Logical reasoning PrepTest 155 · Section 1 · Question 11

This restates the science writer's premise rather than the main conclusion.

The science writer does not necessarily agree with this, so it cannot be the main conclusion. The science writer claimed that lethargy studies haven't settled whether fast-food is unhealthy at all. So the science writer hasn't committed themselves to the claim that fast-food is unhealthy at all, much less whether it's unhealthy only in certain situations.

This is too strong for the stimulus's conclusion. The stimulus says the data aren't sufficient to support the researcher's conclusion, not that the data support some other conclusion instead. Because the science writer does not necessarily agree with this assertion, it cannot be the main conclusion.

This matches the science writer's premise but not the main conclusion. The fact that the lethargy studies overlooked a lack of exercise as a cause of lethargy is why the question of fast food's healthfulness hasn't been definitely settled.

Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Valid

Question Type:
Main Point

Stimulus Summary:
Based on studies that say North Americans are becoming more lethargic, one researcher concluded that fast food is bad for your health. North Americans ate much more fast food in the 1990s than the 1970s. But, lethargic people don't exercise much, and not exercising can make you more lethargic. So the lethargy studies aren't sufficient to conclude that fast food is bad for your health.

Strategy Overview:

1. Identify the conclusion
2. Identify the premises
3. Make sure the premises support the identified conclusion, and that the identified conclusion does not support anything else in the passage
4. Find the answer choice that restates the conclusion

Answer Anticipation:
There are two conclusions here: the researcher's conclusion and the science writer's conclusion. This question asks us to identify the science writer's conclusion.

When looking for conclusions on Main Point questions, it can help to look out for certain keywords that are associated with conclusions — like "therefore," "hence" and "thus." We get a very prominent "Thus" in the last sentence, making "the lethargy studies do not settle the question of whether fast food is unhealthy" a very strong candidate for the science writer's conclusion.

But spotting one of these keywords isn't dispositive. We should be especially circumspect because the last sentence is seldom the main conclusion on Main Point questions. To confirm that the last sentence is the conclusion, we need to identify the premises of this argument and verify that they all support that last sentence.

So why does the science writer believe "lethargy studies do not settle the question of whether fast food is unhealthy"? The science writer gives one reason, following the "However" about two-thirds through the passage. The science writer identifies a lack of exercise as a possible cause of lethargy. So, a lack of exercise (and not just an increase in fast-food consumption) could have caused the increased lethargy among North Americans. In other words, the science writer claims that we can't conclude that the fast-food is unhealthy and produces more lethargic North Americans because it could be a lack of exercise leading to lethargy instead. So we can confirm that a premise supports the claim that lethargy studies do not settle the question of whether fast food is unhealthy.

The rest of the passage pertains to the researcher's argument: the conclusion drawn (fast-food is unhealthy) and the premises given in support (fast-food consumption has gone way up and now people are more lethargic). Because this question asks us to identify the science writer's conclusion, we don't need to worry about how these factor into the science writer's argument.

So the last sentence has support, which makes it a conclusion. And because that last sentence doesn't add support to any other statement in this passage, it's the argument's main conclusion. So now we just need to look for an answer choice that expresses the same idea as that last sentence.

Answer Choice Explanation:
Yes! This restates the conclusion of the stimulus: the researcher's conclusion (fast food is unhealthy) didn't have sufficient support (and so the question of whether fast food is unhealthy hasn't been settled). This answer choice may use different words than the conclusion in the passage, but it expresses the same idea and is correct.

Key Takeaway:
The main conclusion will rarely be the last sentence on Main Point questions. The main conclusion will also rarely have words like "Therefore" or "Thus" attached to it. So this Main Point question is very much an exception to the rule. However, if a statement has support from premises, and isn't used to support anything else in the argument, it's the main conclusion, no matter how or where it appears.