During each of the past five years, the total demand for

My biggest problem for a Must Be True question is trying to understand and remember all the facts from the stimulus. Usually, I have to read the stimulus twice. Then I would read each answer choice and then refer back to the stimulus again to try to prove/disprove it. Can someone suggest how I can do these problems more efficiently? Thanks.

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During each of the past five years, the total demand for paper on the part of manufacturers who produce paper packaging for consumer products has declined. During the same time period, the cubic volume of freshly cut timber that is used to produce paper packaging has also declined. However, reliable reports from recycling facilities across the country indicate that the amount of paper-based packaging material that they provide to paper-packaging companies for reuse has been increasing steadily.

The information provided best supports which of the following conclusions with respect to the last five years?

(A) The amount of packaging using paper from freshly cut trees has decreased.(Already stated in RED)
(B) The amount of paper-based packaging that has been recycled for the same uses has exceeded the amount that has not.(Sounds awkward)
(C) Recycled paper-based packaging has been used only for new packaging.
Given the argument I think this one is correct.,the argument implies this only as option A is already stated in the argument so cannot be a conclusion.
(D) The total amount of packaging material made of non-paper materials has increased.
OOS
(E) Consumers have increased the portion of paper products that they recycle after using.
OOS

This needs a discussion folks.

Hey targetgmatchotu,

If you take a look at the option that you chose, i.e. Option C the biggest problem you will see in the phrase 'only for new packaging' Recycled paper-based packaging has been used only for new packaging. They don't mention anywhere that all the recycled paper based packaging goes into making new paper-based packagin. They just say that the demand has increased. So in future just be a bit wary of strong words like "only" in the answer.

Only answer A fits since that data is available in the question allowing you to reasonably draw a conclusion that amount of paper-based packing using fresh timber is decreasing since it is stated in the question that " the cubic volume of freshly cut timber that is used to produce paper packaging has also declined".

I hope this helps.

Well they have been substituting fresh paper for recycled for starters, but what if the company had stocks/inventory on paper from freshly cut tress? We cannot assume that since there is less timber therefore less in being used in the product of paper right? Or can we?

I think this would be nice to discuss, lets share some knowledge
J

Bumpingg

Hi everyone,

I think that the correct answer is option A.

The decline in the demand for the fresh paper is more or less compensated by the recycling of the paper(stated in the argument)
Therefore it can be concluded that the amount of freshly cut timber,which is the source of the paper,is apparently decreasing.

Why is option E incorrect?

Option E says that consumers have increased the usage of paper products that they recycle .. implies .. more amount of recycled paper. Does this not imply that the amount of recycled paper is increasing... so the requirement for fresh paper is decreasing?

Option E-Consumers have increased the portion of paper products that they recycle after using.

Read option E again with particular emphasis on the underlined portion.
Where in the argument do are we discussing about recycling by the consumers??

And, infact, if the consumers (= paper packaging industry) themselves start recycling the paper then there will less supply of recyclable paper to the recycling plants and consequently back to the packaging industry.

Even if we leave aside the above explanation, remember that the whole argument is based on amount ( read number) and option E is about portion (= percentage).

On the GMAT, it is rare that an argument that talks about numbers may be answered by percentages.
Numbers go with numbers and percentages go with percentages.



Hope I am right and the above helps!

I do not mind Kudos

Hi Samichange,

During each of the past five years, the total demand for paper on the part of manufacturers who produce paper packaging for consumer products has declined. During the same time period, the cubic volume of freshly cut timber that is used to produce paper packaging has also declined. However, reliable reports from recycling facilities across the country indicate that the amount of paper-based packaging material that they provide to paper-packaging companies for reuse has been increasing steadily.

The information provided best supports which of the following conclusions with respect to the last five years?

(A) The amount of packaging using paper from freshly cut trees has decreased.


I have strange doubt regarding OA
As the highlighted text in stimulus states that volume of timber used to produce paper has decreased
This does not implies that amount of paper from freshly cut trees has decresed

This is no where mentioned in stimulus , In fact we can assume maybe there be some technological advancement due to which more paper can be produced from less volume of timber etc

So there is no evidence/real proof that amount of packaging produced from freshly cut trees has decreased

On the contrary there is no such mention of "freshly cut trees" in the stimulus so this is new information and this choice needs to be discarded

So how can we ascertain A is correct

Please let me know If I am missing something

Hi Tvrs09,

During each of the past five years, the total demand for paper on the part of manufacturers who produce paper packaging for consumer products has declined. During the same time period, the cubic volume of freshly cut timber that is used to produce paper packaging has also declined. However, reliable reports from recycling facilities across the country indicate that the amount of paper-based packaging material that they provide to paper-packaging companies for reuse has been increasing steadily.

The information provided best supports which of the following conclusions with respect to the last five years?

(A) The amount of packaging using paper from freshly cut trees has decreased.


I have strange doubt regarding OA
As the highlighted text in stimulus states that volume of timber used to produce paper has decreased
This does not implies that amount of paper from freshly cut trees has decresed

This is no where mentioned in stimulus , In fact we can assume maybe there be some technological advancement due to which more paper can be produced from less volume of timber etc

So there is no evidence/real proof that amount of packaging produced from freshly cut trees has decreased

On the contrary there is no such mention of "freshly cut trees" in the stimulus so this is new information and this choice needs to be discarded

So how can we ascertain A is correct

Please let me know If I am missing something

Prephrase:
1. Total Demand(TD) for paper by paper packaging manufacturers(PPM) reduced. [point noted - PPM only for consumer goods]
2. Fresh timber USAGE [the word is not the demand] has been reduced in same period.
3. report from recycling facilities = paper material for reuse to paper packaging companies (PPC) [PPC may be = PPM] has been increased.

Inference = reuse of paper has been increased, fresh timber usage has been decreased.

Choice Analysis:
A - it looks perfect
B - this choice speaks about usage - we have not provided with different usages of paper based packaging.
C - 'Only' is too absolute.
D - paper material vs. non paper material for packaging = no information available, out of the scope
E - Consumers incremental usage? - nothing of this sort stated. Out of the scope!

Hence, A is correct.

Kudos Please.

B,C,D are out of scope.
E is not certain. (remember this is an inference question)
A is correct because both demands and materials decrease => products decrease

Imo A
Only A can be concluded logically.
B and C require more information to be of use .
D is out of scope
E Nothing is mentioned in the argument about Consumers.

Hi AndrewN sir


Why E can not be answer?

In other words, portion of recycle paper produts has increased, it indicates as consumers increase the recycling, the companies can recycle more and hence manufacturers reduce cutting from timber etc.

Does not it align with argument?
please suggest.

Hello, imSKR. I took my time on this one—a little over three minutes, in fact—perhaps because I looked at the difficulty level first and wanted to be extra careful not to stumble into a trap, or perhaps because I was mentally fatigued after another day of work. I did choose (A) in the end. I see that others have written above that consumers are not directly mentioned in the passage. That is true, but I have seen other questions that invoke unseen actors to offer a plausible explanation to the question being asked, so I did not write off (E) too quickly. At the same time, the answer has to hold up to scrutiny, and picking apart (E) presents a few viable targets. How about we jump in, then?

(E) Consumers have increased the portion of paper products that they recycle after using.

My approach to evaluating this answer choice is to see whether the passage provides such information about consumer behavior. That is, do we know that consumers are doing the recycling, and do we know that these same consumers have used paper products before recycling them? I know, recycling does quite often involve turning used paper, in this case, into reusable paper, but can we say that consumers are not simply handing over unused paper goods to recycling facilities? It might seem like a trifle, but I often say that you want to make every word count in an answer choice. So what does the passage tell us?

Concerning recycling, the passage only mentions that reports from recycling facilities across the country indicate that the amount of paper-based packaging material that they provide to paper-packaging companies for reuse has been increasing steadily.

Where the paper comes from that the recycling facilities pass along to paper-packaging companies is unknown. All we know is that the facilities provide it. Thus, we cannot qualify (E) as a valid answer. We do not have enough information about consumers after all.

I hope that helps. Thank you for thinking to ask me about the question.

- Andrew

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