guerrero25 wrote:
Garment industry representative: Women's pants are usually sized according to the circumference of the wearer's natural waist – the narrowest part of her torso, located roughly at the height of her navel. For instance, a pair of women's pants tagged size 29 is designed to fit the average woman with a 29-inch natural waist.
Consultant: But then the sizing number is not an actual measurement of the pants themselves. If a pair of pants is tagged size 29, then no dimension of the pants themselves will necessarily measure 29 inches. The current sizing system is thus likely to be more confusing for consumers than, say, a system in which sizes are numbered according to the waistband circumference of the pants themselves.
Garment industry representative: You are correct that the size number does not necessarily represent an actual dimension of the pants. However, your proposed sizing system would lead to substantially more confusion than the current one.
Which of the following, if true, supports the garment industry representative's position and also undermines the consultant's argument?
(A) Most consumers are quick to learn the sizing systems of their preferred brands, regardless of how counterintuitive or unusual they may find those systems at first.
(B) Many shoppers will measure their favorite pairs of pants at home before a shopping trip, so that they can quickly evaluate the fit of unfamiliar brands of pants without having to try them on.
(C) Even when wearing identical brands and styles of pants, some women prefer a tighter fit, while other women with similar bodies prefer a looser fit; moreover, a given woman's preferences often vary unpredictably from style to style within the same brand.
(D) Many women find smaller size numbers psychologically appealing and, when choosing among identically sized garments, are more likely to buy those tagged with smaller size numbers.
(E) Different styles of women's pants are worn with their waistbands at widely varying heights, some as high as the wearer's natural waist and some as low as the wearer's hipbone.
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
(1) Identify the Question
The prompt asks for a statement that supports one of the two arguments in the passage while undermining the other. This problem thus combines the attributes of a "strengthen" question and a "weaken" question.
Fortunately, the basic mindset for strengthening arguments is the same as that for weakening them; the extra challenge, in a problem like this one, lies in keeping track of which argument you must support and which you must undermine.
(2) Deconstruct the Argument
The garment industry representative describes the currently prevailing sizing system for women's pants -- a system in which pants are sized according to the average wearer's natural waist circumference, rather than according to any actual dimension of the pants themselves. The consultant criticizes this system, claiming that an alternative system based on the measurements of the pants themselves would be less confusing. The garment industry representative argues the opposite; according to the representative, a system based on the actual measurements of the pants would be more confusing, not less so.
(3) State the Goal
You are to find a statement that supports the representative's position while undermining the consultant's. In other words, the desired statement should represent an advantage of the existing system (based on the wearer's body measurements) and, at the same time, a disadvantage of the consultant's proposed system (based on the measurements of the pants).
(4) Work from Wrong to Right
(A) If shoppers are quick to learn the sizing systems of their favorite brands, the most likely conclusion is that no sizing system will remain confusing for very long. Rather than supporting one side at the expense of the other, then, this statement renders the entire debate unimportant.
(B) This statement supports the notion of a system based on the measurements of the pants, rather than on those of the wearer's body. This choice thus accomplishes the opposite of what is desired: it supports the consultant's argument and undermines the representative's.
(C) If this statement is true, then a sizing system based on the wearer's body measurements cannot feasibly account for the range of preferences desired; a system based on the measurements of the pants themselves could possibly do so. This choice thus accomplishes the opposite of what is desired: it supports the consultant's argument and undermines the representative's.
(D) This statement provides evidence that many shoppers would be more psychologically pleased by a system based on their waist measurement, as that number (as described) will be smaller than the corresponding number for the waistband of the pants themselves. However, the argument is not concerned with determining which system would be more psychologically appealing to shoppers; it is concerned only with which system would be less confusing to them. This choice gives no evidence that either system is more or less confusing than the other, so it is irrelevant.
(E) CORRECT. If this statement is true, then, under a system based on the measurements of the pants themselves (as proposed by the consultant), shoppers would have to know the exact height at which every style of pants was designed to be worn, as well as their own preferred size at each of those heights. That system would thus be much more complicated -- and therefore more confusing -- than the existing system, in which each shopper only needs to know one measurement (her natural waistline).
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Updated on: 14 Oct 2013, 11:23
45%
(02:55)
wrong 
