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b9n920
Joined: 02 Nov 2014
Last visit: 13 Sep 2016
Posts: 146
Given Kudos: 75
Schools: Molson '18 Ryerson'17 Great Lakes '17
GMAT Date: 08-04-2015
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E
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Women who are married sleep more soundly than women who have never married or lost a partner, according to research from an eight-year study. Furthermore, it is well established that sleeping less than six hours a night makes you 12% more likely to die prematurely than someone who sleeps up to eight hours. Therefore, getting married increases a woman's life expectancy.
Which of the following, if true, does NOT strengthen the argument above?
A. Populations with lower odds of premature death have higher life expectancies.
B. Getting married does not lead to oversleep.
C. Marriage may introduce lifespan-shortening factors into a woman's life, but these factors tend to be collectively of less consequence than the benefit of sounder sleep.
D. Not sleeping soundly is the key reason women who cannot sleep at least eight hours a night fail to do so.
E. The psychology of women who marry is, on average, more conducive to sound sleep than that of women who have never married or lost a partner.
Which of the following, if true, does NOT strengthen the argument above?
A. Populations with lower odds of premature death have higher life expectancies.
B. Getting married does not lead to oversleep.
C. Marriage may introduce lifespan-shortening factors into a woman's life, but these factors tend to be collectively of less consequence than the benefit of sounder sleep.
D. Not sleeping soundly is the key reason women who cannot sleep at least eight hours a night fail to do so.
E. The psychology of women who marry is, on average, more conducive to sound sleep than that of women who have never married or lost a partner.
08 Sep 2018, 05:44
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b9n920
Women who are married sleep more soundly than women who have never married or lost a partner, according to research from an eight-year study. Furthermore, it is well established that sleeping less than six hours a night makes you 12% more likely to die prematurely than someone who sleeps up to eight hours. Therefore, getting married increases a woman's life expectancy.
Which of the following, if true, does NOT strengthen the argument above?
A. Populations with lower odds of premature death have higher life expectancies.
B. Getting married does not lead to oversleep.
C. Marriage may introduce lifespan-shortening factors into a woman's life, but these factors tend to be collectively of less consequence than the benefit of sounder sleep.
D. Not sleeping soundly is the key reason women who cannot sleep at least eight hours a night fail to do so.
E. The psychology of women who marry is, on average, more conducive to sound sleep than that of women who have never married or lost a partner.
Which of the following, if true, does NOT strengthen the argument above?
A. Populations with lower odds of premature death have higher life expectancies.
B. Getting married does not lead to oversleep.
C. Marriage may introduce lifespan-shortening factors into a woman's life, but these factors tend to be collectively of less consequence than the benefit of sounder sleep.
D. Not sleeping soundly is the key reason women who cannot sleep at least eight hours a night fail to do so.
E. The psychology of women who marry is, on average, more conducive to sound sleep than that of women who have never married or lost a partner.
The answer is (E) only. Be careful of the exact words used in the argument.
Premises:
- Married women sleep more soundly.
- Sleeping less than six hours a night makes you 12% more likely to die prematurely than someone who sleeps up to eight hours.
Conclusion:
- Getting married increases a woman's life expectancy.
While concluding, the argument is assuming that unmarried women sleep less than 6 hrs while married women sleep upto 8 hrs. Sleeping upto 8 hrs increases your life expectancy compared with sleeping less than 6 hrs.
The argument also talks about "die prematurely" in premises but concludes about "higher life expectancy". Are they linked? we don't know.
Also, one premise tells us that married women "sleep soundly" while the other talks about "hours of sleep". Are they linked? we don't know.
We need to find strengtheners:
A. Populations with lower odds of premature death have higher life expectancies.
Links "die prematurely" used in the premises to higher life expectancy. Hence it strengthens the argument.
B. Getting married does not lead to oversleep.
Establishes that married women do not sleep for more than 8 hrs. The life expectancy if one sleeps for more than 8 hrs may not be higher. Since the premises mention clearly "upto 8 hrs", it brings the amount of sleep for married women in that range. Hence it increases the chances of higher life expectancy for them.
C. Marriage may introduce lifespan-shortening factors into a woman's life, but these factors tend to be collectively of less consequence than the benefit of sounder sleep.
The premises do not tell us how marriage affects other aspects. This tells us that sounder sleep trumps all other factors so it increase the likelihood that married women live longer.
D. Not sleeping soundly is the key reason women who cannot sleep at least eight hours a night fail to do so.
This links "sleeping soundly" to "sleeping upto 8 hrs a day". This strengthens the argument.
E. The psychology of women who marry is, on average, more conducive to sound sleep than that of women who have never married or lost a partner.
Why married women sleep soundly does not impact the argument. We have to figure out what happens because married women sleep soundly.
Answer (E)
b9n920
Joined: 02 Nov 2014
Last visit: 13 Sep 2016
Posts: 146
Given Kudos: 75
Schools: Molson '18 Ryerson'17 Great Lakes '17
GMAT Date: 08-04-2015
Products:
09 Nov 2015, 23:25
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OA provided.
Explanation from Gmatfree: Reading the question: Usually, in a strengthen question, we will look for the greatest weakness and then a strengthener that patches that weakness, because there is no greater way to strengthen an argument. But here we have a NOT question, so the correct answer is likely to be a weakener or be irrelevant. We'll use a basic filter: what answer choice weakens the idea that getting married makes a woman sleep longer and hence live longer?
Applying the filter: (A) patches a weak connection between dying prematurely and having a longer life expectancy. So (A) is a strengthener and hence is NOT the answer. Choice (B) also strengthens the argument, because it removes a problem and the prompt mentions specifically sleeping "up to 8 hours." So (B) is out. Choice (C) also removes a problem, that of an unintended consequence. So (C) is out. Choice (D) patches a weak connection between soundness of sleep and amount of sleep, so it's a strengthener and is out. Choice (E) may sound irrelevant initially, but it weakens the argument. It's saying that getting married isn't the cause of sleeping better; the cause, rather, is being the type of person, psychologically, who's likely to get married. It weakens the causal argument by establishing a different cause than the one given. The correct answer is (E).
Explanation from Gmatfree: Reading the question: Usually, in a strengthen question, we will look for the greatest weakness and then a strengthener that patches that weakness, because there is no greater way to strengthen an argument. But here we have a NOT question, so the correct answer is likely to be a weakener or be irrelevant. We'll use a basic filter: what answer choice weakens the idea that getting married makes a woman sleep longer and hence live longer?
Applying the filter: (A) patches a weak connection between dying prematurely and having a longer life expectancy. So (A) is a strengthener and hence is NOT the answer. Choice (B) also strengthens the argument, because it removes a problem and the prompt mentions specifically sleeping "up to 8 hours." So (B) is out. Choice (C) also removes a problem, that of an unintended consequence. So (C) is out. Choice (D) patches a weak connection between soundness of sleep and amount of sleep, so it's a strengthener and is out. Choice (E) may sound irrelevant initially, but it weakens the argument. It's saying that getting married isn't the cause of sleeping better; the cause, rather, is being the type of person, psychologically, who's likely to get married. It weakens the causal argument by establishing a different cause than the one given. The correct answer is (E).
