A study compared a sample of Swedish people older than 75 who needed

Look at the portion of your response in bold: without adding any assumptions to the answer choice, you can't determine whether the elderly in Sweden receive more formal care than the elderly in Israel. Now, we know that they do (because it is stated in the passage), but we need an answer choice that shows why they receive more care. If an answer choice does not provide that missing link, then it cannot be the right answer. You need something that specifically addresses the discrepancy.

Let's compare the above explanation of (C) to the correct answer, (E):


This answer specifies what is different about each group: the elderly in Israel tend to live with their children, while the elderly in Sweden tend to live alone. Using the the passage's definition of informal assistance ("provided by family and friends"), we can now conclude that the elderly in Israel receive more informal care, and thus would require less formal care.

The main difference between (C) and (E) is that (E) provides specific justification for the finding (that the Swedish use more formal care), while (C) only opens the possibility that there is a difference in the two programs, without providing information that actually explains the fact that the Swedish population receives more formal assistance.

As far as tips go: this really isn't sexy or exciting, but doing well on CR mostly boils down to reading the question and passage with precision. As you go through the answer choices, remind yourself that you are looking for an explanation that fills in the information gap and addresses the actual discrepancy, EXACTLY as it's phrased in the passage.

I hope this helps!