Dear experts,

Could you please explain why B is correct. In order B to explain the except situation above we should make assumption which, I think ,requires far more assumption than required in any GMAT CR question. Also, it is not everyone's common sense that highly valued land is used primarily for multistorey buildings. One, for example, could argue that highly valued lands is occupied by wealthy people who constructed mansions or there's not any city-like (not sure there's such a word ) objects (skyscrapers, industrial plants etc) and thus the atmosphere is fresh, so land prices are high.

On the other hand, answer choice C says that bamboo bears some additional cost. That's why total cost of construction in lower priced lands makes better economics sense. However, if we want to construct something from bamboo in high valued land there will be higher land cost+ additional bamboo costs which makes construction less efficient from economic standpoint than that of tropical areas where land prices are lower.

What I am missing here?

(C) In order to protect it from being damaged by termites and beetles, bamboo must be soaked, at some expense, in a preservative.

Hi,

The highlighted statement is actually not true and most people have misconceptions around this.

GMAT CR section is not about formal logic where you have to take the literal meaning of each word and convert that into a logical representation using sets or some other notations and then apply classical logical rules to arrive at the answer.

Rather, GMAT CR section is a test of your everyday logic and thus, it uses some of the most intuitive understandings such as

1. People prefer more profit over less profit
2. Dollar sales should increase with the increase in the number of customers
3. A person who is more willing to use meditation technique is expected to use such techniques over a longer term than a person who is less willing.

Don't you think these statements seem very common sense?

However, as you can see that these statement can also be false in some specific scenarios; however, generally, they make a lot of sense. Actually such understanding is needed to tackle a lot of CR questions.

I did not create these three statements out of thin air. The understanding of such statements are needed to tackle below three respective OG questions:

Question 1

One name-brand cereal manufacturer is about to reduce wholesale prices for its cereals by 20% because consumers have been switching from its cereals to cheaper store brands. The success of this strategy relies on the assumption that supermarkets will pass on all of the savings by lowering the prices they charge consumers for the manufacturers' cereals. Although supermarkets usually pass on such savings, in this case it is likely that supermarkets will not do so because ............................................................

a) Several other name-brand cereal manufacturers are about to reduce the wholesale prices of their cereals
b) the average price per box of name-band cereals has significantly increases over the past 10 years.
c) total annual sales of cereal - including both name-brand and store-brand cereals -have increased over the past 10 years.
d) supermarkets currently make far more profit on sales of store-brand cereals than on sales of name-brand cereals
e) the current prices of manufacturers' cereals are comparable to the prices of name-brand cereals produced by other cereal manufacturers.

Correct Option: D

Question 2

Theatergoer: In January of last year, the Megaplex chain of movie theaters started popping its popcorn in canola oil, instead of the less healthful coconut oi that it had been using until then. Now Megaplex is planning to switch back, saying that the change has hurt popcorn sales. That claim is false, however, since according to Megaplex's own sales figures, Megaplex sold five percent more popcorn last year than in the previous year.
　　Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the theaterg0er‘s argument?
　　A. When it switched from using coconut oil to using canola oil, Megaplex made sure that the chain received a great deal of publicity stressing the health benefits of the change.
　　B. Megaplex makes more money on food and beverages sold at its theaters than it does on sales of movie tickets.
　　C. In a survey to determine pubic response to the change to canola oil, very few of Megapiex's customers said that the change had affected their popcorn-buying habits.
　　D. Total sales of all food and beverage items at Megaplex's movie theaters increased by less than five percent last year.
　　E. Total attendance at Megaplex's movie theaters was more than 20 percent higher last year than the year before.

Correct Option: E

Question 3

A study of high blood pressure treatments found that certain meditation techniques and the most commonly prescribed drugs are equally effective if the selected treatment is followed as directed over the long term. Half the patients given drugs soon stop taking them regularly, whereas eighty percent of the study's participants who were taught meditation techniques were still regularly using them five years later. Therefore, the meditation treatment is the one likely to produce the best results.
　　Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
　　A. People who have high blood pressure are usually advised by their physicians to make changes in diet that have been found in many cases to reduce the severity of the condition.
　　B. The participants in the study were selected in part on the basis of their willingness to use meditation techniques.
　　C. Meditation techniques can reduce the blood pressure of people who do not suffer from high blood pressure.
　　D. Some of the participants in the study whose high blood pressure was controlled through meditation techniques were physicians.
　　E. Many people with dangerously high blood pressure are unaware of their condition.

Correct Option: B

Look at the correct answers of the above questions and look at the three common sense statements I made and observe that without those common sense statements, the correct answer choices will not be correct.

Similar is the case with the current questions: We need to have this understanding that places where land values are high, multistory buildings will be preferred since on the same land, we can have more office or house space.

Hope this helps

Let me know if any further clarification is needed.

Thanks,
Chiranjeev

Sorry to say still nobody has answered my query.

In tropical areas, therefore, building with bamboo makes better economic sense than building with steel or concrete, except where land values are high.

Paradox is even if BAMBOO makes economic sense then why IT is not used in where land values are high

(B) Bamboo is unsuitable as a building material for multistory buildings.

How can we assume here that places where LAND VALUES ARE HIGH we will find MULTISTORY BUILDINGS.

Places where LAND VALUES are high can be the places where there are BUNGALOWS or may be the land values could be high because "Very important People" are living there.

How could we relate HIGH LAND VALUES with MULTISTORY.

I contradict the reasoning of common sense as given by other members in this post.


Plz Advice !!

Rgds,
TGC

As a construction material, bamboo is as strong as steel and sturdier than concrete. Moreover, in tropical areas bamboo is a much less expensive construction material than either steel or concrete and is always readily available. In tropical areas, therefore, building with bamboo makes better economic sense than building with steel or concrete, except where land values are high.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the exception noted above?


(A) Buildings constructed of bamboo are less likely to suffer earthquake damage than are steel and concrete buildings.

(B) Bamboo is unsuitable as a building material for multistory buildings.

(C) In order to protect it from being damaged by termites and beetles, bamboo must be soaked, at some expense, in a preservative.

(D) In some tropical areas, bamboo is used to make the scaffolding that is used during large construction projects.

(E) Bamboo growing in an area where land values are increasing is often cleared to make way for construction.

(B) Bamboo is unsuitable as a building material for multistory buildings.

(E) Bamboo growing in an area where land values are increasing is often cleared to make way for construction

>> It is NOT NECESSARY that there would be multistory buildings AT PLACES where land values are high.
For B to be correct i need to assume that high buildings would be built at areas where land values are high



>>The purpose is to clear way for construction. It can be construction of ROADS, Government Buildings (hospitals etc.) or buildings etc. so purpose for these constructions may not necessarily of ECONOMIC sense, but the purpose could be helping citizens etc. OR if home buildings constructions with multi story buildings then also it is not about Economic sense.


For B , i need to assume something but for E i don't need to assume extra. so why not i choose E.?

VeritasKarishma GMATNinja egmat abhimahna