This one is a classic, and it might make the top-ten list of questions that cause the most frustration in GMAT-land. It’s a comparison question, but with some ugly tweaks – and if you’re not really, really strict and literal with the meaning, you’ll get twisted up in this one. (And if you want more on comparisons, check out
this YouTube video and
this sequel.)
Before we get rolling: the sentence is clearly trying to compare the
number of people who receive job training with the
number of people who are enrolled in four-year colleges and universities. And plenty of the answer choices sound decent, but only one really conveys that meaning with precision.
Quote:
(A) equivalent to the enrollment of
So what’s being compared when we look strictly and literally at (A)? Basically, the sentence is saying that “eight million people” who receive job training from companies are “equivalent to the enrollment of the nation’s four-year colleges and universities.
Hm. That’s not quite right. The word “equivalent” generally suggests that two things are similar in quality or function, and “enrollment” generally refers to an entire group of students as a collective. So (A) is literally saying that the eight million people in job training are “similar in quality or function” to the collective group of students in universities.
And that doesn’t make any sense. We’re not saying that the groups of people are similar in quality; we’re trying to say that the groups have the same
number of people.
So (A) is out.
Quote:
(B) the equivalent of those enrolled in
The word “those” always catches my eye, especially on comparison questions. “Those” is a plural pronoun, and in this case, “those” presumably refers to “people.”
So that gives us: “…eight million people (in job training), the equivalent of the people enrolled in the nation’s four-year colleges and universities.” Superficially, it’s nice that this compares “eight million
people” in job training to “the
people enrolled in… colleges and universities”, but we’re still saying that the two types of people are “equivalent” – again, roughly similar in quality or function. And that doesn’t make sense, for the same reasons as (A).
So (B) can be eliminated, too.
Quote:
(C) equal to those who are enrolled in
This one sounds better! Only trouble is, we
don’t care about sound on SC.
Since “those” once again refers to “people”, we now have “eight million people (in job training), equal to the people who are enrolled in… colleges and universities.” This is really subtle, but this is telling us that the actual people in job training are “equal to” the actual people in colleges and universities.
Literally, that seems to making a social statement about equality among people in different situations in life. Personally, I like that sentiment, but it really has nothing to do with what the sentence is trying to say. The point isn’t that people in job training are “equal to” the people in universities; the sentence is trying to say that the
number of people in each group is the same.
And since (C) doesn’t actually say that, we can get rid of it.
Since (D) and (E) are so similar, let’s line those two up side-by-side:
Quote:
(D) as many as the enrollment of
(E) as many as are enrolled in
Meaning-wise, the phrase “as many as” is a huge improvement over our options in (A), (B), and (C). It’s finally clear that we’re comparing the number of people in each group, so that’s great.
But (E) makes a little bit more sense than (D). Why? Well, the word “enrollment” generally refers to the collective group of students enrolled in colleges and universities, so (D) is saying that “eight million people” receiving training from companies are “as many as” the
collective enrollment of colleges and universities. And that’s not quite right: it’s clearer to say that the “eight million people” is the same number of people as
are enrolled in colleges and universities.
So (E) conveys the correct meaning just a little bit more clearly, and it's the best answer.
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