Congress has had numerous opportunities in recent years to reconsider

Question

Congress has had numerous opportunities in recent years to reconsider the arrangements under which federal forest lands are owned and managed. New institutional structures merit development because federal forest lands cannot be efficiently managed under the hierarchical structure that now exists. The system is too complex to be understood by any single authority. The establishment of each forest as an independent public corporation would simplify the management structure and promote greater efficiency, control, and accountability.

To illustrate how a system for independent public corporations might work, consider the National Forest System. Each National Forest would become an independent public corporation, operating under federal charter, which gives it legal authority to manage federal land in the same manner that other federal corporations manage communications, transportation, or electrical generation facilities. The charter would give the corporation the right to establish its own production goals, land uses, management practices, and financial arrangements, within the policy constraints set by the Public Corporations Board. To ensure economic efficiency in making decisions, the Public Corporations Board would establish a minimum average rate of return to be earned on assets held by each corporation. Each corporation would be required to organize a system for reporting revenues, costs, capital investments and recovery, profits, and the usual measures of financial health normally required of any private corporation. While the financial objective would not necessarily be to maximize profit, there would be a requirement to earn at least a public-utility rate of return on the resources under the corporation's control.

The primary advantage of this approach to federal land management lies in the potential for achieving greater efficiency in the utilization of land, capital, and labor. A second advantage stems from the potential stabilization of the personnel involved in managing federal lands. A positive program of advancement, more flexible job classifications, professional training, and, above all, countering outside bids with higher salaries, would enable a corporation to develop a more stable professional workforce. A third advantage is that federal land management would become less vulnerable to the politics of special interest groups.    1 
 1. The primary purpose of this passage is to

A. suggest that the National Forest System is plagued by many problems
B. argue that it is necessary to restructure the management of federal forest lands
C. insist that private corporations be allowed to manage the country's natural resources
D. discuss the role of private corporations in the management of the National Forest System
E. highlight the competing needs of public agencies managing communications, transportation, and national forests

2 
 2. According to the passage, the responsibilities of a corporation authorized to manage a National Forest should include which of the following?

I. Establishing formal procedures for making official reports of the corporation's financial well-being
II. Earning at least a minimum return on the corporation's resources and assets
III. Achieving a maximum level of profits on the corporation's capital investments

A. I only
B. II only
C. III only
D. I and II
E. I, II, and III

3 
 3. The author suggests that administrators of federal forest lands have been handicapped by which of the following?

A. The public expectation that federal forest lands will remain undeveloped
B. The failure of environmental experts to investigate the problems of federal forest lands
C. The inability of the federal government to compete with private corporations for the services of skilled professionals
D. The unwillingness of Congress to pass laws to protect federal forest lands from private developers
E. The difficulty of persuading citizens to invest their capital in a government-run endeavor

4 
 4. Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?

A. A proposal is made, and then supporting arguments are set forth.
B. One claim is evaluated and then rejected in favor of another claim.
C. A point of view is stated, and then evidence for and against it is evaluated.
D. A problem is outlined, and then various solutions are discussed.
E. Opposing opinions are introduced and then debated.

RC Butler 2021  -  Practice Two RC Questions Everyday.   
Passage # 258 Date: 30-Jun-2021
 This question is a part of RC Butler 2021 .  Click here for Details

kantapong · Answer

Passage Summary:
P1: Old vs. New
Old -> federal forest managed by hierarchical structure & complex to understand by any authorities
New -> Each forest is managed by independent public corporation & efficient
P2: Set up one example: Natural Forest System
Has legal authority, can define its own practices and requires min avg rate of return
P3: Supports the new system by giving advantages
1) efficiency 2) stable professional workforce 3) less vulnerable to special interest group

Q1: Primary purpose: support new system
A. National Forest System has problem (opposite)
B. necessary to restructure (support new -> keep)
C. private corporation (out of scope)
D. private corporation (out of scope)
E. competing needs (out of scope)
My answer is B

Q2: Responsibility of corporation National Forest
III: maximize profit (eliminate)
II: earn at least min rate of return (yes)
I: establish procedure for making reports ... (yes: practices)
My answer is D

Q3: administrators of federal forest lands handicapped by (look at old vs new)
A public expectation (not related)
B failure of env expert to investigate problem (maybe related to too complex; not sure)
C inability to compete with private corp (private corp not mentioned)
D unwillingness to pass law (passage says that it is new system, so it is ungoing; opposite to what this choice says)
E difficulty of pursuading citizens (not related)
My answer is B

Q4 organization (outline -> example -> advantage)
A Proposal + supporting argument (looks good - keep it)
B claim is evaluated and rejected (I'm not sure what is the claim, but if the claim is new system then rejected is false)
C point of view stated, argument for and against (I have not seen both for and against either for old or new)
D problem + various solutions (only one solution here - new system)
E opposing opinions (not opinions, it is the institutional structure, namely laws old vs new)
My answer is A

Btw, what is the difficulty level of this passage?

Makhabbat · Answer

Hello! Can someone explain the 3rd question, please?

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

3. The author suggests that administrators of federal forest lands have been handicapped by which of the following?

Difficulty Level:   700

Analyze the Question Stem:

The words  "author suggests"  indicate that this is an Inference question. The answer will be something that isn't explicitly stated in the passage, but must be true based on what is in the passage.

Research the Relevant Text:

The research clue  “administrators…have been handicapped”  isn't terribly helpful, as the much of the passage talks directly or indirectly about forest management problems. Paragraph one discusses the problems directly, but generally, while paragraph three implies that inefficiency, personnel problems, and political issues have been challenges with the current system. Without a really specific research clue, the best approach is to use the choices to guide the research.

Make a Prediction:

There's also no way to predict the answer in an open-ended Inference question like this. Instead, keep the Topic, Scope, and Purpose in mind and evaluate each choice.

Evaluate the Answer Choices:

(C)  is correct, as it is supported by the third paragraph, which says,  “...above all, countering outside bids with higher salaries would enable a corporation to develop a more stable professional workforce.”

(A), (B), (D), and (E)  all deal with issues that are never mentioned or even alluded to in the passage.

Answer: C

TAKEAWAY:  With Inference questions, always take the choices back to the passage. Only the correct answer will be supported by the passage.

nayas96 · Answer

3. The author suggests that administrators of federal forest lands have been handicapped by which of the following?

A. The public expectation that federal forest lands will remain undeveloped
B. The failure of environmental experts to investigate the problems of federal forest lands
C. The inability of the federal government to compete with private corporations for the services of skilled professionals
D. The unwillingness of Congress to pass laws to protect federal forest lands from private developers
E. The difficulty of persuading citizens to invest their capital in a government-run endeavor

Pre-thinking:

The following is the statements that can be inferred from the question stem:

"A second advantage stems from the potential stabilization of the personnel involved in managing federal lands. A positive program of advancement, more flexible job classifications, professional training, and, above all, countering outside bids with higher salaries, would enable a corporation to develop a more stable professional workforce."

It can be said from the question stem that the federal forest land administers are basically suffering from developing a more stable professional workforce.

A. The public expectation that federal forest lands will remain undeveloped - Not mentioned
B. The failure of environmental experts to investigate the problems of federal forest lands -  Could be since it partially points to the stabalization of workforce (since failure of investigation can be due to instabalization in workforce) 
C. The inability of the federal government to compete with private corporations for the services of skilled professionals -  Could be the answer, but no where is it mentioned that there is competition with private corporation 
D. The unwillingness of Congress to pass laws to protect federal forest lands from private developers -  Irrelevant 
E. The difficulty of persuading citizens to invest their capital in a government-run endeavor -  Not mentioned 
 
Accordingly, I choose (B) as, the correct answer, but the correct option choice is (C)

egmat   Sajjad1994  Can you please explain to me where am I faltering in this whole process?

mayankkkk · Answer

gmatwhiz   kaplan  Can anyone provide more clear and precise explanation for Question 3

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Hello nayas96 There is no particular explicit text in the passage to infer the answer so the best way to answer this question is to keep in the mind the passage map and overall sense of understanding of the passage and use the POE to reach the final answer. A. The public expectation that federal forest lands will remain undeveloped Out of scope for the text in Red above B. The failure of environmental experts to investigate the problems of federal forest lands Out of scope for the text in Red above C. The inability of the federal government to compete with private corporations for the services of skilled professionals Best among the 5. D. The unwillingness of Congress to pass laws to protect federal forest lands from private developers Nothing can be inferred as such E. The difficulty of persuading citizens to invest their capital in a government-run endeavor. Most have selected option (D) 25% than (E) 7% but in my opinion, E is better at a place for the second-best option. But if you read the passage you will not find any such indication. To your question, Could be the answer, but nowhere is it mentioned that there is competition with private corporations For anything infereble, it is not necessarily be mentioned in the passage. Sometimes text in another language than the exact one can be helpful to infer the answer. The below text from the passage is helpful to answer here A positive program of advancement, more flexible job classifications, professional training, and, above all, countering outside bids with higher salaries, would enable a corporation to develop a more stable professional workforce. The purpose on the GMAT is not to find a perfect answer rather the best among the available five options. Kaplan has already provided explanation to question #3 in the form of Official explanation which I have posted above, and you can also find it in the link below. https://gmatclub.com/forum/congress-has ... l#p2833745 Alternatively, you can also read this post from the start. It might be helpful. Thank you!

Congress has had numerous opportunities in recent years to reconsider

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Congress has had numerous opportunities in recent years to reconsider

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