PrepTest 127, Section 3, Question 12
Advice columnist: Several scientific studies have shown that,(52 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(14 more words not shown)
- AIf people recently(20 more words not shown)
- BA method for(15 more words not shown)
- CPeople who have(13 more words not shown)
- DWhen people have(16 more words not shown)
- EPeople with a(17 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
People under major stress are more likely to suffer serious injuries while playing competitive sports. Why might that happen? Perhaps they sleep less, take more risks, or choose more dangerous sports. Comparing someone playing golf with someone playing football could involve more than a difference in stress. The study gives us an association without settling the mechanism.
Even without knowing the mechanism, elevated injury risk could give a stressed person reason to be cautious. The columnist adds that risking serious injury is unwise. But look at the reach of the advice: no sports activity should be used to cope with stress.
Competitive sports are only part of that category. What about going for a relaxed run without competing against anyone? The risk reported for competitive participants doesn't tell us that every recreational activity carries the same concern.
What we’re looking for
We are asked to help justify the columnist's reasoning. So a principle about avoiding risky activities could be useful, but it must also help carry the recommendation from the competitive activities studied to sports more broadly. We are evaluating what supports the argument, even if the supplied principle is broader than a rule we would choose for ourselves.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Competitive sports are the subset, and sports activities are the broader type. The columnist's injury evidence and statement that risking serious injury is unwise provide a reason for stressed people to avoid that subset. A permits extending that recommendation to all activities of the type. It therefore supplies the step needed to reach the broad advice against using sports to cope with stress.
- B
This requires scientific study before using a coping method. It doesn't say that a method should be avoided when it has been studied, nor that being studied makes it safe. The passage already cites studies; B does not turn their finding about competitive sports into a recommendation against all sports.
- C
This recommends competitive sports to people who have not been experiencing major stress. The columnist's conclusion concerns what stressed people should avoid. Advice for the other group doesn't support that restriction.
- D
This encourages stressed people to engage in competitive activities, while the columnist recommends against using sports to cope with stress. Some competitive activities might not even be sports. In either case, the rule doesn't give us a basis for the proposed avoidance.
- E
Having a history of sports injuries is a new restriction. The columnist's advice covers stressed people generally, not only people previously injured. E could support advice for that smaller group without supporting the broad conclusion.
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