In a recent study, a group of subjects

Answer choices

1. A

   Out of Scope: metabolized3% picked this

   Alcohol is metabolized more quickly by the body than are other

   Nothing in this paragraph is saying anything relating to rate of metabolism (the speed at which something is digested / broken down into the bloodstream). We can only talk about the relationship between alcohol / fat / calories.

   3%
2. B

   Too Strong: primary2% picked this

   In the general population, alcohol is the primary cause of gains

   We only received information about subjects within a study. This wouldn't permit us to support a claim about the #1 cause of gains of body fat in the general population. If we read about a psychological experiment where psychologists showed people horrifying pictures and made them cry, would we suddenly claim, "In the general population, being showed terrible pictures by psychologists is the primary cause of why people cry"? Of course not.

   2%
3. C

   Out of Scope: weight gain5% picked this

   An increased amount of body fat does not necessarily imply a

   This is an attractively weak claim, but we don't have any information about whether any of these subjects gained weight during the experiment. Presumably, they DID! It's hard to gain body fat without gaining weight. There might be situations where muscle is converted into fat, but the person's weight stays the same or even drops, but we sure didn't hear about anything like that here.

   5%
4. D

   Correct74% picked this

   Body fat gain is not dependent solely on the number of

   Why this is right

   This is also attractively weak. Saying that "X is not dependent solely on Y" is saying "something besides Y can affect X". In this case, Group B is proof that you can gain body fat, even though you never changed the number of calories you consumed. Group B continued to eat 1000 calories a day. They just swapped out 250 calories of nonalcoholic foods for 250 calories of alcohol. Since they still gained weight, we can say, "Body intake is not dependent solely on number of calories consumed. The TYPE of calories can also matter. Calories from alcohol affect body fat differently than nonalcoholic calories."

   Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   74%
5. E

   Contradicted16% picked this

   The proportion of calories from alcohol in a diet is more significant for body fat gain than are

   In Group A, 250 of their 1250 calories were from alcohol, so 1/5 (20%) was the proportion of calories from alcohol in their diet. In Group B, 250 of their 1000 calories were from alcohol, so 1/4 (25%) was the proportion of calories from alcohol in their diet. Both groups had equal fat gain. So the proportion of calories from alcohol seemed to mean nothing.

   16%