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605-655 Level|   Complete the Passage|   Strengthen|                           
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Asthma, a chronic breathing disorder, is significantly more common 06 Aug 2024, 10:04
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­In letter D, when it says "until a few years ago" how can I be sure that is the case that they still reccomend? I did not mark D because I thought "Ok, until few years ago, but maybe they don't reccomend it anymore because they now know about the chlorine problem".

Can anyone please help? Thanks!
­The passage explores why asthma is common among "adult competitive swimmers." (D) tells us that "until a few years ago, physicians routinely recommended competitive swimming to children with asthma."

Do we need to know that asthmatic children are CURRENTLY encouraged to swim? Nope -- we (perhaps callously) don't care about current children. Instead, we care about current adults. These adults used to be children, and at that time doctors recommended that they swim competitively.

In all, (D) tells us that doctors used to tell asthmatic kids to start competitive swimming. So, the chlorine didn't CAUSE the asthma -- kids ALREADY had asthma, then started swimming competitively, then grew into adult competitive swimmers.

(D) logically completes the passage by providing support for the author's conclusion.

I hope that helps!­
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Thank you very much for your reply, excellent point. An honour to have your reply! Thanks for the support.
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Asthma, a chronic breathing disorder, is significantly more common 26 Sep 2024, 13:43
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Which of the following most logically completes the argument given?

Asthma, a chronic breathing disorder, is significantly more common today among adult competitive swimmers than it is among competitive athletes who specialize in other sports. Although chlorine is now known to be a lung irritant and swimming pool water is generally chlorinated, it would be rash to assume that frequent exposure to chlorine is the explanation of the high incidence of asthma among these swimmers, since __________.

A. young people who have asthma are no more likely to become competitive athletes than are young people who do not have asthma
B. competitive athletes who specialize in sports other than swimming are rarely exposed to chlorine
C. competitive athletes as a group have a significantly lower incidence of asthma than do people who do not participate in competitive athletics
D. until a few years ago, physicians routinely recommended competitive swimming to children with asthma, in the belief that this form of exercise could alleviate asthma symptoms
E. many people have asthma without knowing they have it and thus are not diagnosed with the condition until they begin engaging in very strenuous activities, such as competitive athletics
Dear AbdurRakib,

I'm happy to respond. :-) This is a brilliant and difficult question--the official questions are always so good!

From the prompt, we get
(a) competitive swimmers have asthma more frequently than do other competitive athletes
(b) chlorine is a lung irritant
The naive conclusion is that all the time in the chlorinated pools is what causes the asthma. The author warns us that this naive conclusion is rash, and the blank should provide some kind of alternative explanation of why competitive swimmers have asthma more frequently than do other competitive athletes.

A. young people who have asthma are no more likely to become competitive athletes than are young people who do not have asthma
Hmm. This is about those with and without asthma going into sports, but it tells us nothing about who goes in competitive swimming rather than other sports. This is irrelevant.

B. competitive athletes who specialize in sports other than swimming are rarely exposed to chlorine
We are looking for a new explanation, and this does the exact opposite: it strengthens the explanation that the author called "rash." This is incorrect.

C. competitive athletes as a group have a significantly lower incidence of asthma than do people who do not participate in competitive athletics
While this may be true, the argument is about comparing competitive swimmers vs. those who do other competitive athletes. Thus, this statement is irrelevant.

D. until a few years ago, physicians routinely recommended competitive swimming to children with asthma, in the belief that this form of exercise could alleviate asthma symptoms
Interesting. This would provide a completely different explanation of why so many people with asthma wound up in competitive swimming. It's not that being in the pool causes the asthma (the naive, rash conclusion); instead, the people who already had asthma were sent to the pool. This is promising.

E. many people have asthma without knowing they have it and thus are not diagnosed with the condition until they begin engaging in very strenuous activities, such as competitive
Again, the comparison in the prompt is between competitive swimmers vs. those who do other competitive athletes. If all the people with "latent asthma" develop full-blown asthma when they start doing strenuous athletic activity, why would it show up only for swimmers and not for all other kinds of athletes. It's not as if swimming is the only kind of strenuous activity out there. This is irrelevant.

The only possible answer is (D), the OA.

Does this make sense?
Mike :-)
­
Hi AjiteshArun KarishmaB
I have a doubt- Had option C been competitive 'swimmers' as a group have a significantly lower incidence of asthma than do people who 'specialise in other sports'
Could I consider it as a weakener and thus a potential answer (not considering D)?
­This would make the option conflict with the given data in the first sentence of the argument:

Asthma is significantly more common today among adult competitive swimmers than it is among competitive athletes who specialize in other sports.­
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How about, if in option E, the last word "Competitive" was replaced with "competitive swimmers" ? Wouldn't that make make choice E as correct ? KarishmaB
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Asthma, a chronic breathing disorder, is significantly more common 07 Oct 2024, 05:32
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So, basically, the argument is asking for something that logically defends the claim that chlorine exposure might not be the cause of asthma among swimmers. We seek an answer that weakens or casts doubt on the assumption that chlorine is the direct cause.
(A): irrelevant to the argument, since it does not address the cause of asthma among competitive swimmers or compare chlorine exposure in swimmers versus other athletes.
(B): It just repeats that other athletes aren’t exposed to chlorine, but it doesn’t explain why swimmers have a higher rate of asthma.
(C): this option is just about comparing athletes to non-athletes. It doesn't explain the connection between chlorine exposure and asthma or why swimmers have more asthma than other athletes.
(D): Aha! This choice is relevant! It explains that historically, children with asthma were encouraged to swim to improve their symptoms. In other words, in the past, doctors used to recommend swimming to kids who already had asthma because they thought it would help them breathe better. So, many swimmers might have had asthma before they even started swimming. This means the high number of swimmers with asthma could be because they already had asthma, not because of chlorine exposure. This definitely weakens the argument and therefore, is our answer!
(E): this choice doesn’t explain why swimmers have a higher rate of asthma than other athletes. It is too general.
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Asthma, a chronic breathing disorder, is significantly more common 15 Apr 2025, 04:17
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Argument :
  • Asthma is more common among adult competitive swimmers than other competitive athletes.
  • Chlorine is a known lung irritant, and swimming pools are chlorinated.
  • However, the author says it would be rash to assume chlorine exposure is the cause of high asthma rates in swimmers.
So we’re looking for a sentence that explains why it’s too hasty to blame chlorine exposure — ideally, a plausible alternative explanation for the higher asthma rate in swimmers.

✅ Correct Answer: (D)
Quote:
Until a few years ago, physicians routinely recommended competitive swimming to children with asthma, in the belief that this form of exercise could alleviate asthma symptoms.
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  • This directly supports the idea that chlorine may not be the cause — instead, the causality could be reversed.
  • That is: instead of swimming causing asthma, people with asthma were guided into swimming, so the swimmer population is skewed.
  • This undermines the assumption that chlorine exposure is to blame.

❌ Eliminations:
(A) Young people who have asthma are no more likely to become competitive athletes than are young people who do not have asthma.
  • This tells us something general about athletes, not swimmers.
  • It contradicts what (D) suggests and does not address why swimmers in particular have more asthma.
  • Doesn’t explain why swimmers would have more asthma than other athletes.

(B) Competitive athletes who specialize in sports other than swimming are rarely exposed to chlorine.
  • This supports the idea that only swimmers are exposed to chlorine, which would make chlorine look like the culprit.
  • So it actually strengthens the chlorine explanation — the opposite of what we want.

(C) Competitive athletes as a group have a significantly lower incidence of asthma than do people who do not participate in competitive athletics.
  • This compares athletes to non-athletes, not swimmers to other athletes.
  • Doesn’t help us explain why swimmers in particular have higher asthma rates.

(E) Many people have asthma without knowing they have it and thus are not diagnosed with the condition until they begin engaging in very strenuous activities, such as competitive athletics.
  • This applies to all athletes, not just swimmers.
  • Doesn’t explain the disproportionately higher rate among swimmers.
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Asthma, a chronic breathing disorder, is significantly more common 10 Jul 2025, 10:11
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Hi, could you help me with my reasoning here?

The reason i rejected the right answer choice was because 1) historical events cannot be used to come to conclusions in the present day and 2) we're talking about adult swimmers in the conclusion so what worked with children might not be applicable to them.

How should i be looking at this?
mikemcgarry
AbdurRakib

Which of the following most logically completes the argument given?

Asthma, a chronic breathing disorder, is significantly more common today among adult competitive swimmers than it is among competitive athletes who specialize in other sports. Although chlorine is now known to be a lung irritant and swimming pool water is generally chlorinated, it would be rash to assume that frequent exposure to chlorine is the explanation of the high incidence of asthma among these swimmers, since __________.

A. young people who have asthma are no more likely to become competitive athletes than are young people who do not have asthma
B. competitive athletes who specialize in sports other than swimming are rarely exposed to chlorine
C. competitive athletes as a group have a significantly lower incidence of asthma than do people who do not participate in competitive athletics
D. until a few years ago, physicians routinely recommended competitive swimming to children with asthma, in the belief that this form of exercise could alleviate asthma symptoms
E. many people have asthma without knowing they have it and thus are not diagnosed with the condition until they begin engaging in very strenuous activities, such as competitive athletics
Dear AbdurRakib,

I'm happy to respond. :-) This is a brilliant and difficult question--the official questions are always so good!

From the prompt, we get
(a) competitive swimmers have asthma more frequently than do other competitive athletes
(b) chlorine is a lung irritant
The naive conclusion is that all the time in the chlorinated pools is what causes the asthma. The author warns us that this naive conclusion is rash, and the blank should provide some kind of alternative explanation of why competitive swimmers have asthma more frequently than do other competitive athletes.

A. young people who have asthma are no more likely to become competitive athletes than are young people who do not have asthma
Hmm. This is about those with and without asthma going into sports, but it tells us nothing about who goes in competitive swimming rather than other sports. This is irrelevant.

B. competitive athletes who specialize in sports other than swimming are rarely exposed to chlorine
We are looking for a new explanation, and this does the exact opposite: it strengthens the explanation that the author called "rash." This is incorrect.

C. competitive athletes as a group have a significantly lower incidence of asthma than do people who do not participate in competitive athletics
While this may be true, the argument is about comparing competitive swimmers vs. those who do other competitive athletes. Thus, this statement is irrelevant.

D. until a few years ago, physicians routinely recommended competitive swimming to children with asthma, in the belief that this form of exercise could alleviate asthma symptoms
Interesting. This would provide a completely different explanation of why so many people with asthma wound up in competitive swimming. It's not that being in the pool causes the asthma (the naive, rash conclusion); instead, the people who already had asthma were sent to the pool. This is promising.

E. many people have asthma without knowing they have it and thus are not diagnosed with the condition until they begin engaging in very strenuous activities, such as competitive
Again, the comparison in the prompt is between competitive swimmers vs. those who do other competitive athletes. If all the people with "latent asthma" develop full-blown asthma when they start doing strenuous athletic activity, why would it show up only for swimmers and not for all other kinds of athletes. It's not as if swimming is the only kind of strenuous activity out there. This is irrelevant.

The only possible answer is (D), the OA.

Does this make sense?
Mike :-)
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Asthma, a chronic breathing disorder, is significantly more common 11 Jul 2025, 21:18
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This is a tough one for people who don't get the meaning of "rash".
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Asthma, a chronic breathing disorder, is significantly more common 24 Jul 2025, 07:54
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arbh77
Hi, could you help me with my reasoning here?

The reason i rejected the right answer choice was because 1) historical events cannot be used to come to conclusions in the present day and 2) we're talking about adult swimmers in the conclusion so what worked with children might not be applicable to them.

How should i be looking at this?
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Until recently, physicians routinely recommended competitive swimming to children with asthma. Obviously some of those children would grow up to become adult competitive swimmers, so (D) would be a logical explanation for the higher incidence of asthma among competitive swimmers compared to other competitive athletes. For more on that, check out this post: https://gmatclub.com/forum/asthma-a-chr ... l#p3438002.

Remember, we're only looking for something that LOGICALLY completes the argument. Is it POSSIBLE that (D) doesn't explain the discrepancy in the data? Sure, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that (D) could very well explain the discrepancy.

I hope that helps!
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