Heavy consumption of Sodium causes a loss of fine motor skills, impair

Question

Heavy consumption of Sodium causes a loss of fine motor skills, impaired judgment, a decrease in visual acuity, slower reaction times, and other short-term symptoms. Since Sodium can be metabolized in the average person’s body at a rate of 0.018 BSC (or “blood Sodium content”) per hour, a severely intoxicated individual with a BSC of 0.18 should be symptom-free after 12 hours. After this time, if the individual exhibits similar symptoms, such symptoms cannot be caused by Sodium.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion above?

A. Some symptoms normally associated with Sodium consumption may resemble symptoms caused by prescription drugs or even drowsiness.
B. Increases in BSC are based on the amount of Sodium consumed rather than the number of foods (some foods contain more Sodium than others).
C. Heavy Sodium consumption has numerous long term effects such as stomach ulcers, cirrhosis of the liver, and birth defects.
D. The metabolic rate of Sodium varies according to a person’s weight, diet, health, and genetic predispositions.
E. Some people, due to an acute sensitivity to Sodium, cannot even reach a BSC of 0.18 before becoming violently ill.

GMAT VERBAL Daily Challenge RC/CR/SC (2022) Project

ElninoEffect · Accepted Answer

Conclusion:   After this time , if the individual exhibits  similar symptoms , such symptoms cannot be caused by Sodium.

We need to weaken the conclusion:

A. Some symptoms normally associated with Sodium consumption may resemble symptoms caused by prescription drugs or even drowsiness.
 Its strengthening the conclusion by giving us an alternative way of how can such symptoms still exist but not because of a high intake of sodium.

B. Increases in BSC are based on the amount of Sodium consumed rather than the number of foods (some foods contain more Sodium than others).
 Its just extra information not sure how it will weaken the conclusion.

C. Heavy Sodium consumption has numerous long term effects such as stomach ulcers, cirrhosis of the liver, and birth defects.
 Effects are not falling under the bracket of similar symptoms. The conclusion is specifically about similar symptoms that are already mentioned.

D. The metabolic rate of Sodium varies according to a person’s weight, diet, health, and genetic predispositions.
 If that's the case then in some people the BSC will come to normal quickly and in some people, it might be delayed. Hence the cause of those symptoms afterward also.

E. Some people, due to an acute sensitivity to Sodium, cannot even reach a BSC of 0.18 before becoming violently ill.
 Again this is extra information not to mention irrelevant too.

Solenja · Answer

I'm puzzled between option choice C and D can any expert please explain the difference.
Thank you

UMANGSURANA · Answer

Heavy consumption of Sodium causes a loss of fine motor skills, impaired judgment, a decrease in visual acuity, slower reaction times, and other short-term symptoms. Since Sodium can be metabolized in the average person’s body at a rate of 0.018 BSC (or “blood Sodium content”) per hour, a severely intoxicated individual with a BSC of 0.18 should be symptom-free after 12 hours. After this time, if the individual exhibits similar symptoms, such symptoms cannot be caused by Sodium.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion above?

A. Some symptoms normally associated with Sodium consumption may resemble symptoms caused by prescription drugs or even drowsiness.: Incorrect. It's just an additional information which has no link to the conclusion.
B. Increases in BSC are based on the amount of Sodium consumed rather than the number of foods (some foods contain more Sodium than others). Incorrect. This option just tells us how BSC increases.
C. Heavy Sodium consumption has numerous long term effects such as stomach ulcers, cirrhosis of the liver, and birth defects. : Incorrect. We are concerned with short term effects of heavy sodium consumption in the argument. This option tells us that heavy consumption of sodium has long term effects too!
D. The metabolic rate of Sodium varies according to a person’s weight, diet, health, and genetic predispositions. : Correct. If this is true, it's not necessary that the symptoms will disappear after 12 hours because the metabolic rate varies from person to person depending upon different factors. The passage talks about the metabolic rate in an average person's body but the rates may differ individually. 
E. Some people, due to an acute sensitivity to Sodium, cannot even reach a BSC of 0.18 before becoming violently ill. Incorrect.

carcass · Answer

30 seconds approach

Since Sodium  can be metabolized  in the average person’s body at a rate of 0.018 BSC (or “blood Sodium content”) per hour

if the  individual exhibits similar symptoms ,

C. Heavy Sodium consumption has  numerous long term effects  such as stomach ulcers, cirrhosis of the liver, and birth defects.

who cares

D. The  metabolic  rate of Sodium  varies according to a person’s weight, diet, health, and genetic predispositions.  in other words on a person basis

What the stem says to us

Hope this helps

regards

Snehaaaaa · Answer

Explanation-

Fact- Heavy consumption of sodium causes a loss of fine motor skills, impaired judgment, a decrease in visual acuity, slower reaction times, and other short-term symptoms
Fact- Sodium gets metabolized at a rate of 0.018 BSC/ hour. 
Author says(based on the above facts)- A severely intoxicated person with a BSC of 0.18 should be symptom free after 12 hours
Author's Conclusion- So if after 12 hours the individual still exhibits similar symptoms, such symptoms cannot be caused by Sodium

Here, while concluding the above author assumes that all individuals have the same metabolism rate irrespective of any other factors.

Answer choice analysis-
A. Some symptoms normally associated with Sodium consumption may resemble symptoms caused by prescription drugs or even drowsiness.- This is irrelevant to our conclusion
B. Increases in BSC are based on the amount of Sodium consumed rather than the number of foods (some foods contain more Sodium than others).- Completely irrelevant from the argument's concern
C. Heavy Sodium consumption has numerous long term effects such as stomach ulcers, cirrhosis of the liver, and birth defects.- This talks about long term effects, but here we're concerned about the short term effects that the author claims should not be there after 12 hours.
D. The metabolic rate of Sodium varies according to a person’s weight, diet, health, and genetic predispositions.-    This is the correct answer. It weakens the argument's conclusion. If the metabolic rate is different for a different individual then the author's claim doesn't hold true.   
E. Some people, due to an acute sensitivity to Sodium, cannot even reach a BSC of 0.18 before becoming violently ill.- This talks about the maximum limit of BSC attained by an individual. Irrelevant

Afn24 · Answer

Notice int the last line 9f the question, it says that "Such symptoms can be caused". Whereas in option C the symptoms mentioned are totally different.

Posted from my mobile device

carcass · Answer

The key is to read carefully and understand what the stem conveys. Nothing more than that on the GMAT

Millions of strategies boil down to this simple rule of thumb !!

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

We are asked to weaken this argument:

So, as always, it's best to make sure we understand the argument.

The argument CONCLUDES that if someone has these symptoms (listed in the first sentence) after 12 hours, it cannot be caused by sodium.

Why? Well, the argument gives the average person's rate of metabolizing sodium.

Take as second to try to specify what the right answer needs to *do*. "Weaken the argument" is too generic. What does that mean, with THIS argument?

The answer needs to show that symptoms after 12 hours might still be CAUSED BY SODIUM, even though the average rate says that the sodium should have been metabolized. Okay. Here's our one chance to really get creative on the GMAT. We get to think about how that 'world' could arise. How could someone still have those symptoms, even if they average rate says the sodium should be metabolized?

Try to think of a few before reading on. It's a really important skill to develop.

Here are a few I thought of:
--Maybe symptoms linger! Just because the sodium is gone, maybe the symptoms last a while longer.
--Maybe when you get TOO MUCH sodium, the rate at which it metabolizes gets slower. The 'system gets overwhelmed' so to speak. So while the AVERAGE might be what the passage says, in 'high sodium' scenarios, the process starts to slow.
--hey that makes me think of something else. Anytime you see the word 'AVERAGE in CR, you think one thing: Averages can skew. Maybe the person in question isn't the AVERAGE person (...No one, really, is ever the 'AVERAGE' person!) So maybe they're just taking longer to metabolize the sodium.

Answer D touches on that last point. An individual might have a rate much different from the average, and therefore have symptoms for longer.

Answer C talks about the longterm effect of heavy sodium consumption. But that's not the issue we're talking about here. We're talking about the effects of having too much sodium in a system *right now.* C does not show that 'These symptoms after 12 hours could still be caused by sodium, even though the average rate of metabolization is .018.'

It really helps in CR to nail down *exactly* what the goal is. I spend 75% of CR time *not reading answer choices*. I understand the argument, I find its gaps, I think about what the answer choice must 'do.' It takes practice, but it's very helpful.

Heavy consumption of Sodium causes a loss of fine motor skills, impair

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Heavy consumption of Sodium causes a loss of fine motor skills, impair

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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