KS15 wrote:
Hi Mike,
Thanks for posting such questions. I really like
Magoosh-but I believe this question could have been of higher quality.
Here are the reasons I can't get to B as the answer-would appreciate your thoughts
The first BF is not an evidence but more like a judgement. Evidence is something that is a fact or number , statistic etc.
Also, if you see in B, the second BF is not a contrary conclusion, the contrary conclusion is that the ecologist disagree, and the second BF only supports this-so it is more of a contrary premise. So, of the 5 options, A looks the best .
Dear
KS15,
I'm happy to respond.
My friend, with all due respect, you are are still learning some of the basics, so you are not really in a position to pronoun proper judgment about the quality of GMAT practice CR question. One really ought to have years of experience in writing, explaining, and assessing practice questions before one is at the level necessary to appreciate what is involved in crafting a good question. It will considerably enhance your ability to learn right now if you approach everything that seems off to you with questions rather than with conclusions, with curiosity and humility rather than with judgments.
Your understanding of what the word "
evidence" means is far too narrow. For GMAT CR purposes, evidence is
any factual statement---anything that is not a statement of believe or opinion or the perspective of only one party.
1st BF =
[b]commercial shark fishing and shark hunting will resume in Diamond Bay[/b]
That is 100% factual. Everyone else we meet in the argument, citizens and ecologists, agree on this fact. It is 100% beyond dispute. This is clearly evidence.
Also, I believe you are confused on what the main conclusion of the argument is. The roles of the characters advocating each position is a hint.
Many citizens of the communities around the bay have hailed this move, believing that a decrease in sharks will lead to an increase in all smaller fish, including the endangered Green-Gilled Silverfish, whose only ecosystem is within Diamond Bay.
Let's call that conclusion #1. This is put forth by
citizens, that is, non-specialists and non-experts, and this is what they "
believe" (not the strongest word).
Then we get this:
Ecologists, though, disagree, pointing out that a decrease in sharks will lead to a surge in Sea Lions, which are the principal predator of the Green-Gilled Silverfish.
Let's call this conclusion #2. Notice the speakers now are "
ecologists," that is, trained Ph.D. scientists. Unlike the citizens, these folks are the
experts. Notice also that this conclusion essentially disproves and discredits conclusion #1.
Thus, conclusion #1 cannot be the author's main conclusion. No author finishes his argument by disproving and discrediting what we wants to demonstrate! The reason conclusion #2 comes last and occupies a firmer position is that this, not #1, is the author's main conclusion.
Conclusion #1 was a preliminary and incorrect conclusion. Since it was the direct opposite of conclusion #2, the author's main conclusion, we can call conclusion #1 a "
contrary conclusion." In fact, each conclusion is contrary to the other, but #1 is wrong and #2 is right.
Choice (A) is not right, because the first BF provides support for conclusion #1, which is NOT the main conclusion.
Does all this make sense?
Mike
_________________
Mike McGarry
Magoosh Test PrepEducation is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. — William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)