PT 50 S 2 Q 5 An analysis of the number and severity

by **aileenann** Thu Apr 08, 2010 12:44 am

This is a paradox question, but slightly unusually, coupled with EXCEPT language. Here we're going to see four explanations that resolve the paradox and one that doesn't do such a good job of that.

First, what is the paradox? It's the unexpected result that a seemingly trivial difference between two groups of elderly people correlates with a significant difference in their overall healthiness. Why should where they were born/moved to matter so much?

(A) gives us one explanation - this is a socioeconomic issue disguised as a geography/moving issue. This isn't the answer since it does explain the paradox at least a bit.
(B) is irrelevant. We are only interested in comparing two groups of elderly people - we don't care about the younger people. This should be our answer, but let's keep reading just to be sure.
(C) also resolves the paradox.
(D) is a very general statement, but it still does succeed in making moving relevant to health.
(E) is similar to (A) and for similar reasons resolves the paradox.

(B) is our answer. As with many kinds of questions, remember that irrelevant answer choices can easily be a correct answer for some kinds of questions.