Parallel ReasoningDiff: Hardest

Logic Breakdown

Passage Summary: Just because healthy people exercise doesn't mean exercise makes you healthy; it might just be that you have to be healthy to exercise in the first place.

Conclusion: The correlation between vigorous exercise and lower rates of illness does not actually prove that exercise is the cause of better health.

Reasoning: The ability to engage in vigorous exercise is itself dependent on a person's initial state of health, suggesting the relationship might work in the opposite direction.

Analysis: The argument highlights a 'reverse causation' problem: it challenges a causal claim by suggesting that the supposed 'effect' (health) might actually be a prerequisite for the 'cause' (exercise). To find a parallel, look for an argument that dismisses a causal explanation for a correlation by pointing out that the two variables might influence each other in the opposite way.

Passage Stimulus

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23.

The reasoning in which one of the following arguments is most similar to that in the argument above?

Correct Answer
A
It mirrors the structure precisely. Habitual readers (X) tend to have verbal skill (Y), but that does not prove reading causes verbal skill because preexisting strong verbal skill (Z) encourages reading (X). The selection effect matches the original.
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