Background information: This year, each film submitted to the Barbizon

Question

Background information: This year, each film submitted to the Barbizon Film Festival was submitted in one of ten categories. For each category, there was a panel that decided which submitted films to accept.

Fact I : Within each category, the rate of acceptance for domestic films was the same as that for foreign films.

Fact II : The overall rate of acceptance of domestic films was significantly higher than that of foreign films.

In light of the background information, which of the following, if true can account for fact I and fact II both being true of the submissions to this year's Barbizon Film Festival?

A. In each category, the selection panel was composed of filmmakers , and some selection panels included no foreign filmmakers.

B. Significantly more domestic films than foreign films were submitted to the festival.

C. In each of the past three years, the overall acceptance rate was higher for foreign than for domestic films, an outcome that had upset some domestic filmmakers.

D. The number of films to be selected in each category was predetermined, but in no category was it required that the acceptance rate of foreign films should equal that of domestic films.

E. Most foreign films, unlike most domestic films, were submitted in categories with high prestige, but with correspondinly low rates of acceptance.

topher · Accepted Answer

E also here.

A) The judges have no relevance here.
B) The number of films is irrelevant b/c the argument specifically talks about rates of acceptance.
C) Past acceptance rates have nothing to do with this year’s acceptance rates
D) This doesn’t explain the apparent contradiction. We are told the acceptance rate in each category does happen to be equal for both foreign and domestic.
E) This makes sense. Imagine the following scenario:

Category: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Foreign: 5% 5% N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Domestic: 5% 5% 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% 20%

In the above scenario, both statements can be true. Within each category where foreign and domestic films were submitted, the acceptance rate is the same (Fact 1). However, imagine that no foreign films were submitted for categories 3 – 10 and domestic films were submitted across all categories. The overall acceptance rate of domestic films would be higher (Fact 2).

Sunny143 · Answer

E for me.

If most foreign films were submitted to the low acceptance categories, unlike domestic films, then this accounts for the overall low rate for foreign films while still maintaining that domestic rate equal foreign in each category.

for sake of simplicity we have 100 foreign and 100 domestic films. There are 5 high acceptance(20%) and 5 low acceptance categories(10%).

80 foreign films were nominated in the 5 low acceptance groups evenly, 16 each, 10% means just under 1.6 film per category, so in all 8 foreign films.
and say 20 domestic films were nominated in these categories evenly. 4 each and 10% would mean 0.4 films per cat and total of 2 domestic films.

For the high category, we have 80(16 in each) domestic and 20(4 in each) foreign films. 20 % would mean around 16 total domestic and 4 total foreign.

Total domestic - 18
Total Foreign - 12

Overall Domestic > Overall Foreign.

The numbers are jumbled up but I guess we get the picture.

huntgmat · Answer

E.
The key is correctly interpret " the   rate of acceptance   for domestic films was the same as that for foreign films"

No. of Dom. Films Accp./Total No. Dom films applied = Rate of Acceptance of Dom. Films.
No. of For. Films Accp./Total No. For. films applied = Rate of Acceptance of For. Films.

E. Most foreign films, unlike most domestic films, were submitted in categories with high prestige, but with correspondinly low rates of acceptance.

The maximum of foreign films were submitted to categories of high prestige. (ROA)F in High Prestige Category was lower than than (ROA)F in Non-High Prestige Category , where the Foreign films were not submitted in big numbers. So. in Non-High Prestige category where the (ROA)F was high the number were low. Also, within a category (ROA)F=(ROA)D.

Conclusion can be , Domestics films were applied in big numbers in Non-High Prestige section where the Number of selected must have been high to equal the ROA with Foreign films.

And any ways, only option E has a logical link to the conclusion. All the options except E seems not much relevant for the answer.

prasannar · Answer

E for me

Most foreign films,  unlike most domestic films,  were submitted in categories with high prestige, but with correspondinly low rates of acceptance.

This shows most domestic films were submitted in categories with high rates of acceptance.

Good explanation by hunggmat +1

durgesh79 · Answer

the rate of acceptance = no of films accepted / total no of films.

now we know that overall rate of acceptance for domestic films was higher than foreign films. So we have two cases,

if equal numbers of total domestic and foreign films were submitted, Number of domestic films accepted was higher -> there were more doemstic films in high acceptance categories.

If total no of films accepted was same for domestic and foreign films, then total number of films must be lower for doemstic as compared to foreign. with lower total number, domestic films still managed to get equal numbers of acceptance -> there were more domestic films in high accptance categories.

Option E.

PS : a very good maths DS question can be made using this logic.

buffdaddy · Answer

i will go for E

i will use the following as an example. Lets say there are 3 categories, A, B , C and C is tough to get accepted into

A. 10 foreign films submitted, 5 accepted. 100 local films submitted, 50 accepted, rate = 50%
B. 30 ff 10 accepted, 60 lf, 20 accepted , rate = 33%
C. 1000 ff submitted , 10 accepted, 100 localfilms submitted, 1 accepted, rate = 1%

totals: total of 1040 ff submitted, 25 accepted, rate = 2500/1040 %
 total of 260 lf submitted, 80 accepted, rate = 8000/260 %

shaselai · Answer

A. In each category, the selection panel was composed of filmmakers, and some
selection panels included no foreign filmmakers.

It introduces new info which is irrelevant.

B. Significantly more domestic films than foreign films were submitted to the
festival.

MAYBE. if the rate of acceptance is the same but there are more domestic films than foreign then more consideration.

C. In each of the past three years, the overall acceptance rate was higher for foreign
than for domestic films, an outcome that had upset some domestic filmmakers.

irrelevant info.

D. The number of films to be selected in each category was predetermined, but in no
category was it required that the acceptance rate of foreign films should equal that
of domestic films.

fact is equal acceptance.
 
E. Most foreign films, unlike most domestic films, were submitted in categories with
high prestige, but with correspondingly low rates of acceptance.

HIGH MAYBE. It clearly states that the most foreign films are in contention for high awards - the low rates of acceptance should be THE SAME to both domestic and foreign (due to fact 1).

I pick E because it is more clearer than B since B never said the acceptance rate like E did here....

amsurana · Answer

I will go with E. To negate B, I read the CR all over again

It says 'Rate of acceptance is same'. So even if the number of domestic films were more than foreign ones, it does not matter. Rate of acceptance will remain same overall. All other A, C, D are either out of scope or incorrect. E suits perfectly, it shows why more domestic films were chosen than foreign films. Only reason can be that foreign films are submitted in lesser number of categories. Hence E.

atey2010 · Answer

This is kind of an inference + paradox question so the correct answer must be consistent with both fact 1 and fact 2. Since this is an inference question, we do not really need to use a negation technique. We only use negation technique on assumption questions in general. It is almost like a paradox question since fact 1 and fact 2 doesn't seems to be compatible with each other. If you have the same acceptance rate for each categories then why did the domestic film have a higher overall rate of acceptance than foreign film.

When you are faced with difficult CR question, there are two things you can do, first try to use your intuition and logic to get through a problem (it'll save you time), if that doesn't work then use a process of elimination since you don't have the whole day to ponder upon the logic behind this stimulus.

I got through this question by using a process of elimination + a little bit of intuition.

Answer choice A & C doesn't really address the issue in regards to the rate of acceptance. Therefore, we could quickly ruled them out.

Answer choice B (tricky choice): this is a trap by the test writer, it sounds correct but its not. This answer choice is consistent with fact #1. However, it is inconsistent with fact #2. In this question, we care about the rate of acceptance, not a total number of acceptance between two group. Try to use a number to illustrate this question.

Answer choice D: this again doesn't address the issue of the rate of acceptance. We don't care about the "requirement". We want to know why is there a slight discrepancy between fact 1 and fact 2.

Answer choice E is correct because it address the acceptance rate. Sunny has an amazing explanation to E. here it is:

' If most foreign films were submitted to the low acceptance categories, unlike domestic films, then this accounts for the overall low rate for foreign films while still maintaining that domestic rate equal foreign in each category.

for sake of simplicity we have 100 foreign and 100 domestic films. There are 5 high acceptance(20%) and 5 low acceptance categories(10%).

80 foreign films were nominated in the 5 low acceptance groups evenly, 16 each, 10% means just under 1.6 film per category, so in all 8 foreign films.
and say 20 domestic films were nominated in these categories evenly. 4 each and 10% would mean 0.4 films per cat and total of 2 domestic films.

For the high category, we have 80(16 in each) domestic and 20(4 in each) foreign films. 20 % would mean around 16 total domestic and 4 total foreign.

Total domestic - 18
Total Foreign - 12

Overall Domestic > Overall Foreign.

The numbers are jumbled up but I guess we get the picture." Bravo! Sunny

This is why E is correct.

p.s. I would encourage you guys to look at the correct answer which is on the "reveal" link before you post the explanation. This would really help minimizing the confusion in this explanation forum. The O.G answer key is E, so no one should argue why B is correct unless the O.G is wrong. But this is not a case on this question.

licampus · Answer

the right answer really is 'E',and there is a trap in 'E'
First,why is 'B' wrong,see the explanation below:
D denotes demestic films,F denotes foreign films
category 1,rate=20%
D:100*20%=20
F:20*20%=4
category 2,rate=20%
D:500*20%=100
F:100*20%=20

overall rate(D)=(20+100)/(100+500)=120/600=20%
overall rate(F)=(4+20)/(20+100)=24/120=20%

SO,more domestic films don't mean higher overall rate.

Second,'E' says MOST F were submitted in CATEGORIES with low rates
As you see,that's the category which has low rate of acceptance,NOT F has the low rate of acceptance.That is really a trap which causes you to believe that 'E' contradics fact 1.
So:
category 1,rate=20%
D:100*20%=20
F:20*20%=4
category 2,RATE=5%
D:100*5%=5
F:400*5%=20

overall rate(D)=(20+20)/(100+100)=40/200=20%
overall rate(F)=(5+20)/(20+400)=25/420=6%(approximately)

as the calculation above,that most F were in category 2 and the rate of category 2 is extremely low both to D and F,causes the overall rate of F is around 6%

shashanknitp · Answer

The basic assumption in the question is that foreign films made entry in all the categories. If there be a category such as "Drama", which has nominations from only domestic producers and zero nominations from foreign producers. Option E Undermines this assumption if we think as following: The rate (we assume - 50% ) will be same if we choose from any of the categories Domestic/Foreign. But, the actual number chosen for foreign will be zero (50% of zero is zero :lol:

) So, I'll go with E 8-)

anindame · Answer

Let's make it simple.

Let there be a total of 100 domestic and foreign films.

Lets there be 2 categories- One with High acceptance(50%) and the other with Low acceptance(10%).

If 80 foreign are submitted to Low acceptance(10%) category and 20 to High acceptance(50%) category, TOTAL ACCEPTANCE=8+10=18

If 70 domestic films are submitted to High acceptance(50%) category and 30 to Low acceptance(10%) category, TOTAL ACCEPTANCE=35+3=38

Therefore E.

LogicGuru1 · Answer

The correct answer is E and not B.
Let me explain.

Option B relies on the fact that number of domestic film was higher than foreign film. 
Read again what option B says:-
B) "Significantly more domestic films than foreign films were submitted to the festival." 
  Domestic films > Foreign films   (remember this point in your head)

Lets simplify Option B to make it more fluid and straightforward. It can be simplified as

B) Number of Domestic film is more than number of foreign film.  
 OK !!! Everyone with me till this point ?

Now lets see what option E says
E) "Most foreign films,  unlike most domestic films,  were submitted in categories  with high prestige, but  with correspondingly low rates of acceptance"

humm... now let us simplify the statement and remove bits that author deliberately put to confuse us. The simplified statements become

E) "Most foreign films were submitted in categories in which the acceptance rate was low"

Now ask your self what does option B rely on ? 
B replies on the fact that   number of domestic film is higher than foreign film.  
  Domestic films > Foreign films   (do u remember this from the start of the problem )
so according to option B ===> Domestic films = 1000 and foreign films = 500

Now if somehow we are able to prove statement 1 and 2 by doing opposite of Option B, then option B would automatically become a suspect option (Much like a DS problem in Quant )

So lets break this condition of Option B by doing the reverse
Let us make the number of foreign films greater than domestic films 
so Domestic film = 500 and foreign films = 1000
Now we have broken what Option B is assuming. Recheck the original option B yourself and see that we have reversed what B is saying.

ok !! good.. everyone agree?

Now lets move to statements

Statement 1 ) Within each category, the rate of acceptance for domestic films was the same as that for foreign films.

Rather than assuming that there are 10 categories assume there are only 2 categories JURY'S AWARD and PEOPLE"S AWARD. What you can prove for two categories, you can prove for prove for n number of categories by extending the logic as we will see later. But for now just assume that there are only these 2 categories.. JURY'S AWARD and PEOPLE"S AWARD

JURY'S AWARD ACCEPTANCE RATE = 1%

If 900 Foreign films out of 1000 foreign films compete for Jury's Award:-
1% of 900 foreign films will be finally accepted =  9 Foreign Films accepted  
If 100 domestic films out of total 500 compete for same Jury's award then:-
1% of 100 domestic films will be finally accepted =  1 Domestic Film accepted

Now the second category is People's Award
PEOPLE'S AWARD ACCEPTANCE RATE = 50 %

How many foreign films out of 1000 are remaining to compete in this category (1000-900)= 100 films 
50% of 100 foreign films = 50 Foreign Film

How many Domestic films out of 500 are remaining to compete in this category (500-100)= 400 films 
50% of 400 foreign films = 200 Domestic Film

AND we have our solution 
Total number of foreign films selected out of 1000 = (9+50)=  59 Foreign Films/ Total 1000 Foreign Films   ==>59/1000 
Total number of domestic film = (1+200)= 201 Domestic films =  201 Domestic Films / Total 500 Domestic Film    ==>201/500

so we proved that despite rates of acceptance being similar and despite sending only 500 domestic films, the overall of number of domestic film selected (201) is greater than overall number of Foreign films selected (59) which send 1000 films 
This is exactly opposite to what statement B says 
B) Significantly more domestic films were submitted to the festival as compared to the foreign films (NOPE ... YOU ARE WRONG)
or what we SIMPLIFIED at the start
B) Number of Domestic film is more than number of foreign film. (NOPE ... YOU ARE WRONG AGAIN)

SO  B  IS NOT THE ANSWER. THE ANSWER IS  E  WHICH I PROVEN BY THE EXPLANATION.

kksyk · Answer

Let's put it in extreme situation. Let's say there are 9 categories of low low prestige, and both domestic and foreign films are 100 out of 100 accepted in those 9 categories, therefore 100%. Then In the only high prestige category, domestic films are 1/10, and the foreign films are 10/100. Overall, domestic films are 100/110, foreign films are 110/200. Answer E is correct.

adityaganjoo · Answer

Breakdown of (E)

Let us assume that 100 domestic and 100 foreign movies were submitted

Categories - Acceptance rate
A - 5%
B - 5%
C - 80%

Submissions of foreign movies:

Category - Submission - Acceptance % - Acceptance
A - 40 - 5% - 2
B - 40 - 5% - 2
C - 20 - 80% - 16
Total Acceptance % = 18/100 = 18%

Submissions of domestic movies:

Category - Submission - Acceptance % - Acceptance
A - 20 - 5% - 1
B - 20 - 5% - 1
C - 60 - 80% - 48
Total Acceptance % = 50/100 = 50%

Holds good!

Ansh777 · Answer

For simplicity let us assume that :
1: There were just 2 categories ( not 10 as in question)
2: Fact1: Rate of acceptance for category 1= 1 film out of 5 submitted films or 1/5, and for category 2 = 1 out of 100 or 1/100
3: Fact2: Overall rate of acceptance for each film are calculated by dividing total accepted by total submitted ( as in last row of the attached snapshot.
Now lets refer the snapshot and understand the under given conditions.

A C and D make unwarranted assumptions about filmmakers, upsetting someone, and predetermined, assumptions not mentioned anywhere.
Now Between B & E.
clearly from the snapshot total Domestic films submitted = 500+100= 600, which is not more than total foreign film submitted = 5+1000=1005, hence option B is incorrect.

Now further understanding E in reference to snapshot attached : most foreign films were submitted in categories with low acceptance rate as in Category 2 in our example. while most domestic films in higher acceptance rate category. So even if total domestic films submitted is lower than foreign films, acceptance rate of domestic films are higher.

Chitra657 · Answer

I selected B. 
I interpreted B as follows:
Lets say there are 100 Domestic films and 50 foreign films. 
And 50 domestic got selected and 25 foreign ones got selected. Thus, the acceptance rate for both of them is 50% (50 out of 100 for DF and 25 out of 50 for FF)
But in the end if we see the final number, we can see that overall domestic films got selected much more. 
Thus B.

Can someone point out where I went wrong?  GMATNinja   VeritasKarishma   mikemcgarry   bb

KarishmaB · Answer

Chitra657

The example you have taken is incorrect. This is what is given to us.

Fact II : The overall rate of acceptance of domestic films was significantly higher than that of foreign films.

So both cannot have an overall acceptance rate of 50%. So this data you have given is not acceptable:
 Lets say there are 100 Domestic films and 50 foreign films. And 50 domestic got selected and 25 foreign ones got selected.  This gives an overall acceptance rate of 50% for both.

Say there are 100 domestic films and 50 foreign films. They are put in 10 categories say animation, drama, romantic comedy etc.
In each category, the acceptance rate is the same for both kind of films. But acceptance rate of each category may not be the same as acceptance rate of another category.

So say animation has 10 domestic and 2 foreign films. Then if 5 domestic are accepted, then 1 foreign will be accepted. (rate of 50% for both)
Say drama has 20 domestic and 5 foreign films. Then if 4 domestic are accepted, 1 foreign will be accepted (20% acceptance rate for both)
etc

Overall acceptance rate of domestic films is much higher than that of foreign films. How is that possible? Overall acceptance rate will be the weighted average of the acceptance rates of the 10 categories. If many domestic films are put in the category in which acceptance rates are high, its average will lean towards the higher end and hence its acceptance rate will be higher.

This leads us to option (E).

At the core, the problem is a weighted average problem. 
 ashmit99

Patriarch · Answer

I do not understand why B option is wrong here! if domestic films were more, they would have filled more vacancies in each category, not to mention, some categories with only domestic films to choose from! so why B is not considered to be an option

Background information: This year, each film submitted to the Barbizon

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Background information: This year, each film submitted to the Barbizon

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards