Air traffic controllers and nuclear

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct60% picked this

   There is no indispensable aspect of residency training that requires resident physicians to work

   Why this is right

   Whenever we're doing Necessary Assumption and see an answer that's ruling out something using "not / no", we want to slow down and give it a look, since so many correct answers on NA are written in that form. If we negate this, does it weaken? There is some indispensable aspect of residency training that requires resident physicians to work exceptionally long hours. Heck yeah, that weakens! That essentially tells the conclusion to go take a hike. We shouldn't put hour restrictions on resident physicians if there is some indispensable aspect that requires the long hours. This answer almost seems too easy. It's basically saying the author is assuming that, "There is not something that would make the idea in the conclusion impossible." But it certainly qualifies as, "if negated, it badly weakens the argument". (note: we don't need to know this to get the question right, but my guess is that resident physicians need to work really long hours because they need to see incoming patients' situations evolve over the course of many hours or days. If they started a treatment protocol with a patient but then left after an 8 hours shift, they might not be around later to see whether / how the treatment was helping, so they would be missing out on the educational value of seeing how their decision panned out. Also, when doctors and nurses switch shifts, they have to communicate a lot of stuff to the next shift. So it may just be more practical to work really long shifts, taking naps at work as needed, so that there doesn't need to be as much debriefing of the new shift)

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

   60%
2. B

   Too Strong: more direct10% picked this

   Resident physicians have a more direct effect on the lives of others than do air traffic controllers and

   In this argument by Comparison, the author needs to assume similarities between residency physicians and air traffic controllers / nuclear plant operators. The author is thinking that resident physicians have a comparable effect on the lives of others (in terms of risking the lives of others if they're burned out from working too many hours). But the author doesn't need to assume they have more direct effect. The argument would work just as well if they had comparably direct effect.

   10%
3. C

   Too Strong25% picked this

   The more hours one works in a week, the less satisfactorily one

   Too Strong: the more x, the more y This answer is very tempting, since the author is definitely assuming that "at some point, the quality of work suffers when you work long hours". But the Volume Dial phrasing of this answer goes way overboard. According to this answer, the author believes that during the 3rd hour of work you have in a week, you're doing less satisfactory work than you were during the 1st and 2nd hour. Monday from 11am - noon is worse than 10-11am and 9-10am? That's way too strong. The author isn't committed to believing that. She's just committed to the idea that at some point the exceptionally long hours cause your work to suffer.

   25%
4. D

   Negated Logic4% picked this

   Those who are not engaged in work that has life-or-death consequences should only sometimes be allowed to

   This is a classic Illegal Light switch type trap answer. If a Necessary Assumption argument says that "tall children love their moms", there will be a trap answer accusing the author of thinking that "short children don't love their moms". The author's reasoning move is essentially this: If you are also engaged in ? should not work work of life-or-death nature crazy long hours And this answer just negates both sides to get: if you're not engaged ? you can sometimes in life-or-death work work crazy long hours

   4%
5. E

   Out of Scope: would like1% picked this

   Some resident physicians would like to complete their residency training without working

   Nothing in the argument is concerned with what resident physicians would or wouldn't like to do. It's about what restrictions should or shouldn't be placed on their work.

   1%