A politician who has been opposed to the new metro rail project has re

Question

A politician who has been opposed to the new metro rail project has recently claimed that the project is failing to meet its goals, citing the builder's failure to deliver milestones on time and to stay within a reasonable budget. While it is typically expected that politicians will bemoan projects that do not support their political agenda, in this case, this stance is clearly unjustified. It is true that the builders of the rail project are late on milestones and over the original budget amounts. However, this does not mean that the project is failing to meet its goals of providing superior mass transit options to the people. On the other hand, the budget and time overruns can be entirely attributable to the decision to install recently-available upgrades to the already-completed sections of rail that will increase the speed and efficiency of the system once it is complete.

In the table, select the statement that describes the role of the first bold portion and select the statement that describes the role of the second bold portion. Make two selections, one in each column.

In the table, select the statement that describes the role of the first bold portion and select the statement that describes the role of the second bold portion. Make two selections, one in each column.

rvgmat12 · Answer

First boldface - Politician's conclusion which is opposed by the argument

Second boldface - Argument's conclusion as a whole

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Sajjad1994 · Answer

OA is posted

Role of 1st bold portion : States a position that the argument as a whole opposes.
 Role of 2nd bold portion : States the conclusion of the argument as a whole.

Thank you

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

Role of 1st bold portion: D
Role of 2nd bold portion: E

Solution: It should be clear that neither statement is evidence, but rather that both are positions/conclusions. This should allow you to quickly eliminate the first three choices. The first statement is the politician’s position, which is then refuted by the rest of the paragraph, so from that you can conclude that this is a position that the overall argument opposes. And the argument does go on to support the second bolded portion, which directly opposes the first. Both of these clues should lead you directly to answer choice E for the second column.

MT1302 · Answer

The fastest way to solve Bold-face questions is to the classify the individual bold face Statements as either Fact or Conclusion.

St -1   : As soon as you start reading the argument , Author has explicitly mentioned just before the 1st boldface that it is a  Claim .  
Claim = Opinion/Position
Immediately scan through the a.c. and see first 3 options mentioning "St-1" as a Evidence. An Evidence = Fact .
An opinion or a claim is not a fact. Eliminate A,B & C. Now it is easier for you to deal with only 2 options.

So you are left with only 2 options D & E.

As you read further, you find the use of word "However". This means author is introducing a contrast.

St - 2   : " this stance is clearly unjustified" .  This is a opinion you can pretty easily identify it. 
So , St-2 is also an opinion.

When you read further you clearly see St-1 is being refuted by the author . So, St-1 is option choice D.
& St-2 is option choice E.

You can do it in less than 2 minutes. Just by this process. You don't have to even get lost in a.c. saying evidence , premise , claim, position and scratch your head.

Hope it helps.

A politician who has been opposed to the new metro rail project has re

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Role of 1st bold portion	Role of 2nd bold portion
		Evidence that has been used to support a position that the argument as a whole opposes.
		Evidence provided to undermine the support for the position being opposed.
		Evidence provided to support the position of the argument as a whole.
		States a position that the argument as a whole opposes.
		States the conclusion of the argument as a whole.

GMAT Two-part Analysis (TPA) Questions

A politician who has been opposed to the new metro rail project has re

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