The major goal of physical education programs in schools is to help al

Question

The major goal of physical education programs in schools is to help all children become physically fit. But only a small proportion of children ever participate in team sports. Moreover, team sports usually do less to encourage fitness in participants than do physical education programs that focus directly on aerobic exercise.

The considerations above, if true, could be used most effectively to argue  against

(A) the use of in-school physical education programs to encourage lifelong fitness habits in students
(B) the participation by young children in community sports teams
(C) schools' relying heavily on aerobic exercise programs to help all children become physically fit
(D) the use of a large part of a school's physical education curriculum for team sports
(E) the use of team sports in schools as an occasional activity for talented athletes

daagh · Answer

That the team sports are not as effective as the individual and physical exercise can be used to counter schools that give preference to team sports over exercises, as brought in choice D.

navderm · Answer

Got the right answer but how do you find the conclusion in here ? I had to draw up my own conclusion.

navderm · Answer

Also, how is this a 'weaken' question ? The information flow seems to be happening from top to bottom. Looks more like 'could be true except' . ??

HarishKumar · Answer

This CR questions paragraph consists solely of premises and the term "considerations" that appears in the question stem further confirms this. Considerations can refer to background information(premises), but can sometimes, as in this case, be used to denote primary premises.

The question is asking, given the above premises, which of the following conclusions cannot be drawn. The question stem can also be rewritten as:

The considerations above, if true, could be used most effectively to argue  in favor of all of the following  EXCEPT

Basically, the paragraph is full of  premises  and the Choices List consists of all possible  conclusions.

You will have to choose the conclusion that is  not permitted  given the premises.

So let us look at the conclusions in the Choices List, one by one.

(A) the use of in-school physical education programs to encourage lifelong fitness habits in students

Yes. Given that "The major goal of physical education programs in schools is to help all children become physically fit." Choice A is a possible conclusion. Therefore,   wrong answer  .

(B) the participation by young children in community sports teams

Given that " only a small proportion of children ever participate in team sports " and " team sports usually do less to encourage fitness in participants than do...." and the goal of physical education programs is to encourage life-long fitness, this might be the conclusion that we shouldn't draw. So we will hold it. It is a good candidate.   good candidate answer  .

(C) schools' relying heavily on aerobic exercise programs to help all children become physically fit

Yes. Given that " team sports usually do less to encourage fitness in participants than do physical education programs that focus directly on aerobic exercise." we can argue in favor of this conclusion.   Therefore,   wrong answer.

(D) the use of a large part of a school's physical education curriculum for team sports

No. Given that "only a small proportion of children ever participate in team sports " and " team sports usually do less to encourage fitness in participants than do physical education programs that focus directly on aerobic exercise", this is the last thing you must be doing. Therefore, it is the   correct answer  . Given the considerations, you can effectively argue against this.   This is worse than even Choice (B)  .

(E) the use of team sports in schools as an occasional activity for talented athletes

Yes. Given that " only a small proportion of children ever participate in team sports" and " team sports usually do less to encourage fitness in participants than do..." this is a conclusion you can draw, argue in favor of, since it is an occasional activity only for talented athletes. Therefore, it is the   wrong answer  .

Thus the correct answer is  Choice D .

HarishKumar · Answer

The Choices are the conclusions. The paragraph consists wholly of premises.

HarishKumar · Answer

In a sense, it is a weaken question because, you will have to find the conclusion that "weakens" or more accurately "goes against (most effectively argue against) the given premises.

And yes, it can be paraphrased as an EXCEPT question. Look at my detailed answer.

The major goal of physical education programs in schools is to help al

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

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

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

The major goal of physical education programs in schools is to help al

Prep Toolkit

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

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards