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zoezhuyan


Hi MagooshExpert Carolyn
Thanks so much for your explanation.

I thought the original sentence intends to mean 5 times , so I though it is ok that " it is nearly four times more likely that..."


But how should I catch that the original meaning is "4 times likely", rather than "5 times" or "4 times... more..." ?

Please

Thanks in advance

Have a nice day
>_~
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Hi zoezhuyan,

Saying "4 times more likely than" is a very awkward way to say "5 times as likely", and so you can pretty safely assume that unless it's explicitly stated, the intention is "4 times as likely". You will probably never see "X times more likely" as a correct construction.

Hope that helps :-)
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dear GMATNinja

can u please explain all the options in this question?
in my opinoin C can not be the answer because it changes the meaning
4 times more likely than
has different meaning from
4 times as likely as
thanks and regards
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According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by Asso Updated on: 22 Oct 2020, 08:27
Originally posted by GMATNinja on 08 Apr 2020, 07:40.
Last edited by GMATNinjaTwo on 22 Oct 2020, 08:27, edited 1 time in total.
fixed typo
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ramuramu1838
dear GMATNinja

can u please explain all the options in this question?
in my opinoin C can not be the answer because it changes the meaning
4 times more likely than
has different meaning from
4 times as likely as
thanks and regards
Show more
It sounds like you might be falling victim to a common flawed mindset: that the "correct" meaning is given by choice (A) and that you can eliminate another option if it deviates from the meaning implied by choice (A).

This is simply not the case. Even though choice (A) is the first option, it is not special at all and does not give us the "correct" meaning. You have to FIND the sentence where the meaning makes the most sense, regardless of how that sentence compares to choice (A).

So, don't be biased by what you've read in choice (A) when analyzing the other choices!

With that in mind, please read through the rest of the thread and let us know if you still have any questions.
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Is there any difference between starting the independent clause with "it" and "minority graduates"? I initially took out A, B, and C because I didn't think "minority graduates" could be "according to a survey." D and E definitely have glaring mistakes, but I have this doubt..
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Is there any difference between starting the independent clause with "it" and "minority graduates"? I initially took out A, B, and C because I didn't think "minority graduates" could be "according to a survey." D and E definitely have glaring mistakes, but I have this doubt..
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Good question. We recently posted an explanation on a different thread that's relevant to this scenario. Check it out, and let us know if you still have doubts?
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dear GMATNinja

can u please explain all the options in this question?
in my opinoin C can not be the answer because it changes the meaning
4 times more likely than
has different meaning from
4 times as likely as
thanks and regards
It sounds like you might be falling victim to a common flawed mindset: that the "correct" meaning is given by choice (A) and that you can eliminate another option if it deviates from the meaning implied by choice (A).

This is simply not the case. Even though choice (A) is the first option, it is not special at all and does not give us the "correct" meaning. You have to FIND the sentence where the meaning makes the most sense, regardless of how that sentence compares to choice (A).

So, don't be biased by what you've read in choice (A) when analyzing the other choices!

With that in mind, please read through the rest of the thread and let us know if you still have any questions.
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GMATNinja You don't know how much this helped... :heart

Nonetheless, usually I see that you are against us memorizing idioms, so how could we solve this one without them?

As dabaobao wrote:

Quote:
(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice - Wrong: 1) Idiom
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Idiom alone?


Quote:
(B) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates who plan on practicing - Wrong: 1) Structure
Show more
Ok, who seems off

Quote:
(C) minority graduates are nearly four times as likely as other graduates to plan on practicing - Correct
Show more
RIGHT ONE

Quote:
(D) it is nearly four times more likely that minority graduates rather than other graduates will plan to practice - Wrong: 1) Verb 2) Meaning 3) Wordy
Show more
Ok, if we can use simple present, why use future?

Quote:
(E) it is nearly four times as likely for minority graduates than other graduates to plan to practice - Wrong: 1) Idiom 2) Wordy
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If idiom or wordiness should not be deciding factors, how can I go forward?
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Is it correct to say that the 'it' in D and E is acting as an empty it/expletive it? i.e. there is not a pronoun/antecedent error?
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According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges, minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas.

(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice
(B) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates who plan on practicing
(C) minority graduates are nearly four times as likely as other graduates to plan on practicing
(D) it is nearly four times more likely that minority graduates rather than other graduates will plan to practice
(E) it is nearly four times as likely for minority graduates than other graduates to plan to practice

According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges,

minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas.

Meaning : According to a survey, MG are nearly four times more likely than OG to plan on practicing Z

Option D) “rather” doesn’t make sense. - Eliminated

Option E) “to plan to practice” there are two intents in the same sentence, making the sentence awkward – Eliminated.

I am confused for Option A/B/C.

One of the rule I follow is more should have “than”. Both A and B satisfy that rule. e-gmat, can you please point out the mistake?

Hi Kinjal,

Thanks for posting your doubt here. :-)

Option A is incorrect because "likely" is not followed by "to verb". This word is always followed by a "to verb". For example: Kinjal is likely to understand this explanation. However, in this choice what we have is "likely... in planning to practice". This is the incorrect idiom here. Now, the other idiom "more... than..." is fine. But it has been out so cleverly between this "likely" idiom that we only focus on that. There is no problem with "four times more likely" here.

Option B is also incorrect for the same reason. In fact, the "who clause" just provided additional information. The whole planning part now belongs to the "other graduates" and do not even relate to "minority graduates" in the main clause.

Option C is the correct answer as it rectifies the idiom error in Choice A. The choice says "likely... to plan on practicing".

Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
Shraddha
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Hi e-GMAT

Is "four times more likely" same as "four times as likely"? Come of think of it in numbers, I understand these 2 phrase mean different things. Mathematically, 4 times more is 5 times as other. Please point out the error in my understanding.
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sdrandom1
According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by Association of American Medical College, minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas.


(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice

(B) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates who plan on practicing

(C) minority graduates are nearly four times as likely as other graduates to plan on practicing

(D) it is nearly four times more likely that minority graduates rather than other graduates will plan to practice

(E) it is nearly four times as likely for minority graduates than other graduates to plan to practice


Source : GMATPrep Default Exam Pack

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Remember GMAT main Formula. The short, meaningful, and simple sentence is more likely to answer. So I eliminated all the answer choices and select C. D and E are started with It which is not clear.

The answer is C. New learning from her is that on practicing is correct with to practice.
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Algebra2prob

Hi e-GMAT

Is "four times more likely" same as "four times as likely"? Come of think of it in numbers, I understand these 2 phrase mean different things. Mathematically, 4 times more is 5 times as other. Please point out the error in my understanding.
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Hello Algebra2prob,

Thank you for the query and sorry for the late revert.

I am not sure whether you still have this doubt. Here is the response. Well, in the world of Math, there certainly will be some difference in the value obtained by these two expressions. But in Verbal, they almost mean the same and are NOT tested against each other. Hence, I would not about the difference between these two expressions.


Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
Shraddha
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MHIKER


Remember GMAT main Formula. The short, meaningful, and simple sentence is more likely to answer. So I eliminated all the answer choices and select C. D and E are started with It which is not clear.

The answer is C. New learning from her is that on practicing is correct with to practice.
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Hello MHIKER,

Congratulations on solving this question correctly. Your observation about traits of the correct official answers is correct indeed.

I just want to add that it not that "on practicing" is an incorrect expression. In this sentence, this expression does not work because the correct idiom is "likely TO practice", not "likely on practicing".


Hope this helps. :-)
Thanks.
Shraddha
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The debate over "four times more likely than" vs "four times as likely as" had me stumped, so based on what I could dig up here is what I found, and why it doesn't matter:

If we say "Y is 4 times as likely (or as much) as X" ---> Y = 4X
But if we say "Y is 4 times more likely than X" ---> Y= 4X + X = 5X

Does it matter that we know exactly how many times (4X as or 4X more) likely minority students are to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas in order to answer the question? No. Because the correct idioms are:
"more likely than" .... "to"
or
"as likely as" .... "to"
which only (C) gets right.
Upon selecting the grammatically correct answer, we can conclude the intended meaning was "four times as likely as"
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CEdward
Is it correct to say that the 'it' in D and E is acting as an empty it/expletive it? i.e. there is not a pronoun/antecedent error?
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Hi,

Let's look at the sentence below-

According to the weather forecast, it is likely to rain today.
According to the weather forecast, what?- It is likely to rain today.

But in the given sentence,
We already have a subject and need not use a placeholder pronoun “it” in its place.

According to a survey, minority graduates are nearly four times as likely as other graduates
Comparing minority graduates with other graduates. Option C is correct.

Please refer to the link below to know more about placeholder pronouns

https://gmatclub.com/forum/pronouns-usa ... l#p1759769

VP
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sdrandom1
According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by Association of American Medical College, minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas.


(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice

(B) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates who plan on practicing

(C) minority graduates are nearly four times as likely as other graduates to plan on practicing

(D) it is nearly four times more likely that minority graduates rather than other graduates will plan to practice

(E) it is nearly four times as likely for minority graduates than other graduates to plan to practice


Source : GMATPrep Default Exam Pack

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VeritasKarishma MartyTargetTestPrep EducationAisle

Is the comparison in option A fine?
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sdrandom1
According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by Association of American Medical College, minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas.


(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice


VeritasKarishma MartyTargetTestPrep EducationAisle

Is the comparison in option A fine?
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The GMAT prefers "four times as likely" to "four times more likely," which we see in (A), and "four times as likely" is a more effective expression.

At the same time, people use "four times more likely," and many consider that structure acceptable.

So, is the construction in (A) fine? It's not ideal, but it can be considered acceptable.

So, I personally would not necessarily eliminate a choice outright because it uses "four times more likely," and at the same time, if I had to choose between a choice that uses "four times more likely" and a choice that uses "four times as likely," and there were no other clear decision points, I'd choose the choice that uses "four times as likely."
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Is "being four times more likely..." the same as "being four times as likely ..."?
can someone please clarify?
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sdrandom1
According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by Association of American Medical College, minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas.

Correct idiom "...times as likely as" - eliminate (A), (B), (D), and (E). We are left with (C).

(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice

Graduates X are 4 times more likely than graduates Y are - ILLOGICAL.

(B) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates who plan on practicing

Same as (A)

(C) minority graduates are nearly four times as likely as other graduates to plan on practicing

Now, there's action involved "to plan on practicing." The comparison is between the action of minority and other graduates. CORRECT

(D) it is nearly four times more likely that minority graduates rather than other graduates will plan to practice

More.. rather than = WRONG

(E) it is nearly four times as likely for minority graduates than other graduates to plan to practice

"as likely than" = WRONG

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KarishmaB EducationAisle ReedArnoldMPREP AjiteshArun

Just to understand my parallelism a bit better - are any of these parallel ?

I was surprised to understand that NONE of these are parallel per the manhattan forums

I have bracketed the X and Y parallel markers for easier reading

As likely as
Quote:

1) It is 4 times as likely (that john will win) as (that Jim will win)
2) It is 4 times as likely that (john will win) as (Jim will win)
3) It is 4 times as likely (for Jim) as (for John) to win
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More likely than
Quote:

4) It is 4 times more likely (that Jim will win) than (that john will win)
5) It is 4 times more likely that (Jim will win) than (john will win)
6) It is 4 times more likely that (Jim) than (john) will win
7) It is 4 times more likely that (Jim) rather than (john) will win
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What would be the correct construction of this sentence if one had to use the "more...than" comparison?
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What would be the correct construction of this sentence if one had to use the "more...than" comparison?
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Basically the original sentence, with "in planning to practice" replaced by "to plan on practicing".
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