A study of 20 overweight men revealed that each man experienced

Question

A study of 20 overweight men revealed that each man experienced significant weight loss after adding SlimDown, an artificial food supplement, to his daily diet. For 3 months, each man consumed one SlimDown portion every morning after excercising, and then followed his normal diet for the rest of the day. Clearly, anyone who consumes one portion of SlimDown everyday for at least 3 months will lose weight and will look and feel his best.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. The men in the study will gain back the weight if they discontinue the SlimDown.

B. No other dietary supplement will have the same effect on overweight men.

C. The daily exercise regimen was not responsible for the effects noted in the study.

D. Women won't experience similar weight reductions if they adhere to the SlimDown program for 3 months.

E. Overweight men will acheive only partial weight loss if they don't remain on the SlimDown program for a full 3 months.

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kanikaa9 · Answer

I think the ans is C. Waiting for OA.

Also, what is the level for this ques?

SwethaReddyL · Answer

Is it B?

If not, someone please explain why not!

Posted from my mobile device

prantorboni · Answer

In my opinion, answer would be C.

First look at the sentence,
For 3 months, each man consumed one SlimDown portion every morning after excercising.

Then, the second sentence,
Clearly, anyone who consumes one portion of SlimDown everyday for at least 3 months will lose weight.

Contrasting these two information, we can say, The daily exercise regimen was not responsible for the effects noted in the study.

diasdexter766 · Answer

Option C works as 'X' is the only factor for 'Y'.

No other factor, that is not even regular exercise or other dietary supplement but only SLIMDOWN is responsible for weight loss!!

kanikaa9 · Answer

It is a classic case of A causes B... Author concludes that SlimDown causes people to reduce weight but there could be another reason C that the author assumes would not the be case. Hence, when C negated, weakens the argument.

phamthao017 · Answer

A. The men in the study will gain back the weight if they discontinue the SlimDown. 
=> The conclusion is only during the 3-month using SlimDown, no mention on AFTER the period.
 B. No other dietary supplement will have the same effect on overweight men. 
=> Even if there is some OTHER dietary supplement, it would not affect the conclusion.
 C. The daily exercise regimen was not responsible for the effects noted in the study. 
=> CORRECT. "Each man consumed one SlimDown portion every morning after excercising", so exercising is considered here. If exercising also have effected the weight loss, the conclusion is not correct anymore. So C must be the assumption.
 D. Women won't experience similar weight reductions if they adhere to the SlimDown program for 3 months. 
=> Irrelevant.
 E. Overweight men will achieve only partial weight loss if they don't remain on the SlimDown program for a full 3 months. 
=> Partial weight loss is still weight loss, so do not need to be assumed.

Bunuel · Answer

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

Step 1: Preview the question stem. 
We see, quite clearly, that we're dealing with an Assumption question. So we can immediately adopt an "assumption mindset," which means that before even reading the stimulus, we know that the conclusion will be lacking an important piece of supporting evidence. We now turn to the stimulus, already on the lookout for this missing link.

Step 2: Read the stimulus. 
Sentence 1 introduces a study of 20 men using a food supplement product, resulting in weight loss for all 20. Sentence 2 describes how they used it: once a day, for 3 months, after morning exercise. So far so good; it feels as if we're building up to something. The key word  clearly  usually indicates that some sort of conclusion follows, and in fact it does: Sentence 3 says that anyone who has one portion of the product daily for 3 months will lose weight, too.

You must read critically! The conclusion doesn't say that anyone who follows the same routine as the 20 men will have the same results; it says that anyone who  simply consumes the product  will have the same results. You should have begun to sense the inevitable lack of crucial information at this point. The evidence in sentence 2 describes a routine that includes taking the supplement after daily exercise, whereas the conclusion focuses primarily on the supplement and entirely ignores the part about the exercise. The conclusion, therefore, doesn't stem logically from the evidence in the first two sentences. This blends seamlessly into Step 3.

Step 3: Prephrase an answer: 
As expected, it's beginning to look like the argument has a serious shortcoming. Of course, we expected this because we previewed the question stem before reading the stimulus. In simplistic terms, the argument proceeds like so: "A bunch of guys did A and B for 3 months and had X result. If anyone does A for 3 months, that person will experience X result, too." Sound fishy? You bet. The author must be assuming that A (the product), not B (exercise), must be the cause that leads to the result. If not (here is the Denial Test), the conclusion makes no sense.

So, you might prephrase the answer like this: "Something about the exercise thing needs to be cleared up" That's it Did you think your prephrasing had to be something fancy and glamorous? Well, it doesn't. So, with our vague idea of a possible assumption, we can turn to Step 4.

Step 4: Choose on answer. 
Because we were able to prephrase something, it's best to skim the choices looking for it. And, lo and behold, there's our idea, stated in choice (C). (C) clears up the exercise issue. Yes, this author must assume (C) to make the conclusion that eating SlimDown alone will cause people to lose weight.

At this point, if you're stuck for time, pick (C) and move on. If you have more time, check the remaining choices quickly, to double-check that none of them fits the bill. Be ready to dismiss the other choices unless they make a strong case for themselves. Since the difficulty in Critical Reasoning is often in the choices (rather than the stimulus), you can't let them make you indecisive.

A study of 20 overweight men revealed that each man experienced

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GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

A study of 20 overweight men revealed that each man experienced

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