Despite the fact that the United States is a superpower

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

THE PROMPT
Issues?
→ comparing like to like
→ the standard (and heavily tested) comparison idioms
→ subject/verb agreement

THE PROMPT
• I do not see any errors
→ the correct idiomatic comparison structure for "more" is present: more . . . than
→ plural [American] students are compared to plural Canadian counterparts [i.e., students]
→ the plural verb do matches the plural subject counterparts
KEEP

• comparison idiom error
→ we cannot place a comparison word such as more in the same clause as when compared to.
First, the word more already implies comparison; the use of when compared to is redundant and not idiomatic.
"More . . . as/when compared to . . ." is not idiomatic.

Second, the word more requires a than.
If you see comparison words such as more, less, greater, fewer, taller, greater, smarter,[i] and so on, start looking immediately for the word [i]than.
The correct construction is "more . . . than."
ELIMINATE B

• idiom error - same as that in option B
→ we cannot place a comparison word such as more in the same clause as the phrase as compared to.
ELIMINATE C

• pronoun error: the antecedent of their cannot be the singular noun student
→ In informal speech, native speakers frequently use "their" to refer to a single person.
That construction is not accurate on the GMAT and in formal writing.
Instead of the word their, to refer to "the American high school student" we would need to say his or her. (A few GMAT questions actually use this construction.)

• Comparison error: not comparing like to like
We should compare like to like, i.e., American students (plural) to Canadian students (who are "counterparts") (plural).

• subject/verb agreement
The singular verb does is incorrectly paired with the plural subject counterparts.
ELIMINATE D

• Comparison error: not comparing like to like
Just as is the case in option D, we should not compare "the American student" (singular) with "Canadian counterparts [students]," plural.

• comparison idiom error
Same as that in options B and C (do not use "more" with "as compared to/with."
ELIMINATE E

The answer is A.


NOTES - TAKEAWAYS
[Much of the slightly altered text in this Notes section is from the original OE writer.]

• Takeaway: compare like to like

We should ideally be comparing American high school students with Canadian high school students because the non-underlined part of the sentence contains the word “counterparts.”
Be very suspicious of any of the answer choices that begin with the high school student (singular).

• Takeaway: eliminate non-standard comparison constructions

Do not use both a comparison word such as more and any form of compare in the same clause.
Eliminate non-standard comparative constructions, namely:
→ more . . . compared to
→ more . . . compared with

The correct idiom is more . . . than or less than.

• Takeaway: subject/verb agreement is still tested in obvious ways

Be sure that verbs agree with their subjects.
Do is a plural verb that matches the plural phrase “Canadian counterparts.”
By contrast, does is a singular verb that would be used to match the singular phrase “Canadian counterpart.”

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