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Director
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Top college graduates are having more difficulty [#permalink]
 20 Mar 2005, 13:51
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Top college graduates are having more difficulty demonstrating their superiority to prospective employers than did the top students of twenty years ago when an honors degree was distinction enough. Today’s employers are less impressed with the honors degree. Twenty years ago no more than 10 percent of a given class graduated with honors. Today, however, because of grade inflation, the honors degree goes to more than 50 percent of a graduating class. Therefore, to restore confidence in the degrees they award, colleges must take steps to control grade inflation.
Which one of the following is an assumption that, if true, would support the conclusion in the passage?
(A) Today’s students are not higher achievers than the students of twenty years ago.
(B) Awarding too many honors degrees causes colleges to inflate grades
(C) Today’s employers rely on honors ranking in making their hiring decisions.
(D) It is not easy for students with low grades to obtain jobs.
(E) Colleges must make employers aware of the criteria used to determine who receives an honors degree.
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Re: CR: Top college graduates [#permalink]
20 Mar 2005, 14:10
B....
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"A"....if the new students r high achievers than previous generation then we can't blame colleges for inflating grades.
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I believe it is (A).
if todays students are as good as students 20 years ago. Then the colleges must be awarding more degrees.
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Assumption must support the conclusion that college must take steps to control grade inflation so as to restore confidence in the degrees they award.
I'll go with choice (C). If today's employers rely on honors ranking in makgin their hiring decision, then it makes sense to control grade inflation so that employers have more confidence in the degrees awarded to their students.
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my choice is between A and B
I would go for A
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anandnk wrote: I believe it is (A).
if todays students are as good as students 20 years ago. Then the colleges must be awarding more degrees.
but the conclusion is not that colleges are awarding more degrees. The conclusion is whether grade inflation should be controlled so that confidence in the quality of the graduates are restored.
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Director
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I will go for (A) on this.
(A) Today’s students are not higher achievers than the students of twenty years ago.
Negation: Today’s students are higher achievers than the students of twenty years ago.
It will break the cause of grade inflation.
(B) Awarding too many honors degrees causes colleges to inflate grades
This is the structure of this argument:
Grade inflation -> Percent increase in number of honors degree.
We are not talking about the number, but the percent. So this one is irrelevant.
(C) Today’s employers rely on honors ranking in making their hiring decisions.
We are also not talking about the hiring decisions but the impressions of the employers.
(D) It is not easy for students with low grades to obtain jobs.
Again, we are not talking about how easy for students to get jobs.
(E) Colleges must make employers aware of the criteria used to determine who receives an honors degree.
"must" sounds extreme. (E) seems to be a suggestion, not an assumption.
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Re: CR: Top college graduates [#permalink]
21 Mar 2005, 19:53
MA wrote: B....
I am changing my answer and going with C.
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what's the OA ?
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Director
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OA is A
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An assumption is an unstated piece of evidence to hold up the conclusion. The conclusion for this passage is "to restore confidence in the degrees they award, colleges must take steps to control grade inflation. ". I find choice (A) very hard to fit in logically.
We're looking for something to support the conclusion. Let's try a 'therefore' test.
Choice A:
Today’s students are not higher achievers than the students of twenty years ago.
Therefore to restore confidence in the degrees they award, colleges must take steps to control grade inflation.
Sound logical ? Don't seem so.
Choice C:
Today’s employers rely on honors ranking in making their hiring decisions.
Therefore to restore confidence in the degrees they award, colleges must take steps to control grade inflation.
Sounds more logical to me now.
Even if we do not base it on this logic test, (A) doesn't streghten the conclusion. In fact, I think it weakens the conclusion by saying that grade inflation is not the cause of the student's difficulty in impressing prospective bosses.
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Director
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good one. was so lost on this one.. but A does seem to be logical!
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vprabhala wrote: good one. was so lost on this one.. but A does seem to be logical!
How is A logical ? It hasn't supported the conclusion of the passage yet.
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Director
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ywilfred wrote: vprabhala wrote: good one. was so lost on this one.. but A does seem to be logical! How is A logical ? It hasn't supported the conclusion of the passage yet. it is assumed that today's students are under achievers. if we negate that it shows that it is not the cause of grade inflation.! thats my thought.
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vprabhala wrote: ywilfred wrote: vprabhala wrote: good one. was so lost on this one.. but A does seem to be logical! How is A logical ? It hasn't supported the conclusion of the passage yet. it is assumed that today's students are under achievers. if we negate that it shows that it is not the cause of grade inflation.! thats my thought. A only shows that it is not a case of grade inflation that resulted in more degress being awarded. But this does not hold up our conclusion. The conclusion of the passage is:
"To restore confidence in the degree awarded, colleges must take steps to control grade inflation".
By saying grade inflation is not the cause of more degrees being awarded does not restore employer's confidence in the degrees awarded.
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Director
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ywilfred wrote: vprabhala wrote: ywilfred wrote: vprabhala wrote: good one. was so lost on this one.. but A does seem to be logical! How is A logical ? It hasn't supported the conclusion of the passage yet. it is assumed that today's students are under achievers. if we negate that it shows that it is not the cause of grade inflation.! thats my thought. A only shows that it is not a case of grade inflation that resulted in more degress being awarded. But this does not hold up our conclusion. The conclusion of the passage is: "To restore confidence in the degree awarded, colleges must take steps to control grade inflation". By saying grade inflation is not the cause of more degrees being awarded does not restore employer's confidence in the degrees awarded. well it does. Awarding the "right" candidate will restore the employer's confidence.
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vprabhala wrote: ywilfred wrote: vprabhala wrote: ywilfred wrote: vprabhala wrote: good one. was so lost on this one.. but A does seem to be logical! How is A logical ? It hasn't supported the conclusion of the passage yet. it is assumed that today's students are under achievers. if we negate that it shows that it is not the cause of grade inflation.! thats my thought. A only shows that it is not a case of grade inflation that resulted in more degress being awarded. But this does not hold up our conclusion. The conclusion of the passage is: "To restore confidence in the degree awarded, colleges must take steps to control grade inflation". By saying grade inflation is not the cause of more degrees being awarded does not restore employer's confidence in the degrees awarded. well it does. Awarding the "right" candidate will restore the employer's confidence. Hmm... I think I get it now. Thanks vprabhala 
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Director
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ok ok ywilfred. Am I over reacting to the statement A? 
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okies.. cool. ywilfred
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