PrepTest 131, Section 3, Question 7
Although most people know what their bad habits(53 more words not shown)
The information above most strongly(18 more words not shown)
- Acan vividly imagine(4 more words not shown)
- Bcan vividly imagine(8 more words not shown)
- Chave succeeded in(6 more words not shown)
- Dare relatively unaware(5 more words not shown)
- Ecan vividly remember(11 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
You can know exactly what you want to change and still find changing it hard. Perhaps you sleep in, eat poorly, smoke, or put off studying. Recognizing the habit doesn't remove the sacrifice involved in stopping.
The passage gives us a particular explanation for that difficulty. The pain of giving up the habit is immediate and vivid. The benefit is distant and hard to picture. That contrast makes it harder to persist through the unpleasant part now for something good later.
What we’re looking for
Who would be most successful at breaking the habit? Following this explanation, I'd look for someone who can see past the immediate pain and clearly appreciate the eventual benefit. The passage doesn't give us a study ranking different people. We need the answer that best follows from the obstacle it describes.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Vividly imagining an attainable future benefit would address the problem that the benefit normally seems remote and dim. Someone who can make that benefit feel clear has a reason to persist despite the immediate pain. This is the strongest supported answer because it directly addresses the passage's explanation for why stopping is difficult.
- B
Imagining the present pain continuing into the future would not make the eventual benefit clearer. It could make giving up the habit seem even more unpleasant. The passage points to the vividness of pain as part of the difficulty, so extending that pain in one's imagination doesn't supply the advantage we're looking for.
- C
Past success might seem encouraging, but the passage never connects a history of changing behavior with success this time. Its explanation concerns immediate pain and a dim future benefit. C doesn't tell us how these people respond to that obstacle.
- D
The people described already know their bad habits and want to change them. Their difficulty is not a shortage of awareness. Being relatively unaware of one's behavior would not address the contrast between the immediate pain and the distant benefit.
- E
Remembering harm from a bad habit might provide a motive to stop. For example, remembering how unpleasant smoking has been could seem helpful. But the passage's explanation concerns the pain of stopping now versus the benefit of having stopped later. It gives us more direct support for vividly imagining that future benefit than for recalling past harm.
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