As people grow older, an enzyme known as PEP increasingly breaks down the neuropeptide chemicals involved in learning and memory. But now, researchers have found compounds that prevent PEP from breaking neuropeptides apart. In tests, these compounds almost completely restored lost memory in rats. The use of these compounds should be extended to students who have poor memory and difficulty in concentrating-and therefore serious problems in school performance. Science finally has a solution for problems neither parents nor teachers could solve. - GRE Argument 48
This argument concludes that certain compounds should be administered to students with poor memory and concentration to improve their performance in school. The argument cites an experiment involving rats in which the same compounds prevented the enzyme PEP from breaking down chemicals involved in learning and memory. The argument suffers from several flaws, which render it unconvincing.
A threshold problem with the argument is that it assumes that what improves memory and learning in rats will also improve memory and learning in humans. Although this is entirely possible, the argument p...
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Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 5.0 out of 6
Category: Very Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 18 15
No. of Words: 364 350
No. of Characters: 1887 1500
No. of Different Words: 164 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.368 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.184 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.746 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 147 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 115 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 89 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 45 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 20.222 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.913 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.5 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.392 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.579 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.131 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 6 5