Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Apr 1612:00 PM EDT
-11:59 PM EDT
You’re first to know: Save $200 on GMAT prep starting tomorrow, 4/13. Get 6 official practice tests and study with real questions. Be ready to save!
Apr 2610:00 AM EDT
-11:00 AM EDT
The Target Test Prep course represents a quantum leap forward in GMAT preparation, a radical reinterpretation of the way that students should study. Try before you buy with a 5-day, full-access trial of the course for FREE!
Apr 2711:00 AM EDT
-12:00 PM EDT
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors
Apr 2808:00 AM PDT
-11:00 AM PDT
Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.
19 Dec 2025, 09:00
Kudos
Bookmarks
C
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
95%
(hard)
Question Stats:
35% (01:40) correct
65%
(02:11)
wrong
based on 249
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Each spring, Northbridge University runs a weeklong alumni phone-a-thon. In a typical year, the phone-a-thon results in about 400 alumni signing up to mentor current students. Therefore, if the university were to discontinue the phone-a-thon, the number of alumni who sign up to mentor students each year would decline by about 400.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. The phone-a-thon costs the university less than the value of 400 alumni mentors’ time.
B. The university would still be able to contact alumni through email if the phone-a-thon were discontinued.
C. Few alumni who currently sign up to mentor through the phone-a-thon would sign up through other university outreach efforts if the phone-a-thon were discontinued.
D. The alumni who sign up to mentor through the phone-a-thon are not substantially more likely than other alumni to sign up to mentor in any given year, regardless of how they are contacted.
E. The university’s other mentoring sign-up channels would not become significantly more effective at attracting mentors if the phone-a-thon were discontinued.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. The phone-a-thon costs the university less than the value of 400 alumni mentors’ time.
B. The university would still be able to contact alumni through email if the phone-a-thon were discontinued.
C. Few alumni who currently sign up to mentor through the phone-a-thon would sign up through other university outreach efforts if the phone-a-thon were discontinued.
D. The alumni who sign up to mentor through the phone-a-thon are not substantially more likely than other alumni to sign up to mentor in any given year, regardless of how they are contacted.
E. The university’s other mentoring sign-up channels would not become significantly more effective at attracting mentors if the phone-a-thon were discontinued.
12 Days of Christmas Competition
This question is part of our holiday event
Win $40,000 in prizes: courses, tests, and more
V40-12
19 Dec 2025, 10:00
Kudos
Bookmarks
Bunuel
GMAT Club Official Explanation:
The argument concludes that if Northbridge University discontinued its alumni phone-a-thon, the yearly number of alumni who sign up to mentor students would decline by about 400. The evidence given is that, in a typical year, the phone-a-thon results in about 400 alumni signing up to mentor.
To move from “the phone-a-thon produces 400 sign-ups” to “removing it will reduce total sign-ups by 400,” the argument must assume that these 400 sign-ups would not still occur through other routes. If many of the same alumni would sign up via email campaigns, social media, or departmental outreach once the phone-a-thon ended, then the evidence about the phone-a-thon’s contribution could remain true, but the total number of mentors would not drop by about 400.
(A) Incorrect. Whether the phone-a-thon is cost-effective has no bearing on the predicted size of the decline. The conclusion concerns how many mentors there will be, not whether the program is worth its cost.
(B) Incorrect. The existence of other ways to contact alumni does not have to be assumed for the conclusion to follow. Even if email contact were impossible, the key question would still be whether the 400 phone-a-thon mentors would be replaced elsewhere.
(C) Correct. If few of the alumni who currently sign up through the phone-a-thon would sign up through other outreach efforts if the phone-a-thon disappeared, then eliminating the phone-a-thon would remove roughly those 400 sign-ups from the yearly total. The argument therefore depends on this “no substitution” assumption.
(D) Incorrect. This claims that phone-a-thon sign-ups are not more likely than other alumni to mentor regardless of contact method. But the argument doesn’t need that. Even if phone-a-thon recruits are especially predisposed to mentor, the conclusion could still be true so long as they would not sign up through other channels once the phone-a-thon is gone.
(E) Incorrect. This is a classic GMAT trap answer choice (brings a weaken argument to the assumption fight) and is one step removed from the argument. We are focusing on the mentors and this answer choice talks about channels that recruit these mentors, implying that perhaps something may happen, but as you will see, this "assumption" requires other assumptions to actually hold true, which disqualifies it. This option says other channels would not become significantly more effective if the phone-a-thon ended. But that is not sufficient by itself and therefore not required as some other channels could become more effective while yet other channels would become less effective and still the total might still fall by 400 if the 400 phone-a-thon would be mentors do not switch to those channels. Moreover, we do not know the total number of mentors - what if the total is 401? A more potent assumption would basically say that "Other cannels can become more effective enough to recruit additional 400 mentors". The argument above only needs to rule out substitution by those mentors, not improvements in outreach in general.
General Discussion
Archit3110
19 Dec 2025, 09:13
Kudos
Bookmarks
Each spring, Northbridge University runs a weeklong alumni phone-a-thon. In a typical year, the phone-a-thon results in about 400 alumni signing up to mentor current students. Therefore, if the university were to discontinue the phone-a-thon, the number of alumni who sign up to mentor students each year would decline by about 400.
NU runs a weeklong alumni phone a thon... 400 alumni sign up to mentor current students..
if NU discontinues the phone a thon then the number of alumni who sign up to mentor each year would decline by 400
Assumption based ; use negation technique and weaken the conclusion
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. The phone-a-thon costs the university more than the value of 400 alumni mentors’ time.
this does not weaken the conclusion
B. The university would still not be able to contact alumni through email if the phone-a-thon were discontinued.
reasoning does not weaken the conclusion
C. All alumni who currently sign up to mentor through the phone-a-thon would sign up through other university outreach efforts if the phone-a-thon were discontinued.
there will be other means like online or letter etc via which the alumni will still continue to connect and sign up .. this weakens the conclusion , correct option
D. The alumni who sign up to mentor through the phone-a-thon are substantially more likely than other alumni to sign up to mentor in any given year, regardless of how they are contacted.
this is not relevant to argument and does not weaken the conclusion
E. The university’s other mentoring sign-up channels would become significantly more effective at attracting mentors if the phone-a-thon were discontinued.
this does not weaken the conclusion strongly enough than option C
OPTION C is correct
NU runs a weeklong alumni phone a thon... 400 alumni sign up to mentor current students..
if NU discontinues the phone a thon then the number of alumni who sign up to mentor each year would decline by 400
Assumption based ; use negation technique and weaken the conclusion
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. The phone-a-thon costs the university more than the value of 400 alumni mentors’ time.
this does not weaken the conclusion
B. The university would still not be able to contact alumni through email if the phone-a-thon were discontinued.
reasoning does not weaken the conclusion
C. All alumni who currently sign up to mentor through the phone-a-thon would sign up through other university outreach efforts if the phone-a-thon were discontinued.
there will be other means like online or letter etc via which the alumni will still continue to connect and sign up .. this weakens the conclusion , correct option
D. The alumni who sign up to mentor through the phone-a-thon are substantially more likely than other alumni to sign up to mentor in any given year, regardless of how they are contacted.
this is not relevant to argument and does not weaken the conclusion
E. The university’s other mentoring sign-up channels would become significantly more effective at attracting mentors if the phone-a-thon were discontinued.
this does not weaken the conclusion strongly enough than option C
OPTION C is correct
