PrepTest 155, Section 2, Question 5
Seasonal allergy symptoms are the immune system's response(47 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AMedicines that minimize(11 more words not shown)
- BMost types of(7 more words not shown)
- CPeople who stay(16 more words not shown)
- DPeople who take(17 more words not shown)
- EPeople who experience(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Treating symptoms and avoiding what causes them are two different approaches. The passage gives us a chain: inhaling a lot of pollen can trigger inflammation, which causes allergy symptoms. Medicines can reduce those symptoms. Staying indoors on dry, windy days is presented as an even more effective strategy, though it may be hard to arrange if we need to go to work or do other things outside.
Why would staying inside help? The natural connection is that we'd be less likely to inhale a large amount of pollen there. The passage doesn't suggest that being indoors changes the immune system or acts like a medicine. It presents staying inside as a way to avoid the exposure that starts the problem.
What we’re looking for
For a most-supported question, that's my prediction: people following the stay-inside strategy are unlikely to breathe in large amounts of pollen. Keep the wording modest. We don't need to claim that no pollen ever gets indoors, or that staying inside prevents every possible allergy symptom.
Working the answers
- A
A medicine could minimize symptoms after someone has already inhaled pollen. Reducing the body's response doesn't necessarily stop the pollen from entering in the first place. The answer assigns the medicines an exposure-prevention role that the passage never gives them.
- B
We aren't told what fraction of pollen types causes symptoms. It could be a small fraction or a large one. The passage concerns how inhaling pollen can cause symptoms and how to reduce the problem, not a count of harmless versus troublesome varieties.
- CCorrect
This gives the expected connection between staying indoors and avoiding the trigger. If people indoors were still likely to inhale large amounts of pollen on those days, staying there would be hard to explain as the more effective strategy described. Unlikely to inhale large amounts is also appropriately limited: it doesn't require an indoor space to contain no pollen at all.
- D
A strategy can work without people regularly following it. We know that staying indoors would help, but we don't know whether medicine users actually tend to stay inside on these days. They might take medicine precisely because their responsibilities require going outside. That's a possibility showing why the behavior doesn't follow from the advice.
- E
Air filters never enter the passage. Perhaps some people use them; perhaps others limit exposure without them. The usefulness of staying indoors doesn't establish that people with symptoms typically own or use this particular equipment.
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