VeritasKarishma wrote:
gauravraos wrote:
At Churchill High School, nearly 1,500 students are considered obese. This is true even though over 1,200 students participate in extracurricular athletics or dance, activities offered by the school to promote physical fitness. Clearly, the school’s athletics and dance programs are not rigorous enough.
The above reasoning is flawed because it:
A. Fails to assess the rigor of each activity individually.
B. Does not compare Churchill High School’s programs with programs at other schools.
C. Overlooks the fact that there may be minimal overlap between the two populations cited.
D. Does not consider other factors, such as diet and genetics, that could lead to obesity in high school students.
E. Fails to adequately outline the criteria that would lead to a student being considered obese.
Argument:
1500 students are considered obese. (we don't know percentage and that is the first thing I notice about this sentence)
1200 students participate in extra currics offered to promote fitness. (again no percentages)
Conclusion: The school’s athletics and dance programs are not rigorous enough.
Based on absolute numbers of 1500 obese children and 1200 participants, the argument is concluding about the programs not being effective. The cause of obesity is not discussed. We are told that these are fitness programs - it could be diet, genetics whatever. The point is the argument is making that the fitness programs are not effective.
A major flaw in the argument related to program and its impact - that these 1500 and 1200 may be disjoint sets or have minimal overlap. What if the school has 3700 students - 1500 obese and other 1200 who participate in fitness programs. Then can we say that fitness programs are not effective? No.
kagrawal16When looking for a flaw in an argument, focus on the parameters it is discussing and whether they make sense. Other parameters could have impact too but we are not discussing those. The point is whether the given parameter X has the impact the argument claims it does (or doesn't).
Option (C) is correct.
A. Fails to assess the rigor of each activity individually.
The argument is discussing the impact of all programs together.
B. Does not compare Churchill High School’s programs with programs at other schools.
Other schools programs are irrelevant to the effectiveness of the programs of this school.
D. Does not consider other factors, such as diet and genetics, that could lead to obesity in high school students.
The causes of obesity are irrelevant. What makes students obese doesn't matter. The point is that the fitness programs are not doing enough to counter the impact of these other reasons.
E. Fails to adequately outline the criteria that would lead to a student being considered obese.
The exact definition of obesity is irrelevant. There are some parameters used to define obesity and those are used, whatever they may be.
Oh!
The conclusion is an implication here and not an explanation of the cause of their obesity.
I had a similar issue in this experiment question too -
Scientist: In an experiment, dogs had access to a handle they could pull to release food into a nearby enclosure that contained a familiar dog and nothing else, contained an unfamiliar dog and nothing else, or was empty. The dogs typically released more food to the familiar dog than to the unfamiliar dog. This suggests that dogs are more motivated to help other dogs they know than to help unfamiliar dogs.
The scientist's argument would be most strengthened if it were true that, in the experiment, the dogs with access to the handle tended to release more food when
The conclusion very much feels like attributing a reason why the dog helped but its more an implication that we are drawing from the premises.
And if i am right then, based on similar logic, we can say in the below question, we want to speak of what follows choice D and not attribute a cause Choice C.
Scientist: A greenhouse gas, for example, carbon dioxide, forms a transparent layer that traps solar heat beneath it in the earth's atmosphere. Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide are currently increasing, causing the climate to warm—an effect that is predicted by at least one computer model of the greenhouse effect. But the warming that has occurred is a great deal less than what would be expected based on the model. Therefore, _______.
C. there are factors besides the increase in greenhouse-gas emissions contributing to the warming of the climate
D. the computer model of the greenhouse effect must be incorrect in some respect