Mouth cancer is a danger for people who rarely brush their teeth. In

the answer is between A and E.

IMO E

Answer wouldn't be A.

A talks about the dental diseases in general - we're only referring to mouth cancer.

Remember guys, atleast 2x a day, best if one after every meal.

E

Best criticism means which is the one that weakens the argument most.

E.....
The best way to answer this question is by the elimination method....

Can you eliminate A just because they speak about general diseases?

Oh really arzard please explain your logic since it is so clear

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A is not correct because For example: Dental Caries are a type of dental disease that most of the time can not be detected through self examination

D is correct because if you don't have the habit of brushing your teeth, it is not likely that you will perform regular dental self examinations.

Let me know if you need further clarification.

Mouth cancer is a danger for people who rarely brush their teeth. In order to achieve early detection of mouth cancer in these individuals, a town's public health officials sent pamphlet to all town residents, describing how to perform weekly self-examinations of the mouth for lumps

Why his method will not work ?

Which of the following, if true, is the best criticism of the pamphlet as a method of achieving the public health official's goal?
a. Many dental diseases produce symptoms that cannot be detected in a weekly self-examination. we neeed to talk abt cancer only

b. Once mouth cancer has been detected, the effectiveness of treatment can vary from person to person. SO ??

c. The pamphlet was sent to all town residents, including those individuals who brush their teeth regularly. means it has reached to ppl who dont brush

d. Mouth cancer is much more common in adults than in children. it doesnt affect health plan

e. People who rarely brush their teeth are unlikely to perform a weekly examination of their mouth. ok if this is true then plan will not be achieved

Oh man ! i got this very easy problem wrong just by overthinking .
I thought E is just a paraphrase of the argument so can not be an answer given GAMT rarely gives such easy answers.

The Question is:

Mouth cancer is a danger for people who rarely brush their teeth. In order to achieve early detection of mouth cancer in these individuals, a town's public health officials sent pamphlet to all town residents, describing how to perform weekly self-examinations of the mouth for lumps

Which of the following, if true, is the best criticism of the pamphlet as a method of achieving the public health official's goal?
a. Many dental diseases produce symptoms that cannot be detected in a weekly self-examination.
We are concerned about Mouth Cancer. Not "dental diseases"

b. Once mouth cancer has been detected, the effectiveness of treatment can vary from person to person.
Irrelevant.

c. The pamphlet was sent to all town residents, including those individuals who brush their teeth regularly.
Irrelevant.


d. Mouth cancer is much more common in adults than in children.
Irrelevant.


e. People who rarely brush their teeth are unlikely to perform a weekly examination of their mouth.
Mouth cancer is more likely to happen to individuals who brush their teeth rarely.
And if these people are less prone to perform a weekly examination of their mouth, the main agenda of town's public health officials will go in vain.
[There will be no benefit in sending pamphlet to all town residents as they won't be any help to those individuals more likely to be affected]

Therefore, it weakens the effectiveness and thus, right criticism.
Correct

It directly hits the
I have 2 questions regarding this question
1. what is the answer.. and what is the explanation for getting to that answer choice.

A: Answer is E. It is most relevant as explained above.

2. more importantly... how do I do these CR questions.. I mean ones that ask me to figure out the best criticism??

A: Always in these type of questions look out for sentences that hit the main conclusion and criticize it /weaken it.
(Refer the above explanation)

Thanks for the explanation now i see my mistake clearly

Dear hbs2012,

I am happy to help for this question. :)

Mouth cancer is a danger for people who rarely brush their teeth. In order to achieve early detection of mouth cancer in these individuals, a town's public health officials sent pamphlet to all town residents, describing how to perform weekly self-examinations of the mouth for lumps

PLAN GOAL based argument,
GOAL - to achieve early detection of mouth cancer in the individuals who rarely brush their teeth.
Method of achieving the goal - By distributing pamphlets to all town residents, describing how to perform weekly self-examinations of the mouth for lumps.

Which of the following, if true, is the best criticism of the pamphlet as a method of achieving the public health official's goal?

My take in explaining all the 5 options precisely.

a. Many dental diseases produce symptoms that cannot be detected in a weekly self-examination.
Is Mouth Cancer included in those diseases? We are not given enough information in the argument to predict that... right? So, Incorrect.

b. Once mouth cancer has been detected, the effectiveness of treatment can vary from person to person.
We are concerned about achieving the early detection of mouth cancer in people who rarely brush their teeth. What will happen after the detection :?: Are we really concerned with that?? No, right? SO, this option is INCORRECT.

Also, we need to simply criticize the pamphlet as a method of achieving the public health official's goal. This option fails to do that.

c. The pamphlet was sent to all town residents, including those individuals who brush their teeth regularly.
Its good only, if not bad. right? It confirms that at least the pamphlets are reaching to the concerned individuals. It slightly strengthens the pamphlet as a method of achieving the goal.

d. Mouth cancer is much more common in adults than in children.
So what? Irrelevant to the question in hand.

e. People who rarely brush their teeth are unlikely to perform a weekly examination of their mouth.
Brilliant. Though the public health officials are doing things on their part, but the people are themselves lazy as they are rarely brushing their teeth so it is more likely that they will rarely perform a weekly examination of their mouth, even if they had the pamphlets in hand.

I have 2 questions regarding this question
1. what is the answer.. and what is the explanation for getting to that answer choice.
The OA is E. I have given my detailed explanation above.

2. more importantly... how do I do these CR questions.. I mean ones that ask me to figure out the best criticism??[/quote]
These are simply the weaken questions only. Simply follow the process which you follow for the weaken questions.

Mouth cancer is a danger for people who rarely brush their teeth. In order to achieve early detection of mouth cancer in these individuals, a town's public health officials sent pamphlet to all town residents, describing how to perform weekly self-examinations of the mouth for lumps.

Boil it down - The pamphlet as a method of achieving the public health official's goal
Type - weaken
Pre-thinking - the pamphlets will not be useful

a. Many dental diseases produce symptoms that cannot be detected in a weekly self-examination. - Incorrect - we are only concerned about mouth cancer

b. Once mouth cancer has been detected, the effectiveness of treatment can vary from person to person. - Irrelevant - we are not concerned about effectiveness of treatment post detection and we don't know even know how it will vary

c. The pamphlet was sent to all town residents, including those individuals who brush their teeth regularly. - Incorrect

d. Mouth cancer is much more common in adults than in children. - Irrelevant

e. People who rarely brush their teeth are unlikely to perform a weekly examination of their mouth. - Correct

Answer E

Assumptions- HO thinks all town residents will perform weekly self-examinations.
Gap- What if people who don't wash their teeth regularly, don't perform self-examination ?




-Passage talks about Mouth cancer and lumps in mouth. Author is not concerned about Many or all dental diseases. This option has no impact on passage.

Yes very good but author just wants to find out early detection of mouth cancer. Author is not concerned about "effectiveness of treatment". This option has no impact on passage.

(C) Yes it is true and mentioned in message but this option bears no impact on passage.

What about adults/children who don't wash their teeth frequently . How to find out early detection of mouth cancer. This option bears no impact on passage.

Wow this is the option we were looking for. If people who rarely brush their teeth are unlikely to perform weekly examination then HO's plan of sending pamphlets is not going to help.This weakens our belief in HO's plan.

Mouth cancer is a danger for people who rarely brush their teeth. In order to achieve early detection of mouth cancer in these individuals, a town's public health officials sent pamphlet to all town residents, describing how to perform weekly self-examinations of the mouth for lumps.

Which of the following, if true, is the best criticism of the pamphlet as a method of achieving the public health official's goal?

(A) Many dental diseases produce symptoms that cannot be detected in a weekly self-examination. X

A is a VERY tempting trap choice, but the reason it cedes ground is because it fails to tie together the entire argument: people who rarely brush their teeth, sending of pamplets, and people actually doing the self-exam.

(B) Once mouth cancer has been detected, the effectiveness of treatment can vary from person to person. X

(C) The pamphlet was sent to all town residents, including those individuals who brush their teeth regularly. X This strengthens the argument...increased visibility means the plan is more likely to be successful.

(D) Mouth cancer is much more common in adults than in children. X
Irrelevant detail.

(E) People who rarely brush their teeth are unlikely to perform a weekly examination of their mouth. CORRECT
The success of the plan depends on a key upstream factor, without which anything that happens downstream, is useless - i.e. people's inclination to actually do the check!

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