffer from sleep deprivation, which is the cause of many social ills.
Conclusion: We should restructure the workday to allow people flexibility in scheduling their work hours.

The assumption is that there is a LINK between FLEXIBILITY IN SCHEDULING WORK HOURS and SLEEP.
The correct answer choice must strengthen this link.
B: Employees would get more sleep if they had greater latitude in scheduling their work hours.
Here, greater latitude in scheduling work hours leads to more sleep, strengthening the link between FLEXIBILITY IN SCHEDULING WORK HOURS and SLEEP.

The correct answer is B.

C: Individuals vary widely in the amount of sleep they require.
It is given as a PREMISE that MOST PEOPLE today suffer from sleep deprivation.
Answer choice C attempts to WEAKEN this premise.
Since the goal is to STRENGTHEN the argument, eliminate C.

Note:
A premise is a FACT.
It cannot be strengthened or weakened.
Eliminate any answer choice that attempts to strengthen or weaken a premise.
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by Trishta » Tue Nov 13, 2018 3:40 am
While, we are tempted to go in for option C, the CR section of the GMAT requires us to work with the data given in the argument.
Here, there want to strengthen the link between flexibility in work schedule and number of sleep hours, both of which are addressed in option B.

Hence, answer is option B.
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