- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 8916
- Joined: Feb 02, 2011
- Fri Jan 21, 2011 12:00 am
#36688
Complete Question Explanation
Justify the Conclusion, SN. The correct answer choice is (A)
Although this is a short stimulus, it can still be extremely challenging (many consider this question
to be one of the most difficult in the section). The author opens with the conclusion, which is that
one should never sacrifice one’s health in order to acquire money. This is based on the single premise
presented in the second half of the single-sentence stimulus (the premise is introduced by the word
“for”), which is that if you don’t have health, happiness is unobtainable. More simply diagrammed
and restated:
because without health, you cannot obtain happiness.
The stimulus is followed by a Justify question stem, so the correct answer choice will provide a
premise that justifies the author’s conclusion that one should not sacrifice one’s health in order to
acquire money. If we are to use the mechanistic approach to respond to this question, we can see
that the element that recurs in both the premise and the conclusion is that of “sacrifice one’s health.”
The two rogue elements are those of “happiness obtainable” and “acquisition of money.” Some link
between these two elements is necessary to justify the author’s conclusion, and this connection is
provided by correct answer choice (A). Note that those elements do not have to be negative (consider
what would occur if the contrapositive of both statements above were used—then each “rogue”
element would be positive instead of negative).
Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. This answer should be an immediate
Contender because it contains both “rogue” elements in the argument. And, as discussed above,
if something should be traded for the acquisition of money, it should not come at the cost of your
health, because this would make happiness unobtainable. Ultimately, it is the only answer that
contains both “rogue” elements, so even you were a bit uncertain of the meaning of this answer, you
should still choose it based on your mechanistic analysis.
Answer choice (B): This incorrect answer choice provides a conditional rule that would not justify
the author’s conclusion. Since this choice fails to deal with the issue of whether something should be
traded for money, it is not the correct answer choice.
Answer choice (C): The author has already provided that health is necessary for happiness. This
choice would make happiness the only outcome of good health, which plays no role in the argument.
Answer choice (D): This incorrect choice allows for the possibility that some wealthy people are
not happy. This would not justify the claim that health (and thus happiness) shouldn’t be traded for
money.
Answer choice (E): The author of the stimulus has already provided that health is a necessary precondition for happiness, so this answer choice, which says that health is better than money at providing happiness, adds nothing to the argument, and fails to justify the author’s conclusion.
Justify the Conclusion, SN. The correct answer choice is (A)
Although this is a short stimulus, it can still be extremely challenging (many consider this question
to be one of the most difficult in the section). The author opens with the conclusion, which is that
one should never sacrifice one’s health in order to acquire money. This is based on the single premise
presented in the second half of the single-sentence stimulus (the premise is introduced by the word
“for”), which is that if you don’t have health, happiness is unobtainable. More simply diagrammed
and restated:
- Premise:
sacrifice health 
happiness obtainable
Conclusion: acquiring money doesn’t justify the sacrifice of one’s health.
because without health, you cannot obtain happiness.
The stimulus is followed by a Justify question stem, so the correct answer choice will provide a
premise that justifies the author’s conclusion that one should not sacrifice one’s health in order to
acquire money. If we are to use the mechanistic approach to respond to this question, we can see
that the element that recurs in both the premise and the conclusion is that of “sacrifice one’s health.”
The two rogue elements are those of “happiness obtainable” and “acquisition of money.” Some link
between these two elements is necessary to justify the author’s conclusion, and this connection is
provided by correct answer choice (A). Note that those elements do not have to be negative (consider
what would occur if the contrapositive of both statements above were used—then each “rogue”
element would be positive instead of negative).
Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. This answer should be an immediate
Contender because it contains both “rogue” elements in the argument. And, as discussed above,
if something should be traded for the acquisition of money, it should not come at the cost of your
health, because this would make happiness unobtainable. Ultimately, it is the only answer that
contains both “rogue” elements, so even you were a bit uncertain of the meaning of this answer, you
should still choose it based on your mechanistic analysis.
Answer choice (B): This incorrect answer choice provides a conditional rule that would not justify
the author’s conclusion. Since this choice fails to deal with the issue of whether something should be
traded for money, it is not the correct answer choice.
Answer choice (C): The author has already provided that health is necessary for happiness. This
choice would make happiness the only outcome of good health, which plays no role in the argument.
Answer choice (D): This incorrect choice allows for the possibility that some wealthy people are
not happy. This would not justify the claim that health (and thus happiness) shouldn’t be traded for
money.
Answer choice (E): The author of the stimulus has already provided that health is a necessary precondition for happiness, so this answer choice, which says that health is better than money at providing happiness, adds nothing to the argument, and fails to justify the author’s conclusion.
.