Find all School-related info fast with the new School-Specific MBA Forum

 It is currently 27 Jul 2016, 03:14

### 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

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

# Events & Promotions

###### Events & Promotions in June
Open Detailed Calendar

# The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a

Author Message
TAGS:

### Hide Tags

Intern
Joined: 09 Jun 2012
Posts: 31
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 16 [0], given: 13

Re: The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a [#permalink]

### Show Tags

09 Oct 2012, 23:38
I selected B. Learned that for questions that have survey/data points, the conclusion can't be too generalized. Thanks for the explanations given.
Verbal Forum Moderator
Joined: 16 Jun 2012
Posts: 1153
Location: United States
Followers: 229

Kudos [?]: 2465 [0], given: 123

Re: The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a [#permalink]

### Show Tags

25 Aug 2013, 12:35
jaituteja wrote:

Hi Jai

I'm happy to help.

IMPORTANT NOTES:
This question is about “sampling” like the technique used in statistic (Quant).
KEY point is: the sample used to generalize the whole set MUST be comprehensive enough.

ANALYZE THE STIMULUS:

Fact: The average age of chief executive officers (CEO’s) in a large sample of companies is 57.
Fact: The average age of CEO’s in those same companies 20 years ago was approximately eight years younger.
Conclusion: CEO’s in general tend to be older now.

Which of the following casts the most doubt on the conclusion drawn above?

(A) The dates when the CEO’s assumed their current positions have not been specified.
Wrong. A may weaken or NOT. What if the CEO’s are appointed to their position at younger ages. Thus, A does not weaken the conclusion.

(B) No information is given concerning the average number of years that CEO’s remain in office.
Wrong. The average number of years in office DIFFERS from how old the CEO’s are when they are appointed to their positions.

(C) The information is based only on companies that have been operating for at least 20 years.
Correct. C weakens the conclusion by showing that the sample used to GENERALIZE the conclusion is not comprehensive. The argument just uses information of companies operating for at least 20 years to make a conclusion for every CEO’s.

(D) Only approximate information is given concerning the average age of the CEO’s 20 years ago.
Wrong. The conclusion may be still correct if the information of the average age of the CEO’s 20 years ago is COMPRESHENSIVE enough. It means the sample can represent the whole set.

(E) Information concerning the exact number of companies in the sample has not been given.
Wrong. Out of scope. We do not need information about how many companies in the sample. There are 20, or 200. We don’t know. Thus, E does not help.

Hope it helps.
_________________

Please +1 KUDO if my post helps. Thank you.

"Designing cars consumes you; it has a hold on your spirit which is incredibly powerful. It's not something you can do part time, you have do it with all your heart and soul or you're going to get it wrong."

Chris Bangle - Former BMW Chief of Design.

Intern
Joined: 05 Sep 2013
Posts: 3
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 0 [0], given: 8

Re: The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a [#permalink]

### Show Tags

09 Oct 2013, 10:30
Why not E. If the number of the companies used for base of calculation of the average is different between the years, then the conclusion is wrong and weaken the argument. Still C is not understandable as it does not give us any hidden assumption regarding generalization of the companies to all market. I think we can not make such assumption.
Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor
Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Posts: 6755
Location: Pune, India
Followers: 1875

Kudos [?]: 11541 [0], given: 219

Re: The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a [#permalink]

### Show Tags

09 Oct 2013, 21:29
Expert's post
Fariz wrote:
Why not E. If the number of the companies used for base of calculation of the average is different between the years, then the conclusion is wrong and weaken the argument. Still C is not understandable as it does not give us any hidden assumption regarding generalization of the companies to all market. I think we can not make such assumption.

(E) is not correct.
The argument gives the following information:
"The average age of chief executive officers (CEO’s) in a large sample of companies is 57. The average age of CEO’s in those same companies 20 years ago was approximately eight years younger."

We know the sample is large and the same companies were a part of the research 20 yrs back too. As for the number of companies being a bit different, I don't see how that is a problem - say there were 100 companies last time and 90 this time (10 shut shop). These 90 are still representative of the previous 100.

The problem is that from this data we are generalizing - CEO’s in general tend to be older now.

What if these companies (which are at least 20 yrs old) are not representative of all companies. Then we cannot generalize. What if the newer companies have very young CEOs? Hence (C) weakens the argument.
_________________

Karishma
Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor
My Blog

Get started with Veritas Prep GMAT On Demand for $199 Veritas Prep Reviews Intern Joined: 05 Sep 2013 Posts: 3 Followers: 0 Kudos [?]: 0 [0], given: 8 Re: The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a [#permalink] ### Show Tags 10 Oct 2013, 01:12 Thanks. Please advice me how to improve my verbal understanding skills. I would like to register for the Veritas Prep courses. Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor Joined: 16 Oct 2010 Posts: 6755 Location: Pune, India Followers: 1875 Kudos [?]: 11541 [0], given: 219 Re: The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a [#permalink] ### Show Tags 10 Oct 2013, 21:48 Expert's post Fariz wrote: Thanks. Please advice me how to improve my verbal understanding skills. I would like to register for the Veritas Prep courses. I have responded to your pm. Let me know if you need any other details. _________________ Karishma Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor My Blog Get started with Veritas Prep GMAT On Demand for$199

Veritas Prep Reviews

Senior Manager
Joined: 03 Dec 2012
Posts: 367
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 98 [0], given: 291

Re: The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a [#permalink]

### Show Tags

11 Oct 2013, 20:45
Good question Sudipto... I fell for B. Good reasoning by karishma. Now i know that wenevr I get a sample data question I am gonna view it conscientiously.
Intern
Joined: 31 Mar 2014
Posts: 20
Concentration: Operations, General Management
Schools: IIMA (PGPX)
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 11 [1] , given: 1

The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a [#permalink]

### Show Tags

29 Aug 2014, 09:26
1
KUDOS
he average age of chief executive officers (CEO’s) in a large sample of companies is 57. The average age of CEO’s in those same companies 20 years ago was approximately eight years younger. On the basis of those data, it can be concluded that CEO’s in general tend to be older now.
Which of the following casts the most doubt on the conclusion drawn above?

Good question and this sort of reasoning is used in real life also.
Conclusion : CEOs are older now in general .
Arrived at this conclusion : By comparing ages of a specific group.
Assumption : This particular group is representative of the overall industry 20 years ago and even now.

Break this and you have your weaken answer. Say the sample excludes all the companies whose ceo is in his 20s. Then it is invalidated as it is not accurate representation of entire industry.

(A) The dates when the CEO’s assumed their current positions have not been specified. ---> I am not interested in writing history of a company . My conclusion is about ceos are older
(B) No information is given concerning the average number of years that CEO’s remain in office. ---> It is not talking about sample and ceos remain in office so what do get about if they are getting older or younger. Nothing
(C) The information is based only on companies that have been operating for at least 20 years. --> Breaks the sample. Think of it this way, in the last 20 years, if so many companies with young ceos have started operations then the sample is not taking these new changes but sticking to its old companies that were there 20 years back. So average age of ceo at present is lesser. Thus, this is right answer.
(D) Only approximate information is given concerning the average age of the CEO’s 20 years ago. --> ofs
(E) Information concerning the exact number of companies in the sample has not been given. --> ofs
Manager
Joined: 04 Mar 2014
Posts: 145
Location: India
GMAT 1: 710 Q49 V38
WE: Information Technology (Consulting)
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 12 [0], given: 178

Re: The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a [#permalink]

### Show Tags

20 Oct 2014, 01:38
Great explanation!Thanks!+1
Manager
Joined: 05 Mar 2013
Posts: 80
Location: United States
GMAT 1: 670 Q49 V33
GPA: 3.56
WE: Marketing (Telecommunications)
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 13 [0], given: 12

Re: The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a [#permalink]

### Show Tags

20 Oct 2014, 12:17
for many of us the debate will be b/w C & E … If we look carefully at E it just states that the number has not been given
the answer can be 2 or 20000 in one case it strengthens but in the other case it weakens … thus E cannot be the correct weakener
GMAT Club Legend
Joined: 01 Oct 2013
Posts: 8795
Followers: 770

Kudos [?]: 159 [0], given: 0

Re: The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a [#permalink]

### Show Tags

17 Feb 2016, 20:06
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.
Manager
Joined: 19 Jan 2016
Posts: 53
Followers: 0

Kudos [?]: 33 [0], given: 170

Re: The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a [#permalink]

### Show Tags

08 May 2016, 04:04
C point out that companies in sample are older. NOT CEO older.

Posted from my mobile device
_________________

---------------------------------------------------------
Please kudos me if this helps. Thank you.

Re: The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a   [#permalink] 08 May 2016, 04:04

Go to page   Previous    1   2   [ 32 posts ]

Similar topics Replies Last post
Similar
Topics:
20 The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a 19 01 Dec 2009, 09:42
16 The average age of chief executive officers in a large 32 19 Apr 2009, 19:28
The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a 15 24 Jul 2008, 10:01
8 The average age of chief executive officers (CEOs) in a 8 04 Jun 2008, 20:28
The average age of chief executive officers (CEO s) in a 14 09 Oct 2006, 10:38
Display posts from previous: Sort by