It is proposed to allow the sale,

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Stimulus

It is proposed to allow the sale, without prescription, of a medication that physicians currently prescribe to treat the common ear inflammation called “swimmer’s ear.” The principal objection is that most people lack the expertise for proper self-diagnosis and might not seek medical help for more serious conditions in the mistaken belief clearly, most people can diagnose swimmer’s ear in themselves without ever having to consult a physician.

What this question is testing

Weaken

Your task

Find the choice that makes the argument's conclusion less likely to be true.

Common trap

Answers that look negative but attack a claim the argument never relied on.

Winning move

Find the assumption the argument depends on, then pick the choice that undermines it.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question

Which one of the following, if true, most undermines

Answer choices

Irrelevant Quality1% picked this
Cases in which swimmer’s ear progresses to more serious infections are
We don't care about the prevalence of severe cases. We just care about whether people have the ability to self-diagnose.
1%
Opposite (if anything)5% picked this
Most of those who suspected incorrectly that they had swimmer’s ear also believed that they had other ailments that in
This option refers to incorrect self-diagnosis of other ailments, which doesn't necessarily undermine the ability to correctly diagnose swimmer’s ear specifically. This almost seems to say, "the only people who misdiagnose are hypochondriacs who misdiagnose themselves with everything", which would be a way to strengthen.
5%
Correct90% picked this
Most of the people who diagnosed themselves correctly had been treated by a physician for prior
Why this is right
If most people who correctly diagnosed themselves had prior physician-led treatments for swimmer’s ear, it implies they may have learned to identify the symptoms from those experiences. This weakens the conclusion by suggesting that successful diagnosis in the study could have been due to previous medical assistance, not general ability. It makes "most people in the study" unfair to compare to "most people", since the former group has already experienced swimmer's ear, whereas the latter group has not.
Skill tested: Weaken · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
90%
Irrelevant Comparison3% picked this
Physicians who specialize in ear diseases are generally able to provide more accurate diagnoses than those
The conclusion is only about whether most people can successfully self-diagnose. This answer is talking about who is more reliable when you're NOT self-diagnosing, so it's totally out of scope.
3%
No Impact2% picked this
For many people who develop swimmer’s ear, the condition disappears without medical
The conclusion is about whether people can self-diagnose, not about how effective treatments are once someone has been diagnosed.
2%

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