Logical reasoning PrepTest 113 · Section 3 · Question 13

Question prompt

Studies have shown that, Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Argument or Facts

Facts

Valid or Flawed

NA

Question Type

Bizarro / Paradox Questions

Stimulus Summary

Popular belief - The elderly fear dying more than middle-aged people
Studies - Middle-aged people fear dying more than the elderly

Answer Anticipation

Many Paradox questions require you to infer what’s paradoxical about a given situation. Not this one! It explicitly tells you that a survey returned results that are “contrary to popular belief.” As such, we’re looking for answers that explain why the popular belief and the survey results run counter to each other (and eliminate those answers, as this is a Bizarro Paradox question).
There are two likely avenues of explanation here. The first will provide context for why middle-aged people are more afraid of dying than expected and than their elderly counterparts. The second will do the same for why the elderly have less fear of dying than expected and their middle-aged counterparts.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The longer one lives, Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    The elderly have lived longer than middle-aged people. This answer establishes that they’re more likely to have come to terms with dying, thus explaining why they’re less afraid of it.
  2. B
    Middle–aged people have more Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    If middle-aged people have more dependents, then they have people counting on them that would run into issues should they die. This gives them more reasons that dying would be bad, thus explaining why they’re more fearful of it.
  3. C
    Many people who suffer Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem
    First, this answer doesn’t tie depression into fear of dying. Second, if people who suffer from depression first experience it in middle age, this answer suggests that they’d continue to experience it as they get older, thus not explaining the different feelings people have in middle age vs. old age towards death.
  4. D
    The longer one lives, Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Imperturbable people are, by definition, less able to be perturbed - so this straight up says that the elderly are less likely to be fearful of anything than middle-aged people, thus explaining the stimulus.
  5. E
    Middle–aged people have a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    If middle-aged people are more aware of their own mortality than even the elderly, then it would make sense that they’re more fearful of it. This answer provides a resolution to the stimulus, so it’s also incorrect.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 2%
  2. B 4%
  3. C Credited 72%
  4. D 9%
  5. E 12%

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