Hi Siddarth,

Let me try and run through the answer choices for you:

To prevent overcrowding, last month the town zoning board limited the number of new buildings that can be constructed in the town in any given year. The board claims that doing so will preserve open spaces and lessen the strain on municipal resources such as schools and garbage disposal. Critics of the changes argue that the plan will harm the community or, at the very least, will fail in its purpose.



Which of the following most supports the claims of the critics of the plan?


Other towns have had mixed success with similar zoning plans. This WEAKENS the claims of the critics. After all, if it has worked in other places, could it not work here?

No new schools have been built in the town in ten years. This is pretty irrelevant, whilst schools are mentioned in the piece, they're not integral to the argument

Property taxes in the town are higher than in neighboring towns. This is irrelevant, taxes are mentioned no where in the passage

Under the new plan, developers may still erect apartment buildings. This is correct. The plan is to limit the amount of buildings, if this plan will not work - because we have an exception (apartments) then that will help the critics.

The nearest garbage dump is several miles away from the town Again this is irrelevant, garbage dumps are mentioned, but not part of the main argument.
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... and more

I don't think this is a well-designed question at all, for many reasons:

* The question itself asks "Which of the following most supports the claims of the critics?" Well, the critics make two 'claims': that the plan will harm the community, and that the plan will fail. If we need an answer that supports the claims (plural), then that answer should help support the contention that the plan will harm the community and that the plan will not succeed. Answer D only supports (rather tenuously) one of those two claims.

* The critics also claim that the plan will "fail in its purpose". But the stem tells us that the plan has more than one 'purpose: it is meant to 'preserve open spaces', to 'lessen the strain on municipal resources', and 'to prevent overcrowding'. So if we want to support the claim that the plan will fail in 'its purpose', which purpose are we even talking about?

* And if the purpose we identify is "to preserve open spaces", I can't see how D is a good answer. Using D, we're comparing two scenarios: one scenario, where this zoning law is not passed, and developers can build anything they want, and another scenario where developers can only build apartment buildings. It seems to me that in the second scenario, open spaces are far more likely to be preserved. So D does not support the critics' claims, if we interpret the purpose of the plan to be to 'preserve open spaces'.

* This question is also set up like a 'strengthen the argument' question, but there is no argument. We just have critics saying "the plan is bad". I see some prep company questions set up this way, but I don't think I've ever seen a real GMAT question where we need to strengthen an argument that doesn't exist.
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IMO D is the answer

Apartment buildings will put strain on municipal resources and hence the plan will fail in its purpose.
BTW, I Don't think this is a great question..

I'm with Ian on this one: while I can see why MGMAT says that D is the best answer, the question has some serious flaws. The argument is awfully mushy, and there will never be a 100% airtight answer in a case like this. If the argument isn't airtight, then neither is the answer.

Anybody who knows me is probably sick of hearing this, but I really don't think it's worth getting too bent out of shape over a verbal question from any test-prep company. It's unbelievably difficult for anybody to copy the style, precision, and nuance of real GMAT exam, especially on the verbal side. GMAC literally spends millions of dollars developing test questions, and no test-prep company can dream of matching their expertise and resources--not even Manhattan GMAT.

Think about it this way: multiply your $250 test fee by the 280,000 people who take the test every year, and then add in the score report fees, test appointment change fees, the fees school pay to spam you with email, and GMAC's income from selling test-prep materials. And then consider that GMAC is technically a non-profit that exists solely for the purpose of creating and administering this test, and most of their revenue is supposedly spent on perfecting the GMAT. Every single question undergoes an unbelievable amount of scrutiny and testing. Manhattan GMAT is an amazing company, but they simply can't match that. Some of Manhattan's questions will be imperfect. It's inevitable.

I'm not necessarily saying that you shouldn't use books from test-prep companies (depending on your weaknesses, you probably should), and I'm definitely not saying that you should avoid MGMAT materials (their materials are clearly among the best in the industry). But the vast majority of your verbal practice time should be spent on official, retired test questions... and I wouldn't lose much sleep over a slightly sloppy question from a non-official source.

I hope this helps, Carcass!
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Conclusion of the argument :To prevent overcrowding, prevent people from building new houses.
Conclusion of critics: Preventing people from building new houses will not solve the problem of overcrowding.

We have to strengthen the conclusion of critics ie in other terms preventing people from building new houses will not the solve the problem.....
Hence Only option D, helps to strengthen the point.
But it is in contrast to what Ron says in study hall, Option D just re iterates the point presented in the argument. It does not present any fact. BUt, we should not forget that in case of strengthen question a question may strengthen 1% or 100%.

Sometimes, reasoning of Ron really contradicts to question presented by his own prep company.

Archit