A study of expectant mothers suggests that thin women can si

Question

A study of expectant mothers suggests that thin women can significantly increase their chances of bearing bigger babies by taking zinc supplements during pregnancy. Three hundred women who took 25-milligram zinc supplements starting with the 19th week of pregnancy were compared to 250 women who took placebos. All of the women also took a multivitamin-mineral supplement containing no zinc. Babies born to the zinc group weighed five ounces more on average, with the greatest gains among thin women; for example, women in the zinc group who were 5' 4" tall and weighed under 110 pounds had babies one pound heavier, on average, than those born to similar-sized women in the placebo group.

The conclusion drawn in the passage above depends on which of the following assumptions?
 A) Zinc found in natural sources, such as seafood, nuts, and milk, is not as effective as supplements in increasing a pregnant woman's chances of bearing larger babies.
 B) The first 18 weeks of pregnancy did not play a significant role in the results of the study.
 C) Zinc supplements have little or no effect on the size of babies born to taller, heavier mothers.
 D) Thin women who take more than 25 milligrams of zinc daily will give birth to even larger infants.
 E) Zinc supplements have a greater effect on the size of babies born to thin women because these women have less zinc stored in their bodies.

This is from kaplan free test..
I dont think so, this is real GMAT question.. this question's answer does not make sense to me..

mikemcgarry · Accepted Answer

Dear sanjoo , I'm happy to respond. :-)

To tell you the truth, I am not very impressed with this question and its OA. As you no doubt know, one good test for the assumption of an argument is the Negation Test . For more detail, see: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/assumption ... -the-gmat/ The conclusion of the argument is is the first sentence, and all the rest is supporting evidence. Conclusion: ... thin women can significantly increase their chances of bearing bigger babies by taking zinc supplements during pregnanc y Kaplan says that the OA is (B) . Let's negate (B) : The first 18 weeks of pregnancy did play a significant role in the results of the study. If we negate a true assumption, it unequivocally devastates the argument. Here, the negated version tells us that the first 18 weeks played some significant role. OK -- what role? Would taking zinc in the first 18 weeks made the result more pronounced or less pronounced? Did something else happen in the first 18 weeks that sensitized or desensitized the pregnant women to the effects of zinc? The " significant role " could be almost anything, and it could either strengthen or weaken the argument. That's not a good GMAT assumption. With a good GMAT assumption, negating it unambiguously destroys the logic of the argument. Here, we could imagine that the negated assumption weakens the argument, but we could equally imagine it strengthening the argument. The question falls dismally short of the standards that the real GMAT holds on CR assumption questions. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

sanjoo · Answer

Yeah.. I felt that too.. After luking at this question it does not look like a GMAT question.. Btw Thanks alot

Negation is gud trick, bt i think that takes long time to answer a question. if U r in hurry and have one minute to solve the question then i think negation wont work.

PiyushK · Answer

Conclusion presents a causality that
By taking zinc supplements during pregnancy ---- >>thin women can significantly increase their  chances  of bearing bigger babies .

Only Option A defends this causality by eliminating alternate cause for stated effect.

A) Zinc found in natural sources, such as seafood, nuts, and milk, is not as effective as supplements in increasing a pregnant woman's chances of bearing larger babies.

B) The first 18 weeks of pregnancy did not play a significant role in the results of the study.
First 18 weeks play significant role in babies growth, but these first 18 weeks are same for both 300 and 250 groups of women. Only known change that is addition of supplement is introduced in 19th week. Thus, even if first 18 weeks play significant role, we can not see that it is filling any gap between premise and conclusion. we can not assume that women of both groups were on some different special diet or under different special condition and such difference can help thin women to carry bigger babies... such assumption is out of scope of this argument.

GSBae · Answer

B is not the biggest assumption that the passage makes, but the argument doesn't rely on any other of the other options. Go with the best answer.

Shiv2016 · Answer

Premise: Three hundred women who took 25-milligram zinc supplements starting with the 19th week of pregnancy were compared to 250 women who took placebos. 
Premise: All of the women also took a multivitamin-mineral supplement containing no zinc. 
Premise: Babies born to the zinc group weighed five ounces more on average, with the greatest gains among thin women; for example, women in the zinc group who were 5' 4" tall and weighed under 110 pounds had babies one pound heavier, on average, than those born to similar-sized women in the placebo group.

CONCLUSION: A study of expectant mothers suggests that thin women can significantly increase their chances of bearing bigger babies by taking zinc supplements during pregnancy.

(The first line of the argument is the conclusion here because it tells about the result of the study conducted.)
WOMEN…………..INCREASE THEIR CHANCES OF BEARING BIGGER BABIES…………..BY TAKING ZINC SUPPLEMENTS……………..AND THAT’S IT (NOTHING ELSE). That means there is no other reason for this result….ONLY zinc supplements.
We have to look for a choice that clearly removes a possibility of any other factor contributing to this result.

Let’s check the options:

A) Zinc found in natural sources, such as seafood, nuts, and milk, is not as effective as supplements in increasing a pregnant woman's chances of bearing larger babies.
OUT OF SCOPE. We are not concerned whether zinc from OTHER SOURCE is beneficial or not.

B) The first 18 weeks of pregnancy did not play a significant role in the results of the study.
This is the correct choice.
Let’s negate it: The first 18 weeks of pregnancy DID PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE RESULTS. Then Zinc is not the only reason. This shatters the conclusion.

C) Zinc supplements have little or no effect on the size of babies born to taller, heavier mothers.
OUT OF SCOPE

D) Thin women who take more than 25 milligrams of zinc daily will give birth to even larger infants.
OUT OF SCOPE

E) Zinc supplements have a greater effect on the size of babies born to thin women because these women have less zinc stored in their bodies. 
OUT OF SCOPE

Aviral1995 · Answer

VeritasKarishma   GMATNinja   nightblade354 , could you please see if my reasoning to negate E is correct?
E is wrong because it gives the reason which may or may not be possible. there might be some other reason as well due to which the size of babies increased

VerbalBot · Answer

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A study of expectant mothers suggests that thin women can si

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