Hi,
great questions guys! Let's start with nusmavrik's:
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Hi Testluv
Thanks. How do you this is assumption question?
Because the question stem asks for something that the conclusion's validity DEPENDS on. An idea on which a conclusion depends is a necessary assumption. Let me know if you seek further elaboration
Here are dwivedys' questions:
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If the high bp people both use drugs and exercise frequently and lets say that by doing both they were able to keep their bp in check - to which of the two would we attribute this effect to? (to exercise or to drug?)
That would indeed be a conundrum. Fortunately, we don't have to deal with it. The author's evidence already established that this group of high-blood pressure-patients' reduced their blood pressure by taking the drug. Thus, their blood pressure was high UNTIL they took the drug.
Now, if we learn that (many of) the high-blood-pressure patients were also regular exercisers (as per the denial of choice D), then we know that this group of patients had high blood pressure
even though they are regular exercisers. Basically, we'd have a group of people who exercised regularly and who had high blood pressure who
then alleviated their high blood pressure by taking the drug. That seriously damages the author's argument that the drug is not as effective as regular exercise.
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what do we mean by saying Exercise is more effective in keeping bp under check?
As always, we have to attach a commonsense interpretation given the context of the argument. Look at the first sentence: "a certain drug...was found to lower blood pressure". Thus, the only thing the author could possibly intend to mean when he claims that the drug is "not as effective" as exercise is that exercise is better at lowering blood pressure.
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I am not convinced its a good quality question
I don't see any design flaws with this question!