Sequencing Video - Larger Chain Sequence

@BrandyL, Great question. This question is asking us what we can infer from the passage. We have a series of conditional statements, so the best thing to do is to diagram the stimulus and deduce as much as possible from there. Often times, on these questions you can predict what the correct answer choice will be if you figure out what can be figured out from the conditional statements in the premises. We have Problems not solved - >not attract more applicants not attract more applicants - >lower standards or shortage of nurses shortage of nurses or lower standards - >not maintain quality Notice how we diagram the first sentence as Problems not solved - >not attract more applicants The reason that we didn't negate the phrase "nursing schools cannot attract a greater number of applicants" is because that is just one part of the whole sentence. The whole sentence reads, "Nursing schools cannot attract a greater number of able applicants than they currently do unless the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions in the nursing profession are solved." There are two main clauses in this sentence that are separated by and 'unless,' so we take the clause after 'unless, negate it, and make it the sufficient condition. Problems not solved - -> Then, we take the other clause and put it in the necessary condition Problems not solved - >not attract more applicants Again, upon diagramming the whole stimulus, we have Problems not solved - >not attract more applicants not attract more applicants - >lower standards or shortage of nurses shortage of nurses or lower standards - >not maintain quality This all links together to form Problems not solved - >not attract more applicants - >shortage of nurses or lower standards - >not maintain quality The inference the correct answer choice highlights will be something in this chain. (E) says, "The current high quality of health care will not be maintained if the problems of low wages and high stress working conditions in the nursing profession are not solved." (E) translates to problems not solved - >not maintain quality. This is the beginning and end of the chain we made, so this is precisely the conclusion that we can draw from the premises. Thus, (E) is the correct answer choice. Doing work up front when examining the stimulus pays dividends in allowing you to go through the answer choices quickly. (E) is clearly correct based on our analysis, and all of the others fail to match up with the conditional chain we've mapped out. Making that chain lets you easily see why the wrong answers are wrong and why the right answer is right. Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any other questions!

@BrandyL, Regarding the last sentence, the reason that we negated the way we did is because we have two conditions in the sufficient condition (a shortage of nurses or lowered entrance standards) and then we have 'cannot' in the second part of the sentence. 'Cannot' means that we pick one of the clauses, negate it, and make it the necessary condition. shortage of nurses or lower standards - >not maintain quality We could have also diagrammed the last sentence as maintain quality - >no shortage of nurses and not lowered standards (this is the contrapositive of the original statement) For more information, I highly recommend reviewing our video lessons on conditional logic indicators and chains, which will help you to further familiarize yourself with the concepts. Let us know if you have any questions!

Thank you so much! Makes Sense!