Logical reasoning PrepTest 130 · Section 4 · Question 20

Incorrect. This answer addresses the wrong group—the paradox surrounds the high salt/low blood pressure group.

Incorrect. Even if it's only one of several factors, there's no indication that these other factors could account for the outlier group, or even that these factors are present to a varying degree in this group.

Incorrect. This answer isn't about the outlier group at the heart of the paradox.

Incorrect. This answer is about the opposite group as the one in the paradox—high blood pressure/low salt, not high salt/low blood pressure.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Paradox

Stimulus Summary:
There is a causal link between salt intake and high blood pressure, but some people who eat a lot of salt have very low blood pressure.

Answer Anticipation:
The stimulus establishes a causal link between salt intake and high blood pressure, so we can't question that relationship. It even notes that some people were able to lower their blood pressure by cutting salt.

But that's not what this paradox is about. The paradox surrounds "some people" who had "very high" salt intake but "very low" blood pressure. These outliers must have something different about them that can explain why their salt intake and blood pressure don't follow the normal pattern.

Answer Explanation:
This answer speaks to the outlier group, explaining that they're suffering from a condition that keeps their blood pressure low and thus drives them to eat a lot of salt to balance it out (thus raising their blood pressure higher than it would be without that increased salt consumption—validating the relationship established in the stimulus).

Key Takeaway:
As we've seen many times in Paradox questions, similarities and differences drive the resolution of the weirdness. Here, there was an outlier group that needed an explanation, and the correct answer highlighted a way that they were different from the norm while still conforming to the causal relationship that was established in the stimulus.