The republic of Estonia is separated from Finland by the narrow Gulf o

I'm a bit confused by the answer D. Maybe that's because I do not understand it completely.

What is meant by "...present day system"?

I chose answer C cause this does not undermine the argument. The animals are not only native to Finland, so the Estonians could have seen them somewhere else and made the drawings...
The animals could even be native to Estonia...

"Does the least to undermine" is not same as strengthen, just like the logical negation of "everywhere" is not nowhere, its "not everywhere".

the question is asking for one answer that does not weaken the conclusion. D is oos for this question and hence has no influence on the conclusion.

I go with D... Nice question!

I too was between C and D and finally opted for C. I don't really get how answer choice C could in anyway undermine the argument. Did someone find the logic here?

Thanks
Cheers
J

C. Early Estonian artifacts contain drawings of animals that were native not only to Finland at the time the migration was believed to have taken place.

I interpret it as Artifacts contain drawings of animals that were native not only to Finland but also to other places, it indicates that Estonians were aware of the native animals of Finland thus migration happened from Fin to Est.

Thus it undermines the claim.

I took much time to understand the difference but selected D finally.

This is not the correct interpretation according to me

Only the Country X & Finland are native to dogs
Dogs were found in the drawings of Estonia
So there is an equal chance that they have migrated from Country X..
and the other characteristic similarities among people of Estonia and Finland also existed among people native to Estonia and country X...
So this undermines the argument

Hi,
Can someone explain why not A?

the original post contains several critical mistakes. please see a few posts down for the correct question

The author's argument concludes that early Finns migrated from Estonia, based on similarities between the two cultures. Answer choices that are incorrect will weaken this conclusion, likely by giving an alternate explanation for why these cultures share traits. Choice (D) does not weaken the author's conclusion, and thus is the correct answer, because the fact that these traits are also shared by the people of Sweden does not have any effect on the proposed migration from Estonia to Finland; perhaps the path was Sweden to Estonia to Finland, or Estonia to Finland to Sweden. Choice (A) is incorrect because it gives some evidence that the migration was from Finland to Estonia, not in the other direction as the author believes. Choice (B) is incorrect because it eliminates one possible means by which the Estonians could have migrated to Finland. Choice (C), like choice (A), gives evidence for a migration from Finland to Estonia. Choice (E) presents the possibility of a stronger link between Norwegians and Finns than Finns and Estonians, weakening the likelihood that the Finnish people migrated from Estonia.

Regarding option choice D - Consider a case where people from Sweden migrated to both Finland and Estonia resulting in all 3 populations being genetically similar and hence act as weakener.

Migration from Sweden ---> Finland (Yes)
Migration from Sweden ---> Estonia (Yes)
Migration from Estonia ----> Finland (No)

I found option C to be the best option.

Can someone please confirm if my understanding is correct on option D or atleast demolish it so i can be at peace with option D as answer

The republic of Estonia is separated from Finland by the narrow Gulf of Finland. The Estonian people are genetically similar to the Finnish people. Estonians also speak a language that is very closely related to Finnish. It is likely that, many centuries ago, residents of what is now Estonia migrated to what is now Finland and established settlements there.

Which of the following, if true, does the least to undermine the Author's explanation for the similarities given?

A. The earliest settlements found in Finland exhibit cultural influences common to Estonians and Finns predate the earliest settlements found in Estonia that exhibit these traits. If these settlements predate the Estonian settlements, this would largely undermine the author's explanation (suggests the opposite).

B. At the time at which the residents of present day Estonia are believed to have migrated to present day Finland, travel by boat across the Gulf of Finland was not possible. Undermines the author, as it implies that migration was not possible (or at least difficult)

C. Early Estonian artifacts contain drawings of animals that were native not only to Finland at the time the migration was believed to have taken place. This makes it appear that the shared attributes are not a result of migration, or even that the Finnish or other people migrated to Estonia
D. The traits common to the people of Finland and Estonia are also shared by the population of present day system.
E. The Norwegian people are more similar to the Finnish people than are Estonians. out of scope

oh man, i missed the world "least"

I too missed the word "least" and chose wrong answer.

Now D makes more sense, every other options undermines the author's explanation.

A. The earliest settlements found in Finland exhibit cultural influences common to Estonians and Finns predate the earliest settlements found in Estonia that exhibit these traits. => both estonians and Finns could derived from common branch, also people with these traits were present even before settlement in Estonia => Finn people could have migrated to Estonia. - WEAKENS

B. At the time at which the residents of present day Estonia are believed to have migrated to present day Finland, travel by boat across the Gulf of Finland was not possible. - => difficult to migrate from Estonia to Finn - WEAKENS

C. Early Estonian artifacts contain drawings of animals that were native not only to Finland at the time the migration was believed to have taken place. - => at time of migration, some animals were native not only to Finland but also to Estonia => Finn people could have migrated to Estonia = WEAKENS

D. The traits common to the people of Finland and Estonia are also shared by the population of present day system. - Present Day System? current people of finland and Estonia? yes they share as estonia migrated to finnland - actually kind of restatement of premise. - ANSWER

E. The Norwegian people are more similar to the Finnish people than are Estonians. - => could be that finn and estonians derived from Norwegian, with finn closer resemblance to norwegian, (like one of the two siblings, resembling dad much) => lot of questions to doubt the author's explanation.

So answer D.

Thanks,

Experts, please anytime add to/correct my reasoning, it will help me learn more.

is this a strengthening question ? as it says "least undermining " .
if so then answer should be A

The republic of Estonia is separated from Finland by the narrow Gulf of Finland. The Estonian people are genetically similar to the Finnish people. Estonians also speak a language that is very closely related to Finnish. It is likely that, many centuries ago, residents of what is now Estonia migrated to what is now Finland and established settlements there.

Which of the following, if true, does the least to undermine the Author's explanation for the similarities given?
...Option that weakens the least

A. The earliest settlements found in Finland exhibit cultural influences common to Estonians and Finns predate the earliest settlements found in Estonia that exhibit these traits.
- This option brings an information that makes us think whether the REVERSE (people migrated from Finland to Estonia) is true; Clearly weakens !

B. At the time at which the residents of present day Estonia are believed to have migrated to present day Finland, travel by boat across the Gulf of Finland was not possible.
- This also weakens the conclusion by questioning whether travel from Estonia to Finland was possible.

C. Early Estonian artifacts contain drawings of animals that were native not only to Finland at the time the migration was believed to have taken place.
-This is a tough one to eliminate; This is a weak choice. If the artifacts depict animals that were ALSO found elsewhere, it is possible that the people came from these OTHER places.

D. The traits common to the people of Finland and Estonia are also shared by the population of present day Sweden.
- CORRECT. The traits are common NOW, in the present. Were they common earlier? We can't tell. It may be the case that Swedes are people who migrated from Finland, or from Estonia, or maybe some other combination; we can't say for sure. This option doesn't weaken the conclusion, and requires too many assumptions.

E. The Norwegian people are more similar to the Finnish people than are Estonians.
- This is a tough one to eliminate. This option creates a small doubt: Have Norwegian people migrated to Finland?

Correct D.

Understanding the argument - ­ The Republic of Estonia is separated from Finland by the narrow Gulf of Finland. - Fact.
The Estonian people are genetically similar to the Finnish people. - Fact.
Estonians also speak a language that is very closely related to Finnish. - Fact
It is likely that, many centuries ago, residents of what is now Estonia migrated to what is now Finland and established settlements there. - Conclusion

Which of the following, if true, does the least to undermine the Author's explanation for the similarities given?

Option Elimination - 4 weaken except 1, which could be anything - strengthener, out of scope, distortion, etc., but weakener.

A. The earliest settlements found in Finland exhibit cultural influences common to Estonians and Finns predate the earliest settlements found in Estonia that exhibit these traits. - Means the opposite relationship - Finland to Estonia.

Weaken. B. At the time when the residents of present day Estonia are believed to have migrated to present day Finland, travel by boat across the Gulf of Finland was impossible. - Weaken.

C. Early Estonian artifacts contain drawings of animals that were native only to Finland at the time the migration was believed to have taken place. - Shows Finland was established, and movement occurred from Finland to Estonia. - This option opens the possibility of a more nuanced relationship than just the unidirectional movement from Estonia to Finland, direction of relationship that is stated in the conclusion.

With this option,
a. Estonians may have traveled to Finland and brought back the artifacts.
b. Finnish may have traveled to Estonia and brought these artifacts 
c. There was a bidirectional relationship between Finland and Estonia.

This option plays with our thought process. We assume that to be a weakener, it has to SHATTER the conclusion, meaning the magnitude of impact is grand. GMAT knows our weakness so instead of giving an option that'll satisfy our wrong belief, it gives a weak weakner. Remember, a weakener or strengthen has to move a needle, in distance terms it can be one millions of 1 mm, but that is still a movement or a weakner or strengthener. So, always look for the direction of impact (positive or negative) and then look for magnitude. Strengthen and Weaken work on the direction rather than necessarily on the magnitude, while we focus on magnitude first, a mindset that will not help us eliminate this option. Weak weakener.

D. The traits common to the people of Finland and Estonia are also shared by the population of present-day Sweden. - Still, the conclusion can be valid. Sweden to Estonia to Finland. While option C casts doubt on the one-way movement, this option still makes it possible for the conclusions to stay valid. Ok.

E. The Norwegian people are more similar to the Finnish people than are Estonians. - Weakener

I had to eliminate other options to reach the correct one for this CR.
The author is saying migration happened from Estonia to Finland i.e. Estonia->Finland. Let us check the options now.
Option A is saying migration happened from Finland to Estonia since settlements in Finland predate ones found in Estonia. Wrong.
Option B is saying migration never happened since "travel by boat across the Gulf of Finland was not possible.". Wrong.
Option C is saying migration is questionable since when migration was supposed to happen, " Early Estonian artifacts contain drawings of animals that were native not only to Finland..". Wrong.
Option D is playing safe by stating migration had happened. The similarity with Sweden also bolstered the position of it.
Option E is irrelevantly bringing in Norwegian people. Wrong.
Option (D) is correct.