anilnandyala wrote:
Many buyers of fashion clothing are inclined to contribute to charitable organizations, and are more likely to purchase clothing from companies that donate a portion of their profits to charity. Next weekend, a variety of fashion clothing retailers will hold sample sales at a downtown event; the event’s organizers plan to hand out flyers listing which of the retailers donate to charity from their profits, in the hope of increasing those companies’ sales at the event.
Which of the following, if true, most calls into question the appropriateness of the organizers’ plan?
A) The cost to the organizers of designing and printing the flyers is equivalent to half an average day’s worth of sample-sale profits for one of the retailers at the event.
B) Many of the retailers who donate profits to charity do so in order to garner tax breaks, rather than for purely altruistic reasons.
C) Among the retailers who will hold sample sales at next week’s event, those that donate a portion of their profits to charity far outnumber those that do not.
D) Of the retailers at the event that donate a portion of their profits to charity, most have publicized those donations extensively in their advertising.
E) Many of the retailers who donate a portion of their profits to charity vary that portion from season to season, allocating a greater portion of their profits to charity during peak sales seasons.
Hello.
Very Gmat-like question.
THEORIES - WEAKEN QUESTION:Weaken is one of the most popular question shown on the test. Basically,
there are three scenarios used in weaken question.1. Incomplete information. The argument concludes without sufficient information backed up. i.e. the murder rate in county X is highest in U.S., so county X is most dangerous place to live.
Ask yourself: there are any researches or statistic for the murder rate? If yes, please show.
2. Incorrect comparison. The argument concludes by using wrong comparison. i.e. in lab, diamond can be created under specific pressure and temperature, so we can use this temperature and pressure to determine how natural diamond created.
Ask your self: the physical characteristics of natural diamond and artificial diamond are the same? If no, the comparison is wrong.
3. Qualified conclusion. The argument’s conclusion is based on specific conditions, but we don’t know those conditions are valid or not. i.e. I can get 700+ gmat by studying 5 hours a day, so with that score I can be accepted in HBS next year.
Ask yourself: Key condition to get 700+ gmat is studying 5 hours a day. Whether he/she have enough time to stick with his/her plan? The condition is not solid.
From my experience, the third type – qualified conclusion – is the most difficult to realize in the test and is the most difficult one to weaken.
ANALYZE THE QUESTION:Fact: Buyers of fashion clothing are inclined to contribute to charitable organizations, and are more likely to purchase clothing from companies that donate a portion of their profits to charity.
Fact: Next weekend, a variety of fashion clothing retailers will hold sample sales at a downtown event;
Conclusion/plan:
Hand out flyers listing, which of the retailers donate to charity from their profits,
will increase those companies’ sales at the event.
Pre-thinking: Clearly, this is qualified conclusion type. The conclusion based on a condition flyers will attract customers. If not, the plan is failed. So immediately ask yourself: this condition is valid, what if customers already know about information shown on the flyers. If customers are not interested, is the plan able to success?
ANALYZE EACH OPTION:Which of the following, if true, most calls into question the appropriateness of the organizers’ plan?
A) The cost to the organizers of designing and printing the flyers is equivalent to half an average day’s worth of sample-sale profits for one of the retailers at the event.
Wrong. Out of scope. Nothing about costs of printing the flyers.
B) Many of the retailers who donate profits to charity do so in order to garner tax breaks, rather than for purely altruistic reasons.
Wrong. Out of scope. Nothing about “garner tax breaks”
C) Among the retailers who will hold sample sales at next week’s event, those that donate a portion of their profits to charity far outnumber those that do not.
Wrong. Not weaken. If customers are interested in retailer who donate a portion of their profits to charity, the plan is successful. It doesn’t matter how many retailer donating or not donating.
D) Of the retailers at the event that donate a portion of their profits to charity, most have publicized those donations extensively in their advertising.
Correct. If customers already know about the information shown on the flyers, the flyer does not help to increase sales.
E) Many of the retailers who donate a portion of their profits to charity vary that portion from season to season, allocating a greater portion of their profits to charity during peak sales seasons.
Wrong. Totally out of scope. The argument only talk about the effectiveness of the plan – hand out flyer – in the next week even. That’s it. Nothing about sales seasons or stuff like that
Hope it helps.