A broad based study of elderly people who say that they have never in

Question

A broad based study of elderly people who say that they have never in their lives suffered from serious insomnia reveals that they usually kept to regular sleeping schedules, going to sleep at about the same time every night and rising at about the same time each morning. Young people who wish to avoid serious insomnia into old age would therefore stand a good chance of doing so if they retire at the same hour each night and rise at the same hour each morning.

A flaw in the argument above is that it

A. fails to recognize that a pattern of behavior beneficial to elderly people may not be similarly beneficial to young people
B. bases its conclusion on contradictory evidence
C. assumes that a condition which has had a certain result in the past will not have the same result in the future
D. fails to recognize that people may differ in what they consider to be "serious" insomnia
E. concludes that one condition is the cause of another when only a correlation has been established between them

IanStewart · Answer

This is a very standard setup -- so standard you probably wouldn't see it on the GMAT -- where we learn two things are related, and the argument assumes one is the cause of the other. Here, the argument assumes "regular sleep time" is the reason people "have no insomnia". Of course it might be the reverse that's true -- people who don't suffer from insomnia might be the people capable of keeping to a regular sleep routine. So there's a potential causation/correlation error in the argument, which is what E says.

vedikadadhich · Answer

GMATNinja  could you please clarify, why not C??

vedikadadhich · Answer

I am able t under stand why option E is correct, but I don't find any thing wrong with C as well. 
Can someone tell why not C??

Also I am good at assumption questions but for some reason I tend to get in traps of logical flaw questions. can someone enlighten me with a good thought process that could help me with flaw question? it would be easier if I could establish some connection between assumption and flaw question?

bhavitaeg · Answer

@Bunnel is there any valid reasoning on why option A or C, I am not clear why are they wrong

vanshOPhai · Answer

its e because the lack of supporting detail to make no insomnia a effect of regular timed sleeping makes it a perfect relation , as there could be other factors contributing for no insomnia like diet , low stress , less competitive timelines etc.

VerbalBot · Answer

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A broad based study of elderly people who say that they have never in

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