As part of the 28th annual Bed & Breakfast expedition, a

Question

As part of the 28th annual Bed & Breakfast expedition, a group of hikers has gathered at the entrance to the Xantis mountain deer park. Robert, the lead mountaineer checked whether Anne, responsible for bringing bottled water for the entire group, has done her job. He realized that she brought only half as much water as he had asked her to bring. He declares that unless they can procure more bottled water, the hike will have to be delayed.

Which of the following additional premises, if introduced into the argument, would NOT allow the leader's conclusion to be logically drawn? 
A. Quantity of bottled water that Robert had specified is necessary in order to conduct the scientific experiment that the group had planned to conduct in the park. 
B. Park security personnel will not allow groups to enter unless they have a minimum amount of water per person.
C. It is such a hot day that hiking without sufficient water supplies could expose hikers to dehydration and heat stroke.
D. There are no safe water supplies in the area in which the group plans to hike.
E. The person who did not bring enough water also neglected to bring a hat or hiking boots.

prithi · Answer

IMO E. All except E allow for the fact that more water is needed. E is irrelevant.
whats OA pls?

ezhilkumarank · Answer

I believe choices A and E are very close and could not choose between the two.

If there is just one second before I run out of time, I will go for A.

Someone plz explain why the answer choice shouldn't be A.

Dreamy · Answer

E must be the answer

ezhilkumarank,

What is the leader's conclusion ?
Unless more water is procured the expedition has to be delayed.
A- directly supports this conclusion. Quantity of the water bottle mentioned is necessary for conducting the experiment they had planned to do in the park.

If you read the question stem it clearly states -the following is one of the additional premise

Hope my explanation is helpful.

Dawgie · Answer

Based on process of elimination I am going with E. I am also going with E because the leader's conclusion is:
"He declares that unless they can procure more bottled water the hike will have to be delayed."

In the stimulus, he only mentions that the delay will be caused because of bottled water. However, in the answer choice E, the delay will be caused by water, hat, and hiking boots.

This is my explanation, discuss please. I would also like to know the source of this problem, if you don't mind.

Thanks,
Dawg

ezhilkumarank · Answer

Here are my thoughts for going with option A.

Argument -- "He declares that unless they can procure more bottled water,  the hike  will have to be delayed". Also the reason for bringing the water is not explicitly stated. The water could be for quenching thirst of the people hiking the mountain or for conducting the experiment after the hike. This is a unstated assumption in the argument. On the basis of this assumption it is believed that the hike would be delayed.

Option A notes that the  water is necessary for conducting the experiment  in the park and it has nothing to do with the hike as such. Hence thought that if this additional piece of information or premise is added to the main argument, would NOT enable the leader's conclusion to be logically drawn. This additional piece of information is directly attacking the underlying assumption on which the argument is made.

Also even without the additional water, hike can be continued however only the experiment should have to be sacrificed.

Are my thoughts valid ??? Kindly comment.

vannbj · Answer

ezhilkumarank, yeah that does make sense. i just assumed that experiment and expedition were supposed to be the same word but the person typing them messed up. assuming that, only E makes sense. If that isn't the case then there should be two right answers A and E.

Dreamy · Answer

I thought even to reach the park they need to hike. Lets wait for the OA then.

harrycools · Answer

I go with A

ezhilkumarank · Answer

Fine, I will wait for the OA to be posted. However more importantly I wanted to share my thoughts to ensure that I mentally fine tune myself to the GMAT RC wavelength since I often read that one should not bring in new (extra) information in while doing RC and CR questions.

suyashjhawar · Answer

OA is E.Even i went for A.

prithi · Answer

The answer is E. The leader's conclusion is that unless more water is obtained they have to delay the hike. Per the question, we need to find the option which shows that more water is NOT needed or an answer that is out of scope i.e.Irrelevant to the amount of water. So any condition that results in more water being needed  supports  leader's opinion and any condition that shows that more water is not needed or any condition that is out of scope, does  NOT support  his opinion: Now looking at the options:

A. Quantity of bottled water that Robert had specified is necessary in order to conduct the scientific experiment that the group had planned to conduct in the park. -  Supports leaders opinion. Since the original water amount that Robert said was needed is indeed needed to conduct the experiment, they need more water. 
B. Park security personnel will not allow groups to enter unless they have a minimum amount of water per person -  Supports leaders opinion. They need more water in order to enter. 
C. It is such a hot day that hiking without sufficient water supplies could expose hikers to dehydration and heat stroke.- Supports leaders opinion. They need more water otherwise they will get dehydrated. 
D. There are no safe water supplies in the area in which the group plans to hike. -  Supports leaders opinion. They need more water since there are no safe water supplies. 
E. The person who did not bring enough water also neglected to bring a hat or hiking boots. -  Irrelevent. Having a hat or hiking boots has nothing to do with water being needed.

Hence E.Hope this helps

gauravnagpal · Answer

I picked E ..straightaway...however after reading the discussions I understand how close was option A ...!

sudhanshushankerjha · Answer

Guys, e is the only ans......A supports the leader's conclusion

"Quantity of bottled water that Robert had specified is necessary in order to conduct the scientific experiment that the group had planned to conduct in the park."-------it means suppose the leader had specified x lit of water ...bt group have right nw x/2 lits..so x lit of water is compulsary for the experiment to perform ...so they will have to bring more water...

imania · Answer

I went for A, but it seems I made a mistake!
conclusion: their hike should be delayed because of lack of enough water. 
if apart from water there are some other problems, the conclusion is not that logical.

vitamingmat · Answer

E. The person who did not bring enough water also neglected to bring a hat or hiking boots.

Except E, each one logically supports

As part of the 28th annual Bed & Breakfast expedition, a

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