The proportion of women among students enrolled in higher education programs has increased over the
past decades. This is partly shown by the fact that in 1959, only 11 percent of the women between twenty and
twenty-one were enrolled in college, while in 1981, 30 percent of the women between twenty and twenty-one
were enrolled in college.
To evaluate the argument above, it would be most useful to compare 1959 and 1981 with regard to which of
the following characteristics?
(A) The percentage of women between twenty and twenty-one who were not enrolled in college
(B) The percentage of women between twenty and twenty-five who graduated from college
(C) The percentage of women who, after attending college, entered highly paid professions
(D) The percentage of men between twenty and twenty-one who were enrolled in college
(E) The percentage of men who graduated from high school

Explain your answer.
_________________

Cheers,
SD

According to me it is D

Answer : Option D

Men in College + Women in College : 100 %

For the % enrolment of women to go up , % enrolment of men has to reduce.

To compare the proportion of women among students enrolled in higher education programs it would be best to compare 1959 to 1981 wiht regard to the number of men among the students.
answer D.
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If you think you can,you can
If you think you can't,you are right.

D

conclusion is proportion increased against what? so we need to know percentage of men

I am not sure if my explanation would be any better than the ones given above...

An implicit assumption that I am making here is that the age group being referred to is 20-21

1) The argument states that the proportion of women among students enrolled in college has increased. This means that the ratio W/(W+M) has increased.
2) 1959: Of the women between 20-21, only 11% were enrolled in college. Assuming the number of women between 20-21 to be 100, then W here comes out to be 11
3) 1981: Of the women between 20-21, only 30% were enrolled in college. W here comes out to be 30

30/(30+M) > 11/(11+M) -> To evaluate this, all we need to know is M. Hence D.

i also pick d

surely it is D .

took 1:05 sec

The proportion of women among students enrolled in higher education programs has increased over the
past decades. This is partly shown by the fact that in 1959, only 11 percent of the women between twenty and
twenty-one were enrolled in college, while in 1981, 30 percent of the women between twenty and twenty-one
were enrolled in college.

To evaluate the argument above, it would be most useful to compare 1959 and 1981 with regard to which of
the following characteristics?

(A) The percentage of women between twenty and twenty-one who were not enrolled in college
(B) The percentage of women between twenty and twenty-five who graduated from college
(C) The percentage of women who, after attending college, entered highly paid professions
(D) The percentage of men between twenty and twenty-one who were enrolled in college
(E) The percentage of men who graduated from high school

ok....

I initially thought about A.
Now I realize why answer should be D.

The conclusion is

The proportion of women among the total students who enrolled in colleges has increased.
'Among the total students who enrolled in colleges' includes ONLY the enrolled students.

The total number doesn't include the one who didn't enroll in a college.

Thus, in order to see whether the proportion has increased, you only need to consider the ones who enrolled.

This rules out A.
_________________

Luck is the additional surplus on the way to one's constant effort.

The key to this argument is: The proportion of women among students enrolled in higher education programs.

That is, we are comparing the proportion of women to men at colleges. The evidence used, however, is the percent of 20 -21 yrs. old females attending college over two time periods, 1959 and 1981. Even if more 20-21 yrs. old females are attending college in proportion to the overall population of females, that fact alone does not speak to the proportion of women to men in college. To illustrate: let's say in 1959, 20% of those attending college were women. In 1981 that number could fall to only 10%. This is not inconsistent with the increase in attendance amongst 20-21 yrs. old females. While their ranks may have swelled, perhaps there has been a drop off in the percentage of 18-19 or 25 and over.

Thus to evaluate the argument, we need to know how many men were enrolled in college. Therefore the answer is (D).

Hope that helps clear any confusion .
_________________

Christopher Lele
Magoosh Test Prep