Summary of Steps to Solve Drawing Conclusion Type Questions:
- Read the Question (Every question)
- Go through the text and underline evidence
- Read the answer and eliminate the outliers
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- (easiest to eliminate contradictory conclusions)
- Using the underlined evidence and examples, prove each conclusion. Ask yourself “is this another piece of evidence? Or is this proved and strengthened by what’s in the text?”
- Remember to ignore bias and disregard answers that may be true in the real world, but are not supported in the text.
In this text, the main subject is driving while fatigued. It just examples of who is at risk (most people - we know this because it says “even police men and women” - and the assumption is that they are more prudent because they know the laws). The problem is that there is a lack of conclusive evidence that can be found to prosecute these people, as a result, it is most likely less discouraged to drive tired since there are fewer legal repercussions. With all of this in mind, let’s analyse our answers.
A Accidents caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel are a greater problem than drink driving:
This is not confirmed in the text. It gives us the number of deaths caused by falling asleep but it does not give us the number of drivers in an accident due to falling asleep. Just based on this we can determine that this statement cannot be concluded from the text. Therefore A is incorrect.
B Commercial vehicle drivers and the police are more prone to falling asleep at the wheel because of the long hours they work:
This option is trying to trick you into choosing something that is logical. In real life, it makes sense that when you drive long hours you are more prone to these accidents, however, there is nothing to back it up in the text. It does not give us comparable statistics to any other group that proves that commercial vehicle drivers and police officers are more prone to falling asleep, we need to ask ourselves “more prone than who”. For all we know, another group could be much more prone to falling asleep. Therefore B is incorrect.
C The number of hours per day that commercial drivers should be allowed to drive should be reduced:
This option cannot be concluded because we have no cause. We can correlate the number of hours per day of driving and the risk of accidents due to tiredness, but this is not enough to prove causation. This could be due to other things, for example, lack of sleep, time of day you drive, etc… Therefore C is incorrect.
D It will not be as easy to prosecute drivers for falling asleep at the wheel as it is for drink driving:
In the last sentence of the passage, the author says that the evidence often associated with falling asleep at the wheel in accidents is inconclusive, while the evidence for other offences like drunk driving is much more conclusive. This is basically saying that it is easier to prove, and therefore prosecute, drunk drivers compared to drivers who fell asleep at the wheel. This is exactly what this answer option is trying to prove, therefore D is correct.
E It would be unfair to prosecute people for falling asleep at the wheel:
The author does not talk about fairness, they talk about the difficulty of prosecuting people for falling asleep at the wheel. The author remains fairly neutral, while this answer choice is opinionated. Therefore E is incorrect.