honchos wrote:
Which of the following, if true, most logically completes the argument below?
Manufacturers are now required to make all cigarette lighters child-resistant by equipping them with safety levers. But this change is unlikely to result in a significant reduction in the number of fires caused by children playing with lighters, because children given the opportunity can figure out how to work the safety levers and ………..
(A) the addition of the safety levers has made lighters more expensive than they were before the requirement was instituted
(B) adults are more likely to leave child-resistant lighters than non-child-resistant lighters in places that are accessible to children
(C) many of the fi res started by young children are quickly detected and extinguished by their parents
(D) unlike child-resistant lighters, lighters that are not child-resistant can be operated by children as young as two years old
(E) approximately 5,000 fires per year have been attributed to children playing with lighters before the safety levers were required
What is the stratregy for solving such question types.
Dear
honchos,
I'm happy to help with this.
First of all, here's a blog article on this question type:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-logic ... -argument/There's not really a quick-fix strategy for these, other than critical thinking and careful reading. One thing that helps is paying attention to all the "logic" words of the argument: "
therefore", "
since", "
because", "
although", etc.
Here' the last, incomplete sentence of that argument:
But this change is unlikely to result in a significant reduction in the number of fires caused by children playing with lighters, because children given the opportunity can figure out how to work the safety levers and ………..
I've highlighted the "logic" words. The initial "
but" indicates a sharp contrast with the previous sentence, and this is consistent with content. First sentence --- manufacturers try to solve a problem by introducing safety levers --- then contrast --- BUT, this doesn't solve the problem.
Then we get the "
because", and then reason #1, and then the word "
and", which indicates we need another, parallel reason --- that is to say, another reason why introducing safety levers to lighters will NOT solve the problem of children playing with them & starting fires. Which answer choice could be another reason why introducing the safety levers will not solve the problem of kids playing with fire & burning houses down?
(A) economic, irrelevant
(B) this could be an additional reason, that would work well with reason #1
(C) has nothing to do with the introduction of safety levers
(D) the opposite of what we want, something that makes the lighters with safety levers more safe
(E) data from before safety levers were introduced, irrelevant
Pay attention to logic words
always in GMAT CR. These subtle "signposts" make all the different in the flow of the argument, and in "complete the argument" CR questions, they are absolutely crucial for identifying precisely what you need in the blank.
Does this make sense?
Mike