Studies have shown that elderly people who practice a religion are muc

Since we are trying to strengthen the researchers' conclusion, let's start with their conclusion: "the will to live can prolong life, at least for short periods of time." The researchers base that conclusion on the following evidence: "elderly people who practice a religion are much more likely to die immediately after an important religious holiday period than immediately before one."

This is best explained with a somewhat somber example.

• Grandma has lived a long and happy life, but she is getting old and faces many health problems associated with old age. She is not expected to survive another year, and in fact her death could come any day.
• Grandma is Jewish, and Passover is an important Jewish holiday period. This year, Passover will take place early April.
• According to the study, Grandma is much more likely to die right after the holiday period than right before the holiday period.
• The implication is that Grandma wants to be alive for Passover. Maybe without this goal she would die in March, but knowing that Passover is coming up, Grandma wills herself to hold on until the holiday period is over. Once the holiday is over, she can die peacefully.

Obviously Grandma cannot change the fact that her death is imminent. But if the researchers are right, she CAN prolong her life just enough to enjoy one last Passover. This doesn't imply that she'll be able to extend her life for years and years to enjoy several more Passovers. But if Passover is only a couple weeks or months away, then perhaps she can use the will to live to prolong her life for a short period of time.

Now we need something that would strengthen the researchers' conclusion:


Dying just before or during the holiday would be the WORST case scenario for these people. So if they actually have the power to prolong their lives for short periods of time, surely they would try to use that power to avoid dying just before or during the holiday. If the researchers are right, then elderly people would be able to will themselves to stay alive until the holiday period is over. As a result, we should see lower than average death rates just before and during holiday periods (the worst time to die).

Choice (A) tells us that this is indeed the case, suggesting that these people actually were able to avoid dying just before or during important religious holidays. This strengthens the researchers' conclusion, so keep this one.


We aren't interested in anxiety levels of elderly people. Regardless of whether they were more or less anxious, were elderly people who practice a religion able to will themselves to stay alive for important holidays? (B) doesn't tell us either way, so eliminate this one.


Since (C) only talks about SOME elderly people who do practice a religion, there's no way to conclude that religious people, in general, live longer than non-religious. Regardless, the researchers are only concerned with ability to prolong life for short periods of time. Perhaps religious people generally live longer (for a variety of reasons), but can they use the will to live to prolong their lives for a few extra weeks or months? Overall life expectancy statistics have no bearing on the researchers' conclusion, so (C) can be eliminated.


We don't care about the reasons for participating in religious holidays. We are only concerned with the ability to prolong one's life in order to live through another holiday. (D) is irrelevant and can be eliminated.


Notice that the second part of (E) refers to elderly people in general, not just elderly people who practice a religion. Also, many religions might ALSO have important holidays in the summer and winter. So, with (E), we can't even safely conclude that death rates, in general, are lower during holiday seasons.

Even if we could, what about death rates within those holiday seasons? Are death rates lower immediately before and during the holidays? Without this specific information, the conclusion is not supported. Eliminate (E).

(A) is the best answer.