Last visit was: 25 Apr 2024, 13:42 It is currently 25 Apr 2024, 13:42

Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
SORT BY:
Date
Tags:
Show Tags
Hide Tags
User avatar
Manager
Manager
Joined: 29 Jan 2011
Posts: 160
Own Kudos [?]: 711 [16]
Given Kudos: 87
Send PM
User avatar
Senior Manager
Senior Manager
Joined: 29 Aug 2010
Status:Prep started for the n-th time
Posts: 289
Own Kudos [?]: 538 [0]
Given Kudos: 37
Send PM
User avatar
Manager
Manager
Joined: 09 Feb 2011
Posts: 175
Own Kudos [?]: 459 [4]
Given Kudos: 13
Concentration: General Management, Social Entrepreneurship
Schools: HBS '14 (A)
GMAT 1: 770 Q50 V47
Send PM
User avatar
Manager
Manager
Joined: 14 Feb 2010
Posts: 89
Own Kudos [?]: 296 [0]
Given Kudos: 8
Location: Banaglore
 Q49  V29 GMAT 2: 700  Q49  V35
Send PM
Re: Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in th [#permalink]
siddhans wrote:
Can someone explain the reasoning behind this?

Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in the incidence of twin births. Rather, this increase can be attributed to the fact that women are waiting longer to become mothers. Statistically, women over 35 are more likely to conceive twins, and these women comprise a greater percentage of women giving birth than ever before.

The argument above is flawed in that it ignores the possibility that

many women over 35 who give birth to twins are not first-time mothers
women over 35 are not the only women who give birth to twins
the correlation between fertility treatments and the increased incidence of multiple births may be a coincidence
on average, women over 35 are no more likely to conceive identical twins than other women are
women over 35 are more likely to resort to the sorts of fertility treatments that tend to yield twin births


I will go with option E. this is a perfect example of "Correlation causation" fallacy. :)
avatar
Manager
Manager
Joined: 11 Aug 2011
Posts: 134
Own Kudos [?]: 1713 [1]
Given Kudos: 886
Location: United States
Concentration: Economics, Finance
GMAT Date: 10-16-2013
GPA: 3
WE:Analyst (Computer Software)
Send PM
Re: Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in th [#permalink]
1
Kudos
siddhans wrote:
Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in the incidence of twin births. Rather, this increase can be attributed to the fact that women are waiting longer to become mothers. Statistically, women over 35 are more likely to conceive twins, and these women comprise a greater percentage of women giving birth than ever before.

The argument above is flawed in that it ignores the possibility that

many women over 35 who give birth to twins are not first-time mothers
women over 35 are not the only women who give birth to twins
the correlation between fertility treatments and the increased incidence of multiple births may be a coincidence
on average, women over 35 are no more likely to conceive identical twins than other women are
women over 35 are more likely to resort to the sorts of fertility treatments that tend to yield twin births


Can someone explain the reasoning behind this?


Let me try this
The argument is based on the fact that age factor of women ( over 35) is responsible for higher percentage of twins.
Lets state this as cause A.
It refutes the fact that fertility treatment is responsible for this trend.
Lets state this as cause B.

According to the argument cause A -> result
but what if age of women is forcing them to take the fertility treatment i.e cause B -> cause A -> higher percentage of twins.

Answer choice analysis:

A. many women over 35 who give birth to twins are not first-time mothers - irrelevant , even if the mothers are not first time mothers then also the conclusion remains
B. women over 35 are not the only women who give birth to twins - does not help explain why women over 35 are giving more births to twins.
C.the correlation between fertility treatments and the increased incidence of multiple births may be a coincidence - again irrelevant
D. on average, women over 35 are no more likely to conceive identical twins than other women are - against the premise
E. women over 35 are more likely to resort to the sorts of fertility treatments that tend to yield twin births - correct for the reasons stated above.
Board of Directors
Joined: 17 Jul 2014
Posts: 2163
Own Kudos [?]: 1180 [0]
Given Kudos: 236
Location: United States (IL)
Concentration: Finance, Economics
GMAT 1: 650 Q49 V30
GPA: 3.92
WE:General Management (Transportation)
Send PM
Re: Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in th [#permalink]
siddhans wrote:
Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in the incidence of twin births. Rather, this increase can be attributed to the fact that women are waiting longer to become mothers. Statistically, women over 35 are more likely to conceive twins, and these women comprise a greater percentage of women giving birth than ever before.

The argument above is flawed in that it ignores the possibility that

many women over 35 who give birth to twins are not first-time mothers
women over 35 are not the only women who give birth to twins
the correlation between fertility treatments and the increased incidence of multiple births may be a coincidence
on average, women over 35 are no more likely to conceive identical twins than other women are
women over 35 are more likely to resort to the sorts of fertility treatments that tend to yield twin births


Can someone explain the reasoning behind this?


oh this one was easy
E is the answer.
if women over 35 mostly use fertility treatments, and as a result give birth to twins, then most likely fertility treatments is the cause for getting twins :)
Board of Directors
Joined: 11 Jun 2011
Status:QA & VA Forum Moderator
Posts: 6072
Own Kudos [?]: 4689 [0]
Given Kudos: 463
Location: India
GPA: 3.5
WE:Business Development (Commercial Banking)
Send PM
Re: Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in th [#permalink]
siddhans wrote:
Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in the incidence of twin births.Rather, this increase can be attributed to the fact that women are waiting longer to become mothers. Statistically, women over 35 are more likely to conceive twins, and these women comprise a greater percentage of women giving birth than ever before.

The argument above is flawed in that it ignores the possibility that

many women over 35 who give birth to twins are not first-time mothers
women over 35 are not the only women who give birth to twins
the correlation between fertility treatments and the increased incidence of multiple births may be a coincidence
on average, women over 35 are no more likely to conceive identical twins than other women are
women over 35 are more likely to resort to the sorts of fertility treatments that tend to yield twin births


Can someone explain the reasoning behind this?


The conclusion of the stimulus is highlighted above...

We are told X is not responsible for Y and states that Y occurs due to Z
X= fertility treatments ; Y = incidence of twin births ; Z = women over 35 are more likely to conceive twins


Here the best thing to point out the flaw will be showing that Z is worked upon by X to reach the conclusion Y ; (E) does exactly that....
VP
VP
Joined: 12 Dec 2016
Posts: 1030
Own Kudos [?]: 1779 [0]
Given Kudos: 2562
Location: United States
GMAT 1: 700 Q49 V33
GPA: 3.64
Send PM
Re: Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in th [#permalink]
the question here is a weaken question. Whenever ones see "flaw" in the question, check the options first. If there are any words from the passage repeated, then the question is probably a weaken question.
D is wrong because of "identical twins"
Director
Director
Joined: 20 Dec 2015
Status:Learning
Posts: 876
Own Kudos [?]: 566 [0]
Given Kudos: 755
Location: India
Concentration: Operations, Marketing
GMAT 1: 670 Q48 V36
GRE 1: Q157 V157
GPA: 3.4
WE:Engineering (Manufacturing)
Send PM
Re: Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in th [#permalink]
E is the answer because it can so happen that women over the age of 35 are seeking treatment for fertility resulting in birth of twins .
Math Expert
Joined: 02 Sep 2009
Posts: 92915
Own Kudos [?]: 619010 [0]
Given Kudos: 81595
Send PM
Re: Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in th [#permalink]
Expert Reply
siddhans wrote:
Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in the incidence of twin births. Rather, this increase can be attributed to the fact that women are waiting longer to become mothers. Statistically, women over 35 are more likely to conceive twins, and these women comprise a greater percentage of women giving birth than ever before.

The argument above is flawed in that it ignores the possibility that

A. many women over 35 who give birth to twins are not first-time mothers
B. women over 35 are not the only women who give birth to twins
C. the correlation between fertility treatments and the increased incidence of multiple births may be a coincidence
D. on average, women over 35 are no more likely to conceive identical twins than other women are
E. women over 35 are more likely to resort to the sorts of fertility treatments that tend to yield twin births


KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:



E

Reading the question stem first (always a fine idea) for question 19 warns you to be on the alert for something the author has overlooked. The author argues against the notion that fertility treatments are responsible for the increased incidence of twins by presenting an alternative explanation-that the increase has occurred because more women are having children later in life, and these older women are statistically more likely to bear twins. This sounds plausible, but remember the key questions in GMAT causal arguments: Is the causality as simple as the author believes? Could another cause have been at work? If women over 35 are much more likely to use fertility treatments that often result in twin births, then it's possible that the twin births among older women are in fact due to fertility treatments. The problem (E) points out is not that the "alternative explanation" is illogical or impossible, but that it might be dependent on the very explanation it's supposed to replace.

(A) and (D) introduce irrelevant considerations. The author's argument is that fertility drugs aren't responsible for the increase in twins. It doesn't matter that, as (A) says, many of these older women aren't first time mothers. Nor does it matter that, as (D) says, these older women are no more likely to produce identical twins. As for (B), the author's point was simply that women over 35 are more likely to have twins than are younger women; her argument doesn't require that only women over 35 bear twins. (C) is wrong: since the author argues that the drugs are not responsible for the increased incidence of twins, she must believe, rather than overlook, the idea that any correlation between drugs and the increase of twin births is coincidental.
Manager
Manager
Joined: 03 Dec 2018
Posts: 133
Own Kudos [?]: 18 [0]
Given Kudos: 93
Send PM
Re: Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in th [#permalink]
Why is option C wrong? Clearly, option C states that the correlation is a coincidence. How to eliminate on solid grounds.
User avatar
Non-Human User
Joined: 01 Oct 2013
Posts: 17220
Own Kudos [?]: 848 [0]
Given Kudos: 0
Send PM
Re: Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in th [#permalink]
Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.
GMAT Club Bot
Re: Aggressive fertility treatments are not responsible for the rise in th [#permalink]
Moderators:
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
6921 posts
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
238 posts
CR Forum Moderator
832 posts

Powered by phpBB © phpBB Group | Emoji artwork provided by EmojiOne