A public-service advertisement advises that people who have

Question

A public-service advertisement advises that people who have consumed alcohol should not drive until they can do so safely. In a hospital study, however, subjects questioned immediately after they consumed alcohol underestimated the time necessary to regain their driving ability. This result indicates that many people who drink before driving will have difficulty following the advertisement's advice.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the argument above?

(A) Many people, if they plan to drink alcohol, make arrangements beforehand for a nondrinker to drive them home.

(B) The subjects in the hospital study generally rated their abilities more conservatively than would people drinking alcohol outside a hospital setting.

(C) Some people refrain from drinking if they will have to drive to get home afterward.

(D) The subjects in the hospital study were also questioned about the time necessary to regain abilities that do not play an important role in driving safely.

(E) Awareness of the public-service advertisement is higher among the general population than it was among the subjects in the hospital study.

GMATNinja · Accepted Answer

The advertisement advises that people who have consumed alcohol shouldn't drive until it is safe to do so (which seems like reasonable advice).

However, in a study that took place in a hospital, people UNDERESTIMATED the time required required to regain their ability to drive after drinking. Here's an example: the subjects of the study are given five Jager bombs (sign me up!). They sit around until they think they can drive safely, and on average wait 4 hours before they say they are sober enough to drive. In reality, say it takes  6 hours  for the Jager bombs to wear off and for the subjects to regain their ability to drive safely. These people have  underestimated  the time required between drinking and driving safely.

Based on this study, the author concludes that "many people who drink before driving will have difficulty following the advertisement's advice," because people are not great at judging whether they have waited long enough between drinking and driving. We are trying to support this conclusion with the correct answer choice.

Take a look at (B):
 
The subjects in the hospital setting ALREADY underestimated the time required between drinking and driving. A tells us that these subjects were actually MORE CONSERVATIVE (or more cautious) than people outside of a hospital setting.

To go back to our example, the subjects in the study estimated that they could drive after 4 hours, when they really needed 6. Let's say that people out at a bar on a Saturday night drink the same 5 Jager bombs -- if they are LESS CONSERVATIVE than the subjects in the study, maybe they think they can drive after only  2 hours .

This confirms that people are terrible at judging when they have let enough time pass between drinking and driving. In fact, it shows that people are  even worse  at making this decision than the study showed. By showing that people outside of the hospital underestimate the time needed to sober up, (B) supports the conclusion that "many people who drink before driving will have difficulty following the advertisement's advice" to wait between drinking and driving.

I hope that helps!

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Yes, exactly.

In this context, "more conservatively" means that, in estimating the time needed to regain their driving ability, people were more cautious in making their estimates than they would have been in a non-hospital setting, and thus arrived at estimates that were higher than they would have made in a non-hospital setting.

(B)strengthens the argument by directly stating an unstated assumption, that, like people in hospital settings, people not in hospital settings also underestimate the time needed to regain their driving ability. In other words, it confirms that the sample, people in hospital settings, is sufficiently representative of people in general for supporting the conclusion.

Also, (B) adds support for the conclusion by showing that the discrepancy between estimated time needed to regain driving abilities and actual time needed is in most cases even greater than that used to support the conclusion originally.

laxieqv · Answer

IMO, "more conservatively" here means " more exactly" ...so even the subjects questioned, with more accurate rating of their ability, underestimated/ unaccurately estimated their ability ----> drinkers outside hospital setting rate their ability even less accurately ---> this supports the conclusion.B it is.

mahesh004 · Answer

B is right. If hospital subjects are conservative than general public that means they the general public will underestimate the effects by higher % time...thus it strengthens...

A, C and D are out of scope.

E weakens it.

mallya12 · Answer

" underestimated the time necessary to regain their driving ability."- does this mean they estimated time less than the actual time needed to regain?

what does "more conservatively" mean in this context?

how does B strengthen the argument?

mallya12 · Answer

here is what I understand from the conclusion:

p1: A adv suggest people if they have consumed alcohol not to drive until they can do it safely.

p2: In hospital study, subjects who consumed alcohol when questioned estimated time less than the actual time needed to regain.

conclusion: This result indicates that many people who drink before driving will have difficulty following the advertisement's advice. Doubt How does the author make this conclusion? ( I didn't understand how did the author conclude this)

In answer choice B:

In this context, "more conservatively" means that, in estimating the time needed to regain their driving ability, people were more cautious in making their estimates than they would have been in a non-hospital setting, and thus arrived at estimates that were higher than they would have made in a non-hospital setting.

But in the premise, they have mentioned the subjects have underestimated(estimated time less than the actual time) the time. Whereas Answer choice B tells subjects are estimating higher . Please solve the confusion.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

The truth is that how the author arrives at that conclusion is not quite clear, as there is a difference between estimating the time needed and waiting to drive until one can drive safely. So, we have to be a little creative maybe, and decide that the author is saying that people will have difficulty following the advice because they will have to wait longer than they estimate they will have to wait.

In this context, "more conservatively" means that, in estimating the time needed to regain their driving ability, people were more cautious in making their estimates than they would have been in a non-hospital setting, and thus arrived at estimates that were higher than they would have made in a non-hospital setting.

The passage says that, in a hospital setting, people underestimate the time needed to regain their driving ability.

Choice (B) does not contradict what the passage says.

What choice (B) indicates is that people in a hospital setting arrive at estimates higher than the estimates the people would arrive at were the people not in a hospital setting. All the same, we know from the passage that, even given what (B) says, the estimates made by people in hospital setting are STILL TOO LOW.

celo700 · Answer

Conclusion: Many people who drink before driving will have difficulty following the advice that people who have consumed alcohol should not drive until they can do so safely. 
The Author derived her conclusion about  most people  based on a hospital study involving just  few people . If we can bridge this gap, we can strengthen the argument.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the argument above?

Making arrangements before hand is out of scope. Argument is regarding whether people who drink before driving will follow the advice.

This option shows a connection between the people from the study and the rest of the people. It says that people from the study rated the time required to regain their ability to drive on a higher and safer side whereas in reality people probably would not wait that long. Hence, most people will have difficulty following the advice.

Again, out of scope.The argument is regarding whether most people will wait long enough after drinking to regain their driving ability.Some people choosing to not drink at all will not effect the argument.

This option is somewhat twisted and it will have no bearing on conclusion. The subjects in the hospital  only  were questioned about the time necessary to regain abilities and this indeed plays an important role in driving safely.

If awareness of the public-service advertisement is higher among the general population than it was among the subjects in the hospital study, then most people will not have difficulty following the device. This can be a weakner if there exists causal relationship between awareness and people following the advice.

pielkay · Answer

Hi  GMATNinja , I'm unable to understand why B is correct. Can you please help me with the reasoning?

PrashantK0099 · Answer

confused between B and D !!

Can anyone explain the reason to eliminate for D

Thanks

GMATNinja · Answer

For a more in-depth look at the argument in the passage, check out  this post . We'll just use the part of that breakdown we need here.

Based on the study described in the passage, the author concludes that "many people who drink before  driving  will have difficulty following the advertisement's advice," because people are not great at judging whether they have waited long enough between drinking and driving. The advice in the advert is that "people who have consumed alcohol should not  drive  until they can do so safely"

We're trying to find the answer choice that best supports this conclusion. Let's take a look at (D) to find reasons why we can eliminate it:
 
Remember, the conclusion is about people who drink having difficulty following the advertisement's advice. The advertisement advises people that they shouldn't  drive  after drinking until they can do so safely.

The argument and conclusion focus on people's  ability to drive safely  after drinking and how they underestimate the amount of time they need to wait before regaining the ability to drive. We're not concerned about the time necessary to regain abilities that  " do not  play an important role in driving safely."

Maybe they were asked about the time necessary to be able to safely jump on a trampoline again or to safely juggle wine glasses while unicycling along a tightrope. How would asking about these (only  slightly  ridiculous) examples support the conclusion?

(D) does not help support the conclusion as it does not discuss someone's ability to drive safely after drinking alcohol. For this reason, we can eliminate (D).

There's a full explanation of why (B) is the correct answer in  this post .

I hope that helps!

AbhishekDhanraJ72 · Answer

Can some experts explain reasoning behind E? I read some explanation suggesting it weakens; however, I strongly disagree. If anything then it doesn't talk about the drunken drivers. That's why it can be wrong. Please give some inputs

Posted from my mobile device

Posted from my mobile device

AbhishekDhanraJ72 · Answer

Can some experts explain reasoning behind E? I read some explanation suggesting it weakens; however, I strongly disagree. If anything then it doesn't talk about the drunken drivers. That's why it can be wrong. Please give some inputs

Posted from my mobile device

Posted from my mobile device

GMATNinja · Answer

This passage concludes that people "who drink before driving will have difficulty following the advertisement's advice." Why? Because a hospital study suggests that people tend to underestimate how much time they need to sober up before they drive. In other words, they think they're sober enough to drive, but really they're still too drunk. For that reason, the passage concludes, people who drink will have trouble deciding when it's safe to drive.

Let's now consider (E):

Does this support the argument? Not really. We're trying to support the idea that the hospital study suggests that people will have trouble deciding when they're sober enough to drive safely. But whether people are aware of the public-service advertisement has no effect on this argument.

Put another way: the conclusion is about whether people are able to decide when they're sober enough to drive. Yet we have no reason to think that being aware of the public service announcement has any effect on that.

So (E) neither strengthens nor weakens the argument, and for that reason, it's incorrect.

I hope that helps!

VerbalBot · Answer

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.

A public-service advertisement advises that people who have

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

A public-service advertisement advises that people who have

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards