A child learning to play the piano will not succeed unless the child has an instrument at home on which to practice. However, good-quality pianos, whether new or secondhand, are costly. Buying one is justified only if the child has the necessary talent and perseverance, which is precisely what one cannot know in advance. Consequently, parents should buy an inexpensive secondhand instrument at first and upgrade if and when the child's ability and inclination are proven. Which of the following, if true, casts the most serious doubt on the course of action recommended for parents? (A) Learners, particularly those with genuine musical talent, are apt to lose interest in the instrument if they have to play on a piano that fails to produce a pleasing sound. (B) Reputable piano teachers do not accept children as pupils unless they know that the children can practice on a piano at home. (C) Ideally, the piano on which a child practices at home should be located in a room away from family activities going on at the same time. (D) Very young beginners often make remarkable progress at playing the piano at first, but then appear to stand still for a considerable period of time. (E) In some parents, spending increasing amounts of money on having their children learn to play the piano produces increasing anxiety to hear immediate results. ID: 500269

Your analysis is excellent , and you've correctly identified Option A as the answer! Your concern about the "assumption" is actually a common worry among test-takers, but let me reassure you about this. Key Insight: The Passage Sets Up the Quality Contrast Notice how the stimulus explicitly distinguishes between: " good-quality pianos , whether new or secondhand" (described as costly) " inexpensive secondhand instrument" (the recommendation) The author has already established that there are quality differences in pianos. By specifically recommending an "inexpensive secondhand" piano after acknowledging that "good-quality" pianos are costly, the passage implicitly tells us that the recommended piano is not of good quality. Why Option A Works Without Being "Too Assumptive" GMAT expects you to make reasonable real-world connections when they're supported by context. Here's why this inference is fair: The passage creates a quality hierarchy : good-quality (costly) vs. inexpensive secondhand (affordable). Option A talks about pianos that "fail to produce a pleasing sound" - this naturally describes lower-quality instruments The connection between "inexpensive secondhand" and "poor sound quality" is a reasonable inference , not a leap The Weakening Mechanism Option A creates a devastating catch-22: Parents buy cheap piano to test if child has talent But talented children lose interest due to poor sound quality Result: Parents can't identify talent because the test method itself causes failure This directly undermines the recommendation's logic! GMAT Strategy Tip: When an answer choice requires a minor, reasonable inference that's supported by context clues in the passage, it's fair game. GMAT isn't trying to trick you with hyper-literal interpretations. If the passage distinguishes "good-quality" from "inexpensive," you can reasonably infer quality differences. Your evaluation shows strong critical thinking - just trust your instincts when the inference is this reasonable and contextually supported!

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A child learning to play the piano will not succeed unless the child

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WeakToComprehend

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16 Apr 2025, 00:18

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Easy way to not eliminate option A

Good Quality pianos--> Both 1st and 2nd hand are expensive

So when the parents are talking about inexpensive 2nd hand pianos==> it automatically infers bad quality pianos

Hope it helps

siddharth_

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16 Apr 2025, 23:24

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Like a lot of people here, I was confused with option A too - that it seems to require another assumption that 'inexpensive piano would necessarily be bad quality'.
But OG questions never disappoint.
The following line from the passage is the reason for why A is not just the best option available as a result of POE, but actually an absolutely correct choice.

"However, good-quality pianos, whether new or secondhand, are costly."

soniasw16

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For D, could I argue that whether or not I buy an expensive/secondhand piano, it doesn't matter because either way the student may lead to a loss in interest to learn. Hence this may weaken the argument?

KarishmaB

Ganeshmantri

Hi VeritasKarishma,

I know this has been discussed a couple of times below. But still, please help me in clarifying my below query:
In Option D, we are told that initially the Child will show good progress but later there will be a standstill. Does that not weaken the claim to 'upgrade if and when the child's ability and inclination are proven'?
Ofcourse, ability and inclination will be shown at first and parents might buy a newer and a better Piano just when they get to know that the remarkable progress at playing the piano at first won't be continued and that the recommendation was wrong?

This, to me is a more evident claim than folks justifying option 'A' using a mere 'IF' in the statement.

Thanks in advance!

The argument talks about 'child' (say 3 - 12 yrs). Option (D) talks about 'very young' which implies a little child (say 3 - 5 yrs). Since very young will be a subset of child, most of my interest in the option is already lost. It is like saying "some children will..." and that is usually irrelevant.
Secondly it uses "beginners" which means the stage at which they have the second hand cheap instrument. They may show promise but will stop suddenly. Well, all the more reason to wait and watch with a temporary instrument. If you begin with an expensive one, it will go waste.
If we know that kids show progress initially and then stand still, we would buy a cheaper instrument and see whether they are showing continuous progress to buy an expensive one later.

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26 Jul 2025, 23:14

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DmitryFarber

I would go further and say that the right answer will ALMOST NEVER prove or disprove the conclusion, and if we hold out for that, we will miss a lot of questions. We are just looking for an answer that gives us a reason to change our estimation of the conclusion's likelihood, and that's it.

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17 Aug 2025, 06:31

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Premise – if no piano at home -> child won’t succeed
Counter premise – but buying piano is costly until child’s talent and inclination is proven
Conclusion – parents should buy an inexpensive one and if child is talented and inclined then upgrade the piano
Objective – buying inexpensive piano and then later upgrading it won’t work in finding out if child is talented and inclined
Gaps in the argument
Author assumes that
1. Inexpensive piano will not negatively impact the child’s inclination because of some issue in the piano
2. Such piano’s can actually help to determine child’s talent and perseverance

Option evaluation
A. While I can assume that second hand piano will not present a pleasing sound and thereby this option can seem to be weakener of the suggestion but, its not given in the stimulus if such piano’s don’t produce pleasing sound. This option is in line with Gap-1 identified but, since it does not tell me directly about the sound produced by such pianos compared to new ones, this is a weakener but not a solid one. Hold
B. Irrelevant. We are not concerned about what reputable teachers would or would not do.
C. Irrelevant. Where the piano is located is not the point of argument.
D. Strengthener. This option rather gives one more reason why it is not justified to spend on new expensive piano in the start and the recommendation actually makes sense. Reject
E. Irrelevant. Irrespective of parents anxiety to hear immediate results after spending more money, does not disprove or prove if buying an inexpensive piano would help validate talent and inclination.

Verdict - A is correct answer
Although I am not very convinced by the wording and the option when evaluated in isolation still requires me to make an assumption that second hand or inexpensive piano will not make pleasing sound. not sure if its GMAT's common sense.

GMATNinja GMATNinjaTwo would appreciate your feedback on my evaluation of option A

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DmitryFarber

KanishkM I wouldn't say that it's attributing any fault to the child, but it does seem to be making a comment on how skill progresses that has no relevance to the quality of the instrument. I'd add D to the "irrelevant" category for that reason. The potential appeal of this answer is that we can imagine someone being "fooled" by the child's initial promise and buying a more expensive piano, only to see the child's progress stall, but this still might be better than buying a more expensive piano right away. In any case, since the argument doesn't say when to buy the better piano and answer choice D doesn't tell us that the child won't eventually improve, D doesn't really do anything for us. (Also, there's no reason to apply this warning about "very young beginners" to all children.)

Wouldn't this require an additional assumption that most second hand pianos won't produce a pleasing sound?

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07 Sep 2025, 23:26

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This has been discussed a fair amount on the first page. Here was my take:

The argument states in a premise that a good-quality piano is expensive, whether we buy it second-hand or not. We don't want to question that premise, even if it might not be true in real life. It's true that we don't know that a poor-quality piano makes unpleasing sounds (maybe it's just ugly to look at, or maybe it doesn't last long), but A at least gives us a reason to reconsider buying a poor piano, even for a beginning student.

PSKhore

Wouldn't this require an additional assumption that most second hand pianos won't produce a pleasing sound?

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XLmafia21

Your analysis is excellent, and you've correctly identified Option A as the answer! Your concern about the "assumption" is actually a common worry among test-takers, but let me reassure you about this.

Key Insight: The Passage Sets Up the Quality Contrast

Notice how the stimulus explicitly distinguishes between:

"good-quality pianos, whether new or secondhand" (described as costly)
"inexpensive secondhand instrument" (the recommendation)

The author has already established that there are quality differences in pianos. By specifically recommending an "inexpensive secondhand" piano after acknowledging that "good-quality" pianos are costly, the passage implicitly tells us that the recommended piano is not of good quality.

Why Option A Works Without Being "Too Assumptive"
GMAT expects you to make reasonable real-world connections when they're supported by context. Here's why this inference is fair:

The passage creates a quality hierarchy: good-quality (costly) vs. inexpensive secondhand (affordable). Option A talks about pianos that "fail to produce a pleasing sound" - this naturally describes lower-quality instruments
The connection between "inexpensive secondhand" and "poor sound quality" is a reasonable inference, not a leap

The Weakening Mechanism

Option A creates a devastating catch-22:

Parents buy cheap piano to test if child has talent
But talented children lose interest due to poor sound quality
Result: Parents can't identify talent because the test method itself causes failure

This directly undermines the recommendation's logic!

GMAT Strategy Tip: When an answer choice requires a minor, reasonable inference that's supported by context clues in the passage, it's fair game. GMAT isn't trying to trick you with hyper-literal interpretations. If the passage distinguishes "good-quality" from "inexpensive," you can reasonably infer quality differences.

Your evaluation shows strong critical thinking - just trust your instincts when the inference is this reasonable and contextually supported!

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