Critical Reasoning

. An international study recently examined the effects of second-hand smoke on health. Surprisingly, although the dosages of harmful chemicals from second-hand smoke are so small that their effect should be negligible, the study found that nonsmoking spouses of smokers displayed an incidence of heart disease that was significantly greater than that of nonsmokers who were not as regularly exposed to second-hand smoke.

Each of the following, if true, could contribute to an explanation of the unexpectedly high incidence of heart disease in smokers' spouses EXCEPT:

(A) A disproportionately high number of people married to smokers are among the older segment of the married population, a group that inherently has a higher-than-average risk of heart disease.

(B) On average, more alcohol and coffee, both of which have been linked to heart disease, are consumed in the homes of smokers than in the homes of nonsmokers.

(C) A disproportionately high number of smokers are married to other smokers, and the risk of heart disease increases in proportion to the number of smokers living in a household.

(D) Smokers generally tend to live in higher-stress environments than do non-smokers, and stress is a factor associated with above average incidence of heart disease.

(E) A disproportionately high number of smokers live in areas with a high level of industrial pollutants, which have been shown to be a factor in increased risk of heart disease.

OA C

i see why the answer is C because that's comparing smokers to other smokers not smokers and nonsmokers...

money9111 wrote:i see why the answer is C because that's comparing smokers to other smokers not smokers and nonsmokers...

thats y C is the ans as the q is EXCEPT
4 answers will explaining the diff
one will not and thats C

Agree with C, the passage discusses about the non-smoking spouses of smokers and option C talks about smoking partners. Very illogical indeed.

do you guys normally read the question... then narrow down the answers.... then read the question again? or does your process vary depending on the question?

i carefully read the stimulus, then proceed to the question stem, and refer back if necessary. a lot of books teach how to attack the CR differently, but i find the most effective way is to read stimulus-->stem--> then attack the question choices. That's how powerscore CR bible teaches it and works so far for me.

i think i may need for my process to be stimulus > stem > questions > narrow questions > stem > choose

I narrowed down to C and D. I marked C as correct answer. However, can somebody please explain how to eliminate D?

komal wrote:. An international study recently examined the effects of second-hand smoke on health. Surprisingly, although the dosages of harmful chemicals from second-hand smoke are so small that their effect should be negligible, the study found that nonsmoking spouses of smokers displayed an incidence of heart disease that was significantly greater than that of nonsmokers who were not as regularly exposed to second-hand smoke.

Each of the following, if true, could contribute to an explanation of the unexpectedly high incidence of heart disease in smokers' spouses EXCEPT:

(A) A disproportionately high number of people married to smokers are among the older segment of the married population, a group that inherently has a higher-than-average risk of heart disease.

(B) On average, more alcohol and coffee, both of which have been linked to heart disease, are consumed in the homes of smokers than in the homes of nonsmokers.

(C) A disproportionately high number of smokers are married to other smokers, and the risk of heart disease increases in proportion to the number of smokers living in a household.

(D) Smokers generally tend to live in higher-stress environments than do non-smokers, and stress is a factor associated with above average incidence of heart disease.

(E) A disproportionately high number of smokers live in areas with a high level of industrial pollutants, which have been shown to be a factor in increased risk of heart disease.

OA C

IMO this is a very poor question.

The stem talks about non-smoking spouses married to smokers who have a higher chance of heart disease than spouses married to non-smokers (who are not regularly exposed to 2nd hand smoke).

The question asks which of following DOES NOT help explain the high incidence of heart disease in smokers' spouses.


so essentially anything that links the smokers spouse to heart disease could be caused by other factors:

a) old spouses are disproportionately married to smokers however the fact that they are older may contribute to heart disease -- makes sense, could be true

b) homes where someone smokes consume a disproportionate amount of other products which may cause HD -- again makes sense

c) Smokers married to other smokers, more smokers in house = increased HD probability -- Whow, we've only been talking about spouses who are married to smokers, not the smoking spouses -- THIS MAY BE IT

d) If Smokers life more stressful than non-smokers so chance of HD -- This has nothing to do with spouses -- THIS may be it

e) Smokers live in areas of high level of pollutants which are prooven to cause HD -- It just says smokers, doesn't mentione smokers who are MARRIED (ie have spouses) or anything about the spouse for that matter ... I would likely pass this one off as "makes sense" considering the previous 2 but this kind of gap in reasoning is exactly what makes other CR questions stick out and likely the culprit of the OA



C and D are both equally likely to be the answer. Moreover I would argue that E is also a possible choice, though not as likely, because it requires some inference to be made.

What is the source of this question?