Logical reasoning PrepTest 152 · Section 2 · Question 12

Incorrect. This answer choice is too strong to be required—the argument only needs physical therapy to be effective treatment, not the most effective treatment.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Strengthen with Necessary Premise

Stimulus Summary:
Activity reduces back pain → Doctors discuss with patients
Study: Yoga reduces back pain equally to stretching with physical therapist
Thus, doctors should discuss yoga with patients

Answer Anticipation:
If yoga reduces chronic back pain, then this argument is valid, so it must be the case that it's uncertain yoga has this effect. So let's dig in to see how the premise falls short.

Here, to establish that yoga reduces chronic back pain, it compares it to stretching with a physical therapist—the two lead to "equal reductions." So in order for that to guarantee yoga reduces chronic back pain, it must be the case that stretching with a physical therapist reduces back pain. Note that this question is very similar to the last question in that both jump from a comparative premise to a conclusion that relies on the absolute value of something (here, the reduction in back pain instead of the comparative reduction in back pain).

Answer Explanation:
This answer choice establishes that physical therapy significantly reduces chronic back pain, which, based on the premise, means that yoga also significantly reduces this pain, which means it meets the sufficient condition of the conditional. If physical therapy doesn't significantly reduce chronic back pain, neither does yoga, and the argument falls apart.

Key Takeaway:
Back-to-back questions highlighting that comparisons can't, by themselves, support absolute conclusions. As always, be on the lookout for comparative language, as it's almost always relevant to the questions where it shows up.

Incorrect. The number of treatments available doesn't play into the rule about what doctors should be prepared to discuss—just their effectiveness.

Incorrect. The number of studies, and when they were done, is out of scope of the argument—just the results are relevant.

Incorrect. Be careful here! The conditional in the stimulus is that if a treatment is effective, doctors should be prepared to talk about it. This answer, therefore, doesn't guarantee that doctors discussing physical therapy guarantees it's effective (an illegal reversal).