Stress is a common cause of high

Answer choices

1. A

   Reversal / Negation2% picked this

   For at least some people, having lower blood pressure has at least some tendency to cause their stress

   The stimulus says reducing stress lowers blood pressure for some — the direction is stress → blood pressure. This answer reverses it, claiming lower blood pressure causes lower stress. Nothing in the stimulus supports that backwards causal direction.

   2%
2. B

   Too Strong9% picked this

   Most people with high blood pressure can lower their blood pressure by reducing

   The stimulus says "some people can lower their blood pressure" by reducing stress — not most. So we can't conclude that most people with high blood pressure can lower it through stress reduction. The leap from "some" to "most" is unsupported.

   9%
3. C

   Too Strong3% picked this

   Most people who do not exercise regularly have higher stress levels

   The stimulus says exercise can calm the mind for most people — but it doesn't say that not exercising causes higher stress. People who don't exercise might use other ways to calm their minds. So claiming non-exercisers have higher stress as a result is unsupported.

   3%
4. D

   Too Strong10% picked this

   Engaging in exercise can directly lower one's

   The stimulus describes an indirect chain: exercise → calmer mind → reduced stress → lower blood pressure (for some). This answer says exercise can directly lower blood pressure — skipping all the intermediate steps. The stimulus doesn't support a direct mechanism; it supports an indirect one routed through stress.

   10%
5. E

   Correct75% picked this

   For at least some people, engaging in exercise can cause their stress levels

   Why this is right

   This is the conservative inference the chain supports. The stimulus says (a) calming the mind reduces stress and (b) most people can calm their minds by exercising. So at least some of those "most people" have their stress reduced by exercising. The "for at least some" hedge keeps the inference safely within what the stimulus guarantees.

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

   75%