Laboratory animals have access to ample food, and they get relatively

Question

Scientist: Laboratory animals have access to ample food, and they get relatively little exercise. These factors can skew the results of research using animals, since such studies often rely on the assumption that the animal subjects are healthy. For instance, animal studies that purport to show that extreme caloric restriction can extend lifespans take for granted that their subjects were not overfed to begin with.

The scientist's argument requires assuming which one of the following?

(A) Laboratory animals are healthy if they are fed a carefully restricted diet and get plentyof exercise.

(B) Laboratory conditions that provide animals with ample food but relatively little exercise can be unhealthy for the animals.

(C) It is not unusual for animals outside of laboratory settings to have access to ample food and get relatively little exercise.

(D) Some animal studies take into consideration the differences between the living conditions of laboratory animals and those of other animals.

(E) When provided with unlimited food over a long period of time, animals show little day-to-day variation in their eating habits.

shivanichotai · Answer

____________________
 GMATNinja

Why is it not C?

bb · Answer

So, I know folks seem to like LSAT but the LSAT can throw you off and is somewhat different from the GMAT in the sense that A and B for example are nuanced / typical LSAT answer choices which seem to be rarely be present in this manner on the GMAT but are present on almost every question on the LSAT, so I am glad you did not get caught up in A vs. B.

Second, I really did not get the second part of the passage and what it implied/assumed; seems disconnected from the first part. I am not sure if there is a typo or maybe again I am not used to the passage, so glad you did not get caught up in that like I did. I just had to say screw it and go answering.

I answered the question in my mind while reading - the assumption is that animals that have plenty of food and no exercise are basically not healthy.

As to why C, I would say there is absolutely no reason C would play any role as an assumption. It just seems like a random statement that does not seem to have a part to play (maybe it plays a part in the second part that I could not tie to the first one) but in my mind, it was not a required part of the argument since we are not concerned with wild animals - we are not doing experiments on them. They are out of the question. The argument is not that we should experiment on freshly caught wild animals so this is taking us in a wrong direction.

Hope it helps. 
Thanks Mislead for posting it. Got my brain thinking...

varun017 · Answer

double negative -- it says, its NOT UNusual for rats,

SarfrazAP · Answer

That last sentence definitely seems needless. The answer of course should be B.

Evidence/Premise - lab animals get ample food and little exercise

Conclusion - Lab animals are unhealthy

Assumption - ample food + little exercise = unhealthy animals

Mislead · Answer

My Observation: lab condition of animals that are used for studies is discussed where they are fed ample and given little exercise are considered heathy and an example is given how calorie restriction can be better for life span of an animal be but it might be incorrect due to the fact that they have more calorie to begin with.

Ans Analysis:

A: does not align with what the passage has been saying 
B: Clearly states that such animal are taken as unhealthy which is what the scientist has also been trying to highlight through their 1st line and is being portrayed as healthy. negation test also works 
C: Not concerned about animal outside lab 
D: Not a comparison of different living condition 
E: Not concerned about another study

GMATNinja · Answer

Take another look at the language in (C):

Who cares if it's unusual? Imagine, for example, that we learn that 40% of the animal population has access to ample food and gets relatively little exercise. Well, it's not that unusual. But it doesn't really give us any additional insight into whether the conclusions about experimental calorie restriction are valid, right?

What we care about is whether it's  unhealthy  to be in this environment. If it's overtly harmful, randomly changing the variables might provide benefit for those in the terrible environment, but not for anyone else.  That's  what we care about.

Because (C) gives us nothing about whether this environment is unhealthy, it's useless to us.

I hope that clears things up!

Laboratory animals have access to ample food, and they get relatively

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Laboratory animals have access to ample food, and they get relatively

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

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