The United States government has a long-standing policy of using feder

Hi HASTOWINGMAT

Please refer the below reply for Question 2:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-united-states-government-has-a-long-standing-policy-of-using-feder-156465.html#p1810913

Let me know if this doesn't suffice.

Thanks.

bm2201,
But I don't understand how can that be an "example"ò. Isn't it something specific? it's saying the first shift occurred... it does not sound like an example to me...Please help.

Hi Pet700,

I believe your doubt is related to the 2nd Question.

2. Which of the following best describes the function of the second paragraph in the passage as a whole?



the type of change discussed in the first paragraph : "Since then, the answer given to the fundamental question of who the recipients should be—the most economically disadvantaged or those with the best prospects for business success—has changed, and the social goals of the programs have shifted, resulting in policy changes." and then the author goes on to mention about the first shift that occurred in occurred during the early 1970's, where in a new goal to remedy the effects of past discrimination emerged.

Thus we can infer that the 2nd para is an example of the type of change discussed in the first paragraph and the passage as a whole. It is an example in terms of how the shift in the social goals of the programs started. Author uses the second paragraph to support the context that has been set in the previous paragraph.


Hope This Helps.
Thanks.

Hi GMATNinja

Can I interpret the above explanation as follows:

In the battle of D vs E:

E is wrong because E is not the most basic consideration.
Knowing what firms are likely to succeed comes AFTER once you have decided who the funding recipients should be (option D).

I choice E because, simply, D looked too simple to be true :')

Any suggestions on how should I control this urge?

Thank you!

Question 4

For RC questions that ask about specific details in the passage, it's best to find the most relevant piece of the passage first and then answer the question with the exact language of the passage in mind.

Question 4 asks which answer choice is mentioned as a "basic consideration" in administering minority-business funding programs. As we pointed out in our earlier explanation, the most relevant portion of the passage to answer this question is at the end of the first paragraph, where we learn that a "fundamental question" is "who the recipients should be."

With that context in mind, (D) is clearly mentioned as a basic consideration, while (E) is not.

Is (D) too simple to be true? Not at all! The way to resist this kind of thinking is to realize that the people who write the test are not trying to trick you. If they ask for a detail mentioned in the passage, go find that detail and answer the question accordingly.

That's not to say that RC questions can't be hard. Sometimes details are difficult to parse, or the language is very convoluted, or they ask for a nuanced inference. But the questions are asked in good faith, so all you can do is hone and refine your process to give yourself the best shot at answering questions accurately. There's no need to make your life harder by worrying that an answer choice is too simple to be true.

I hope that helps!

bm2201, GMATNinja



Can you please explain Q-1 in detail?
How cannot A be not an answer?
Confused with A.

Thanks

Question 1

The "ownership gap" mentioned in the passage shows that minorities make up 17% of the population, but only 4% of the nation's self-employed. To close this gap, we'd need more minority-owned small businesses.

Would (A) close the gap?

There are a couple of issues with (A). First, we don't actually know what percentage of government contracts are currently awarded to minority entrepreneurs -- it could be true that these entrepreneurs already receive an equal percentage of these contracts. After all, government contracts are only one category of small business. So it's possible that these are already equal, and yet the ownership gap described in the passage remains.

Additionally, notice that (A) talks about the percentage of contracts awarded, NOT the number of businesses to which they are awarded.

We can't assume that these contracts would be parceled out to a large number of minority-owned businesses -- it could also be true that a small number of minority entrepreneurs are awarded the contracts. That wouldn't help close the ownership gap. Instead, it would just make a couple of entrepreneurs even more successful.

For those reasons, you can get rid of (A) for question 1.

I hope that helps!

Is this really a 600-700 level passage as stated in the Tag?

The following is the difficulty level of each question.

Question #1: 700
Question #2: 600
Question #3: 650
Question #4: 600
Question #5: 500


Overall: 600-650

For question no 2 , you avoid extreme words like most etc.

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