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Updated on: 31 May 2024, 10:10
Originally posted by betterscore on 19 Jul 2012, 10:45.
Last edited by Bunuel on 31 May 2024, 10:10, edited 5 times in total.
Last edited by Bunuel on 31 May 2024, 10:10, edited 5 times in total.
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B
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
35%
(medium)
Question Stats:
70% (01:31) correct
30%
(01:54)
wrong
based on 12394
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
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.
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.
Building with Bamboo
Step 1: Identify the Question
The words explain the exception in the question stem indicate that this is an Explain the Discrepancy question.
Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument
Bamboo vs concrete/steel:
B at least as sturdy + cheaper → more econom. in trop. areas
BUT: high land values → B not econom.?
Step 3: Pause and State the Goal
On Explain the Discrepancy questions, start by identifying the “status quo” and the “surprise” in the argument. The status quo is that bamboo, which is cheaper and sturdier than concrete in tropical areas, is a more economical building material. For some reason, though, when land values are high, bamboo is not as economical. The right answer will explain why high land values make bamboo uneconomical.
Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right
(A) The right answer must explain why bamboo becomes less economical specifically in areas of high land value. Since the argument doesn’t state that earthquakes affect areas of high and low land value differently, this answer choice doesn’t make that distinction.
(B) CORRECT. In areas with low land values, building with bamboo makes more economic sense than building with steel and concrete. However, in areas with high land values, using steel or concrete enables multistory buildings to be constructed, while only single-story buildings can be constructed with bamboo. If land values are high, multistory buildings become more economically desirable: they have a smaller footprint, so less money needs to be spent on land. In contrast, a bamboo building of the same overall size would have a larger footprint, increasing the amount spent on land. Thus, even though steel and concrete technically cost more, their cost might be offset in areas of high land value, because using these materials allows less money to be spent on land.
(C) The right answer must explain why bamboo becomes less economical specifically in areas of high land value. Since the argument doesn’t state that termite and beetle damage affects areas of high and low land value differently, this answer choice doesn’t make that distinction.
(D) The argument deals with bamboo as a construction material, not as a scaffolding material. Its use as a scaffolding material does not imply that bamboo is uneconomical as a building material. In addition, there is not necessarily a connection between large construction projects and land values, since the answer choice does not clarify what constitutes a large construction project.
(E) This answer choice, unlike some of the other wrong answers, does draw a distinction between areas with different land values. However, it conflates increasing land values with high land values. Those aren’t necessarily the same. Also, clearing bamboo from an area might or might not affect its viability as a construction material. If bamboo is cleared from a high value area, the resulting surplus of bamboo might actually make it a more economical building material.
Step 1: Identify the Question
The words explain the exception in the question stem indicate that this is an Explain the Discrepancy question.
Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument
Bamboo vs concrete/steel:
B at least as sturdy + cheaper → more econom. in trop. areas
BUT: high land values → B not econom.?
Step 3: Pause and State the Goal
On Explain the Discrepancy questions, start by identifying the “status quo” and the “surprise” in the argument. The status quo is that bamboo, which is cheaper and sturdier than concrete in tropical areas, is a more economical building material. For some reason, though, when land values are high, bamboo is not as economical. The right answer will explain why high land values make bamboo uneconomical.
Step 4: Work from Wrong to Right
(A) The right answer must explain why bamboo becomes less economical specifically in areas of high land value. Since the argument doesn’t state that earthquakes affect areas of high and low land value differently, this answer choice doesn’t make that distinction.
(B) CORRECT. In areas with low land values, building with bamboo makes more economic sense than building with steel and concrete. However, in areas with high land values, using steel or concrete enables multistory buildings to be constructed, while only single-story buildings can be constructed with bamboo. If land values are high, multistory buildings become more economically desirable: they have a smaller footprint, so less money needs to be spent on land. In contrast, a bamboo building of the same overall size would have a larger footprint, increasing the amount spent on land. Thus, even though steel and concrete technically cost more, their cost might be offset in areas of high land value, because using these materials allows less money to be spent on land.
(C) The right answer must explain why bamboo becomes less economical specifically in areas of high land value. Since the argument doesn’t state that termite and beetle damage affects areas of high and low land value differently, this answer choice doesn’t make that distinction.
(D) The argument deals with bamboo as a construction material, not as a scaffolding material. Its use as a scaffolding material does not imply that bamboo is uneconomical as a building material. In addition, there is not necessarily a connection between large construction projects and land values, since the answer choice does not clarify what constitutes a large construction project.
(E) This answer choice, unlike some of the other wrong answers, does draw a distinction between areas with different land values. However, it conflates increasing land values with high land values. Those aren’t necessarily the same. Also, clearing bamboo from an area might or might not affect its viability as a construction material. If bamboo is cleared from a high value area, the resulting surplus of bamboo might actually make it a more economical building material.
29 Apr 2013, 23:11
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targetgmatchotu
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
28 Jul 2012, 22:32
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Even in B we are having a assumption that in case if the land value is high people would use Apartments . I think this is out of scope.
