What I like about CR is the feeling of sudden awareness that an answer choice is correct; everything just clicks into place.

With this question, there were no clicks. In fact, I found (E) to be WEAKENING the conclusion. Of course no other answer choices worked, but we can't work by default here, and choose the answer choice that is most relevant to the prompt (in this case (E).

But just to run a little experiment, let me argue for (E) to illustrate what I must do in order to make this answer choice work.

(E) says that XYZ cannot tell the difference between low-pitched and high-pitched sounds. But a slow boat spends more time moving across a body of water, so that gives XYZ more time to collide with it. Therefore, slow boats are more dangerous.

That answer may seem sensible, but I am doing a few things you should never do on GMAT Critical Reasoning. First off, I am discounting part of the conclusion, which states: slow boats are more dangerous to XYZ than are fast boats, because XYZ cannot hear slow boats.

Secondly, I am making some inferences that are not backed up by the passage (and indeed may not be backed up by reality). Namely, that XYZ is more likely to collide with a slow moving object.

Here nothing is "clicking into place," and I have to really labor to come up with an answer. The less straightforward the reasoning the more likely the given answer choice is wrong.

So it is only by breaking rules fundamental to GMAT that I can conceivably make (E) work. So (E) is definitely NOT the answer

The question--which I like, besides the prosaic tag XYZ (couldn't we just say hu-manatee)--is therefore broken. To fix it, all we would need to do is to add the word WEAKEN to the question. As in:

Which one of the following would WEAKEN the conclusion.

Then, the answer is clearly (E). The conclusion states that XYZ is likely to hear low-pitch than high pitch. (E) says that XYZ is unable to determine the difference).

So again, there is NO ANSWER to the question. It is faulty, but can easily be emended by the addition of one word.
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Christopher Lele
Magoosh Test Prep

Yup E makes the most sense.
I was drawn to D but then sound in air & water was just irrelevant

Good questions !!!
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Giving +1 kudos is a better way of saying 'Thank You'.

Guys why can't C be the answer?
This option states that boat traffic HAS BEEN INCREASING CONTINUOUSLY, so it makes the chances of collision between a boat and the mammal higher. Also we are told in the premise that these mammals are unable to hear low pitched sounds of boats and quite clearly this will worsen the situation.
Please let me know where I am wrong.
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Prepositional Phrases Clarified|Elimination of BEING| Absolute Phrases Clarified
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Premise - XYZ, aquatic mammals inhabiting Florida’s rivers and coastal waters, swim close to the surface and are frequently killed in collisions with boats. boat traffic in XYZ-populated waters is being required to maintain very low speeds. Unfortunately, XYZs are unable to hear low-pitched sounds and a boat’s sound lowers in pitch as the boats slows

Conclusion - this approach may in fact make things worse rather than better.

Anything which strengthen the conclusion is our answer i.e. anything which supports that the approach (of slowing down) may make things worse is our answer

Option C does not discuss this approach.

Option E is the best among the lot. I am sure an expert would be a better person to comment.
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First Attempt 710 - first-attempt-141273.html

Mr. Thang you are correct that E does not provide any new information and hence cannot be the correct answer. The key piece is to get new information that when combined with the information in the passage will strengthen the belief in the conclusion that this new law/requirement will lead to greater XYZ fatalities.

Choice E: In my opinion, choice E is a weakener because if XYZ cannot hear neither high speed noises nor low speed noises then the # of XYZ fatalities should remain the same This means that the situation will not get worse.

What could be strengthener?

A choice such as the one below could be a strengthener.
For XYZ, a collision with a slow moving boat is as likely to be fatal as a collision with a fast moving boat.

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