prep question

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prep question

by jamesk486 » Tue Aug 05, 2008 8:38 pm
Personnel officer: The exorbitant cost of our health-insurance benefits reflects the high dollar amount of medical expenses incurred by our employees. Employees who are out of shape, as a group, have higher doctor bills and longer hospital stays than do their colleagues who are fit. Therefore, since we must reduce our health-insurance costs, we
should offer a rigorous fitness program of jogging and weight lifting to all employees, and require employees who are out of shape to participate.
The conclusion reached by the personnel officer depends on which of the following Personnel officer: The exorbitant cost of our health-insurance benefits reflects the high dollar amount of medical expenses incurred by our employees. Employees who are out of shape, as a group, have higher doctor bills and longer hospital stays than do their
colleagues who are fit. Therefore, since we must reduce our health-insurance costs, we should offer a rigorous fitness program of jogging and weight lifting to all employees, and require employees who are out of shape to participate.
The conclusion reached by the personnel officer depends on which of the following assumptions?
A. A person who is fit would receive a routine physical checkup by a doctor less regularly than would a person who is out of shape.
B. The medical expenses incurred by employees who are required to participate in the fitness program would be less than those incurred by employees who are not required to participate.
C. The strenuous activities required of out-of-shape employees by the program would not by themselves generate medical expenses greater than any reduction achieved by the program.
D. The fitness program would serve more employees who are out of shape than it would employees who are fit.
E. The employees who participate in the fitness program would be away from work because of illness less than would the employees who do not participate

OA is [spoiler]C
[/spoiler]I chose B, but can someone please explain the difference?

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by raunekk » Tue Aug 05, 2008 9:08 pm
imo:C


The aim of the argument is :to bring down the medical expenses incurred by employees who are out of shape.(as they incure high amount)

We are not concerned with those employees who are "inshape"

B is comparing costs incured by employees who are required to participate to who are not required to participate.

Argument is not tryin to do that..

in C, if we try to use the negation rule..

"The strenuous activities required of out-of-shape employees by the program would by themselves generate medical expenses greater than any reduction achieved by the program. "

If this is the thing then the program is not needed...

the argument falls apart..

thus C.

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by pranavc » Wed Aug 06, 2008 7:32 am
These guys want to reduce their health care costs. Therefore, any measure that drives up this cost is definitely a deal-breaker. Hence, their program for "out of shape" folks generates medical expenses that are higher than any possible reduction, their idea, in essence, would not work. Hence, the assumption that this scenario will not happen is critical to the rationale of the idea. Hence, the answer is C.

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by Prashant Ranjan » Sun Aug 26, 2012 10:48 pm
(A) Not an assumption. It is stated in the passage already.
(B) is exactly opposite of what is stated in the passage. The medical expenses would not less but higher than those who are not required to participate.
(C) Correct.
(D) Already stated in the passage. Does not bring any new info.
(E) This assumption if negated might be true or might not be true. We need an assumption that if negated destroys the argument and hence the conclusion. Here we don't know - because there may be a case that people required to participate in the program are required to work out in weekends or in off office hours.

Note: Assumption/strengthen/Weaken/Explain Paradox/Evaluate - they will contain answers that are Out Of Scope. We need to justify how it's affiliated or not affiliated to the argument.
Courtesy: Ron Purewall

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by 7777 » Mon Aug 27, 2012 3:14 am
kwjnfk

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by ankit0411 » Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:47 pm
Negate option C, and the argument falls apart.

Option B cannot be an assumption.

The assumption is a further evidence to strengthen the conclusion.

OA - C

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by bubbliiiiiiii » Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:14 pm
jamesk486 wrote: Personnel officer: The exorbitant cost of our health-insurance benefits reflects the high dollar amount of medical expenses incurred by our employees. Employees who are out of shape, as a group, have higher doctor bills and longer hospital stays than do their colleagues who are fit. Therefore, since we must reduce our health-insurance costs, we should offer a rigorous fitness program of jogging and weight lifting to all employees, and require employees who are out of shape to participate.

The conclusion reached by the personnel officer depends on which of the following assumptions?

B. The medical expenses incurred by employees who are required to participate in the fitness program would be less than those incurred by employees who are not required to participate.
This option compares the medical expenses of two group of employees and states that expenses incurred by the out-of-shape group will be less than that of in-shape group. The idea here is to reduce expenses of out-of-shape group. Thus, we cannot comment by how the expenses are reduced and compare it with that of other group.

C. The strenuous activities required of out-of-shape employees by the program would not by themselves generate medical expenses greater than any reduction achieved by the program.
This option gives the needed assumption that by making out-of-shape group to be in-shape no additional expenses, apart from GYM expenses, are incurred. Thus correct.


I chose B, but can someone please explain the difference?
Hope it helps.
Regards,

Pranay

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by ankit0411 » Tue Aug 28, 2012 10:39 pm
bubbliiiiiiii wrote:
jamesk486 wrote: Personnel officer: The exorbitant cost of our health-insurance benefits reflects the high dollar amount of medical expenses incurred by our employees. Employees who are out of shape, as a group, have higher doctor bills and longer hospital stays than do their colleagues who are fit. Therefore, since we must reduce our health-insurance costs, we should offer a rigorous fitness program of jogging and weight lifting to all employees, and require employees who are out of shape to participate.

The conclusion reached by the personnel officer depends on which of the following assumptions?

B. The medical expenses incurred by employees who are required to participate in the fitness program would be less than those incurred by employees who are not required to participate.
This option compares the medical expenses of two group of employees and states that expenses incurred by the out-of-shape group will be less than that of in-shape group. The idea here is to reduce expenses of out-of-shape group. Thus, we cannot comment by how the expenses are reduced and compare it with that of other group.

C. The strenuous activities required of out-of-shape employees by the program would not by themselves generate medical expenses greater than any reduction achieved by the program.
This option gives the needed assumption that by making out-of-shape group to be in-shape no additional expenses, apart from GYM expenses, are incurred. Thus correct.


I chose B, but can someone please explain the difference?
Hope it helps.
option B in no way supports the conclusion, and the conclusion states that we require employees who are out of shape to participate. This is to reduce the health insurance costs.

B talks about a future probability and an effect that might occur.
Where as option C directly hits the point, leading to a valid conclusion about reduced costs.

Thanks,
Ankit
Don't predict future , create it !

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by Nina1987 » Wed Jul 13, 2016 2:20 pm
I am still not clear why B is not an assumption. I totally understand C is a superior choice though and I chose C over B. However doing so I had to spend sometime comparing the two options. I would like to know if there is an easier/faster way to get rid of B.

Here is why B was tempting to me:

B: The medical expenses incurred by employees who are required to participate in the fitness program would be less than those incurred by employees who are not required to participate.

If medical expenses incurred by employees who are required to participate (out of shape group) would be less than those not required (fit group) that means the exercise program is indeed helping out-of-shape gourp to reduce the medical expenses. This should act as strengthener and hence it should be an assumption.

Experts pls help

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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Thu Jul 14, 2016 7:33 am
Nina1987 wrote:I am still not clear why B is not an assumption. I totally understand C is a superior choice though and I chose C over B. However doing so I had to spend sometime comparing the two options. I would like to know if there is an easier/faster way to get rid of B.

Here is why B was tempting to me:

B: The medical expenses incurred by employees who are required to participate in the fitness program would be less than those incurred by employees who are not required to participate.

If medical expenses incurred by employees who are required to participate (out of shape group) would be less than those not required (fit group) that means the exercise program is indeed helping out-of-shape gourp to reduce the medical expenses. This should act as strengthener and hence it should be an assumption.

Experts pls help
Nina1987 wrote:I am still not clear why B is not an assumption. I totally understand C is a superior choice though and I chose C over B. However doing so I had to spend sometime comparing the two options. I would like to know if there is an easier/faster way to get rid of B.

Here is why B was tempting to me:

B: The medical expenses incurred by employees who are required to participate in the fitness program would be less than those incurred by employees who are not required to participate.

If medical expenses incurred by employees who are required to participate (out of shape group) would be less than those not required (fit group) that means the exercise program is indeed helping out-of-shape gourp to reduce the medical expenses. This should act as strengthener and hence it should be an assumption.

Experts pls help
There is a difference between a straight assumption question and a strengthen question. In an assumption question, the correct answer must be logically true, given the argument. In a strengthen question, the correct answer need not be true, but if it were true, it would make the conclusion more likely.

Take a simple example. Tim just opened up a widget shop in Town X, where widgets are very popular. Therefore, Tim will become a millionaire soon.

If one answer choice had been, "In his first year of business, Tim will sell 10,000,000,000 widgets, have a profit margin of 90% on those sales, and drive all of his competitors out of business," that would be a pretty compelling strengthener - if these things were true, Tim very likely would become a millionaire. But you surely wouldn't just assume that Tim will sell 10,000,000 widgets, so in an assumption question, this would not be a good answer.

Same idea here. We can't assume that the expenses of the group forced to participate in the program would be lower than the expenses of those not in the program. (Those not in the program are already healthy!) What we are assuming, if we're advocates of the program, is that expenses of the group forced to participate in the program will be lower than their expenses would have been had these people not participated in the program.
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by mensanumber » Fri Jul 15, 2016 10:16 am
Here is what is wrong with B:
Assumption is something that has to be necessarily true BUT which is not already stated in the argument. So if assumption is not true the argument will fall apart. (Negation test)

B- The medical expenses incurred by employees who are required to participate in the fitness program would be less than those incurred by employees who are not required to participate.
# The medical expenses of fat-group don't necessarily have to be lower than the fit group; even if their medical expenses are marginally lower than what they were before the exercise routine was mandated for them, we can justify the conclusion.

Whereas, if we negate C i.e. if the strenuous activity generates expenses greater than the potential savings, then we can't justify implementing the exercise regime. C must be true and hence it is the answer