PrepTest 146, Section 1, Question 11
Modest amounts of exercise can produce a dramatic(48 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AHaving a strenuous(14 more words not shown)
- BDoing the equivalent(19 more words not shown)
- CIt is possible(38 more words not shown)
- DAside from exercise,(9 more words not shown)
- ETo obtain a(13 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
You don't have to run a marathon to get a benefit. The passage says modest exercise can dramatically improve cardiovascular health, and gives half an hour of brisk walking most days as enough to obtain benefits. 'Most days' means at least four days out of seven. That isn't a claim that finding the time is easy for everyone; it's a claim about how much exercise is needed for a benefit.
What we’re looking for
Keep both parts of the last sentence: harder exercise is more effective, but it isn't required. Those fit together. A modest routine can help without doing everything that a more vigorous routine could do. For the most-supported question, I'd start with that distinction and look for a choice the information actually supports.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Modest exercise can produce a dramatic improvement, and more vigorous exercise is more effective. That supports the claim that strenuous workouts most days can produce a dramatic improvement too. The passage's reassurance that strenuous exercise isn't required doesn't mean it is ineffective. It tells us the opposite: it can do even more.
- B
This changes the schedule. Two or three days aren't most days of the week, even if the walks last twice as long. The passage doesn't tell us that a longer session on fewer days gives the same benefit as the recommended regular activity. Adding up similar weekly minutes doesn't establish that the different schedules are interchangeable.
- C
Getting benefits from a modest routine isn't the same as getting at least as much benefit as from a strenuous routine. The passage says more vigorous exercise is more effective. It doesn't give us a case in which the half-hour walking routine produces an equally great or greater improvement. C turns 'enough to help' into 'at least as good as the more vigorous option.'
- D
Exercise is one way to improve cardiovascular health; the passage never says it is the only way. It leaves open whether something else, such as a change in diet, could also help. Evidence that one approach works doesn't eliminate every other approach.
- E
The passage expressly says a strenuous workout is not absolutely necessary. Requiring strenuous exercise even occasionally adds a condition the passage tells us we don't need. The benefit of modest exercise is precisely why the strenuous requirement doesn't follow.
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