Logical reasoning PrepTest 147 · Section 4 · Question 3

Correct. This answer brings up a relevant similarity—the doctors at the hospitals overlap to a certain degree. However, if anything, Woodwille having better doctors would explain why they can have similar infection rates and lengths of stay in spite of their semiprivate rooms. In eliminating a way to make up the difference, this answer makes the paradox worse.

Incorrect. If anything, an older hospital would be expected to have less up-to-date facilities and thus, potentially, a higher infection rate.

Incorrect. This makes the paradox worse—those semiprivate rooms with more than one patient should lead to an increased infection rate and thus longer stays.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Paradox

Stimulus Summary:
In general, patients in semiprivate rooms get more infections and take longer to heal than ones in private rooms. So it's weird that Woodville, with all semiprivate rooms, would have similar infection rates and lengths of stay to nearby hospitals with most private rooms.

Answer Anticipation:
This stimulus, as in many Paradox questions, features comparisons that lead to a paradox. A general relationship is established between the type of room someone is in and lower/higher infection and recovery rates, and then one hospital with the "worse" type of room is said to have similar infection/recovery rates as hospitals that mostly have the "better" type of room.

There are two angles the correct answer can take here, both bringing in new points of comparison. One can highlight a relevant difference between the hospitals that would make the one with the semiprivate rooms more equipped to battle infection and decrease length of stay despite the room types. The other would highlight a relevant similarity that makes the semiprivate rooms at Woodville more similar to the private rooms at the other hospitals.

Answer Explanation:
If Woodville turns semiprivate rooms into de facto private rooms whenever possible, that would explain why the patients end up having a similar benefit to places where the rooms are "mostly" private.

Key Takeaway:
Paradox questions frequently feature unexpected comparisons. When that happens, identify what type of similarity or difference can explain it and look for it in the answers.

Incorrect. It's unclear how location would play into the recovery rates, so this answer is out of scope.