Carl is clearly an incompetent detective. He has solved a

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Carl is clearly an incompetent detective. He has solved a [#permalink]

26 Jul 2012, 11:56

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Carl is clearly an incompetent detective. He has solved a smaller percentage of the cases
assigned to him in the last 3 years—only 1 out of 25—than any other detective on the police
force. Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?
a) Because the police chief regards Carl as the most capable detective, she assigns him only the
most difficult cases, ones that others have failed to solve.
b) Before he became a detective, Carl was a neighborhood police officer and was highly
respected by the residents of the neighborhood he patrolled.
c) Detectives on the police force on which Carl serves are provided with extensive resources,
including the use of a large computer database, to help them solve crimes.
d) Carl was previously a detective in a police department in another city, and in the 4 years he
spent there, he solved only 1 out of 30 crimes.
e) Many of the officers in the police department in which Carl serves were hired or promoted
within the last 5 years.

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[Reveal] Spoiler: OA

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Re: Carl is clearly an incompetent detective. He has solved a [#permalink]

27 Sep 2012, 08:32

This is a weaken question. First step is the argument core.
Carl solved the smallest percentage of cases on the police squad so Carl is an incompetent detective

Quick look for a gap: Maybe Carl has the "cold case" files or he only gets the hardest cases.

(A) gives us exactly what we thought we'd find.
The reason Carl doesn't solve very many cases is he gets the hardest ones (specifically, the ones other detectives already tried and failed to solve).

Now the wrong answers:

(B) is out of scope.
We have no idea whether being a good neighborhood cop makes someone a good detective.

(C) actually strengthens the argument.
Carl had that awesome computer database and he still couldn't solve any crimes. Send him out to give parking tickets!

(D) also strengthens the argument.
Carl doesn't just suck at solving crimes now... he's always sucked at solving them. Maybe it's time for a mid-life career change.

(E) out of scope but might slightly strengthen the argument.
If all the other detectives are new and Carl still has the lowest percentage, he really is an incompetent detective.

I hope this helps. If you still have a question after reading this, post away!
All the best..

Re: Carl is clearly an incompetent detective. He has solved a [#permalink] 27 Sep 2012, 08:32

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Carl is clearly an incompetent detective. He has solved a

Carl is clearly an incompetent detective. He has solved a

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