Logical Reasoning

PT146 · S1 · Q11 Modest amounts of exercise can

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Modest amounts of exercise can produce a dramatic improvement in cardiovascular health.

Statements

causal (can produce)

Modest amounts ⇢ big improvement of exercise in cardiovasc health

conditional (need only do X to get Y)

do the equivalent cardiovasc of 1/2 hr brisk walking → health on most days of week benefits

causal comparison (more effective)

More vigorous exercise would get even more cardiovascular health benefits, but the workout doesn't need to be strenuous.

Evaluate

We get five claims here. Do any of them combine to yield an inference?

The paragraph doesn't seem to have any conditional or causal chains. It's more like nuanced exercise advice. We would probably be best served by taking a 2nd (or 3rd) re-read for understanding and nuance and then heading to the answers.

Goal

Look for the most provable answer (probably with safe, moderate wording) that echoes this idea of relatively light exercise on most days of the week is enough to give someone cardiovascular health benefits.

11.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the statements above?

  1. Correct

    Having a strenuous workout most

    Why this is right

    The first two sentences combine to tells us that doing very moderate exercise (1/2 hr of brisk walking) on most days of the week can produce a dramatic improvement in cardiovascular health. The final sentence told us that exercising more vigorously is even more effective. Does exercise that is more vigorous than 1/2 hr of brisk walking qualify as strenuous? Probably not necessarily. There might be some middle ground between strenuous and half an hour of brisk walking. But the idea is that there's a continuum from lighter exercise to more strenuous exercise. In that last sentence, "more vigorous" and "strenuous" are being used pretty interchangeably. The final thought is supposed to be heard as, "Strenuous (more vigorous) exercise is more effective but not absolutely necessary". We're told that more strenuous exercise is more effective than lighter exercise, and light exercise (done most days of the week) can produce a dramatic improvement in cardiovascular health. So doing strenuous exercise most days of the week should also be able to produce a dramatic improvement in cardiovascular health. We might worry that strenuous goes too far and starts to compromise the health benefits, but two things: 1. this is Most Supported, not Must Be True, so it's okay if the correct answer has some loose ends 2. the answer is only saying that strenuous exercise on most days of the week can lead to dramatic improvements, not that it's likely to or guaranteed to.

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

    58% picked this

  2. Doing the equivalent of an

    Out of Scope: 2-3 days / 1 hr

    We were told that we should be exercising most days of the week (4 or more). We know that if we do something akin to 1/2 hour of brisk walking 4 or more days per week, then we will obtain some cardiovascular health benefits. This answer is trying to double the time and halve the frequency. "Instead of 4 half hours sessions, what if I just do 2 one hour sessions?" We didn't hear anything about the effects of exercising longer on only 2 or 3 days. Even if this adds up to the same total amount of exercise time each week, this regimen might not have the same cardiovascular benefits. If someone one walks an hour on Sat/Sun and then has five days of sloth during the week, that might not be enough regular activity to trigger the benefits. (It's sort of like LSAT studying -- 10 hours of studying is way more effective if it's broken up into ten different 1 hour chunks throughout the week than if it's done in two 5 hour chunks on the weekend)

    14% picked this

  3. It is possible to obtain

    Unsupported Comparison

    This might be somewhat contradicted by the passage because "strenuous" is being used as a synonym for "more vigorous exercise" and we're told that more vigorous exercise is more effective than brisk walking when it comes to procuring cardiovascular benefits.

    27% picked this

  4. Aside from exercise, there is

    Too Strong: no way

    The passage definitely doesn't allow us to make the extreme claim that exercise is the only way to improve cardiovascular health. Diet and meditation might also do wonders, who knows?

    0% picked this

  5. To obtain a dramatic improvement

    Contradicted

    The final claim is saying that it is not the case that one must exercise strenuously in order to attain cardiovascular health benefits. And the first sentence says that people can obtain dramatic improvements in cardiovascular health with "modest amounts of exercise".

    1% picked this

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