According to a recent study, the majority of people in a large city be

conclusion- It is not the case that drug addict causes homelessness but mental illness causes homelessness.

Assumption : prethink : author assumes there is no relation between drug addiction and mental illness

E is in line with our thought so is the answer

OA is E.

IMO OA is E
Mental illness : cannot work
Drug addiction : can work
-> Mental illness people and Drug addicted people are different person.
If we negate E, it said mental illness people and drug addicted people
are same -> weaken.
So I chose E

Hi,

This is a really good question. Thanks for sharing.

Let's start with the main conclusion of the argument.
The main conclusion is that public is misinformed.
Premise :- The city's Coalition for the Homeless estimates that over 85 percent of the homeless population is moderately to severely mentally ill.

There's a "Language Shift" which leads to a "Gap" in the argument.(The typical gmat parlance).

The public believe that most homeless are drug addicts who could ...........
but the premise says most homeless are mentally ill
Hence for the public to be misinformed it must be assumed that mentally ill can't be drug addicts who can find a job if they wanted to.

Option E is along our lines of pre thinking. Hence correct.
Option D can be a bit luring but we must link drug addiction with mental illness

E doesn't account for the moderately mentally ill people. Can anyone elaborate the OA in light of this point?
mikemcgarry, request you to please assist.

Posted from my mobile device

hello, how can I find more questions from Magoosh to practice? Only some questions are available.

choice E has some problem because it dose not mention moderately ill persons.

Thanks Mike. I too had a similar opinion about this one. Magoosh Questions are really good. As asked earlier by another mate, how do we find more Magoosh questions to practice?

To Binggm14,

This is my reasoning wht D is not correct and E is correct.

: I also think D is very attractive answer. There are some problem, however, to support the conclusion

1. We have to concentrated on the conclusion and presume.

presume : homeless can work. most homeless are drug addicted
conclusion : This is wrong because over 85% of homeless population is moderately to severally mentally ill.

This passage wants to insist that homeless cannot work, because conclusion is 'the public is misinformed'
To support this, we need an assumption that homeless who is moderetely to severally mentally ill cannot work.

D cannot explain this relationship. Only E can explain this relationship.

2.impossible to obtain or maintain employment.
-> This expression is so strong.
We cannot assure that all the homeless who is moderately to severally mentally ill cannot work.

3. Negate E : If a homeless person is severaly mentally ill, he is a drug addict who is able to work
-> This weaken the argument.(I explained about this above)

I hope this can help you.

Okay ..thanks

study mode

you are right, this question is from exclusively the study mode part of Kaplan.

Took exactly 2 minutes to click E

Here we need to find relation between drug addict and work


A. Even the mentally ill are capable of maintaining employment if they want to. Totally contradicts the statement hence is out

B. An estimate from Coalition for the Homeless that says the vast majority of homeless people are mentally ill. (no assumption at all in this options as it repeats the same)

C. The public is misinformed in its belief that the homeless are drug addicts who don't want to work. ( no assumption at all )

D. Moderate to severe mental illness makes it impossible to obtain or maintain employment. (out of scope – it is too extreme, “makes it impossible”

E. If a homeless person is severely mentally ill, he is not a drug addict who is able to work. This one works best of all since there is relation between drug addicts and work - Coalition assumes that drug addiction leads to ill mentality making people unable to work

Hi,
Can someone explain me the answer?

Thank you .

According to a recent study, the majority of people in a large city believe that most homeless people are drug addicts who could get jobs if they wanted to work. However, the public is misinformed. The city's Coalition for the Homeless estimates that over 85 percent of the homeless population is moderately to severely mentally ill.

What is the assumption of the argument?
A. Even the mentally ill are capable of maintaining employment if they want to.
-> irrelevant.
The passage argues that 'the public is misinformed'.
It means that most homeless people with drug addicts will hard to get a job.
B. An estimate from Coalition for the Homeless that says the vast majority of homeless people are mentally ill.
-> irrelevant.
C. The public is misinformed in its belief that the homeless are drug addicts who don't want to work.
-> This is just a fact because C is similar to the passage.(Anything is not changed about meaning)
D. Moderate to severe mental illness makes it impossible to obtain or maintain employment.
-> This is the trap!. The passage said over 85 percent!!
D means that 100 percent cannot get a job, because D use the word impossible.
E. If a homeless person is severely mentally ill, he is not a drug addict who is able to work.
-> Negate : If a homeless person is severely mentally ill, he is a drug addict who is able to work.
This weakens the passage. -> correct
(Passage argues that problem is not a drug addict, but severally mentally ill. So Negation of E can weaken the passage)

I hope this can helpful..

still confused between D and E as negation of both weakens the conclusion

I could see the lack of explanation for answer choice E.

I elaborate it, See there is a contrasting statement, one group is telling homeless is drug addict does not want to work. other is telling homeless is mentally ill. The second statement is the conclusion. Clearly the gap should be an assumption which is homeless is not drug addict who could work but it is mentally ill is the answer.

It is exam of clear thought not laborious question solving, pls develop thought to clear it.

I had C, D and E as contenders. Went with E as it more clearly connected the premise concerning the public and the conclusion.