Physician Assistant Academic Ability 2

Question 1

A PA student reads: 'Patients with condition X who received treatment Y showed a 30% reduction in symptoms compared to controls.' What type of study design MOST likely produced this result?

Accepted Answer

Randomized controlled trial

Answer

Comparing a treatment group to controls with measured outcomes is the hallmark of a randomized controlled trial.

Question 2

Which sentence contains a dangling modifier?

Accepted Answer

Running quickly, the bus was missed by the student.

Answer

In the first option, the participial phrase 'Running quickly' incorrectly modifies 'the bus' rather than the student.

Question 3

If a train travels 240 miles at 60 mph, then returns the same distance at 40 mph, what is the average speed for the entire trip?

Accepted Answer

48 mph

Answer

Average speed = total distance / total time = 480 / (4 + 6) = 48 mph.

Question 4

A passage states that 'correlation does not imply causation.' A student concludes that ice cream sales cause drowning because both rise in summer. This is an example of:

Accepted Answer

Confounding variable error

Answer

A confounding variable (summer/heat) explains both ice cream sales and drowning rates, creating a false causal link.

Question 5

What is the value of x if 3(2x − 4) = 2(x + 6)?

Accepted Answer

x = 6

Answer

Expanding: 6x − 12 = 2x + 12, so 4x = 24, giving x = 6.

Physician Assistant Practice Test

Physician Assistant Practice Test

Physician Assistant Academic Ability 2