S92-22

Question

The number of students who play for Town X's high school sports teams is greater than the number of students who play for Town Y's high school sports teams. Because of their greater participation in school athletics, the high school student population of Town X is more physically fit than that of Town Y.
 
Each of the following, if true, weakens the conclusion above EXCEPT:

A. There are more high school students in Town X than in Town Y.
B. Most high school students in Town Y go to school in Town X and play on their high schools' sports teams.
C. High school sports teams in Town X play and practice for fewer hours per week than do high school sports teams in Town Y.
D. Many high school athletes from Town Y play only on club teams not affiliated with any high schools.
E. High school sports teams in Town Y accept freshman athletes, whereas high school sports teams in Town X do not.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Solution:

The number of students who play for Town X's high school sports teams is greater than the number of students who play for Town Y's high school sports teams. Because of their greater participation in school athletics, the high school student population of Town X is more physically fit than that of Town Y.
 
Each of the following, if true, weakens the conclusion above EXCEPT:

A. There are more high school students in Town X than in Town Y.
B. Most high school students in Town Y go to school in Town X and play on their high schools' sports teams.
C. High school sports teams in Town X play and practice for fewer hours per week than do high school sports teams in Town Y.
D. Many high school athletes from Town Y play only on club teams not affiliated with any high schools.
E. High school sports teams in Town Y accept freshman athletes, whereas high school sports teams in Town X do not.

We're told that there are more high school students on teams in Town X than in Town Y. Based on this, the author concludes that students in Town X are in better shape than students in Town Y. We're asked to identify the answer choice that does NOT weaken the argument.
 
Choice A states that there are more high school students in Town X; this weakens the argument because it means that the greater number of high school students on Town X's sports teams may simply be a result of the larger population. 
 
Choice B states that most students in Town Y both go to school and play sports in Town X. This weakens the argument. Since high school sports teams in Town X are made up of students from  both  towns, we cannot determine which town has more students who are physically fit.
 
Choice C states that the teams in Town X play and practice for fewer hours than do the sports teams in Town Y. This undermines the argument by casting doubt on the assumption that a student who is on a Town X sports team is in better shape than a student in Town Y. 
 
Choice D states that many high school athletes in Town Y play on club teams and not on high school teams. This weakens the conclusion because it undermines the correlation between the number of students on school teams and the number of physically fit high school students.
 
Choice E states that the teams in Town Y accept freshmen athletes while the teams in Town X do not. If true, this fact  supports  the argument by showing that although there is a portion of the high school population in Town X that is not eligible to play sports, high school sports teams in Town X still have more student athletes than high school sports teams in Town Y.

Answer: E

AA2014 · Answer

Actually "physically more fit" is bit unclear since the percentage or any stat is not mentioned.
HOwever, i agree with the explanation for E.

monish447 · Answer

Please explain that how does B weakens the argument?

To my understanding, B says that the since the students of town Y and play in town X's team we cannot draw the conclusion clearly.
I marked B and I still cannot understand why it is not the ans.

alex_learning · Answer

The conclusion from the question is"Because of their greater participation in school athletics, the high school student population of Town X is more physically fit than that of Town Y."

-> it does NOT state that the ratio of students that participate in physical activities of Town X's school is larger than that of Town Y's school. Instead it states that the POPULATION, which must be a definite number, therefore, the answer A shoul also be correct because it says that  there are more highschool students in Town X

As the answer drove the A as a weakening fact, does it mean that when the question mentions "population" of a group, they mention about proportions? It is quite confusing, but I think is extremely essential for future questions.

Sanjay2043 · Answer

the author concludes that high school student population of town x is more physically fit than that of town y by saying that no. of students who play for X's school is greater than no. of students who play for Y's school. Now, lets see. X School's students who play = 100 and Y School's students who play = 95. answer B says that most high school students of town y play for town x schools. Now out of 100 students who play for X's schools, lets suppose 10 comes from town y. Now town x has 90 students who play and town y has 95+10 i.e 95 students who play and remains more physically fit. This weakens the author conclusion that student population of town x is more physically fit than that of town y.

S92-22

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