Researchers have found that children

Answer choices

1. A

   Weaker Than Correct Answer24% picked this

   In countries where the average number of children per family has decreased over the last century, the incidence

   This fits the author's hypothesis: fewer family members, more allergies. It just isn't as specific to the "germ" hypothesis as the correct answer is. The hypothesis isn't just the idea of larger families, but one of the youngest kids in larger families get lots of exposure to germs during infancy (because their older siblings are gross little kids). This answer does little to home in on that part of the causal story.

   24%
2. B

   Opposite2% picked this

   Children in small families generally eat more kinds of very allergenic foods than children in

   This weakens by providing an alternate explanation for why smaller families have higher rates of allergies (it's not less exposure to germs during infancy, it's that they eat so many more foods that potentially trigger allergies)

   2%
3. C

   No Impact1% picked this

   Some allergies are life threatening, while many diseases caused by germs produce

   The fact that diseases are often worse than germs does nothing to help us assess whether or not there's a causal connection between germ exposure as an infant and allergies as an adult.

   1%
4. D

   Opposite1% picked this

   Children whose parents have allergies have an above-average likelihood of developing

   This weakens by presenting a different explanation for the rate of allergies: genetics. Maybe there's a certain genetic profile that is the underlying cause of both smaller families and propensity towards allergies.

   1%
5. E

   Correct71% picked this

   Children from small families who entered day care before age one were less likely to develop allergies than children from small families

   Why this is right

   Here's a somewhat controlled comparison: kids who go to daycare are exposed to way more germs than kids who don't (on average). So if the kids who go to daycare are less likely to develop allergies, that bolsters the idea that germ exposure when you're very young has an influence on whether you develop allergies. People are going to be often frustrated by this correct answer since it involves the outside knowledge that "before age one = infancy" and "daycare = more exposure to germs". Many, many correct answers on causal arguments involve using common sense about the world, so don't be afraid to tap into that.

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

   71%