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akashbolster
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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and 22 Oct 2017, 16:01
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

Difficulty:

25% (medium)

Question Stats:

69% (00:57) correct 31% (01:05) wrong based on 469 sessions

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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and studied particle physics at age ten, Nora Brodkey's astute scientific mind was vital to the creation of quontronics in the 1970s, when she discovered the fluctuating waves present in deep space.

a) Nora Brodkey's astute scientific mind was
b) it was the astute scientific mind of Nora Brodkey that was
c) Nora Brodkey was the woman whose astute scientific mind was
d) Nora Brodkey was the astute scientific mind
e) the astute scientific mind of Nora Brodkey was

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why not the answer is D?
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C
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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and 22 Oct 2017, 20:39
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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and studied particle physics at age ten, Nora Brodkey's astute scientific mind was vital to the creation of quontronics in the 1970s, when she discovered the fluctuating waves present in deep space.

An exceptional student is noun phrase so we should expect noun that answers "who is an exceptional student". Therefore A, B and E out.

Consider option D, adjective vital is in awkward position since "..., Nora Brodkey was the astute scientific mind vital to the creation of quontronics... " has wrong structure. In additions, you cannot say he/she is something. "The astute scientific mind" should imply the characteristic of Nora Brodkey since he/she is person, not scientific mind

Hence, C correct.

But you meant OA is C?

a) Nora Brodkey's astute scientific mind was


b) it was the astute scientific mind of Nora Brodkey that was


c) Nora Brodkey was the woman whose astute scientific mind was


d) Nora Brodkey was the astute scientific mind


e) the astute scientific mind of Nora Brodkey was
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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and 23 Oct 2017, 08:49
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How is it D?

How can Nora Bodley be the mind? Am I missing something here?

Akash do you have the OE? Or at least why they say C is incorrect?
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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and 23 Oct 2017, 12:14
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How is it D?

How can Nora Bodley be the mind? Am I missing something here?

Akash do you have the OE? Or at least why they say C is incorrect?
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Hello monarkmunshi - I think D is the correct answer and below is the reason for the same.

c) Nora Brodkey was the woman whose astute scientific mind was

As per above answer choice, it seems as if - Nora's mind was vital - to the creation of quontronics which is illogical - ideally if we have to credit scientific accolades we credit it to a person and not to a person's mind.

d) Nora Brodkey was the astute scientific mind

D - D correctly says Nora Brodkey - was vital - to the creation of quontronics

Hope this helps!
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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and 23 Oct 2017, 15:15
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akashbolster
An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and studied particle physics at age ten, Nora Brodkey's astute scientific mind was vital to the creation of quontronics in the 1970s, when she discovered the fluctuating waves present in deep space.

a) Nora Brodkey's astute scientific mind was
b) it was the astute scientific mind of Nora Brodkey that was
c) Nora Brodkey was the woman whose astute scientific mind was
d) Nora Brodkey was the astute scientific mind
e) the astute scientific mind of Nora Brodkey was

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When a sentence begins with a modifying phrase, check to ensure that the phrase modifies its intended subject. In this case, Nora Brodkey's... mind cannot be referred to as an exceptional student, so eliminate choices A, B, and E which incorrectly do so. Now, down to two nearly identical choices, look for redundancies. The phrase the woman whose is rendered redundant by the appearance of the pronoun she in the final clause of the non-underlined portion. Eliminate choice C and select choice D which accurately and succinctly identifies Nora Brodkey as both an exceptional student and the astute scientific mind.
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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and 23 Oct 2017, 21:37
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Sorry for the late reply, OA is C.
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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and 23 Oct 2017, 21:53
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akashbolster
Sorry for the late reply, OA is C.
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Experts can you please help on this question. The OA looks debatable.
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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and 24 Oct 2017, 05:26
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akashbolster
Sorry for the late reply, OA is C.
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Hello - @akashbolster - Thanks - Could you please help us with the source and official explanation from that source?
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akashbolster
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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and 24 Oct 2017, 07:18
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I got this question while giving Princeton Review Exams. The Official Explanation is "Nora Brodkey is not the the astute scientific mind" That's why the answer is C. I rejected "C" because of its wordiness, but later I realized how stupid was I am.
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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and 24 Oct 2017, 12:43
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akashbolster
I got this question while giving Princeton Review Exams. The Official Explanation is "Nora Brodkey is not the the astute scientific mind" That's why the answer is C. I rejected "C" because of its wordiness, but later I realized how stupid was I am.
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Got it - I think OE was incorrectly updated by as D, I will update the OA to C. Though this question is debatable, if possible do post complete OE for this question (if you have) for the benefit of others.
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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and 16 Apr 2020, 23:02
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The structure of this prompt is as follows: the first clause (An exceptional student who mastered, ...) is a long appositive clause which modifies a noun. therefore, what follows the comma must be the noun itself (the subject that the appositive clause is trying to modify).

Hence, we can eliminate (A), (B) and (E) on the spot.

In (D), we have "Nora Brodkey was" the astute "scientific mind". what this says is that the person was the scientific mind. This comparison clearly does not make sense. Hence, eliminate (D).

Therefore, (C) is the right answer
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An exceptional student who mastered calculus at age six and 22 Dec 2021, 10:20
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Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

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