CR EVALUATION SERIES: 1) The Berringer Motorcycle Co.

Commercial Transcript: The Berringer Motorcycle Company puts safety first while the typical motorcycle sold today offers performance, but at the expense of rider safety. The Berringer range of motorcycles has undergone National Highway Safety Administration evaluation, and Independent Board Safety examinations, both the foremost experts in motorcycle safety. That’s why Berringer motorcyclists can expect a degree of safety assurance unrivaled among performance motorbikes.

The answer to which one of the following questions would be most useful in evaluating the truth of the claim made in the commercial transcript?

Ⓐ Have the National Highway Safety Administration, and the Independent Board Safety also conducted safety tests on other products manufactured by Berringer?

Ⓑ How significantly does the average motorcyclist weigh the safety of a motorcycle?

Ⓒ What were the findings of the National Highway Safety Administration evaluation, and the Independent Board Safety examinations?

Ⓓ Do motorcyclists have access to transportation methods safer than motorcycling?

Ⓔ Does any other motorcycle offer as much in performance as does a Berringer motorcycle?

Conclusion-Berringer motorcyclists can expect a degree of safety assurance unrivaled among performance motorbikes.
Prethink assumption-The test results of NHSA and IBS were positive for BMC
With this in mind let's see the options:
a)Have the National Highway Safety Administration, and the Independent Board Safety also conducted safety tests on other products manufactured by Berringer?-We are not concerned about other products manufactured by BMC except motorcycles HENCE OUT OF SCOPE
b)How significantly does the average motorcyclist weigh the safety of a motorcycle? The motorcycle viewpoint about safety is not the issue here.We are concerned with the safety of motorcycles of BMC compared to other brands
c)What were the findings of the National Highway Safety Administration evaluation, and the Independent Board Safety examinations? -Seems to be the correct choice since performing the Variance test would give two extreme answers.If the findings of NHSA and IBS were positive then the conclusion is validated and if the results were negative then the conclusion will be invalidated
d) Do motorcyclists have access to transportation methods safer than motorcycling? -Access to other transportation methods is not the issue here. Hence out of scope
e)Does any other motorcycle offer as much in performance as does a Berringer motorcycle?-Only safety comparison is made between BMC and other motorcycles.Performance comparison is the not the main point here.

This is an "evaluation" question type, meaning that two polar answers to a question posed in the answer choices will have different effects on the conclusion. If we look from this perspective, we can see that polar opposite answers to question posed in answer choice C have opposite effects on the argument. If the evaluation responses were really bad, then Berringer bikes are not safe and vise versa, if evaluations were really good, then the company's bikes must have been safe indeed.

Therefore, the correct answer choice is C.

Conclusion - Berringer motorcyclists can expect a degree of safety assurance unrivaled among performance motorbikes
Premise - Berringer range of motorcycles has undergone National Highway Safety Administration evaluation, and Independent Board Safety examinations
POE -
Ⓐ Have the National Highway Safety Administration, and the Independent Board Safety also conducted safety tests on other products manufactured by Berringer? - Other products are out of scope of this argument
Ⓑ How significantly does the average motorcyclist weigh the safety of a motorcycle? - The view of an average motorcyclist is also out of scope as the argument is not concerned with it

Ⓒ What were the findings of the National Highway Safety Administration evaluation, and the Independent Board Safety examinations? - This is necessary to evaluate the conclusion of the argument, we can conclude whether the motorcycle is safe or not only after looking at these results

Ⓓ Do motorcyclists have access to transportation methods safer than motorcycling? - Other transport methods available to the motorcyclist is also out of scope as the argument is not concerned with it

Ⓔ Does any other motorcycle offer as much in performance as does a Berringer motorcycle? - The argument is concerned with safety issues and not performance issues

CR EVALUATION SERIES: 1) The Berringer Motorcycle Co.

Commercial Transcript: The Berringer Motorcycle Company puts safety first while the typical motorcycle sold today offers performance, but at the expense of rider safety. The Berringer range of motorcycles has undergone National Highway Safety Administration evaluation, and Independent Board of Safety examinations, both the foremost experts in motorcycle safety. That’s why Berringer motorcyclists can expect a degree of safety assurance unrivaled among performance motorbikes.

The answer to which one of the following questions would be most useful in evaluating the truth of the claim made in the commercial transcript?

Ⓐ Have the National Highway Safety Administration, and the Independent Board of Safety also conducted safety tests on other products manufactured by Berringer?

Ⓑ How significantly does the average motorcyclist weigh the safety of a motorcycle?

Ⓒ What were the findings of the National Highway Safety Administration evaluation, and the Independent Board of Safety examinations?

Ⓓ Do motorcyclists have access to transportation methods safer than motorcycling?

Ⓔ Does any other motorcycle offer as much in performance as does a Berringer motorcycle?


Official Explanation

Question Type: Evaluate
Boil It Down (Simplified & Abbreviated Summary of the Prompt): Berringer tested, so Berringer safest.
Missing Information (assumption): The test results were relevant to proving safety.
Goal: Find the question that when answered would either make or break the commercial’s claim that Berringer is the safest.
Analysis: It’s actually pretty staggering to think that this prompt cites these two safety bodies and the studies they conducted and offers ZERO information about the results. Maybe Berringer motorcycles were examined, and the results show that they are horribly dangerous.

Ⓐ Out of Focus – We have absolutely no interest in whether any of Berringer’s OTHER products were evaluated. If Berringer also makes refrigerators, how they performed wouldn’t help us out at all in evaluating the claim that Berringer motorcycles are the safest.

Ⓑ Whether safety is an important factor in the purchase of a motorcycle is not relevant to the claim that Berringer motorcycles are the safest. We’re not asked to perform market research for Berringer as to whether safety is something the potential consumer considers, but rather we need to evaluate the questions as to whether these motorcycles safe at all. Maybe the typical Berringer consumer couldn’t care less about safety, but Berringer motorcycles could still be the safest.

Ⓒ Yes! This lousy commercial didn’t even address the findings of the examinations. This option would help us measure Berringer’s claim that it makes the safest motorcycles around. Maybe the results confirm Berringer’s claim. Maybe the results directly contradict Berringer’s claim. This option helps us investigate the truth of Berringer’s claim.

Ⓓ Out of Focus – Whether motorcyclists have other methods of transport is irrelevant to our investigation as to whether Berringer motorcycles are the safest. Boot it!

Ⓔ Out of Focus – Whether the question as to whether other motorcycles offer as much performance as a Berringer were answered with a “Yes” or a “No” is irrelevant to an investigation about the truth of the claim that Berringer motorcycles are the safest. Gone.


◀ CR ASSUMPTION SERIES: Question 3) Several Police Departments

▶ CR EVALUATION SERIES: Question 2) The Ten Most Popular Primetime TV Programs

Hi countonhearts,

Thank you for adding your thoughts as well. I just served you a Kudos! Exactly along the lines with what I've suggested in some other posts, extracting maximum utility from each practice question is INSANELY powerful. It is equally valuable to investigate why the wrong options are wrong as it is why the right option is right. Your great prediction got you straight to C, but I'd love to see your personal thoughts for each of the four wrong options (if not here, then in subsequent questions)

As you continue to crack-down on the wrong options, you're going to be amazed at the patterns that start to emerge, and how you see right through them. You'll start to expect, 180s, Out of Focus options, warped options, etc.

Hi nintso,

Thank you for adding your thoughts as well. I thought your reasoning in support of C is very strong. I just served you a Kudos! Exactly along the lines with what I've suggested above, extracting maximum utility from each practice question is INSANELY powerful. It is equally valuable to investigate why the wrong options are wrong as it is why the right option is right. Your great prediction got you straight to C, but I'd love to see your personal thoughts for each of the four wrong options (if not here, then in subsequent questions)

As you continue to crack-down on the wrong options, you're going to be amazed at the patterns that start to emerge, and how you see right through them. You'll start to expect, 180s, Out of Focus options, warped options, etc.

In an evaluate question, one has to consider 2 extremes of possible answer choice and check if they support or break the conclusion stated.

Ⓐ Have the National Highway Safety Administration, and the Independent Board of Safety also conducted safety tests on other products manufactured by Berringer?
Out of context. because this argument is concerned with motor cycles, not other products

Ⓑ How significantly does the average motorcyclist weigh the safety of a motorcycle?
out of scope: because in this context it does not matter whether a motorcyclist finds the safety important or not

Ⓒ What were the findings of the National Highway Safety Administration evaluation, and the Independent Board of Safety examinations?
If the findings of NHS and IB safety examination are positive then Berringer moteorcycles are safe to ride. Otherwise, they are not

Ⓓ Do motorcyclists have access to transportation methods safer than motorcycling?
Out of scope

Ⓔ Does any other motorcycle offer as much in performance as does a Berringer motorcycle?
the argument is concerned with safety not the performance, so out of scope

[quote="EMPOWERgmatMax"]CR EVALUATION SERIES: 1) The Berringer Motorcycle Co.

Commercial Transcript: The Berringer Motorcycle Company puts safety first while the typical motorcycle sold today offers performance, but at the expense of rider safety. The Berringer range of motorcycles has undergone National Highway Safety Administration evaluation, and Independent Board of Safety examinations, both the foremost experts in motorcycle safety. That’s why Berringer motorcyclists can expect a degree of safety assurance unrivaled among performance motorbikes.

The answer to which one of the following questions would be most useful in evaluating the truth of the claim made in the commercial transcript?

Ⓐ Have the National Highway Safety Administration, and the Independent Board of Safety also conducted safety tests on other products manufactured by Berringer?

Ⓑ How significantly does the average motorcyclist weigh the safety of a motorcycle?

Ⓒ What were the findings of the National Highway Safety Administration evaluation, and the Independent Board of Safety examinations?

Ⓓ Do motorcyclists have access to transportation methods safer than motorcycling?

Ⓔ Does any other motorcycle offer as much in performance as does a Berringer motorcycle?


just think about the findings of National Highway Safety Administration, and the Independent Board of Safety
is the safety standard high or low
undergoing safety standard test by itself does not says that the safety standard is high
so if this question is posted then it will help us to evaluate truth of the claim made in the commercial transcript
Hence C

A is a good trap. I thought C is out of scope because a product must undergo a safety examination to get rated on safety.
I was wrong because I missed "other products manufactured by the same company"
Hence, C is correct.

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.