An unbiased observer of everyday encounters in Western societies would surely not find many instances of unkindness by people under 65 toward people over 65. There are undoubtedly incidents of unkindness based on age, and these warrant reproof. However, the very fact that such reproof occurs and is generally accepted implies that our Western societies basically respect the elderly. The same conclusion can be drawn from a recent survey finding: 71 percent of the under 65 population agreed with the statement that тАЬpeople over 65 receive too little respect from societyтАЭ, while only 44percent of the over-65 population, the target of the alleged irreverence agreed with it.

The author concludes that Western societies basically respect the elderly partly because.

(A) people under 65 are just as kind to people over 65 as they are to people of their own age group

(B) survey data suggest that fewer people over 65 than under 65 get too little respect

(C) disrespect for the elderly does not go so far as to result in actual harm

(D) survey data suggest that people over 65 are more aware of incidents involving disrespect to the elderly than are people under 65

(E) incidents of unkindness to the elderly are neither common nor generally accepted in Western societies

Anand You are on a roll
Official Answer is E

I picked up D,

Here is my reasoning.
Conclusion: Western societies basically respect the elderly.

D says elders(65+) remembers what happens to them more than youngsters (65-). The survay says 71% of youngsters think "Elders don't
get enough respect", while only 44% of elders agree with this statement.
In other words, 56% of elders think "they are resprected".


Where am I making the mistake?

To me E is out of scope answer choice.

This is the problem with percentages. Unless we know what the actual numbers are we cannot say how many people feel so. Out of 100 90 people may be below 65 and 10 may be above 90. Now 44 % of seniors approximately 4 people feel that they are disrepected. 4 is nothing compared to let us say 40% 90 people. I have learnt my lessons with percentages by doing similar mistakes.

So D actually says that stats provided are not accurate. This will weaken the authors conclusion because the stats are his/her premise.
We need to find something that supports the conclusion.

Then again this Q is not worded properly. I hope such Qs wont appear on GMAT. All are ambiguous.

Bye the way why dont you wait for 24 hours before posting the answer. Others might want to give it a try. This will help others. I used to post the answer quickly and people didnt like it.