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The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland

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The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink]

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11 Oct 2004, 18:19
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The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland has long been significantly lower than that in neighboring Borodia. Since Borodia dropped all tariffs on Vernlandian televisions three years ago, the number of televisions sold annually in Borodia has not changed. However, recent statistics show a drop in the number of television assemblers in Borodia. Therefore, updated trade statistics will probably indicate that the number of televisions Borodia imports annually from Vernland has increased.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. The number of television assemblers in Vernland has increased by at least as much as the number of television assemblers in Borodia has decreased.
B. Televisions assembled in Vernland have features that televisions assembled in Borodia do not have.
C. The average number of hours it takes a Borodian television assembler to assemble a television has not decreased significantly during the past three years.
D. The number of televisions assembled annually in Vernland has increased significantly during the past three years.
E. The difference between the hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland and the hourly wage of television assemblers in Borodia is likely to decrease in the next few years.
[Reveal] Spoiler: OA
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Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink]

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11 Dec 2005, 22:56
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The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland has long been significantly lower than that in neighboring Borodia. Since Borodia dropped all tariffs on Vernlandian televisions three years ago, the number of televisions sold annually in Borodia has not changed. However, recent statistics show a droip in the number of television assemblers in Borodia. Therefore, updated trade statistics will probably indicate that the number of televisions Borodia imports annually from Vernland has increased.

I believe this is clearly (C).

It is true that there was a drop in the number of television assemblers in Borodia.

But the total number of television sets assembled in Borodia does not need to be decreased, if the average number of hours taken to assemble one television set has significantly decreased.

Like this:

Before
- Number of TV assemblers = 10
- Average hour needed per one TV set = 2
- Number of TV sets assembled per day = 120

After
- Number of TV assemblers = 5
- Average hour needed per one TV set = 1
- Number of TV sets assembled per day = 120

Therefore, if the average hour needed to assemble one TV set is decreased, Borodia does not need to import more TV sets.

However, (D) doesn't have to be assumed since there also is a possibility that Vernland reduced the local sales of the TV sets and increased export, or that the demand for TV sets in Vernland decreased.
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Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink]

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11 Oct 2004, 18:27
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C. The average number of hours it takes a Borodian television assembler to assemble a television has not decreased significantly during the past three years.

This choice is the correct one - the author is assuming the time it takes to assembly one TV in Borodian has not changed. For if it had decreased, the whole argument would collaps > there would be less workers producing the same number of TVsets.
The argument doesn't mention that number of TVs decreased.

Last edited by michalky on 11 Oct 2004, 18:30, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink]

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17 Mar 2013, 02:00
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ratinarace wrote:
@gyanone....any tips for pre thinking for such assumptions...I really waste lot of time evaluating the choices...

Hi Ratinarace:

If you want to increase your critical thinking speed, I highly recommend you read "Critical Reasoning - Bible".
For assumption questions, we have 2 types: supporter assumption, and defender assumption. I won't talk in detail here. This question is asking you about supporter assumption.

The question wants you to explain the link: why a drop in the number of television assemblers in Borodia leads to an increase of TV import from Vernland. Clearly, there's a gap between "number of assemblers" and "TV import". The logic is: the number of Borodia TV assemblers decreases --> the number of TVs assembled in Borodia decreases --> Borodia has to import more TV from Vernland.

Name Q = the number of TV assemblers in Borodia
Name T = average hour/day to assemble a TV
Name K = the number of working hours/day for each assembler = constant.
Name P = total TV assembled/day = (K/T) x Q

The stimulus says Q decreased --> P only decrease if T stays the same of just decreases a little bit. Otherwise, if T decreases significantly --> P maybe increase --> so logic would be failed.

For instance:

Q= 100 people; T= 10 hours/TV; K = 10 hours --> the number of TV per a assembler per day = K/T = 10/10 = 1 TV/day --> total TV assembled/day = (K/T)xQ = 1 x 100 = 100 TVs

if Q changes to 50 people, T also decreases to 2.5 hours; K = 10 --> each person will assemble 4 TVs/day --> Total TV = 4 x 50 = 200 TVs --> P increases --> the logic is failed
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Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink]

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20 Jun 2008, 11:04
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I need help with this CR , I don't get the reason behind correct answer . I know the answer already , so some explanation with your replies will be helpful

The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland has long been significantly
lower than that in neighboring Borodia. Since Borodia dropped all tariffs on Vernlandian
televisions three years ago, the number of televisions sold annually in Borodia has not
changed. However, recent statistics show a droip in the number of television assemblers
in Borodia. Therefore, updated trade statistics will probably indicate that the number of
televisions Borodia imports annually from Vernland has increased.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. The number of television assemblers in Vernland has increased by at least as
much as the number of television assemblers in Borodia has decreased.
B. Televisions assembled in Vernland have features that televisions assembled in
Borodia do not have.
C. The average number of hours it takes a Borodian television assembler to assemble
a television has not decreased significantly during the past three years.
D. The number of televisions assembled annually in Vernland has increased
significantly during the past three years.
E. The difference between the hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland and
the hourly wage of television assemblers in Borodia is likely to decrease in the
next few years.
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Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink]

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29 Aug 2011, 06:06
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Good question.. C is correct..

The number of television sets sold in Borodia remains the same for three years.
Major difference between the three years as the stimulus states is that there is a decrease in the number of tv assemblers.

So in spite of the reduction in tv assemblers, the city still manages to sell the same number of tv sets. And the stimulus attributes the maintenance of the same number of tv sets sold in Borodia to the imports of tv sets from Vernland to fulfill the deficit created by loss of tv assemblers.

This conclusion can be arrived at provided the reduced tv assemblers do not speed up their work in assembling more tv sets than they generally do. Exactly this is what option C conveys. Hope this clarifies...

This is a defender type of assumption question!
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Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink]

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06 Mar 2013, 12:15
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If the number of televisions sold in Borodia has not changed, and the number television assemblers in Borodia has gone down, this can mean only two things.

1. The reduced number of assemblers in Borodia means lesser TVs produced in Borodia. The difference is then made up by importing TVs from Vernland
2. The reduced number of assemblers in Borodia are more productive now than they used to be - and they are able to produce the same number of televisions as earlier.

1 is stated explicitly in the stimulus. Lets look at the options to see if we can find 2, or a better assumption, somewhere.

(A): This is not an assumption. It is possible that the assemblers in Vernland are more productive, and for example one assembler in Vernland can produce twice the number of TVs produced by one assembler in Borodia. In that case even if the TVs are being imported from Vernland, the decrease in assemblers in Borodia need not confirm exactly to the increase in the number of assemblers in Vernland
(B): TV features are irrelevant to the argument here.
(C): This is exactly assumption 2 that we mapped out earlier. Correct.
(D): This does not help to reach the conclusion of the stimulus. For instance, it is possible that the local market in Vernland expanded in this period, and in that case the additional TVs would be needed to just satisfy local demand, not import demand for Borodia.
(E): The difference in wage rates is not a factor here.

C is therefore correct.
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Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink]

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23 Apr 2013, 12:24
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Answer is (C). I'll try to explain via a hypothetical dialogue.

First identify the conclusion, which in my own words, translates to

"Borodia must have imported more TVs"

A skeptic would then ask, "what makes you come to that conclusion?"

I reply -- "well, because of a few reasons, which are stated in my premises":

1) Borodia sold the same # of TVs for the past 3 years
2) Borodia lost some of its own TV assemblers

1+2 Combined) Borodia sold the same number of TVs while employing fewer assemblers.

1+2+Conclusion) Borodia sold the same number of TVs while employing fewer assemblers. Therefore, they must have imported more TVs

Skeptic, still skeptical, then asks: "well...what if somehow, just SOMEHOW, there was another way Borodia supplied its TVs while employing fewer employees?"

I then reply, "well...I assume there wasn't any other way."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now look at choice (C): The average number of hours it takes a Borodian television assembler to assemble a television has not decreased significantly during the past three years.

This is telling me the few remaining TV assemblers in Borodia might have become more efficient and produced more TVs per hour.
Tying it back to my hypothetical dialogue:

"Like I said, I assume there is no other way Borodia produced the same # of TVs as last year, including this scenario"

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Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink]

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05 Apr 2016, 05:39
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Expert's post
Nez wrote:
ASSUMPTION FLUX
Thanks VeritasPrepKarishma. Your explanation isn't very dissimilar from HKD1710's.
Just that yours lacked debilitating theories. Thanks.
I get this message from what both of you said. C is based on multilayered reasoning kind of.. which is common in the other og-700 level questions. In this unique one you essentially assess the options by asking WHAT led to the fact in the option? Then the WHAT has an answer that provides alternative cause to somthing in the premise... EVEN THOUGH what led to reduced hour, efficient process, might not necessarily offset the reduced output but the fact that it might is enough of a good assumption. am I right? cos if it MUST then it wouldn't be an assumption but an inference. And also, EVEN THOUGH this particular alternative cause didn't totally disprove the other cause(it didn't suggest slightly that both didn't play. it didn't show/suggest that the improved process totally offset output reduction such that no need for V import. We just assumed it). I get it.
What I didn't get is folks telling me negating C made the conclusion to crumble. Where did they get that from? it didn't work like that.

HKD1710 your question stamp thing. is it for real? I'll check it.

You are over-thinking this.
Why do you assume that there is reduced output? We know that number of hours and quality of effort are two different parameters. It is certainly possible that in 1 hour, you do the same work that I do in 3 hrs. So if I worked for 3 hrs while you did for 1 hr, can I say that your output MUST BE lower than mine? Will I wonder whether your increased productivity was able to completely offset the fewer hrs you took? No. For all I know, you could have done twice the work I did. When I say "fewer hrs but better productivity", you have no idea how to compare the output. So you can't really conclude anything.

You have certain premises. On the basis of those you arrive at a conclusion. Sometimes, to arrive at a conclusion, you assume a few things. You just have to identify one of the assumptions.

How do these premises lead to the conclusion?

- The hourly wage of assemblers in V is much lower than that in B.
- 3 yrs ago, B dropped all tariffs on TVs imported from V. (here I assumed that the price of V tv is now comparable to the price of a B tv)
- Number of TVs sold annually in B is same.
- But number of assemblers in B has decreased. (here I assumed that fewer tvs are getting made in B because fewer assemblers are working)

Conclusion: Trade statistics will probably indicate that the number of televisions B imports annually from V has increased.

If I negate the assumption, this is what I get:

- The hourly wage of assemblers in V is much lower than that in B.
- 3 yrs ago, B dropped all tariffs on TVs imported from V.
- Number of TVs sold annually in B is same.
- Number of assemblers in B has decreased. The assemblers of B have become much more productive.

Now, is there anything I would like to conclude from the given premises? Can I say that it indicates that B is importing tvs from V? No. We don't have any indication for the same. That is how negation of an assumption breaks down the conclusion.
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Get started with Veritas Prep GMAT On Demand for $199 Veritas Prep Reviews Senior Manager Joined: 11 Sep 2005 Posts: 324 Followers: 2 Kudos [?]: 216 [1] , given: 0 Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink] Show Tags 29 Sep 2007, 11:18 1 This post received KUDOS The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland has long been significantly lower than that in neighboring Borodia. Since Borodia dropped all tariffs on Vernlandian televisions three years ago, the number of televisions sold annually in Borodia has not changed. However, recent statistics show a droip in the number of television assemblers in Borodia. Therefore, updated trade statistics will probably indicate that the number of televisions Borodia imports annually from Vernland has increased. Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends? A. The number of television assemblers in Vernland has increased by at least as much as the number of television assemblers in Borodia has decreased. B. Televisions assembled in Vernland have features that televisions assembled in Borodia do not have. C. The average number of hours it takes a Borodian television assembler to assemble a television has not decreased significantly during the past three years. D. The number of televisions assembled annually in Vernland has increased significantly during the past three years. E. The difference between the hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland and the hourly wage of television assemblers in Borodia is likely to decrease in the next few years. Debated over A & D....finally I picked D....views with explanations are invited! VP Joined: 03 Apr 2007 Posts: 1366 Followers: 4 Kudos [?]: 570 [1] , given: 10 Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink] Show Tags 23 Jun 2008, 18:42 1 This post received KUDOS The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland has long been significantly lower than that in neighboring Borodia. Since Borodia dropped all tariffs on Vernlandian televisions three years ago, the number of televisions sold annually in Borodia has not changed. However, recent statistics show a droip in the number of television assemblers in Borodia. Therefore, updated trade statistics will probably indicate that the number of televisions Borodia imports annually from Vernland has increased. Given: 1.wages V < wages B 2.Borodia dropped all tariffs on Vernlandian televisions -> cheaper to import 3.the number of televisions sold annually in Borodia has not changed 4.droip in the number of television assemblers in Borodia 5.statistics will probably indicate that the number of televisions Borodia imports annually from Vernland has increased From the above 5 points we can deduce that - there is still a market for televisions in B, but the manufacturing has dropped and imports have increased.Its profitable to import TVs from V than manufacture in B. This is possible only 1.Wage/hr have not increased in V 2. Time taken to assembl ehas not increased C fits teh bill Director Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Posts: 648 Followers: 13 Kudos [?]: 479 [1] , given: 6 Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink] Show Tags 09 Mar 2009, 21:43 1 This post received KUDOS First of all please do not post OA immediately. Give us a chance to try, mate. Facts are: 1) Wage is lower in Vernland than Borodia 2) NO tax on imported TV from Vernland 3) Number of assemblers has decreased @ Borodia Outcome is: STILL TV sales at Borodia are not hampered. Conclusion: Only way it can happen if import has increased significantly. Assumption: But what if average number to assemble a TV has decreased drastically? So less assembler could still assemble same number of TV. A. The number of television assemblers in Vernland has increased by at least as much as the number of television assemblers in Borodia has decreased. – Not required essentially B. Televisions assembled in Vernland have features that televisions assembled in Borodia do not have. – Out of scope C. The average number of hours it takes a Borodian television assembler to assemble a television has not decreased significantly during the past three years. - True D. The number of televisions assembled annually in Vernland has increased significantly during the past three years. -- Same kind of statement like A’s. E. The difference between the hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland and the hourly wage of television assemblers in Borodia is likely to decrease in the next few years -- Future aspect is OOS _________________ If You're Not Living On The Edge, You're Taking Up Too Much Space Last edited by priyankur_saha@ml.com on 09 Mar 2009, 21:46, edited 1 time in total. Senior Manager Joined: 16 Jul 2009 Posts: 261 Followers: 5 Kudos [?]: 304 [1] , given: 3 Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink] Show Tags 11 Oct 2009, 13:28 1 This post received KUDOS The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland has long been significantly lower than that in neighboring Borodia. Since Borodia dropped all tariffs on Vernlandian televisions three years ago, the number of televisions sold annually in Borodia has not changed. However, recent statistics show a droip in the number of television assemblers in Borodia. Therefore, updated trade statistics will probably indicate that the number of televisions Borodia imports annually from Vernland has increased. Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends? A. The number of television assemblers in Vernland has increased by at least as much as the number of television assemblers in Borodia has decreased. B. Televisions assembled in Vernland have features that televisions assembled in Borodia do not have. C. The average number of hours it takes a Borodian television assembler to assemble a television has not decreased significantly during the past three years. D. The number of televisions assembled annually in Vernland has increased significantly during the past three years. E. The difference between the hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland and the hourly wage of television assemblers in Borodia is likely to decrease in the next few years. Manager Joined: 08 Oct 2009 Posts: 66 Followers: 1 Kudos [?]: 23 [1] , given: 5 Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink] Show Tags 11 Oct 2009, 20:00 1 This post received KUDOS Is it [C] because if the # of hours it takes assemblers in Borodia has decreased, then fewer assemblers would be needed to assemble the same # of TV's as 3 years prior. Hence it must be assumed that this is not the case. Manager Joined: 26 Aug 2005 Posts: 60 Followers: 1 Kudos [?]: 5 [1] , given: 0 Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink] Show Tags 12 Oct 2009, 01:21 1 This post received KUDOS i think it's (C). If number of televisions sold in Borodia has not changed, and the number of assemblers decreased in Boradia, it could mean that the number of hours assemblers spend to make a television decreased, not necessarily the import from Vernland increased. But since the author is saying that the it's the increase of import, it's assumed that the number of hours assemblers spend to make a television in Borodia has not decreased. e-GMAT Representative Joined: 02 Nov 2011 Posts: 1987 Followers: 2012 Kudos [?]: 6768 [1] , given: 260 Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink] Show Tags 23 Apr 2013, 18:18 1 This post received KUDOS Expert's post Hi, The passage in the question is one of those arguments, which, at e-GMAT, we classify as QPA arguments or Quantitative Predictive Arguments. We had written an article on the same some time back. It might help. a-framework-to-prethink-in-quantitative-predictive-arguments-146436.html Thanks, Chiranjeev _________________ | '4 out of Top 5' Instructors on gmatclub | 70 point improvement guarantee | www.e-gmat.com Senior Manager Joined: 22 Jun 2014 Posts: 456 Concentration: General Management, Technology GMAT 1: 540 Q45 V20 GPA: 2.49 WE: Information Technology (Computer Software) Followers: 12 Kudos [?]: 148 [1] , given: 91 Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink] Show Tags 04 Apr 2016, 09:21 1 This post received KUDOS Nez wrote: Nevernevergiveup wrote: Nez wrote: Nevernevergiveup This is clear from the word go. My prethink assumption was MORE TVs were imported from vernland to make the sales remain same. That's obvious. How does that relate to C (average hour used to assembly TV...) I.e. how long it takes to assembly a TV in Borod. folks here must think I'm an idiot or something. but believe me I'm struggling to establish the logical link. Posted from my mobile device Please understand the causual argument hidden here. Go through this article for the same. http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/01/ ... -arguments If you still have a doubt, best weapon to test the assumption is to negate it. Try to negate C and then observe the conclusion to collapse. Nevernevergiveup I tried negating it and the conclusion became more powerful and inevitable. If it takes them more time to make a telly then they would produce less TV and that's more reason Vernland has to come in so that sales remains same. Am I missing something? Hi Nez, I have tried to cover it with my understanding. hope it helps: This is defender assumption question. Definition (in my own words) Defender assumption : it means when you conclude something from the information (premises) given, then any information that a critique/lay-man may use to attack/break that conclusion is what you have to defend the conclusion with by saying NO "this is not the case". So defender assumption is that unstated premise, which the critque may use to attack and you would negate that infor to defend the conclusion. V=Vernland, B=Borodia FACT(Premise-1) : Avg hourly wage of V is less than B. FACT(Premise-2) : Since B dropped Tariffs (charges levied on import of goods) on V's TVs, the #ofTVs sold has not changed. FACT(premise-3) : Number of assemblers is dropped in B. Conclusion : Number of TVs imports annualy has increased from V. Explanation: I am critique who is good at stats and just by looking at this argument i come and attack this conclusion by saying --->"The technology has increased and has been helping the assemblers so well that they can now assemble a TV in 10 hours which used to take 20 hours 3 years before. So companies in B has dropped the number of assemblers by half who can assemble as many number of TVs as previously assembled. It means that the reason for "the #ofTVs sold has not changed." is the new technology in B not that B has increased import from V. So this is the information on which argument DEPENDS. Because its not stated as a premise hence it is ASSUMPTION. So if you as the writer tell this/add this in argument then your conclusion is just safe from THIS one particular attack. Now how to apply this: Whenever you try to pre-think or paraphrase, just try to think of the key things/points that may attack the conclusion. These points are related to main parameters of argument. In this questions these parameters are hourly wages, number assembler, number of television and average. Of course MOST of the times (at least me) cannot come up with anything on pre-thinking BUT i get know what parameters are there and how are they related. Now this is very important atleast for someone who is preparing for the GMAT that s/he knows what can impact average, what can imapct number or what can impact hours or what can impact wages when all of these are related. So when i was doing this question I could not paraphrase anything but the moment i saw hours in the choice i kept it safe and read other choices. took a little long but this was the real attacker. For defender assumption most of the you will see that a answer choice using negative word is correct. so pick such choices first.WHY? "because you are saying this my conclusion and yeah this is NOT the case if u attack me with it." (general understanding). Hope it helps _________________ --------------------------------------------------------------- Target - 720-740 helpful post means press '+1' for Kudos! http://gmatclub.com/forum/information-on-new-gmat-esr-report-beta-221111.html http://gmatclub.com/forum/list-of-one-year-full-time-mba-programs-222103.html VP Joined: 18 Sep 2014 Posts: 1056 Location: India Followers: 31 Kudos [?]: 496 [1] , given: 67 The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink] Show Tags 04 Apr 2016, 10:10 1 This post received KUDOS chetan2u wrote: hi, This might be the first time I have come across a OG Q which is not very convincing.. Yes, in the given choices C may be the best .. So let me take C.. C. The average number of hours it takes a Borodian television assembler to assemble a television has not decreased significantly during the past three years. If the Borodian television assembler have started taking lesser time, why should it translate into fewer assembler? Yes it would mean lesser hour spent on assembling .. there is a point mentioned above that assembler will not shift to V because hourly wages are lesser as compared to B.. but if B was getting paid$7 per hour and was assembling 1 TV, whereas in V, they were getting $4 and were also assembling 1 tv in one hour.. But B has become more efficient and is now assembling 2 tv.. B is getting paid$3.5 per TV whereas C is getting $4 per TV.. Now yes the assembler in B could move to C .. Hi chetan2u I got your point. But even in this case, how can that job immigration help our conclusion explaining the increase in imported TVs from vernland? The concept that assembler in B could not move to C is my assumption which is proved false by you. But again how do we know whether they moved to somewhere else or only vernland. We have no info regarding the decrease in number of assemblers right? _________________ The only time you can lose is when you give up. Try hard and you will suceed. Thanks = Kudos. Kudos are appreciated http://gmatclub.com/forum/rules-for-posting-in-verbal-gmat-forum-134642.html When you post a question Pls. Provide its source & TAG your questions Avoid posting from unreliable sources. My posts http://gmatclub.com/forum/beauty-of-coordinate-geometry-213760.html#p1649924 http://gmatclub.com/forum/calling-all-march-april-gmat-takers-who-want-to-cross-213154.html http://gmatclub.com/forum/possessive-pronouns-200496.html http://gmatclub.com/forum/double-negatives-206717.html http://gmatclub.com/forum/the-greatest-integer-function-223595.html#p1721773 Veritas Prep GMAT Instructor Joined: 16 Oct 2010 Posts: 6971 Location: Pune, India Followers: 2030 Kudos [?]: 12763 [1] , given: 221 Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink] Show Tags 04 Apr 2016, 23:06 1 This post received KUDOS Expert's post 1 This post was BOOKMARKED linker wrote: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland has long been significantly lower than that in neighboring Borodia. Since Borodia dropped all tariffs on Vernlandian televisions three years ago, the number of televisions sold annually in Borodia has not changed. However, recent statistics show a drop in the number of television assemblers in Borodia. Therefore, updated trade statistics will probably indicate that the number of televisions Borodia imports annually from Vernland has increased. Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends? A. The number of television assemblers in Vernland has increased by at least as much as the number of television assemblers in Borodia has decreased. B. Televisions assembled in Vernland have features that televisions assembled in Borodia do not have. C. The average number of hours it takes a Borodian television assembler to assemble a television has not decreased significantly during the past three years. D. The number of televisions assembled annually in Vernland has increased significantly during the past three years. E. The difference between the hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland and the hourly wage of television assemblers in Borodia is likely to decrease in the next few years. The question seems to be giving a lot of pain but actually, it is absolutely fine. As expected, OG does not falter here too. Forget everything you have read about this question before and look at it with fresh eyes: Premises: - The hourly wage of assemblers in V is much lower than that in B. - 3 yrs ago, B dropped all tariffs on TVs imported from V. - Number of TVs sold annually in B is same. - But number of assemblers in B has decreased. Conclusion: Trade statistics will probably indicate that the number of televisions B imports annually from V has increased. The conclusion might look logical but is full of assumptions. Why logical? Wages in V are lower (so seems like TVs are cheaper in V). B dropped all tariffs on import (so no artificial inflation of TV prices ofV) . Number of TVs sold in B has not dropped but number of assemblers in B has dropped (looks like fewer TVs are getting made in B). An onlooker might conclude that B is importing more TVs from V because they are cheaper. But here are some assumptions: - The cost of a TV in V is lower because assembler's wage is lower. What if the raw material cost is higher in V? Or other costs are higher? The cost of a V TV could actually be higher than the cost of a B TV. - Fewer TVs are getting made in B. Assemblers in B have not become more productive. What if fewer assemblers are needed because they can complete assembly process much faster? The number of TVs sold is the same. If each assembler is doing more work, fewer assemblers will be needed. In that case, the number of TVs getting made in B might have stayed the same. Look at the options: A. The number of television assemblers in Vernland has increased by at least as much as the number of television assemblers in Borodia has decreased. Not required by the conclusion. Perhaps number of TVs being sold in V has actually reduced and more are getting exported to B. SO overall number of TVs being made is the same. B. Televisions assembled in Vernland have features that televisions assembled in Borodia do not have. Not required by the conclusion. The TVs could be exactly the same. They could be cheaper because of which they could be getting imported from V. C. The average number of hours it takes a Borodian television assembler to assemble a television has not decreased significantly during the past three years. This is an assumption. We are assuming that the reduction in the number of assemblers is not because of an increase in the productivity of the assemblers. If the assemblers have got more productive, the number of TVs produced could be the same and hence the import would not have increased. D. The number of televisions assembled annually in Vernland has increased significantly during the past three years. Not required by the conclusion. Perhaps number of TVs being sold in V has actually reduced and more are getting exported to B. So overall number of TVs being made is the same. E. The difference between the hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland and the hourly wage of television assemblers in Borodia is likely to decrease in the next few years. Not required by the conclusion. What happens to the hourly wages of assemblers in V and B in future is not a concern for this in this argument. We are only concerned about what has been happening in the last 3 yrs. Answer (C) _________________ Karishma Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor My Blog Get started with Veritas Prep GMAT On Demand for$199

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Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland [#permalink]

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04 Apr 2016, 23:27
1
KUDOS
Hi Nez
Quote:
new dimension though vulnerable
Mention of ‘vulnerability’ is good, It’s expression would be Better. Please share, I am sure it will help me bring unstated facts

Quote:
The tip you mentioned about a negated option. Is it for real? Isn't GMAC smarter than that?

Of course GMAT is way smarter. But as well know it’s all about PATTERNS in questions. So what I said is likely to be the case. I also said MOST (51%) of the times you will see this.

Having said that I think I have more data to give you clear picture of why assumptions are there and how many kinds of assumptions are relevant in GMAT and how would you recognize them and how would it help you answer them.

ASSUMPTIONS: There are two kind of assumptions.
1. Supporter Assumptions
2. Defender Assumptions

See, How convenient are these names that they themselves suggest the real meaning.

Supporter assumption is required for weak arguments and Defender assumption is required for strong arguments and NO assumption for just FACT based arguments (arguments that has no conclusion).

For Weak argument, you need some information to fill the GAP i.e. missing link between the premise and conclusion. Whereas, for Strong argument, you need some information that helps maintain the strong bond between the premise and conclusion. (This is the key reason negative words or any word that helps writing an unstated promise TO DEFEND the conclusion from attack is generally found in the correct answer choice).

If you identify whether it is a supporter assumption or defender assumption real fast then you can make your mind up while reading whether you need to find out the missing link OR think of the possible attacks.

So, How do we identify whether its supporter or defender assumption? Following keywords in Question stamp would help:

Enables, supports, allows, helps, accounts are the key words for SUPPORTER ASSUMOPTION.

Depends on, required, relies, assumes, necessary, based are some keywords for DEFENDER ASSUMPTION.

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Re: The average hourly wage of television assemblers in Vernland   [#permalink] 04 Apr 2016, 23:27

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