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# Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending

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Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending [#permalink]  08 Apr 2012, 15:13
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83% (02:15) correct 17% (01:29) wrong based on 76 sessions
Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending enough money per student. However, this is clearly not the case as records show that the Redwood School District has double the annual budget of the neighboring Tilden School District.

Which of the following would most strongly weaken the argument above?

A ) The Tilden School District covers the students from 3 towns while the Redwood School District only covers the students from 2 towns.
B ) The Tilden School District recently installed new computer labs in several of its schools.
C ) The Redwood School District pays its teachers a higher annual salary than Live Oak School District.
D ) The Redwood School District has three times as many students as the Tilden School District.
E ) Studies show that the amount spent per student is directly related to student achievement.

[Reveal] Spoiler: OA
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Re: Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending [#permalink]  08 Apr 2012, 18:17
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Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending enough money per student. However, this is clearly not the case as records show that the Redwood School District has double the annual budget of the neighboring Tilden School District.

Which of the following would most strongly weaken the argument above?

The critic's original argument is that the school doesn't spend enough money per student. The author counter-argues that the Redwood school has double the budget (notice it's not double the budget per student) than Tilden.

A ) The Tilden School District covers the students from 3 towns while the Redwood School District only covers the students from 2 towns.
Incorrect: We don't know how many students are in each of these towns so we can get no sense of the budget per student numbers for these two schools.

B ) The Tilden School District recently installed new computer labs in several of its schools.
Incorrect: This choice wants to trick you into assuming that Tilden spends more than Redwood, but we cannot assume Redwood also did not install the same new computers. But more importantly, this choice gives us no sense of how much either school is spending per student

C ) The Redwood School District pays its teachers a higher annual salary than Live Oak School District.
Incorrect: No mention of Live Oak School District in the original passage. And in any case, we have no sense of how much either school is paying per student. We don't want to assume anything

D ) The Redwood School District has three times as many students as the Tilden School District.
Correct: Now we have a sense of budget per student for the two districts. We know Redwood is double Tilden (pretend its $100 vs.$50) and now we know Redwood has 3 times as many students (pretend its 30 vs. 10). So Redwood is running at $3.33 per student and Tilden is going at$5.00 per student. This clearly disproves the point the author was trying to argue

E ) Studies show that the amount spent per student is directly related to student achievement.
Incorrect: Again, no sense of what the amount per student is for either school

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Re: Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending [#permalink]  09 Apr 2012, 07:19
Swoosh617 wrote:
Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending enough money per student. However, this is clearly not the case as records show that the Redwood School District has double the annual budget of the neighboring Tilden School District.

Which of the following would most strongly weaken the argument above?

The critic's original argument is that the school doesn't spend enough money per student. The author counter-argues that the Redwood school has double the budget (notice it's not double the budget per student) than Tilden.

A ) The Tilden School District covers the students from 3 towns while the Redwood School District only covers the students from 2 towns.
Incorrect: We don't know how many students are in each of these towns so we can get no sense of the budget per student numbers for these two schools.

B ) The Tilden School District recently installed new computer labs in several of its schools.
Incorrect: This choice wants to trick you into assuming that Tilden spends more than Redwood, but we cannot assume Redwood also did not install the same new computers. But more importantly, this choice gives us no sense of how much either school is spending per student

C ) The Redwood School District pays its teachers a higher annual salary than Live Oak School District.
Incorrect: No mention of Live Oak School District in the original passage. And in any case, we have no sense of how much either school is paying per student. We don't want to assume anything

D ) The Redwood School District has three times as many students as the Tilden School District.
Correct: Now we have a sense of budget per student for the two districts. We know Redwood is double Tilden (pretend its $100 vs.$50) and now we know Redwood has 3 times as many students (pretend its 30 vs. 10). So Redwood is running at $3.33 per student and Tilden is going at$5.00 per student. This clearly disproves the point the author was trying to argue

E ) Studies show that the amount spent per student is directly related to student achievement.
Incorrect: Again, no sense of what the amount per student is for either school

Thanks for the explanation. OK, let me get this straight:

The argument is trying to say that Redwood IS in fact spending enough money per student. In order to weaken this argument we must show that Redwood is not spending enough money per student. What I don't understand is that how having double the budget and 3 times as many students would translate to not spending enough money per student? Is it because Tilden has more money to spend per student ($5 per)? Also, how does all this prove that Redwood is not spending ENOUGH? Current Student Joined: 19 Mar 2012 Posts: 174 Location: United States Concentration: Finance, General Management GMAT 1: 750 Q50 V42 GPA: 3.69 WE: Analyst (Mutual Funds and Brokerage) Followers: 6 Kudos [?]: 39 [0], given: 13 Re: Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending [#permalink] 09 Apr 2012, 07:26 badboikilla wrote: Swoosh617 wrote: Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending enough money per student. However, this is clearly not the case as records show that the Redwood School District has double the annual budget of the neighboring Tilden School District. Which of the following would most strongly weaken the argument above? The critic's original argument is that the school doesn't spend enough money per student. The author counter-argues that the Redwood school has double the budget (notice it's not double the budget per student) than Tilden. A ) The Tilden School District covers the students from 3 towns while the Redwood School District only covers the students from 2 towns. Incorrect: We don't know how many students are in each of these towns so we can get no sense of the budget per student numbers for these two schools. B ) The Tilden School District recently installed new computer labs in several of its schools. Incorrect: This choice wants to trick you into assuming that Tilden spends more than Redwood, but we cannot assume Redwood also did not install the same new computers. But more importantly, this choice gives us no sense of how much either school is spending per student C ) The Redwood School District pays its teachers a higher annual salary than Live Oak School District. Incorrect: No mention of Live Oak School District in the original passage. And in any case, we have no sense of how much either school is paying per student. We don't want to assume anything D ) The Redwood School District has three times as many students as the Tilden School District. Correct: Now we have a sense of budget per student for the two districts. We know Redwood is double Tilden (pretend its$100 vs. $50) and now we know Redwood has 3 times as many students (pretend its 30 vs. 10). So Redwood is running at$3.33 per student and Tilden is going at $5.00 per student. This clearly disproves the point the author was trying to argue E ) Studies show that the amount spent per student is directly related to student achievement. Incorrect: Again, no sense of what the amount per student is for either school Please provide explanation! Thanks for the explanation. OK, let me get this straight: The argument is trying to say that Redwood IS in fact spending enough money per student. In order to weaken this argument we must show that Redwood is not spending enough money per student. What I don't understand is that how having double the budget and 3 times as many students would translate to not spending enough money per student? Is it because Tilden has more money to spend per student ($5 per)?

Also, how does all this prove that Redwood is not spending ENOUGH?

The argument is claiming that the critics' accusation that Redwood is not spending enough money is inaccurate. The argument says that because Redwood's budget is double that of Tilden's, critics shouldn't say that Redwood is not spending enough money. But critics are talking about amount spent per student, while the argument focuses in on the budget as a whole. So using answer choice D, I can counter argue that the critics' accusation still holds because even though Redwood's budget is doubled, their budget per student is still lower than that of Tilden's.
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Re: Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending [#permalink]  09 Apr 2012, 07:49
Swoosh617 wrote:
Swoosh617 wrote:
Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending enough money per student. However, this is clearly not the case as records show that the Redwood School District has double the annual budget of the neighboring Tilden School District.

Which of the following would most strongly weaken the argument above?

The critic's original argument is that the school doesn't spend enough money per student. The author counter-argues that the Redwood school has double the budget (notice it's not double the budget per student) than Tilden.

A ) The Tilden School District covers the students from 3 towns while the Redwood School District only covers the students from 2 towns.
Incorrect: We don't know how many students are in each of these towns so we can get no sense of the budget per student numbers for these two schools.

B ) The Tilden School District recently installed new computer labs in several of its schools.
Incorrect: This choice wants to trick you into assuming that Tilden spends more than Redwood, but we cannot assume Redwood also did not install the same new computers. But more importantly, this choice gives us no sense of how much either school is spending per student

C ) The Redwood School District pays its teachers a higher annual salary than Live Oak School District.
Incorrect: No mention of Live Oak School District in the original passage. And in any case, we have no sense of how much either school is paying per student. We don't want to assume anything

D ) The Redwood School District has three times as many students as the Tilden School District.
Correct: Now we have a sense of budget per student for the two districts. We know Redwood is double Tilden (pretend its $100 vs.$50) and now we know Redwood has 3 times as many students (pretend its 30 vs. 10). So Redwood is running at $3.33 per student and Tilden is going at$5.00 per student. This clearly disproves the point the author was trying to argue

E ) Studies show that the amount spent per student is directly related to student achievement.
Incorrect: Again, no sense of what the amount per student is for either school

Thanks for the explanation. OK, let me get this straight:

The argument is trying to say that Redwood IS in fact spending enough money per student. In order to weaken this argument we must show that Redwood is not spending enough money per student. What I don't understand is that how having double the budget and 3 times as many students would translate to not spending enough money per student? Is it because Tilden has more money to spend per student (\$5 per)?

Also, how does all this prove that Redwood is not spending ENOUGH?

The argument is claiming that the critics' accusation that Redwood is not spending enough money is inaccurate. The argument says that because Redwood's budget is double that of Tilden's, critics shouldn't say that Redwood is not spending enough money. But critics are talking about amount spent per student, while the argument focuses in on the budget as a whole. So using answer choice D, I can counter argue that the critics' accusation still holds because even though Redwood's budget is doubled, their budget per student is still lower than that of Tilden's.

Ahh .. got it! Thanks for the help
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Re: Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending [#permalink]  09 Apr 2012, 08:40
Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending enough money per student. However, this is clearly not the case as records show that the Redwood School District has double the annual budget of the neighboring Tilden School District.

We are looking for an option choice that will provide some new information that will undermine the conclusion. Something that will make us believe that this is not logical.

Which of the following would most strongly weaken the argument above?

A ) The Tilden School District covers the students from 3 towns while the Redwood School District only covers the students from 2 towns.
This is not relevant.
B ) The Tilden School District recently installed new computer labs in several of its schools.
This option talks about Tilden spending money but nothing about Redwood
C ) The Redwood School District pays its teachers a higher annual salary than Live Oak School District.
Live Oak School District ????? - No way
D ) The Redwood School District has three times as many students as the Tilden School District.
Correct Answer - R's budget is twice but the number of students is thrice. Hence, the spend per student is less
E ) Studies show that the amount spent per student is directly related to student achievement.
This is outside the SCOPE. The argument talks about the money spent and not about its effects
Re: Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending   [#permalink] 09 Apr 2012, 08:40
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# Critics accuse the Redwood School District of not spending

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