New project from GMAT Club! Click
hereConcept article -CR Resolve the paradox
In paradox questions, normally you expect a certain result to occur based on common sense. But something opposite or different occurs. For example, in normal course, if sales go up, the total profits must also go up. But the total profits decline. You are required to resolve this contrary phenomenon. The answer is normally some specific and unique occurrence or factor that leads to these unanticipated results.
Example
In order to reduce the number of items damaged while in transit to customers, packaging consultants recommended that the TrueSave mail-order company increase the amount of packing material so as to fill any empty spaces in its cartons. Accordingly, TrueSave officials instructed the company’s packers to use more packing material than before, and the packers zealously acted on these instructions and used as much as they could. Nevertheless, customer reports of damaged items rose somewhat.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain why acting on the consultants’ recommendation failed to achieve its goal?
(A) The change in packing policy led to an increase in expenditure on packing material and labor.
(B) When packing material is compressed too densely, it loses some of its capacity to absorb shock.
(C) The amount of packing material used in a carton does not signify the ease with which a customer can unpack the package.
(D) Most of the goods that TrueSave ships are electronic products that are highly vulnerable to being damaged in transit.
(E) TrueSave has lost some of its regular customers as a result of the high number of damaged items they received.
Answer: The tightly packed cartons lost the cushion effect that would have absorbed the shocks during transit. Hence the proposal acted contrarily,
Some more GMAT examples
1. When there is less rainfall than normal, the water level of Australian rivers falls and the rivers flow more slowly. Because algae whose habitats in river water grow best in slow-moving water, the amount of algae per unit of water generally increases when there has been little rain. By contrast, however, following a period of extreme drought, algae levels are low even in very slow-moving river water.
Which of the following, if true, does most to explain the contrast described above?
(A) During periods of extreme drought, the populations of some of the species that feed on algae tend to fall.
(B) The more slowly water moves, the more conducive its temperature is to the growth of algae.
(C) When algae populations reach very high levels; conditions within the river can become toxic for some of the other species that normally live there.
(D) Australian rivers dry up completely for short intervals in periods of extreme drought.
(E) Except during periods of extreme drought, algae levels tend to be higher in rivers in which the flow has been controlled by damming than in rivers that flow freely.
2. A report that many apples contain a cancer-causing preservative called Alar apparently had little effect on consumers. Few consumers planned to change their apple-buying habits as a result of the report. Nonetheless, sales of apples in grocery stores fell sharply in March, a month after the report was issued.
Which of the following, if true, best explains the reason for the apparent discrepancy described above?
(A) In March, many grocers removed apples from their shelves in order to demonstrate concern about their customers’ health.
(B) Because of a growing number of food-safety warnings, consumers in March were indifferent to such warnings.
(C) The report was delivered on television and also appeared in newspapers.
(D) The report did not mention that any other fruit contains Alar, although the preservative is used on other fruit.
(E) Public health officials did not believe that apples posed a health threat because only minute traces of Alar were present in affected apples.
3. Plan: Concerned about the welfare of its senior citizens, the government of Runagia decided two years ago to increase by 20 percent the government provided pension paid to all Runagians age sixty-five and older.
Result: Many Runagian senior citizens are no better off financially now than they were before the increase.
Further information: The annual rate of inflation since the pension increase has been below 5 percent, and the increased pension has been duly received by all eligible Runagians.
In light of the further information, which of the following, if true, does most to explain the result that followed implementation of the plan?
(A) The majority of senior citizens whose financial position has not improved rely entirely on the government pension for their income.
(B) The Runagian banking system is so inefficient that cashing a pension check can take as much as three weeks.
(C) The prices of goods and services that meet the special needs of many senior citizens have increased at a rate much higher than the rate of inflation.
(D) The pension increase occurred at a time when the number of Runagians' age sixty-five and older who were living below the poverty level was at an all-time high.
(E) The most recent pension increase was only the second such increase in the last ten years.
4. In order to withstand tidal currents, juvenile horseshoe crabs frequently burrow in the sand. Such burrowing discourages barnacles from clinging to their shells. When fully grown, however, the crabs can readily withstand tidal currents without burrowing, and thus they acquire substantial populations of barnacles. Surprisingly, in areas where tidal currents are very weak, juvenile horseshoe crabs are found not to have significant barnacle populations, even though they seldom burrow.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the surprising finding?
(A) Tidal currents do not themselves dislodge barnacles from the shells of horseshoe crabs.
(B) Barnacles most readily attach themselves to horseshoe crabs in areas where tidal currents are weakest.
(C) The strength of the tidal currents in a given location varies widely over the course of a day.
(D) A very large barnacle population can significantly decrease the ability of a horseshoe crab to find food.
(E) Until they are fully grown, horseshoe crabs shed their shells and grow new ones several times a year.
_________________
Thank you Daagh for your time on GMAT Club and all your contributions! Thank you for everything you did!Your work will remain a great tribute to you here on GMAT Club!
-bb