Between 1960 and 1966, the State University system had 92 percent of

Question

Between 1960 and 1966, the State University system had 92 percent of its capacity filled by students. During this time the system admitted 31 students each year for every 100 available spots in the system; the remaining 61 spots were filled by upperclassmen. From 1967 to 1975, the State University system filled 99 percent of its capacity with students; however the system also lowered its admission rate to 23 students for every 100 available spots each year.

If the statements above are true, which of the following conclusions can be most properly drawn?

A. As a university system's admission rate falls, it is generally true that the percent of capacity filled increases.

B. The number of available spots in the State University system declined between the two time periods.

C. The proportion of young people applying to college increased between the two time periods.

D. The number of people dropping out before finishing their degrees declined between the two periods.

E. The average length of time that a student stayed in the State University system increased between the two time periods.

Solution---
The gist of the evidence provided is that in the mentioned time span, fewer students were admitted yet the utilization of capacity increased. The conclusion needs to be something that logically is derived from the given evidence. For e.g. The capacity was lowered, or more than 61% spots were given to upperclassmen.

Let's look at the choices.

A. Not really gives a logical conclusion.
B. reassertion of evidence
C. young people out of scope
D. # of people dropping out doesn't affect the admissions
E. makes sense. no wonder more seats were filled out by upperclassmen.

sidhu09 · Accepted Answer

A. As a university system's admission rate falls, it is generally true that the percent of capacity filled increases. -  Cannot be generalized to whole system. - Incorrect 
B. The number of available spots in the State University system declined between the two time periods. -  This is already provided in the passage - Nothing new to draw upon - Incorrect 
C. The proportion of young people applying to college increased between the two time periods. -  No information provided in the passage - Incorrect 
D. The number of people dropping out before finishing their degrees declined between the two periods. -  Information on dropouts has not been provided - Out of scope - Incorrect 
E. The average length of time that a student stayed in the State University system increased between the two time periods. -  Only when the average length of time that a student stays in the uni increases, the admission rates are dropped. ie if the university is not confident whether a student would stay for the whole course, they would put up the admission rate to compensate the student loss. - Correct

Hope this helps. Thanks.

surbhi87 · Answer

It was B vs E when i read it first for reasons below:

B: Could be true but "could" is not a reason strong enough for a conclusion drawing question .

E: Since the argument in question clearly says that from 1967 to 1975- admission was lowered yet the capacity was full- it means that the students from previous yrs stayed longer.
It's as good as saying that a class could have 10 students. It lowered its admission rate to 3 students per annum yet its capacity was full. Implies that old students stayed longer. :idea:

E it is!

WillEconomistGMAT · Answer

B is a tempting answer since the school is running at 99% capacity in the second period vs 92% capacity in the first period, but notice that the term "available spots" refers to the constant of 100 total spots. So, that value remains unchanged.

avohden · Answer

here is the official explanation from Kaplan

Answer E   - In this, or any other inference question, you are looking for the answer choice that must be true given the statements in the stimulus. Since it is nearly impossible to pre-phrase the correct answer choice on an inference question, it is best to go directly to the answer choices after you have digested what is stated in the stimulus. This stimulus tells us that, between two time periods, the school system's capacity filled up despite the fact that the college was admitting fewer people for every available spot in the system.

The only answer choice that has to follow from these statements is the last one, Choice (E). It must be true that the average length of time spent by a student in the system increased between these periods. This must be true if the school system was actually filling up despite lower admissions per 100 spots.

Choice (B) might be true, but it is not necessary that it be true. Since the admission rates are given to us in number per 100 available spots in the school, it is not necessary that the number of spots decline in order to have an increasing rate of filled spots.

Similarly, Choice (D) could be true, but again, does not need to be true. One way that average length of enrollment in the system could increase is by having fewer drop-outs. However, (D) does not need to be true – the increase in average length of enrollment could, for example, be due to more students staying for a fifth or sixth year than before.

Choice (C) is out-of-scope. We are given no information about application rates. Choice (A) has no support from the stimulus. Just because this phenomenon occurred for one State at one point in time, it does not mean that it is generally true.

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Helium · Answer

This question asks for a conclusion that can be drawn based on the statements in the stimulus, so it's an Inference question.

This stimulus states that, between two time periods, the school system's capacity filled up despite the fact that the college was admitting fewer people for every available spot in the system.

In this, or any other Inference question, look for the answer choice that must be true given the statements in the stimulus. It is not always possible to make an exact prediction, but take a moment to understand the implication of the information provided. According to the stimulus, the school system had the same capacity. To fill up more space, there needs to be more people coming in than going out. However, there are fewer people coming in, so there must be even fewer people moving out!

(E) must be true and is correct. For the percentage to increase, either more people have to move in or fewer people have to leave. Since fewer people are moving in, fewer people must be leaving. They must be sticking around longer.

(A) has no support from the stimulus. Just because this phenomenon occurred for one university at one point in time, it does not mean that it is generally true.

(B) might be true, but it is not necessary that it be true. Since the admission rates are given in number per 100 available spots in the school, it is not necessary that the number of spots decline in order to have an increasing rate of filled spots.

(C) is unsupported. There's no information in the stimulus about application rates.

Similarly, (D) could be true, but again, does not need to be true. As discussed above, fewer dropouts is only one way that average length of enrollment in the system could increase is by having fewer dropouts.

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ecyhats · Answer

hello! after reading thru the answers i'm not really sure how to arrive at the right reasoning to eliminate B and get to E. I thought B seemed good by the reasoning: previously the school had x spots available in total (say y = 500) and could admit 31 per 100 after placing its upper classman who numbered 61 per 100 (i.e. total of 305) e.g. (as it would not make sense to kick out existing senior students to admit new ones).

going by B and assuming the enrolment hasn't changed, if the school were to have a reduced number of available spots e.g. 400 - this would mean that 305 upper classman would take up a greater % of places per 100, leaving the school less places to admit new students in total, and therefore less % per 100

may i know how i can correct my thinking? i read thru the posts and noted some said capacity remains constant but i couldn't see where we can get that assumption from.

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Between 1960 and 1966, the State University system had 92 percent of

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