question 189 OG10, very hard

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question 189 OG10, very hard

by tanviet » Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:12 pm
Studies have shown that elderly people who practice a religion are much more likely to die immediately after an important religious holiday period than immediately before one. Researcher have concluded that the will to live can prolong life, at least for short periods of time

which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the researcher's conclusion

a, Elderly people who practice a religion are less likely to die immediately before or during an important religious holiday than at any other time of the year.

b,elderly people, who practice a religion appear to experience less anxiety at the prospect of dying than do other people

c,some elderly people who do practice a religion live much longer than most delderly people who do not

d,most delderly people who participate in religious holidays have different reasons for participating than young people do

e, Many religions have important holidays in the spring and fall, seasons with the lowest death rates for elderly people.

pls, give full explanation
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by max37274 » Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:36 pm
Studies have shown that elderly people who practice a religion are much more likely to die immediately after an important religious holiday period than immediately before one. Researcher have concluded that the will to live can prolong life, at least for short periods of time

Keep in mind shorter periods of time
which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the researcher's conclusion

a, Elderly people who practice a religion are less likely to die immediately before or during an important religious holiday than at any other time of the year. correct strengthens that religious people donot die during religious holyday period or they have more will to live. It strengthens the last part of the conclusion "at least shorter periods of time"

b,elderly people, who practice a religion appear to experience less anxiety at the prospect of dying than do other people OUT OF SCOPE less anxiety at the prospect of dying does not guarantee not dying

c,some elderly people who do practice a religion live much longer than most delderly people who do not "Some" cannot be generalized

d,most delderly people who participate in religious holidays have different reasons for participating than young people do out of scope reasons to participate do not matter

e, Many religions have important holidays in the spring and fall, seasons with the lowest death rates for elderly people. [color=red]weakens the conclusion

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by nileshdalvi » Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:39 am
This question seems hard because it tries to test one skill which is Incorrect/Out Of Scope Answer Choices. As always, you have to find the most suitable answer. These questions are certainly a right PoE choice. Basically you have no other option.

Studies have shown that elderly people who practice a religion are much more likely to die immediately after an important religious holiday period than immediately before one. Researcher have concluded that the will to live can prolong life, at least for short periods of time
Here the author believes that (and thus concludes that) being religious shall motivate people to prolong their life till they get through the religious day.

Keep in mind that whatever is given in the answer option is to be taken as true in this case.

A. This supports the conclusion that religious people are likely to take motivation from the occasion and are less likel;y to die before and during that day than any other period of the year. It actually generalizes the evidence given that they are more likely to die any time of the year and not only after the religious day but certainly not immediately before and during that day. This answer choice does not sound enough convincing to support the Researcher's Conclusion strongly,but we cannot eliminate it right now since it does support, if true. We can keep it as a backup. Lets move ahead.

B. The point of conclusion is to hold on for some period of dying during religious days i.e prolong life for shorter periods. Expressing less anxiety does not necessarily mean that they can prolong life for shorter periods. Nowhere is it mentioned. There must be a relation provided between being less anxious and trying to hold on. It is certainly not out of scope because main conclusion is prolonging life for shorter periods even if it does not mention anything about the religious days. Remember that, to strengthen the conclusion, it is good to provide more support to the evidence and assumption(if any), but that does not mean anything else cannot support the conclusion. Point here is do not eliminate based on inability of extending a point which evidence supports.

C. Here is a scope shift, where the point is not about living longer, but it is will to live long enough to last for shorter period of time. And yes the second point is that it considers a small subset of elderly people which cannot support a generalised conclusion.

D. Again there is no information provided to conclude that these different reasons actually lead to prolong life for shorter periods. It is certainly not out of scope, but incorrect.

E. This does not provide any information relevant to the conclusion about prolonging life. This is a statistic which mentions death rates during religious days. It does not consider prolonging due to religious faith for shorter period.

A seems most suitable.

The Mantra of success in these questions are keeping the conclusion always in mind while browsing thru answer choices.And as always, reading each answer choice carefully.


One doubt I have regarding things which one should take for granted in any question. If experts can answer as to whether it is right to assume that the people who practice religion attend religious holidays as mentioned in Answer choice D. However,it does not affect decision making here, but might matter somewhere else. Any ideas on debate?

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by yeahdisk » Wed Mar 03, 2010 7:51 am
duongthang wrote:Studies have shown that elderly people who practice a religion are much more likely to die immediately after an important religious holiday period than immediately before one. Researcher have concluded that the will to live can prolong life, at least for short periods of time

which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the researcher's conclusion

a, Elderly people who practice a religion are less likely to die immediately before or during an important religious holiday than at any other time of the year. The author is arguing that will to live can prolong life by a short amount of time. Assuming that religious people have a will to see out their religious holidays - this would mean few deaths before or during holidays, with an over-compensation of deaths shortly after. Correct answer

b,elderly people, who practice a religion appear to experience less anxiety at the prospect of dying than do other people. Anxiety doesn't matter

c,some elderly people who do practice a religion live much longer than most delderly people who do not. Author doesn't mention comparison between religious / non-religious

d,most delderly people who participate in religious holidays have different reasons for participating than young people do Author doesn't mention comparison between old / young

e, Many religions have important holidays in the spring and fall, seasons with the lowest death rates for elderly people. doesn't matter

pls, give full explanation
[/b]

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by paddle_sweep » Tue Apr 27, 2010 9:48 am
What's the OA? I go for C.

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by paes » Tue Apr 27, 2010 9:37 pm
I am confuse between A and E.

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by bichoo » Wed Apr 28, 2010 8:58 am
+1 for A

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by paddle_sweep » Thu Apr 29, 2010 12:51 am
Having had a re-look at this qn, [spoiler]'A'[/spoiler] seems to be the most appropriate one.