PrepTest 117, Section 4, Question 25
A certain medication that is frequently prescribed to(44 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(16 more words not shown)
- AA recently developed(10 more words not shown)
- BAnother medication is(14 more words not shown)
- CIn most cases,(18 more words not shown)
- DThe medication described(22 more words not shown)
- EWithin the population(20 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Maybe their cholesterol was much higher before they started taking the medication. Lower doesn't have to mean below average.
What we’re looking for
If someone's level falls from 30 percent above their age group's average to 12 or 15 percent above it, the medication could be helping even though that person still has higher cholesterol than their peers. The people receiving treatment may have started in a very different place from the average person. That's the distinction we need for this discrepancy question: compare patients with where they started, rather than assume successful treatment must make them average.
Working the answers
- A
A better medication could exist while this one still works. That comparison doesn't explain why people taking this particular medication have higher-than-average cholesterol. We're reconciling effectiveness with the patients' current levels, not choosing the best drug on the market.
- B
How often another medication is prescribed doesn't tell us anything useful about this medication's patients or their starting cholesterol. Both drugs could be equally common for many reasons. We still need to explain why this treatment can be effective while its users remain above average.
- C
This tells us how most people with high cholesterol are treated, but the study concerns those who do receive this medication. They could be a small group with especially high starting levels, or a different group altogether. C doesn't tell us where they began or why their current levels are consistent with successful treatment.
- DCorrect
These patients usually begin at least 30 percent above the average for their age group. Remaining 12 to 15 percent above average after treatment can therefore represent a substantial reduction.
For a simple illustration, suppose the relevant average is 100 units. A patient could start at 130 and drop to 115. The patient is still above average, but the level has fallen. The two claims fit together once we stop treating the general population's average as the patient's starting point.
- E
The balance of high and low cholesterol levels in the overall population doesn't explain what happened to the treated patients. Whether the general population is evenly split or not, the relevant missing information concerns how high these patients' cholesterol was before treatment.
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