A person's personality is linked to that person's genes. And since a person's genes do not ordinarily change over tim...

Emil-Kunkin on October 19 at 09:53PM

Let's look at the initial passage. We are told that two things are related, and that since one thing has a certain quality, the other thing has that quality.

The critical part here is the nature of the relationship. The passage doesn't really tell us. To say that two things are linked could really mean anything. I would expect the correct answer to use similarly vague and useless language in describing the nature of the relationship between the two things.

B-e are all causal, which should be enough to eliminate them, but most important, A has the same structure. It tells us that two things are related, and since one of those things can't change, the other can't change.

@MichaelaJ on October 20 at 07:42PM

Would this be an accurate way of understanding why the wrong answer is wrong and the correct answer is correct?

"D" is incorrect because it is missing the flaw that is shown in the stimulus. In the stimulus the flaw is that a person's personality does not change over time, we know that is not true as there are lifestyle factors that can contribute to a change in a person's personality (Trauma/Injury/environmental changes, etc.). This is not shown in answer choice "D". "D" states that you can prevent heart disease by getting regular exercise each day. It is doing the opposite of the stimulus.

"A" shows the flaw reflected in the stimulus. It is saying that a historian's understanding of war cannot change. We know that facts of war/history cannot change, but how we interpret that information can change in the way we read/learn about history.

Emil-Kunkin on October 21 at 03:01PM

That's a totally valid way to get there. You can also get there by looking at the nature of the relationship in D. "Contributes to the prevention" is causal, while "linked" doesn't have to be causal.