New Exercise System

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Two fitness experts have developed a remarkable exercise system that appears to yield immediate and prolonged improvements to a person's physical and mental health. In careful testing, they have found that the system is accessible to people of different ages and fitness levels. Furthermore, since the system involves unusual techniques, custom pieces of small equipment, and natural dietary supplements, the system would take years for competitors to replicate. And when they tested the system during a two-month trial, potential customers stated emphatically that they would pay the stated prices to continue in the system and that they preferred it over other forms of exercise. All evidence indicates that the new exercise system will have successful launch in the market.

Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument?

Review: New Exercise System


Explanation

Reading the question: we see a long prompt, and a short stem, so we check out the stem. The phrase "most useful to determine" allows us to create a filter immediately. The phrasing of Critical Reasoning questions tends to be understated. When you are asked what "may be true," look for what must be true. When you're asked what would be "useful to determine," look for what is critical to determine. This is proof by stronger terms, as mentioned in the Critical Reasoning Strategy.

Note: You may be wondering why the question would ask for something "useful," if the answer is something "critical." The reason is that the test maker uses understated language as a cautious practice to ensure that the correct answer is objectively correct. Something "critical to know" is certainly "useful to know." For this exact reason, when you see understated language, you are not guaranteed that the correct answer will be more critical, but if you find a critical answer choice, you'll know it's correct.

Applying the filter, we look for a choice that must be true. (A) is out; we are told the system is effective, and people like it, and it's accessible. And they would pay for it! So it doesn't matter whether or not it's more effective. The prompt even tells us people prefer it to other forms of exercise. So (A) is out. (B) seems irrelevant; the system doesn't have to be for everyone in order to launch well. It's accessible to various types of people and they like it and so on. (B) is out. Choice (C) looks promising. Choice (D) contradicts the evidence. We're told it will take competitors a long time to copy this system, and we aren't concerned with the long term--we are talking about a "launch." Choice (E) is out, since the prompt doesn't say anything about cost. We're left with (C).

Logical proof: Is choice (C) critical? We can analyze by cases. What if it's hard to get people to try the new system? We could see that being an issue. But do we have objective backing in the prompt? Yes: we are told that potential customers liked the product "when they tried it during a two-month trial." What if they don't like the product yet after a month? Or more to the point, if it takes two months to like the product, and we are having trouble getting people to try it at all, that will impede the launch. The correct answer is (C).


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