A survey was recently conducted among ferry passengers on the North Sea. Among the results was this: more of those who had taken anti-seasickness medication before their trip reported symptoms of seasickness than those who had not taken such medication. It is clear, then that despite claims by drug companies that clinical tests show the contrary, people would be better off not taking anti-seasickness medications.

Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion above?

(A) Given rough enough weather, most ferry passengers will have some symptoms of seasickness.
(B) The clinical tests reported by the drug companies were conducted by the drug companies’ staffs.
(C) People who do not take anti-seasickness medication are just as likely to respond to a survey on seasickness as people who do.
(D) The seasickness symptoms of the people who took anti-seasickness medication would have been more severe had they not taken the medication.
(E) People who have spent money on anti-seasickness medication are less likely to admit symptoms of seasickness than those who have not.
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A survey was recently conducted among ferry passengers on the North Sea. Among the results was this: more of those who had taken anti-seasickness medication before their trip reported symptoms of seasickness than those who had not taken such medication. It is clear, then that despite claims by drug companies that clinical tests show the contrary, people would be better off not taking anti-seasickness medications.

Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion above?

(A) Given rough enough weather, most ferry passengers will have some symptoms of seasickness....does not attack/weaken the conclusion
(B) The clinical tests reported by the drug companies were conducted by the drug companies’ staffs.....does not attack/weaken the conclusion
(C) People who do not take anti-seasickness medication are just as likely to respond to a survey on seasickness as people who do.....Weak Contender...Argument clearly says that reported symptoms with Anti-seasick medication is higher than the contrary.
(D) The seasickness symptoms of the people who took anti-seasickness medication would have been more severe had they not taken the medication....Weakens the conclusion
(E) People who have spent money on anti-seasickness medication are less likely to admit symptoms of seasickness than those who have not...Opposite
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A survey was recently conducted among ferry passengers on the North Sea. Among the results was this: more of those who had taken anti-seasickness medication before their trip reported symptoms of seasickness than those who had not taken such medication. It is clear, then that despite claims by drug companies that clinical tests show the contrary, people would be better off not taking anti-seasickness medications.

Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion above?

Conclusion - despite claims by drug companies that clinical tests show the contrary, people would be better off not taking anti-seasickness medications.
Pre-thinking -- what if the group of people who took the medication would have been worse without it

(A) Given rough enough weather, most ferry passengers will have some symptoms of seasickness. -- Irrelevant
(B) The clinical tests reported by the drug companies were conducted by the drug companies’ staffs. -- Irrelevant
(C) People who do not take anti-seasickness medication are just as likely to respond to a survey on seasickness as people who do. -- Incorrect -- so the survey is proper
(D) The seasickness symptoms of the people who took anti-seasickness medication would have been more severe had they not taken the medication.- Correct
(E) People who have spent money on anti-seasickness medication are less likely to admit symptoms of seasickness than those who have not. -- Irrelevant -- it tells that number of people who have taken anti-seasickness medication and have symptoms are more that survey suggests

Answer D
If we change option C to People who do not take anti-seasickness medication are less likely to respond to a survey on seasickness as people who do -- Will this too be a valid weakener ?

AjiteshArun , mikemcgarry , VeritasPrepKarishma , sayantanc2k , GMATNinja , ChiranjeevSingh , other experts -- please enlighten .
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pikolo2510 nightblade354 generis VeritasPrepKarishma GMATNinja

Conclusion: despite claims by drug companies that clinical tests show the contrary, people would be better off not taking anti-seasickness medicines.

Premise: Survey results: more of people who had taken anti-seasickness medicines before their trip reported symptoms of seasickness than those who had not taken such medication.



In a typical weaken question,
1. I can bring outside information that is relevant to the argument.
2. I have to treat the answer options as premise and see if my belief on author's conclusion is weakened.

As per choice the mild language used by author gels so beautifully to point out that alternate cause ie rough weather
could attribute to sickness of most people who got sick during trip.

Can you help to understand why this choice does not weaken the argument?
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Thanks nightblade354 for your two cents.

Can you share your detailed approach while solving this?
Is this kind of 'double negative' question ?

To disprove: people would be better off not taking anti-seasickness medicines.
is same as:
To prove: people would get more sick if they had not taken medicines.

I took the argument as causal:
Cause: Taking medicines by people who suffer from seasickness before trip
Effect: No major improvement in health than those who did not took medicines.

How do you weaken a causal argument:
By showing alternate cause (bad weather) for the same effect?
Note that I have to link bad weather as an attribute to bad health of people since it is a premise in answer choice.
(Note if true in question stem.)
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(D) clearly challenges the highlighted part of the stimulus that anti-seasickness medication resulted in less severity as such it weakens the claim of the Clinical Tests.
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Abhishek....

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