A company is developing a new product, code-named Product Q. The compa

Question

A company is developing a new product, code-named Product Q. The company's leaders have not yet decided which of two plans to implement. Under Plan A, the new product would be released to the public 12 months from now. Under Plan B, it would be released 18 months from now. Those who favor Plan A do so because they have reliable evidence that a competitor is planning to develop a similar product and there would be a significant marketing advantage in releasing the product first. Those who favor Plan B point out that the 12-month development cycle would require such an intense concentration of effort that other important projects not involving Product Q might have to be postponed.

For Greater risk with Plan A, select the undesirable outcome that the passage indicates would be more likely if Plan A were implemented than if Plan B were implemented, and for Greater risk with Plan B, select the undesirable outcome that the passage indicates would be more likely if Plan B were implemented than if Plan A were implemented. Make only two selections, one in each column.

For  Greater risk with Plan   A , select the undesirable outcome that the passage indicates would be more likely if Plan A were implemented than if Plan B were implemented, and for  Greater risk with Plan   B , select the undesirable outcome that the passage indicates would be more likely if Plan B were implemented than if Plan A were implemented. Make only two selections, one in each column.

GMATinsight · Answer

Sharing first-hand experience:   It took me 2:06 minutes to answer this question and make the right selection. It looks similar to easy inference questions from Critical reasoning.

The only suggestion to the takers of this question is "Read the question carefully even if you need to read it slow, read it only once and don't put much of your thought. Everything you need to know to answer this question is right in the question stem itself.

Bismuth83 · Answer

1. The problem states to  "select the     undesirable outcome     that the passage indicates would be more likely if    Plan   A    were implemented" and "select the     undesirable outcome     that the passage indicates would be more likely if    Plan   B    were implemented".

2. In the text, it explains the reason people    pick    Plan    A    by using a more   undesirable event for Plan       B    . Next, it describes the reason people    pick    Plan    B    by using a   more undesirable event for Plan       A    .

3. For the first statement (   against   Plan   B   ) we have:  "they have reliable evidence that a competitor is planning to develop a similar product and there would be a significant marketing advantage in releasing the product first" . This is the same as the answer:     "A competitor would release a similar product before Product Q is released"  .

4.   For the second statement   (   against   Plan   A   ) we have:  "the 12-month development cycle would require such an intense concentration of effort that other important projects not involving Product Q might have to be postponed" . This is the same as the answer:     "Some important projects not involving Product Q would not be completed on their original schedules"    .

SwethaReddyL · Answer

hi GMATNinja / KarishmaB - i marked the interchanged options and got this wrong, could you please explain the question stem in detail? i have read it few times and still couldn't process on why the answers are opposite from what i marked. This mistake because of the wrong interpretation of question stem costed me few questions now

KarishmaB · Answer

Plan A - Release in 12 months. Why? Because if we don't do it in 12 months (and instead take more time say 18 months), there is a risk that a competitor may release first. So hurry. Mitigate this risk. Choose plan A. 
Plan B - Release in 18 months. Why? Because if we don't take 18 months (i.e. if we choose plan A), we will need to give all our attention to Q. Then other projects will get delayed. So be balanced. Don't let other projects get delayed. Choose plan B.

For  Greater risk with Plan   A , select the undesirable outcome that the passage indicates would be more likely if Plan A were implemented than if Plan B were implemented,

- If plan A were chosen and we were to release in 12 months, then we risk that other projects will get delayed. 
So  statement 3: "   Some important projects not involving Product Q would not be completed on their original schedules"  is a greater risk with plan A.

and for  Greater risk with Plan   B , select the undesirable outcome that the passage indicates would be more likely if Plan B were implemented than if Plan A were implemented

- If plan B were chosen and 18 months were taken, then it is possible that a competitor may release first. So  statement 5: "   A competitor would release a similar product before Product Q is released"  is a greater risk if plan B is implemented.

SwethaReddyL · Answer

thanks much karishma, that helps!

Rumz1001 · Answer

Is this a 555 according to GMAT Focus or old GMAT?

Bunuel · Answer

It ends with 5, so it's a GMAT focus difficulty.

Usernamevisible · Answer

I understand why Option 3 is considered a greater risk under Plan A, since the passage explicitly states that the intense development schedule might force other projects to be postponed.

Option 1 - The date on which Product Q would be released to the public would be at least 12 months later than the currently planned date.

This says plan A in execution wont work - because it wont be released as on the planned 12th month, in reality it will be taking more time than 12 months.

egmat · Answer

Hi SwethaReddyL,

I can see exactly what happened, and it's a really common swap. Looking at Bismuth83's breakdown above, notice the subtle move in step 2: the passage describes each downside  as a reason to pick the  other  plan . That's the hinge the swap turns on.

Here's the trap. When supporters of a plan mention a risk, they're pointing at a danger their plan  avoids  - which means that risk is actually higher under the plan they're arguing  against .

Let's anchor both columns to the timing, since that's the only real difference:

-  Plan A = release in 12 months (fast) 
-  Plan B = release in 18 months (slow)

Now match each risk to where it's  more likely to happen , not to who mentioned it:

-  A competitor releases first.  This happens if you're slow. The slower plan is  Plan B (18 months) , so this risk is  Greater with Plan B . (Plan A's supporters raised it precisely because going fast  prevents  it.)
-  Other projects fall behind schedule.  This happens when you cram everything into a short, intense cycle - the  12-month  crunch, which is  Plan A . So this risk is  Greater with Plan A . (Plan B's supporters raised it precisely because going slower  avoids  it.)

So the column header asks "which plan makes this bad thing  more likely to occur ?" - not "which plan's supporters talked about it?" You were matching to the speaker, and the speaker is always warning about the  opposite  plan.

A quick way to lock this in:  reread each sentence and finish the thought out loud - "Plan A's fans say 'release first,' which means the  danger of being late  lives with the  slow  plan, Plan B." If you narrate the risk to its actual cause (fast vs. slow), the columns sort themselves and the swap disappears.

Answer: Column 1 = Some important projects not involving Product Q would not be completed on their original schedules.; Column 2 = A competitor would release a similar product before Product Q is released.

A company is developing a new product, code-named Product Q. The compa

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Greater risk with Plan A	Greater risk with Plan B
		The date on which Product Q would be released to the public would be at least 12 months later than the currently planned date.
		The basic design of Product Q would have to be changed during the development process.
		Some important projects not involving Product Q would not be completed on their original schedules.
		The company would have to charge more to the public for Product Q than if the other plan were implemented.
		A competitor would release a similar product before Product Q is released.

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