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OG question :- Wistar region of Bellaria

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OG question :- Wistar region of Bellaria

by sumitkhurana » Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:01 am
Q. A physically active lifestyle has been shown to help increase longevity. In the Wistar region of Bellaria, the average age at death is considerably higher than in any other part of the country. Wistar is the only mountainous part of Bellaria. A mountainous terrain even makes such basic activities as walking relatively strenuous; it essentially imposes a physically active lifestyle on people. Clearly, this circumstance explains the long lives of people in Wistar.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) In Bellaria all medical expenses are paid by the government, so that personal income does not affect the quality of health care a person receives
(B) The Wistar region is one of the Bellaria's least populated regions
(C) Many people who live in the Wistar region have moved there in middle age or upon retirement.
(D) The many opportunities for hiking, skiing, and other outdoor activities that Wistar's mountains offer make it a favorite destination for vacationing Bellarians
(E) Per capita spending on recreational activities is no higher in Wistar than it is in other regions of Bellaria


Sorry, I need to disclose the OA to understand a few concepts. As I understand, for weaken questions we got to either:-

1. Break the assumption.
2. Or give the alternative explaination.

Here the OA is C. I am not sure why OG assumed here that people can only stay healthy if they live in Bellaria since childhood.

Also, A appears to offer an alternate explaination. Free health care helps to increase the average age.

So, why is C prefered to A. How would you approach this ?
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by schumi_gmat » Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:31 pm
Conclusion: Wistar has a higher avg death age than any other region

Evidence: It is mountaineous and basic activities as walking relatively strenuous; it essentially imposes a physically active lifestyle on people.

to weaken the conclusion we have to find weaken the evidence.

In A, In Bellaria all medical expenses are paid by the government, so that personal income does not affect the quality of health care a person receives

Argument does not explain anything about health care quality or medical expense for the longetivity. Also A does not discuss the age factor. Hence it is irrelevant.

In C, Many people who live in the Wistar region have moved there in middle age or upon retirement.

This is an alternate cause for the longetivity. What if people who move to wistar are already old. so it may be that not the physical activities but the immigration to wistar is the reason for higer age of death. Hence it weakens the argument.
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by Musicolo » Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:44 pm
In all honesty, I went for C because it seemed like the only one that made sense and the only that had something to do with the main article, some logical connection. Others seemed totally out of context in order to weaken the argument.
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Re: OG question :- Wistar region of Bellaria

by sg1928 » Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:46 pm
sumitkhurana wrote:Q. A physically active lifestyle has been shown to help increase longevity. In the Wistar region of Bellaria, the average age at D€@th is considerably higher than in any other part of the country. Wistar is the only mountainous part of Bellaria. A mountainous terrain even makes such basic activities as walking relatively strenuous; it essentially imposes a physically active lifestyle on people. Clearly, this circumstance explains the long lives of people in Wistar.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) In Bellaria all medical expenses are paid by the government, so that personal income does not affect the quality of health care a person receives
(B) The Wistar region is one of the Bellaria's least populated regions
(C) Many people who live in the Wistar region have moved there in middle age or upon retirement.
(D) The many opportunities for hiking, skiing, and other outdoor activities that Wistar's mountains offer make it a favorite destination for vacationing Bellarians
(E) Per capita spending on recreational activities is no higher in Wistar than it is in other regions of Bellaria


Sorry, I need to disclose the OA to understand a few concepts. As I understand, for weaken questions we got to either:-

1. Break the assumption.
2. Or give the alternative explaination.

Here the OA is C. I am not sure why OG assumed here that people can only stay healthy if they live in Bellaria since childhood.

Also, A appears to offer an alternate explaination. Free health care helps to increase the average age.

So, why is C prefered to A. How would you approach this ?
IMO - We are not discussing the health of the people here. We are only talking about the average age. If you look at C, this explains. If most of the people who come to Wistar region are old. So this increases the average age of the region. Hence it can't be assumed for general longevity of the region.
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by Musicolo » Wed Mar 04, 2009 12:48 pm
...and I forgot. I didn't think A could be the correct answer because the conclusion from the main article is concerned with the longevity of life in Wistar region of Bellaria whereas A talks about the medical expenses paid by the government in all of Bellaria and quality of health care provided to citizens in the entire country and not just the region of Wistar. Hence, doesn't weaken the argument.
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by mahatma_rohit » Thu Mar 05, 2009 2:29 am
In GMAT whenever the author presents a reason for a conclusion then that reason according to the author is the only possible reason for that specific conclusion. So if we can present another logical reason which could lead to the same conclusion then ultimately the author's argument will be weaken.

Thats wat the Option C does here.

According to author physical activity is the only reason for the longevity of the people of Wistar but Option C presents another reason for the longevity which undermines the author's argument.
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by sumitkhurana » Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:23 pm
Thanks Musicolo, I missed the fact that point A is talking about entire region of Bellaria and not Wilstar alone. This rules out this option.

Although C is not very convincing but with A gone, that one is the only reasonable option.

Why I think this way is because, the argument says that the average age is considerablygreater, and people moving there in middle age or retirement age, which is no where near the age when people typically die natural deaths. So this way it should not make the average age of death considerably higher here.
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by abhijeetsinghai » Sat Mar 07, 2009 2:36 am
Definitely C is the answer bcoz if old and retired ppl settled there, there will be few young deaths due ot any reason and that will harldy effect average death age bcoz most of the ppl are old, retired chap.
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by lunarpower » Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:32 pm
definitely (c).

we're talking about average age at death. if everyone who moves to wistar is old, then, at death, they will be exceptionally old, because nobody will die at a non-advanced age.

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to the original poster, if you had (a) and (c) left at the conclusion of this problem, this is definitely one of those problems on which you would go with "ok, which of these is MORE DIRECTLY RELATED to the content of the question stem itself?"

the question stem deals directly with AGE and DEATH.

choice (a) deals with INCOME and HEALTH INSURANCE.

choice (c) deals with AGE and RESIDENCY.

because (c) and the stimulus both deal with AGE, they are by definition more closely related than are (a) and the stimulus, which have in common no topics of direct relevance.
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by samanthaJ79 » Sun May 15, 2016 5:16 am
Answer is clearly C.
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by graem83d » Sun May 15, 2016 7:26 am
In my opinion C is the most logical one
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