Since 1990 the percentage of bacterial sinus infections in Aqadestan that are resistant to the antibiotic perxicillin has increased substantially....
GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions
Since 1990 the percentage of bacterial sinus infections in Aqadestan that are resistant to the antibiotic perxicillin has increased substantially. Bacteria can quickly develop resistance to an antibiotic when it is prescribed indiscriminately or when patients fail to take it as prescribed. Since perxicillin has not been indiscriminately prescribed, health officials hypothesize that the increase in perxicillin resistant sinus infections is largely due to patients' failure to take this medication as prescribed.
Which of the following, it true of Aqadestan, provides most support for the health officials' hypothesis:
Passage Analysis:
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
| Since 1990 the percentage of bacterial sinus infections in Aqadestan that are resistant to the antibiotic perxicillin has increased substantially. |
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| Bacteria can quickly develop resistance to an antibiotic when it is prescribed indiscriminately or when patients fail to take it as prescribed. |
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| Since perxicillin has not been indiscriminately prescribed, health officials hypothesize that the increase in perxicillin resistant sinus infections is largely due to patients' failure to take this medication as prescribed. |
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Argument Flow:
We start with a problem (increasing antibiotic resistance), then learn about two possible causes, then eliminate one cause to focus on the other as the most likely explanation.
Main Conclusion:
Health officials believe that patients not taking perxicillin as prescribed is the main reason for increasing resistance in Aqadestan.
Logical Structure:
This is an elimination argument - since there are only two main causes of antibiotic resistance, and one has been ruled out, the remaining cause must be responsible for the increase.
Prethinking:
Question type:
Strengthen - We need to find information that makes the health officials' hypothesis more credible. Their hypothesis is that patient non-compliance (not taking perxicillin as prescribed) is the main reason for increased resistance.
Precision of Claims
The key claim is about causation - that patient non-compliance is 'largely due to' the resistance increase. We need evidence that specifically supports this cause-and-effect relationship in Aqadestan.
Strategy
To strengthen the hypothesis that patient non-compliance causes the resistance increase, we should look for evidence that:
- shows widespread non-compliance with perxicillin in Aqadestan
- demonstrates a connection between non-compliance and resistance development
- rules out other potential causes while supporting the patient behavior explanation
This tells us that resistance to other antibiotics hasn't increased, but this doesn't help support the hypothesis about why perxicillin resistance specifically has increased due to patient non-compliance. If anything, this might suggest there's something unique about perxicillin itself rather than patient behavior, which could weaken rather than strengthen the officials' hypothesis.
The fact that many people don't seek medical help for sinus infections doesn't support the hypothesis. We're concerned with those who DO get prescribed perxicillin and then don't take it properly. People who never get treatment aren't part of the resistance development problem we're trying to explain.
Perxicillin being more effective when it first became available doesn't tell us anything about current patient compliance issues. This is historical information about the drug's initial effectiveness, not about why patients today might not be taking it as prescribed.
This directly supports the officials' hypothesis. If many patients experience severe side effects within the first few days, they're likely to stop taking perxicillin before completing their full prescription. This incomplete treatment is exactly what causes antibiotic resistance - bacteria get exposed to the drug but aren't completely eliminated, allowing resistant strains to develop and spread. This gives us a clear reason why patients would fail to take perxicillin as prescribed.
Providing antibiotics at cost (meaning cheaply or at no profit) doesn't tell us anything about whether patients complete their treatment courses. Cost accessibility might help people get the medication initially, but it doesn't address whether they take it properly once they have it.