PrepTest 156, Section 2, Question 16
A recent study found that small rats were(22 more words not shown)
Each of the following, if(19 more words not shown)
- ASmall rats are(19 more words not shown)
- BSmall rats generally(18 more words not shown)
- CThe larger a(20 more words not shown)
- DIn addition to(21 more words not shown)
- EAlthough large rats(24 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why do the smaller rats have more heart trouble? Size might matter directly: perhaps a smaller body comes with a heart or blood vessels that are more vulnerable. But that isn't the only possible story.
Maybe a developmental problem both limits growth and weakens the heart. Maybe heart trouble interferes with growth. Or perhaps larger rats exercise more and develop better cardiovascular conditioning. These are possibilities, not conclusions the study has established. We have a correlation to explain, and several different kinds of explanation could fit it.
What we’re looking for
Watch the 'except.' Four choices will contribute to explaining the pattern; we want the one that doesn't. Ask of each answer: does this help explain why small rats have more heart problems than larger rats? An answer can contribute without explaining every size comparison on its own.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
This gives small rats a higher risk of dying from other diseases that strike before heart problems usually do. That doesn't explain why they have more heart problems. If anything, dying earlier could leave them less time to develop heart problems. It points away from the observed difference rather than helping explain it, which makes it the answer to this 'except' question.
- B
Smaller blood vessels that clog more easily give us a possible physical connection between small size and heart trouble. The answer doesn't merely repeat that small rats are less healthy; it supplies a mechanism by which their smaller size could make them more vulnerable.
- C
This needs one connecting thought: less stress could help explain fewer heart problems. The answer traces that difference to larger rats being better able to defend themselves. It is less direct than B, since the stress-to-heart connection isn't spelled out, but it offers a plausible contribution in the right direction. A's earlier deaths from other diseases offer no comparable explanation for more heart trouble.
- D
Malnutrition supplies a common cause. It can make a rat undersized and give that rat a weak heart. That would explain why small size and heart problems occur together without requiring small size itself to cause the heart problem. It matches one of the possibilities we considered while reading.
- E
More activity produces better cardiovascular conditioning, giving the larger rats an advantage over the small rats. This matches the exercise possibility. It doesn't explain why large rats do better than average-size rats, since large rats are no more active than average-size rats, but the question only requires a contribution to explaining the pattern. Explaining the small-versus-large difference is a contribution.
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