The author makes the following general statements:

• "In any stock market, some fraudulent activitity is inevitable"
• "If a stock market is well regulated, any significant stock-trading fraud in it will be very likely be discovered."
• When significant stock-trading fraud is discovered, it deters potential perpetrators and facilitates improvement in regulatory processes.

If this general pattern is true, then "the discovery of the scandal [in Country X] confirms that Country X has a strong regulatory system." Thus, the statement in bold can be concluded based on the ensuing statements. This intermediate conclusion is used in support of the author's main conclusion, which is that "Country X's recent stock-trading scandal should not diminish investors' confidence in the country's stock market." In other words, investors should view the discovery as evidence that the country has a well-regulated stock market. The scandals are inevitably going to happen, so if scandals were never discovered, that would suggests that the stock market is not well-regulated, which should worry investors more than the discovery of a single scandal should.


So statement (B) accurately describes the function of the boldfaced portion.
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Main Conclusion - Recent scandal shouldn't diminish investor confidence.
Support Conclusion - Discovery of scandal => country has strong regulatory system.
Premises Supporting the Support Conclusion
1) fraudulent activity inevitable.
2) Well regulated market => fraud gets discovered, and it deters perpetrators from committing more fraud.

A - Out. It's not the main conclusion.
B - The Boldface is supporting the main conclusion, and the premises are supporting the boldface. Keep.
C - Out. It's not the main conclusion.
D - Out.
E - It's not the main conclusion, and is not an assumption. It's a statement that the author is backing up.

B is the correct answer.
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Between A and B...

C is not the case at all
D support is there
E no it is not both an assumption and a conclusion


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Country X's recent stock-trading scandal should not diminish investors' confidence in the country's stock market. For one thing, the discovery of the scandal confirms that Country has a strong regulatory system, as the following considerations show. In any stock market, some fraudulent activitity is inevitable. If a stock market is well regulated, any significant stock-trading fraud in it will be very likely be discovered. This deters potential perpetrators and facilitates improvement in regulatory processess.

Type - Boldface
BF - Intermediate conclusion that supports main conclusion "Country X's recent stock-trading scandal should not diminish investors' confidence in the country's stock market"

(A) It is the argument's only conclusion. - Incorrect
(B) It is the conclusion for which the argument provides support and which itself is used to support the argumen's main conclusion. - Correct
(C) It is argument's main conclusion and is supported by another explicitly stated conclusion for which further support is provided. - Incorrect
(D) It is an assumption for which no explicit support is provided and is used to support the argument's only conclusion. - Incorrect
(E) It is a compound statement containing both the argument's main conclusion and an assumption sued to support that conclusion. - Incorrect

Answer B
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Could you please confirm if my structuring is accurate ?

Country X's recent stock-trading scandal should not diminish investors' confidence in the country's stock market.

[Above is a claim / sub-conclusion, doesnt look like its the main conclusion ]

For one thing, the discovery of the scandal confirms that Country has a strong regulatory system, as the following considerations show.

[Reason for the above conclusion, can this be thought of as evidence to support above conclusion ]

In any stock market, some fraudulent activitity is inevitable.

Fact

If a stock market is well regulated, any significant stock-trading fraud in it will be very likely be discovered.

Claim (seems like an mini conclusion to me) ...the main conclusion as well as its the final point ...any fraud will be discovered (there is nothing more to talk about once this point is made)


This deters potential perpetrators and facilitates improvement in regulatory processes.

Judgement /Claim

In the argument, the portion in boldface plays which of the following roles?

(A) It is the argument's only conclusion.

Dont think so as there is another sub conclusion

(B) It is the conclusion for which the argument provides support and which itself is used to support the argument the argument's main conclusion.

Seems like ...it is a conclusion as seen above ...and there is support for this

(C) It is argument's main conclusion and is supported by another explicitly stated conclusion for which further support is provided.

Bold face is not the main conclusion

(D) It is an assumption for which no explicit support is provided and is used to support the argument's only conclusion.

Bold face is not an assumption ...its evidence or a premise in support of a conclusion


(E) It is a compound statement containing both the argument's main conclusion and an assumption sued to support that conclusion.

Not true ...Bold face is is no way an assumption..its evidence to a conclusion ...its more of evidence/ premise

confusing.Though I understood why option B is correct but still not able to find the main conclusion of the argument.

i am confused with option D.why it is not an assumption.What actually is the assumption in boldface questions please clarify.

Hey Bud, Not sure if you still have this question!

An assumption is an unstated premise that the author accepts to be true.

For e.g.
Tom loves chocolates. Thus, Tom will love the new Hagen Das chocolate truffle ice-cream.

Here, the unstated premise or assumption is that Tom loves chocolate, so he will love it in all it's variations, be it a chocolate, or a chocolate flavoured ice-cream. The author accepts this as true to make the conclusion above.

Another e.g.
Manchester United dominated West Ham and won the First League game 4-0. We can effectively say that Manchester United are the team to beat this season.
What's the assumption here?

The above examples are not GMAT Level, but they can give you a fair indication of what an assumption is. An assumption is never directly stated in the argument. It is however, an unstated fact that the author presumes to be true, to draw a conclusion.

Hope this helps!
See these articles for an insight!
https://gmat.economist.com/gmat-advice/ ... -questions
https://gmatclub.com/forum/inference-vs ... l#p1177826
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only B and C are left.
B is correct b/c "as following consideration"

always try to find what author wants to convince us - main conclusion.
And the main conclusion is - Country X's recent stock-trading scandal should not diminish investors' confidence in the country's stock market

the bold face is another fact or conclusion which supports the main conclusion above.

to support this conclusion- author provides many reasoning or premises later

Country X's recent stock-trading scandal should not diminish investors' confidence in the country's stock market. For one thing, the discovery of the scandal confirms that Country has a strong regulatory system, as the following considerations show. In any stock market, some fraudulent activity is inevitable. If a stock market is well regulated, any significant stock-trading fraud in it will be very likely be discovered. This deters potential perpetrators and facilitates improvement in regulatory processes. --Highlighted part is the main conclusion

In the argument, the portion in boldface plays which of the following roles?

(A) It is the argument's only conclusion.
--Incorrect

(B) It is the conclusion for which the argument provides support and which itself is used to support the argument's main conclusion.
Correct.

(C) It is argument's main conclusion and is supported by another explicitly stated conclusion for which further support is provided.
--Incorrect as it is not the argument's main conclusion

(D) It is an assumption for which no explicit support is provided and is used to support the argument's only conclusion.
The entire passage is supporting the BF

(E) It is a compound statement containing both the argument's main conclusion and an assumption used to support that conclusion.
It is not the main conclusion

Main conclusion:
Country X's recent stock-trading scandal should not diminish investors' confidence in the country's stock market.

Intermediate Conclusion:
For one thing, the discovery of the scandal confirms that Country has a strong regulatory system, as the following considerations show.

These are premises/considerations that the author is refering in the above sentence and based on these the Intermediate conclusion is drawn.
In any stock market, some fraudulent activity is inevitable.
If a stock market is well regulated, any significant stock-trading fraud in it will be very likely be discovered.
This deters potential perpetrators and facilitates improvement in regulatory processes.

In the argument, the portion in boldface plays which of the following roles?

Correct.
(B) It is the conclusion for which the argument provides support and which itself is used to support the argument's main conclusion.

It is not a main conclusion. So, A and C are gone.
(A) It is the argument's only conclusion.

(C) It is argument's main conclusion and is supported by another explicitly stated conclusion for which further support is provided.

Cannot be an assumption. So, D and E are out.
(D) It is an assumption for which no explicit support is provided and is used to support the argument's only conclusion.

(E) It is a compound statement containing both the argument's main conclusion and an assumption used to support that conclusion.

(Main Conclusion) Country X's recent stock-trading scandal should not diminish investors' confidence in the country's stock market.

(Intermediate Conclusion) For one thing, the discovery of the scandal confirms that Country has a strong regulatory system,

[signal introducing premises] as the following considerations show.

(Premise) In any stock market, some fraudulent activity is inevitable.

(Premise) If a stock market is well regulated, any significant stock-trading fraud in it will very likely be discovered.

(Premise) This deters potential perpetrators and facilitates improvement in regulatory processes.

In the argument, the portion in boldface plays which of the following roles?

(A) It is the argument's only conclusion.
False. There are two conclusions.

(B) It is the conclusion for which the argument provides support and which itself is used to support the argument's main conclusion.
True.

(C) It is argument's main conclusion and is supported by another explicitly stated conclusion for which further support is provided.
The main conclusion is the first sentence.

(D) It is an assumption for which no explicit support is provided and is used to support the argument's only conclusion.
Is it not an assumption…also support IS provided.

(E) It is a compound statement containing both the argument's main conclusion and an assumption used to support that conclusion.
The argument’s main conclusion is the first sentence. Also, it is not simultaneously an assumption + conclusion.
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A good approach here is to use the "Why?" strategy for finding conclusions.

The SCANDAL should not diminish investors' confidence -> WHY ? -> Because the discovery of it (scandal) confirms a strong regulatory system.
Therefore, the boldface part serves as evidence for the first sentence

The second part is a little bit trickier because at first glance the boldface part might look like a fact, not a stance. One should pay attention to the "as the following considerations show" which is a CLUE.

The discovery confirms a strong regulatory system -> WHY ? -> Since in well-regulated systems frauds are discovered.

Premise never has anything it can direct question WHY to
Evidence always tells you WHY you should believe the conclusion

Hope that helps

Hi

Could someone explain how to identify which statements are the conclusions in this argument with the "why" test?

GMATNinja Could you please help explain why the bold-faced statement is not an assumption (As what choice D and E state) ? Thanks for your collaboration.

An assumption would be an unsupported statement that would support the conclusion.

The boldfaced portion is a conclusion, not an assumption.

We can tell the the boldfaced portion is a conclusion, not an assumption, because it is supported by everything that comes after it.

Notice, that the passage states the boldfaced portion and then says, "as the following considerations show."

We can see, therefore, that what comes after "as the following considerations show," shows that the boldfaced portion, a conclusion, is true.
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Although in CR we should not chose our answer, this one is lenient enough to do so.
The flow of argument is as follows:
In any stock market, some fraudulent activity is inevitable. --->. If a stock market is well regulated, any significant stock-trading fraud in it will very likely be discovered. ---> This deters potential perpetrators and facilitates improvement in regulatory processes. -------> For one thing, the discovery of the scandal confirms that Country X has a strong regulatory system, as the following considerations show. -----------> Country X's recent stock-trading scandal should not diminish investors' confidence in the country's stock market.

Thus the bold part is intermediate conclusion.
B just elaborates in the most unSC-way(GMAT SC) that the bold part is an intermediate conclusion.

HTH.
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