According to a recent school survey, the number of students who regularly attend religious services on campus has increased 50 percent from the figure 10 years ago. It must be an increased spirituality at our college that has massively reduced incidences of cheating on exams during this period.

Which of the following, if true, most significantly weakens the inference above?

Most of the students who now attend campus services do so largely for social reasons.
Spirituality can be expressed and felt without attendance at regular religious services.
Fifteen years ago, the college switched from an honor system to one involving closely monitored faculty-proctored exams.
Not all students who attend religious services regularly on campus responded to the survey.
Cheating has not been a major problem at this school in the past.

Close between A and B
IMO A

Inference is that increased spirituality through religion attendance has lead to less cheating.

A) Weakens the argument as the students are not going to be spiritual but to be social
B) Concludes that the students might be gaining spirituality from elsewhere, does not weaken the argument that spirituality leads to less cheating
C) 15 years ago - time period in question is 10.. out of scope
D) Would indicate more students actually attend religious services
E) Even if not a major issue the % has still decreased

imo C...just a feeling that there is anther thread similar to this just started

A - Why the students attend services is not relevant to this question
B - That's nice that spirituality can be expressed in numerous ways but this is irrelevant
C - Stimulus states a cause and effect relationship. The high attendance in the religious services CAUSED less cheating. Answer choice C provides us with an alternate cause (the tough proctors). This is a classic way to weaken a cause and effect stimulus (other ways include, showing that the cause occurs without the effect, the relationship is reversed, showing that the effect occurs without the cause, and weakening any statistical data if it is presented).
D - This answer choice is too weak. Not all can mean 99% of students don't respond or 0.00001% of students don't respond.
E - That's great that cheating hasn't been a problem. Unfortunately, it's also irrelevant.

what is the source of this question? none of the answers seems completely right to me. But I´ll go with C

My analysis of the stimulus goes as follows

Premise: the number of students who regularly attend religious services on campus has increased 50 percent from the figure 10 years ago.

Sub-conclusion: increased spirituality at our college

Conclusion: increased spirituality ---> reduced incidences of cheating on exams during this period

(A) Most of the students who now attend campus services do so largely for social reasons.
That´s irrelevant. Even if this is true, the increased spirituality can still happen and it can lead to a reduction in the incidences of cheating

(B) Spirituality can be expressed and felt without attendance at regular religious services.

This would undermine the sub-conclusion, offering a new possibility for the increase in spirituality. It does not really weaken the final conclusion.

(C) Fifteen years ago, the college switched from an honor system to one involving closely monitored faculty-proctored exams.

This answer choice provides another explanation for the decreased in cheating. Even if the changed occurred 15 years ago and we're comparing numbers from 10 years we can assume -- this is the part I don´t like -- that the changed caused the decreased in the last 10 years. I think that it would have been better to write that the changed happened 5 years ago.


(D) Not all students who attend religious services regularly on campus responded to the survey.

irrelevant

(E) Cheating has not been a major problem at this school in the past.
Irrelevant

If you have the OE, I'd appreciate you post it. I think the answer should be C unless the OE says that is irrelevant on the basis that we're comparing figures from 10 years and now.

I go for C as well. The argument is not conclusive since there's another possible explanation of the reduced cheating incidences.

OA is A.

Can anyone explain it???

Netcaesar, is there a typo in A?

Was it supposed to be:
Most of the students who now attend religious services do so largely for social reasons.

do you have the OE?

I got wrong this sentence.

I was considering B & D. I chose D, so what is OE?? and where is source of this CR?
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