Critical Reasoning

Recent surveys show that many people who have left medical school before graduating suffer from depression. Clearly, depression is likely to cause withdrawal from medical school.

Which of the following if true would most strengthen the conclusion above?

A.) Many Medical schools provide psychological counseling for their students
B.) About half of those who leave medical school report feeling depressed after they make the decision to leave.
C.) Depression is very common among management consultants who have a similar difficult work schedule to those of many young doctors.
D.) Medical students who have sought depression counseling due to family problems leave at a higher rate than the national average
E.) Career change has been shown to be a strong contributing factor in the onset of depression.

Answer D

The part that doesn't make sense is the fact that the reason for depression is out of scope in the answer. Could someone please help clarify? This was right out of Kaplan.

Hi Oneva!

Here's how I broke down this argument:

Conclusion - Depression causes withdrawal from school.

Evidence - Surveys show students who did not graduate have depression.

Assumption - That depression is the cause NOT a symptom; that the surveys are accurate, etc.

Question Rephrase: What makes the conclusion stronger?

Prediction: If there is proof the students were depressed BEFORE they left school. The correct answer must support depression as the cause.

(A) - Whether or not schools provide counseling is irrelevant.

(B) - This WEAKENS the argument, showing depression as a potential symptom.

(C) - Management consultants is without the scope of the argument.

(D) - This SUPPORTS the idea that the depression came BEFORE they left school. If more students who sought depression counseling leave, then they are probably leaving because of their depression. Therefore our author is correct to say that depression causes withdrawal from school.

(E) - This WEAKENS the argument. If the students are depressed because they left school, then the depression is a symptom and not a cause.

I hope this helps

Ah okay, thanks. So it doesn't matter that the depression was related to family rather than school work as long is it was depression that caused them to leave. That makes sense.

You got it! The trick is to relate the answer choices back to the Conclusion. Simply being a logical inference is not enough with CR.

This problem was the first of its kind that I saw... quite tough...

Oneva wrote:Ah okay, thanks. So it doesn't matter that the depression was related to family rather than school work as long is it was depression that caused them to leave. That makes sense.

But the cause for Depression is not mentioned at all in the stimulus.How can 1 assume whether or not it was due to school work ?

@Vivian

C.) Depression is very common among management consultants who have a similar difficult work schedule to those of many young doctors.

E.) Career change has been shown to be a strong contributing factor in the onset of depression.

Hi Vivian , U said the issue of Management consultants is irrelevant .But isnt it tru that any option that reinforces the evidence cited to support the Conclusion strengthens the conclusion.
C says :Depression is very common among management consultants who have a similar difficult work schedule to those of many young doctors.One can eliminate this option because it talks of Young doctors whereas the stimulus talks of people who drop out befor they become doctors
Had option C been
Depression is very common among management consultants who have a similar difficult work schedule to those of many Medical students
Wouldnt this have reinforced the evidence that Depression is prevalent among Medical school students and this depression is what causes them to Drop Out.

Option D:Career change has been shown to be a strong contributing factor in the onset of depression
Career change could also refer to students who changed their careers to get into Medical Stream

In causal arguement, ask question, A causes B or B causes A when A and B is presented.

B, E are weakeners because they show "withdrawal" cause "depression", D shows that "depression" cause "withdral"

family problems leads to depression so that they cannot continue studies so left the college.

@mundasingh123

Whether or not depression is common to management consultants does not relate to the argument. Just because management consultants have a similar work schedule to medical students would not mean the medical students are similarly depressed. Where is the proof that the the work schedule is causing the depression among management consultants?

That is my thinking

+1 Vivian