Seniors with close family ties

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gmatdriller: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 418; Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 12:48 pmFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 6 times

by gmatdriller » Sat Aug 07, 2010 6:58 am

Seniors with close family ties are far more likely to die immediately after a large family gathering than immediately before, according to research studies. Experimenters concluded that the will to live can extend life, at least for short lengths.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the experimenters' conclusion?

A) Seniors with close family ties are less likely to die immediately before or during a large family gathering than at any other time of the year.

B) Seniors with close family ties fear dying less than seniors do.

C) Some seniors who have close family ties live much longer than the majority of seniors who do not.

D) Most seniors who attend family gatherings do so for somewhat different purposes than younger attendees.

E) The spring and fall, which have lower death rates for seniors, are the times when many families schedule large gatherings.

OA is: A

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Sat Aug 07, 2010 6:58 am

grockit_andrea: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 357; Joined: Wed Aug 12, 2009 8:31 pmFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 128 times

by grockit_andrea » Sat Aug 07, 2010 9:43 am

gmatdriller wrote:Seniors with close family ties are far more likely to die immediately after a large family gathering than immediately before, according to research studies. Experimenters concluded that the will to live can extend life, at least for short lengths.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the experimenters' conclusion?

A) Seniors with close family ties are less likely to die immediately before or during a large family gathering than at any other time of the year.

B) Seniors with close family ties fear dying less than seniors do.

C) Some seniors who have close family ties live much longer than the majority of seniors who do not.

D) Most seniors who attend family gatherings do so for somewhat different purposes than younger attendees.

E) The spring and fall, which have lower death rates for seniors, are the times when many families schedule large gatherings.

OA is: A

In strengthening this argument, we actually need to first address its primary assumption, which is that seniors with close family ties die immediately after long family gatherings because their will to live kept them alive for longer than they would otherwise have lived. If A is true, then the seniors who would have died immediately before or during a family gathering used their will to live to survive beyond the time during which they would otherwise have died. This makes it more likely that the increase in deaths after family gatherings is due to dying seniors willing themselves to live through the gatherings. If there wasn't a decrease in deaths before and during the family gatherings, then there would be no reason to assume that seniors were willing themselves to stay alive; they could just as easily be dying en masse after gatherings due to the rigors of travel or food poisoning.

Andrea A.
Grockit Tutor
https://www.grockit.com

reply2spg: Legendary Member; Posts: 1261; Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 3:46 am; Thanked: 27 times; GMAT Score:570

by reply2spg » Sat Aug 07, 2010 10:50 am

This is the mirror copy of one of the OG questions, which states regarding senior religious people. Answer for this should be A.

gmatdriller wrote:Seniors with close family ties are far more likely to die immediately after a large family gathering than immediately before, according to research studies. Experimenters concluded that the will to live can extend life, at least for short lengths.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the experimenters' conclusion?

A) Seniors with close family ties are less likely to die immediately before or during a large family gathering than at any other time of the year. - This tells us that seniors do not die before or during the gathering. Means they die after the gathering. Why so, because of their will power. So A is correct

B) Seniors with close family ties fear dying less than seniors do. - Incorrect, This option does not talk about family gathering, out

C) Some seniors who have close family ties live much longer than the majority of seniors who do not. - Incorrect, seniors close to family ties, what about the family gathering? Out

D) Most seniors who attend family gatherings do so for somewhat different purposes than younger attendees. - Incorrect, Out of scope. What to do with their intention?

E) The spring and fall, which have lower death rates for seniors, are the times when many families schedule large gatherings. - Incorrect, this says that family gatherings will be scheduled in spring and fall? this does not tell us when seniors die, before, during or after? OUT

OA is: A

Sudhanshu
(have lot of things to learn from all of you)

ankurmit: Legendary Member; Posts: 516; Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:42 amFollowed by: 1 member; Location: Mumbai; Thanked: 14 times; GMAT Score:710

by ankurmit » Sat Aug 07, 2010 7:39 pm

Quite challenging !!

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