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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 4): In a recent calendar year, several 03 Jul 2025, 09:25
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In a recent calendar year, several engineers both joined and left Company Z. Among engineers who left within their first year of employment, 18 percent held an agile-project-management certification. Yet only 8 percent of all engineers who completed the annual HR survey reported holding that certification. Therefore, possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.

This is not concerned with the certification, not suitable.

(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications.

Even if it provides incentives, we still can't surely say that it will make those people stay, not suitable.

(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company.

This suggests that the people who are still in the company may have the certification but haven't reported it, if it is true, then it will surely weaken the conclusion. Suitable

(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies.

Not relevant at all.

(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company.

Then what, they still can leave the company, if they acquire after their first year then the story may be different, but this is not the case here, not suitable.
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Notes:

18% of people who left held AGMC
8% of all poeple had a AGMC

Therefore- Having a AGMC makes you more likely to leave company.

Looking to weaken this argument
A) This shows its voluntary but does not do anything about the AGMC
B) They do not have a reason for internal people to get a AGMC so less might have it.
C) Certification has no effect with hiring.
D) Does nothing
E) Does not effect it.

Likely B
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should be C

If engineers did not have to report their certificates if they got certified prior to joining, the 8% figure is skewed and could be much higher, which breaks the conclusion
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 4): In a recent calendar year, several 03 Jul 2025, 09:47
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The argument that engineers with the agile-project-management certification are more likely to leave within their first year is weakened to varying degrees by the answer choices.

Option (A) explains why engineers leave early but doesn’t connect leaving to certification, so it doesn’t weaken the argument. Option (B) notes that the company doesn’t incentivize certifications, which doesn’t affect the relationship between certification and turnover. Option (C) suggests that engineers might underreport pre-existing certifications, which could mean more engineers actually hold the certification than reported, narrowing the gap and weakening the argument somewhat. Option (D) states that most engineers work in agile teams, which doesn’t impact whether certification influences early leaving. Finally, option (E) is the strongest weakening factor because if some engineers only earn the certification after joining, then having the certification may not predict leaving but simply correlate with the timing of departure, directly undermining the argument’s assumption that certification causes higher turnover.

Thus, while C weakens the argument somewhat, E most seriously challenges its core reasoning.

Bunuel
In a recent calendar year, several engineers both joined and left Company Z. Among engineers who left within their first year of employment, 18 percent held an agile-project-management certification. Yet only 8 percent of all engineers who completed the annual HR survey reported holding that certification. Therefore, possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.
(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications.
(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company.
(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies.
(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company.


 


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In a recent calendar year, several engineers both joined and left Company Z. Among engineers who left within their first year of employment, 18 percent held an agile-project-management certification. Yet only 8 percent of all engineers who completed the annual HR survey reported holding that certification. Therefore, possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.
Conclusion- Having the certification makes an engineer more likely to leave within a year
Possible answer- What if they joined company while doing the certification and hoped to get a better job after completing certification, so they left the job.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.....This explain why they leave........ No
(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications........Nothing about certification .......... No
(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company.....No
(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies....It makes the certification relevant to the job ......No
(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company..... Aligns with prethinking (Once they obtain the certification, they leave current job for a better one) ........Weakens

E
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Alright, let's break this down:

Conclusion:
"Engineers with an agile-project-management certification are more likely to leave Z company within a year of joining."

Premise:
a. 18% of engineers who left within a year had the certification.
b. Only 8% of all engineers who completed the annual HR survey reported having the certification.

Assumption:
The company thinks both stats accurately reflect the real ratios in their groups, so they assume that the 10% difference is because those engineers got the cert after joining, aiming to land better jobs elsewhere.

The main flaw in this assumption:
It doesn't consider that the 10% who didn't provide info before joining might already have the cert but didn't tell the company. This leads the company to think these 10% got the cert after joining.

Now, looking at the options:
Option c aligns with our prethink here.
Answer: c
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Bunuel
In a recent calendar year, several engineers both joined and left Company Z. Among engineers who left within their first year of employment, 18 percent held an agile-project-management certification. Yet only 8 percent of all engineers who completed the annual HR survey reported holding that certification. Therefore, possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.
(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications.
(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company.
(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies.
(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company.


 


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Conclusion of the author : Possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

Reasoning : 8 percent of all engineers who completed the annual HR survey reported holding that certification while 18 percent of the engineers left held an agile-project-management certification.

Assumption: The reported data is correct.

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.

Reason for leaving the firm doesn't help weaken the conclusion that the author has made. Hence, we can eliminate A.

(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications.

Same as A. Reason for leaving the firm doesn't help weaken the conclusion that the author has made. Hence, we can eliminate B.

(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company.

If engineers are not required to report certifications, the data author is referring could be false. Hence, this is a likely weakener. Keep.

(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies.

This detail is irrelevant to the conclusion drawn. Hence, we can eliminate D.

(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company.

When the certifications were obtained isn't what the author is referring to. Hence, we can eliminate E.

Option C
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 4): In a recent calendar year, several 03 Jul 2025, 09:57
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The argument's flaw is its comparison of two different groups: first-year leavers and all company engineers. The conclusion is about new hires, so the proper comparison is between the engineers who left within a year and all engineers who were hired in that same year, not the entire company.

The argument assumes the 8% certification rate for all employees is a valid baseline for new hires. This is likely false.

Answer (E) explains why. If engineers can obtain certification after joining, the 8% company-wide rate is a blended average of long-term employees (who had time to get certified) and new hires. It is plausible that the certification rate among the group of newly hired engineers is much higher than the 8% company-wide average.

For example, if 20% of all new hires have the certification, but only 18% of those who leave are certified, it would mean certified engineers are actually less likely to leave. This possibility seriously weakens the argument.

Thus, the answer is E.

Bunuel
In a recent calendar year, several engineers both joined and left Company Z. Among engineers who left within their first year of employment, 18 percent held an agile-project-management certification. Yet only 8 percent of all engineers who completed the annual HR survey reported holding that certification. Therefore, possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.
(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications.
(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company.
(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies.
(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company.


 


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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 4): In a recent calendar year, several Updated on: 05 Jul 2025, 01:37
Originally posted by iCheetaah on 03 Jul 2025, 09:58.
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We are asked to weaken the argument. So, we need to come up wtih something that bridges the gap between the 8% (the ones that filled out the survey and said had certifications) and the 18% (the ones that left that had certifications)

Let's look at the answer choices:

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.
  • The reason they leave is not relevant to weaken the argument. Eliminate.
(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications.
  • Whether the company provides incentives or the employees get the certifications on their own doesn't help us weaken the argument. Eliminate.
(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company.
  • This one says, that since Engineers are not required to report their certification before joining the company - this means that the engineers reported having the certifications after joining the company. Let's take an example, if there are 200 engineers, 100 of them filled the HR survey and of them 18 (~18%) reported having the certifications. But let's say, out of the 100 who didn't fill the survey, 50 of them left the company, of which 4 (~8%) reported having the certification. We can infer that since we didn't know what %age of engineers held the certifications (because not all of them filled the HR survey) before joining the company, these %ages are not comparable, and further the conclusion that having the certification makes them more likely to leave is unwarranted. Keep.
(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies.
  • This doesn't tell us if they are more likely to leave or not, since this doesn't fill the gap between the 8% and the 18%. Eliminate
(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company.
  • This slightly weakens, but since it talks about "some" engineers and not majority or all, this doesn't help us weaken the argument. Eliminate

C seems to be the best choice
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 4): In a recent calendar year, several 03 Jul 2025, 10:08
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Conclusion is : Therefore, possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms. - Correct - this provides an alternate reason
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In a recent calendar year, several engineers both joined and left Company Z. Among engineers who left within their first year of employment, 18 percent held an agile-project-management certification. Yet only 8 percent of all engineers who completed the annual HR survey reported holding that certification. Therefore, possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

Conclusion: Therefore, possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.
Irrelevant

(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications.
Quite irrelevant

(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company.
Prior reporting is irrelevant. It doesn't impact the annual HR survey conducted annually and the certification statistics collected at the end of employee termination

(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies.
New info but irrelevant

(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company.
This states that the annual HR survey is a lagging factor. After a while more engineers earn the certificate, and the average certificate holding can be higher than 8% or even 18% --> weaken

Answer: E
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(A)Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.
  • Irrelevant. This explains why they leave, not whether the certification causes it.
(B)Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications.
  • Irrelevant. This says nothing about why those with the certification leave earlier.

(C)Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company.
  • This could strengthen the argument's premise about the 8% being an underestimate, meaning the true proportion of certified engineers might be even lower, thus making the 18% for leavers even more pronounced. It doesn't weaken the core causal claim.

(D)The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies.
  • Possibly background, but doesn’t talk about certification.

(E)Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company.
  • It introduces a temporal ambiguity. If the certification is obtained during employment rather than before, the argument's assumption that the certification is a pre-existing factor influencing departure is undermined.
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Bunuel
In a recent calendar year, several engineers both joined and left Company Z. Among engineers who left within their first year of employment, 18 percent held an agile-project-management certification. Yet only 8 percent of all engineers who completed the annual HR survey reported holding that certification. Therefore, possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.
(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications.
(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company.
(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies.
(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company.


 


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The argument says that since 18% of those who left early had the agile certification, but only 8% of all engineers reported having it, the certification must make people more likely to leave.

To weaken this, we need to show that the 8% might not be accurate or that the difference isn’t meaningful.

Option C says engineers don’t have to report certifications they got before joining.

That means many might actually have the certification but didn’t report it—so the real percentage could be higher than 8%.

If that’s true, the 18% doesn’t look so high anymore, and the argument falls apart.

So, C is the best answer because it directly weakens the conclusion.
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(A): Engineers leave voluntarily for other positions.
This doesn't weaken the argument, as it doesn't address whether the certification contributes to leaving.

(B): Company Z doesn’t incentivize certifications.
This weakens the argument because it suggests engineers may obtain certifications independently, not because of company policy. Therefore, the certification might not be a cause of leaving the company.

(C): Engineers don’t report certifications obtained before joining.
This doesn’t weaken the argument, as it doesn't affect the reported certification rates among employees who leave.

(D): Majority of engineers at Company Z use agile methods.
This doesn't weaken the argument, as it suggests engineers might naturally acquire certifications for their work but doesn't address the cause of leaving.

(E): Engineers get certifications after joining Company Z.
This weakens the argument because it shows that the certification may not be a predictor of leaving the company, as it could be obtained after joining.
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Bunuel
In a recent calendar year, several engineers both joined and left Company Z. Among engineers who left within their first year of employment, 18 percent held an agile-project-management certification. Yet only 8 percent of all engineers who completed the annual HR survey reported holding that certification. Therefore, possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.
(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications.
(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company.
(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies.
(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company.


 


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It is a casual style argument.

Here the conclusion is Possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

To weaken this we need to break this by either providing counter reason or proving the data / analysis is wrong.


Lets do the POE.

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms. So what, Irrelavant
(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications. So what, Irrelavant
(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company. Hmm, May be 8% might not be the real figure, Most of then didn't report. Hence this can weaken.
(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies. So what, Irrelavant
(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company. This slightly strengthens the conclusion, So may this certification motivates them to leave.

Hence C is the best choice.
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(A) : This gives context about why they leave, but doesn’t address whether the certification causes it. Not Relevant

(B) : Irrelevant to whether certified engineers are more likely to leave. Not Relevant

(C) : This weakens the argument because it casts doubt on the accuracy of the 8% figure for current engineers.

(D) : This shows agile is common at the company but doesn’t impact the comparison of certification rates. Not Relevant

(E) : This could explain why some who left have the certification, but it doesn't refute the correlation that those who left were more likely to be certified. Not Relevant
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Option E exposes the timing flaw, some engineers earn the agile certification only after they join Company Z, and those who plan an early exit may pursue the credential in their final months. In that case, the 18 percent figure reflects a posthire response to imminent departure rather than a cause of it.
Option A notes that most first‐year leavers move to rival firms, this fact does nothing to tie certification status to turnover risk. Option B shows a lack of company support for certification this absence fails to explain why certified engineers depart at higher rates. Option C points out that prehire credentials may go unreported this gap could undercount total certification but does not account for the spike among early leavers. Option D highlights that many teams use agile methods. this prevalence suggests a broad base of holders but offers no reason why certification would trigger swift departure.

Bunuel
In a recent calendar year, several engineers both joined and left Company Z. Among engineers who left within their first year of employment, 18 percent held an agile-project-management certification. Yet only 8 percent of all engineers who completed the annual HR survey reported holding that certification. Therefore, possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.
(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications.
(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company.
(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies.
(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company.


 


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In a recent calendar year, several engineers both joined and left Company Z. Among engineers who left within their first year of employment, 18 percent held an agile-project-management certification. Yet only 8 percent of all engineers who completed the annual HR survey reported holding that certification. Therefore, possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.: Out of Scope


(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications.: Strenthen the argument by giving another alternative reason explaining why people who have agile certification leave the company Z


(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company. Correct: Weakens the argument: If Engineers are not required to report certifications, this means the 8% who captured certification in HR survey are not the only ones who have an agile certification, Number of employees who are having an Agile certification is much higher. Thus it doesn't seem to be that agile certified engineers are more likely to leave the company Z


(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies.: Out of Scope


(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company.: Doesnt strengthen or weaken, Timeline of certification doesnt matter in this case.
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A. No relation with certifications.
B. Could eventually imply that those possessing certifications, like certifications and have them in consequence, making them leave if the company doesn't support more. Not really a direct conclusion here.
C. Makes the 8% reported completely meaningless (weakening the argument), if you are talking about "engineers with certification". CORRECT ANSWER
D. No relation with certifications.
E. Without (C) in the picture, it's not relevant for the argument, when the engineer gets the certification.
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In a recent calendar year, several engineers both joined and left Company Z. Among engineers who left within their first year of employment, 18 percent held an agile-project-management certification. Yet only 8 percent of all engineers who completed the annual HR survey reported holding that certification. Therefore, possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.
(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications.
(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company.
(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies.
(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company.


 


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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 4): In a recent calendar year, several 03 Jul 2025, 11:11
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Ans: E

In a recent calendar year, several engineers both joined and left Company Z. Among engineers who left within their first year of employment, 18 percent held an agile-project-management certification. Yet only 8 percent of all engineers who completed the annual HR survey reported holding that certification. Therefore, possessing the certification appears to make an engineer more likely to leave Company Z within a year of being hired.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Most engineers who leave company Z within their first year do so voluntarily, often for positions at competing firms.
How they left is not part of the consideration here and doesn't impact the reasoning.

(B) Company Z does not provide incentives for employees to obtain professional certifications.
this may support the part that only 8% had the certification but it doesn't provide the reasoning to weaken the conclusion or attack the premise.

(C) Engineers are not required to report certifications they obtained prior to joining the company.
reporting of the certification at the time of the joining has no impact on the argument. however, if they do not report in the HR survey then it could impact the reasoning but this is not the case

(D) The majority of engineers at company Z work in teams that use agile methodologies.
This once again doesn't impact the reasoning in the argument. and majority working in agile team has no impct on cetification

(E) Some engineers obtain their agile project management certification only after joining the company.
What if, Engineers obtain the certification after the survey and then leave? In this case, the reports will have fewer certification numbers compare with when they left.
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