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If Sarah were a concert pianist for a major orchestra, she

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If Sarah were a concert pianist for a major orchestra, she [#permalink] New post 04 Jun 2008, 16:51
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If Sarah were a concert pianist for a major orchestra, she would be famous. She is not a concert pianist since she is not famous.

The conclusion above is unsound because the author does not consider that
(A) Sarah could be a famous actress.
(B) Sarah could be a harpist for a major orchestra.
(C) Sarah could be a pianist with a rock group.
(D) Sarah could be a concert pianist with a minor orchestra.
(E) Sarah could be famous for another reason.
Please explain.

The author concludes Sarah is not famous because she is not a concert pianist. There could be other reasons for her to be famous. So are we concentrating only on the orchestra part?
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 04 Jun 2008, 16:54
I believe the OA is D, but E seemed just as plausible to me. I'd like some clarifications on this too.
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 04 Jun 2008, 18:08
Yes, I believe the flaw in the argument is stemming from orchestra part. Consider C, D and E:

E – out of scope because any other reason is not mentioned. Like wise, A and B are also out of scope too.

The tie is between C and D: C mentions pianist with a rock group. It is possible that rock group employs not as vivid and elaborate piano numbers as musical orchestra. Moreover, rock group is not mentioned as part of the original argument. So Only D survives.
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 04 Jun 2008, 20:48
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I guess this is the classic conditional reasoning CR.

If A then B => the only other statement that holds true in this scenario is
If not B, then not A( the contrapositive ).

consider the example:
If u study(A), then you will score well on the the GMAT(B).
the only statement that will survive is
If you did not score well on the gmat(not B), you did not study(not A).
but not,
If you did not study(not A), you will not score well on the GMAT(not B): You might be a genius and dont need to study etc.

In the same vein,
If Sarah is not a concert pianist(not A), she is not famous(not B) -- does not hold true as she could be famous for another reason. I guess E fits this scenario.

Wats the OA?
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 04 Jun 2008, 21:40
Sunny143 wrote:
I guess this is the classic conditional reasoning CR.

If A then B => the only other statement that holds true in this scenario is
If not B, then not A( the contrapositive ).

consider the example:
If u study(A), then you will score well on the the GMAT(B).
the only statement that will survive is
If you did not score well on the gmat(not B), you did not study(not A).
but not,
If you did not study(not A), you will not score well on the GMAT(not B): You might be a genius and dont need to study etc.

In the same vein,
If Sarah is not a concert pianist(not A), she is not famous(not B) -- does not hold true as she could be famous for another reason. I guess E fits this scenario.

Wats the OA?


Good explanation!
I choose D.

To reverse the causality, merely negation and causality replace remains same cause and effect. Conclusion has problem with concert pianist for WHAT? only remaining initial causality if SHE IS NOT A CONCERT PIANIST OF MAJOR ORCHESTRA.
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 05 Jun 2008, 02:13
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I choose to go with E.

As mentioned in the statement - She is not a concert pianist ....so C and D are out. A and B are hypothetical...

E seems to be fine.


OA?
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 05 Jun 2008, 02:20
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D is the correct answer here
E is not the right choice here since the question stem does not talk about other reasons

What is the OA for this
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 05 Jun 2008, 02:25
goalsnr wrote:
The author concludes Sarah is not famous because she is not a concert pianist. There could be other reasons for her to be famous. So are we concentrating only on the orchestra part?


Vice-versa.

The author concludes: She is not a concert pianist since=because she is not famous

D directly says that she still may be a concert pianist even though she is not famous.


if S were X in A, S would be F. S is not F. Therefore, S is not X in A. [Assumption: It is possible to be X only if X is X in A]. Therefore, S is not X.
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 05 Jun 2008, 02:41
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IMO its D .
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 05 Jun 2008, 06:54
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goalsnr wrote:
If Sarah were a concert pianist for a major orchestra, she would be famous. She is not a concert pianist since she is not famous.

The conclusion above is unsound because the author does not consider that
(A) Sarah could be a famous actress.
(B) Sarah could be a harpist for a major orchestra.
(C) Sarah could be a pianist with a rock group.
(D) Sarah could be a concert pianist with a minor orchestra.
(E) Sarah could be famous for another reason.
Please explain.

The author concludes Sarah is not famous because she is not a concert pianist. There could be other reasons for her to be famous. So are we concentrating only on the orchestra part?


only data that can be properly inferred from first sentence is
If Sarah is not famous, she is NOT a concert pianist with major orchestra.

I will go with D.
If E were correct then why not A,B,C?
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 05 Jun 2008, 07:07
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Interesting one..!!!! It has taken some time for me to shift from E to D....finally i will go with D..!!!
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 05 Jun 2008, 07:21
goalsnr wrote:
If Sarah were a concert pianist for a major orchestra, she would be famous. She is not a concert pianist since she is not famous.

The conclusion above is unsound because the author does not consider that
(A) Sarah could be a famous actress.
(B) Sarah could be a harpist for a major orchestra.
(C) Sarah could be a pianist with a rock group.
(D) Sarah could be a concert pianist with a minor orchestra.
(E) Sarah could be famous for another reason.
Please explain.

The author concludes Sarah is not famous because she is not a concert pianist. There could be other reasons for her to be famous. So are we concentrating only on the orchestra part?


D. This is a good one b/c it tests our attention to detail We are so use to seeing CR's that say X means Y, but Y doesnt always mean X.

Here X means Y. But we dont have the second part as discussed above. We know she is not famous as stated. So the possibility of being Y is removed.

Now all we need to figure out is whether she can be X, which she can be just not in a major orchestra.
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 05 Jun 2008, 16:04
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 05 Jun 2008, 16:23
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A, B: out of scope
c: rock group is not relevent
E: out b/c the stem says "she is not famous", but E says she could be famous
D: right answer
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 05 Jun 2008, 21:24
enough suspense goalsnr, whts the OA?
goalsnr wrote:
If Sarah were a concert pianist for a major orchestra, she would be famous. She is not a concert pianist since she is not famous.

The conclusion above is unsound because the author does not consider that
(A) Sarah could be a famous actress.
(B) Sarah could be a harpist for a major orchestra.
(C) Sarah could be a pianist with a rock group.
(D) Sarah could be a concert pianist with a minor orchestra.
(E) Sarah could be famous for another reason.
Please explain.

The author concludes Sarah is not famous because she is not a concert pianist. There could be other reasons for her to be famous. So are we concentrating only on the orchestra part?
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 06 Jun 2008, 07:00
ritula wrote:
enough suspense goalsnr, whts the OA?
goalsnr wrote:
If Sarah were a concert pianist for a major orchestra, she would be famous. She is not a concert pianist since she is not famous.

The conclusion above is unsound because the author does not consider that
(A) Sarah could be a famous actress.
(B) Sarah could be a harpist for a major orchestra.
(C) Sarah could be a pianist with a rock group.
(D) Sarah could be a concert pianist with a minor orchestra.
(E) Sarah could be famous for another reason.
Please explain.

The author concludes Sarah is not famous because she is not a concert pianist. There could be other reasons for her to be famous. So are we concentrating only on the orchestra part?


Ritula, BSD already gave out the OA.
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Re: CR - Sarah [#permalink] New post 06 Jun 2008, 07:02
Yes the OA is D.
Thanks for all the explanations
Re: CR - Sarah   [#permalink] 06 Jun 2008, 07:02
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