AKY13 wrote:
hazelnut wrote:
It is true that students who meditate at least once a week do better on the GMAT than those who never meditate. This finding does not show that meditation causes people to do better, since students who meditate are more likely than other students to have adequate time to study.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the argument above?
(A) A person who meditates but has little time to study is more likely to give up other activities to allow more study time than a person who does not meditate and also has little time to study
(B) Among people who meditate, the more frequent the meditation, the better that person does on the test, on average
(C) Among the students who have adequate time to study, those who do not meditate do just as well on the test as those who do meditate
Edit: This question is from Manhattan SC Guide. This question has only 3 answer choices.
I don't think C can be correct answer. C is rather weakening the author's conclusion.
Lets assume both type of people have 100hrs
Mediation Group Study time - 80 hrs
meditation time - 20 hrs
Non meditation groupStudy time - 100 hrs
meditation time - 0 hrs
Score - Equal for both
Above implies that M group performed better than non-M group. It proves that meditation causes people to do better.
Hi,
I don't think you have understood this passage well.
The passage first introduces a study which shows that students who meditate have higher GMAT scores than those who do not. Of course, correlation != causation.
The author then states that it is not meditation which causes the meditation group to better, but rather the fact that if you meditate, it most likely indicates that you have more free time, which implies that you can dedicate more of your time to studying the GMAT, leading to a higher score.
This is a case of an "omitted variable", in which there is a third parameter (in this case, "free time left to studying") that is causing both of the effects.
Breaking down the answer choices with this in mind:
A) There is no indication from the information given in the passage on what a person who meditates but has little time to study will do with their time. This answer choice is pure speculation. There is no possible way, with the information in the stem, to derive A.
B) Wrong. This goes exactly against what the author states. It is not meditation itself that raises the GMAT score, but the fact that if you meditate you have more time to study, which means you likely study more, which leads to higher GMAT scores.
C) This is the last choice, and it is correct. Although there is some degree of speculation, we can still infer it from the passage. Consider the following chain of logic:
1) Students who meditate have higher GMAT scores than those who do not (given in passage)
2) It is not meditation itself that causes a higher GMAT score, but the fact that meditation students most likely have more free time than those who don't (given in passage)
3) Therefore, if you remove the omitted variable (free time to study) there is no reason to believe that there will be a difference between the two groups (speculative, but can still be derived from the information in the passage)
Moreover, in your argument, you have assumed that there is a linear, positive, and direct correlation with time to study=score. A correlation between time to study and GMAT score is indicated in the passage, however we do not know what type of correlation it is (it could very well be the case that overstudying causes GMAT scores to drop, since the student will be stressed out), so your argument only works if you add many additional assumptions, which will almost never be the case in CR questions.
This question is great for getting used to the PoE method. By eliminating A and B, you are left with C which MUST be the answer choice.
Hope this helps!