A small car offers less protection in an accident than a large car does, but since a smaller car is more maneuverable...

Mehran on July 5, 2018

Hi @Ashley-Tien, thanks for your post.

Let's first assess the stimulus. This is an argument; the conclusion is "it is better to drive a small car" and the premises in support of this conclusion are (1) a smaller car is more maneuverable and (2) accidents in a smaller care are less likely. The argument does provide a counterpoint: you are told that a small car offers less protection in an accident. But, because you are also told that a smaller care is less likely to get into accidents, this counterpoint can be discounted or dismissed.

Answer choice (E) follows the same reasoning pattern. You are told that "one should still endeavor to exercise vigorously every day," because (1) such a person has less body fat than the average person to draw upon in the event of a wasting illness but (2) "doing so significantly decreases the chances of contracting a wasting illness." See how here, as in the stimulus, a counterpoint that might otherwise weigh against the advice given in the conclusion ("you should exercise vigorously every day") is addressed and dismissed by the argument itself ("don't worry about not having fat reserves for a wasting illness - exercising vigorously every day will make it less likely that you get a wasting illness in the first place!"). Just like in the stimulus.

By contrast, answer choice (C) does not speak in terms of *likelihood.* You are told that for this work, lightweight vehicles are more practical than heavyweight vehicles, and that lightweight vehicles are cheaper to replace. There is no "likelihood" or "probability" analysis.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

nizhoni on November 12, 2019

I received my study material in August of 2019 and in my book the correct answer says C for number 58.