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605-655 Level|   Assumption|         
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 03:38
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Bunuel
To encourage economic development in remote regions, the federal government pays regional governments a bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region. A shipping company proposes building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere. In exchange, the company requests a share of the bonuses, arguing that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume.

The company’s argument depends on which of the following assumptions?
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(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely. - Strengthen the argument but not necessary. If all the shipments do not bypass the remote region, Conclusion will still hold hence, not the Assumption.

(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally. - Correct. If federal government awards bonuses only on the shipment delivery and not for shipment passing through - the argument doesn't hold hence, this assumption is must for the argument.

(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses. - Doesn't effect argument or conclusion
(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes. - Longer shipment is not the concern.
(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments. - Even when not true, argument is not affected.
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 04:26
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Between option B & C, B is more related to the argument.

B
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 04:31
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delivered locally
Bunuel
To encourage economic development in remote regions, the federal government pays regional governments a bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region. A shipping company proposes building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere. In exchange, the company requests a share of the bonuses, arguing that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume.

The company’s argument depends on which of the following assumptions?

(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.
(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.
(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.


 


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(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.
--> In\rrelevant.

(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
--> Correct. If only locally delivered shipments are possible then, this argument falls apart.

(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.
--> Not mentioned

(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
--> Irrelevant

(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.
--> Shows the current situation and not an assumption.

Option B
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 05:27
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B. The argument goes on stating that federal govt. pays regional govts a bonus based on total volume of goods delivered. And, to such region , a shipping company proposes for a hub, routing shipments through it before anywhere else and in return asks for a share in bonuses, as because they profit. We need to find an Assumption here, if you read closely, the bold part, it isnt mentioned here that if bonuses are offered on vol of goods passing through a region, if it were just locally, the regional govt would profit in real terms. So, maybe here thats the missing part. Which B says.
Bunuel
To encourage economic development in remote regions, the federal government pays regional governments a bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region. A shipping company proposes building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere. In exchange, the company requests a share of the bonuses, arguing that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume. Rest D, could maybe taken into consideration, but then we dont know if longer delivery times really impact that much, as to shatter the conclusion

The company’s argument depends on which of the following assumptions?

(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.
(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.
(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.


 


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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 05:44
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To encourage economic development in remote regions, the federal government pays regional governments a bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region. A shipping company proposes building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere. In exchange, the company requests a share of the bonuses, arguing that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume.

The company’s argument depends on which of the following assumptions?

(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.
Even if most shipments would not bypass the remote region entirely without the proposed hub, the bonus based on the total volume of good delivered to businesses within the region may or may not be impacted.
Incorrect

(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
If the federal government does not award bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally, then the issue of sharing bonus does not arise. If assumption is negated, the argument falls apart.
Correct

(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.
The federal government pays regional governments a bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region and not on benefitting local businesses. The argument is not concerned with benefitting local businesses.
Incorrect

(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
The argument is not concerned with delivery times.
Incorrect

(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.
If businesses in the remote region currently do not account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments, then they account for large proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments impacting bonus. If assumption is negative, argument does not fall apart.
Incorrect

IMO B
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 05:57
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Premise: To encourage economic development in remote regions, the federal government pays regional governments a bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region. A shipping company proposes building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere.

Conclsion: In exchange, the company requests a share of the bonuses, arguing that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume. meaning The regional government would greatly profit (from increased bonuses) due to the substantial increase in shipment volume, making it worthwhile to share these bonuses with the company.

lets go to options to check assumption by negating each option and look if conclusion fall apart.

(A) Even without the proposed hub, most shipments would still pass through or be delivered to businesses in the remote region anyway.
If this is the case we dont know if the increase might still be substantial. It weakens the conclusion, but not completely detroy it. KEEP it.

(B) The federal government awards bonuses based only on shipments delivered locally within the region, not on total shipment volume passing through.
then the massive volume passing through the hub would not count towards the bonus. In this scenario, the regional government would not greatly profit from the hub's volume. KEEP IT

(C) The regional government would share bonuses even if the new hub did not directly benefit local businesses.
The company's argument is about why the bonus will increase, not about the conditions for sharing beyond the bonus increase. REJECT

(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
However, it doesn't directly address whether the volume through the hub would lead to a higher government bonus for the region. REJECT

(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a large proportion of the shipping company's national shipments.
If the region already accounts for a large proportion of shipments, it might imply that the additional volume from a national hub might not be as "substantial" an increase relative to the existing volume. REJECT

Among A and B, B is the clear winner

B is the answer

Bunuel
To encourage economic development in remote regions, the federal government pays regional governments a bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region. A shipping company proposes building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere. In exchange, the company requests a share of the bonuses, arguing that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume.

The company’s argument depends on which of the following assumptions?

(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.
(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.
(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.


 


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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 06:22
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To encourage economic development in remote regions, the federal government pays regional governments a bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region. A shipping company proposes building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere. In exchange, the company requests a share of the bonuses, arguing that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume.

the federal government pays regional governments a bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region.

A shipping company proposes building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere.. These shipments are not for local deliveries into the region but have a final destination elsewhere. the Shipping company believes the regional government would profit from this. This is only possible if the national government pays a bonus for shipments that go through the region also.

Option B (The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally) is there fore the answer.
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 06:24
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(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely. Incorrect Although this may be true it is not necessary for the argument to hold
(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally. Correct if that is not the case then the company would have no basis to claim the bonus
(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses. Incorrect because it is unnecessary for the argument to hold
(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes. Incorrect because even if it would it does not matter as long as deliveries are made
(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments. Incorrect because this info is unnecessary
ANS B

Bunuel
To encourage economic development in remote regions, the federal government pays regional governments a bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region. A shipping company proposes building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere. In exchange, the company requests a share of the bonuses, arguing that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume.

The company’s argument depends on which of the following assumptions?

(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.
(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.
(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.


 


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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 06:30
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Company’s argument: If most national shipments go through this hub then the region’s shipment volumes will increase and its bonus will go up. So the company should get a share.
Missing link here is that the bonus has to count every shipment that passes through and not just those delivered in the region.

Let's look at the options:
A is irrelevant because shipments currently bypassing the region doesn’t affect how bonuses are counted
B is the missing link we were looking for
C is out of scope because the question isn’t about sharing rules with local businesses.
D is out of scope because the delivery speed concerns don’t change bonus calculations.
E is irrelevant because current local shipment share says nothing about bonus criteria.

answer : B
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 06:34
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(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.
This suggests the hub creates new deliveries (to the hub itself) that wouldn't exist otherwise. The company needs these deliveries to count toward the bonus, because if shipments would come anyway, the hub doesn't create new bonus-qualifying volume. CORRECT

(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
The stimulus says bonuses are for goods "delivered to businesses within the region", not passing through.

(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.
The argument doesn't depend on other businesses benefiting, just on volume increasing.

(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
Delivery times don't affect the bonus calculation.

(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.
The argument is about future volume increases, not current proportions.

IMO A
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 06:41
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The setup of the hub would increase volume of shipment passing through the region. But the bonus is based on volume of goods delivered TO businesses within their region. The company is proposing the plan by saying that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume. But the hub would not increase the volume of goods delivered TO businesses within their region. Hence their assumption must be Option B.
Bunuel
To encourage economic development in remote regions, the federal government pays regional governments a bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region. A shipping company proposes building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere. In exchange, the company requests a share of the bonuses, arguing that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume.

The company’s argument depends on which of the following assumptions?

(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.
(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.
(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.


 


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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 06:55
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(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely. Irrelevant. We’re not concerned about what happens now without the proposed hub, we want to know whether the regional government would benefit from the substantial increase in shipment volume.

(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally. Correct. This condition is required. The federal government pays bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region. If the govt. doesn’t consider the shipment passing through a region adding up to the total volume, then there won’t be any bonus paid to regional govt.

(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses. Irrelevant. This choice talks about the condition under which regional govt. would share bonus, but if the federal govt. doesn’t pay any bonus to regional one, then there won’t be any bonus to share with.

(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes. Irrelevant. Delivery time has no bearing to whether the regional government would be paid bonus from the federal govt.

(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments. Irrelevant. As stated in Option A, this option doesn’t address whether bonuses are based on volume through the region or final delivery to the region.

Option B
Bunuel
To encourage economic development in remote regions, the federal government pays regional governments a bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region. A shipping company proposes building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere. In exchange, the company requests a share of the bonuses, arguing that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume.

The company’s argument depends on which of the following assumptions?

(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.
(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.
(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.


 


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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 07:01
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Argument:

F govt. pays regional: Bonus (T. Vol del. to busi)-(Bg)
Ship Co. nat. Dist: Routing ship through before final deliv. (Bg)
Co. : deserve prt of bonus,(C) bec, greg. govt profit inc in ship vol.

Prethinking:

Govt pay bonus for increase in value of goods delivered.
Co introduce inc. in vol by routing shipments from hub before delivery. We dont know if delivered in that area or not but know with this plan volume of shipments will increase.
So share of bonus is asked since they assume regional govt will greatly profit from inc in volume.

In order to connect one assumption can be Volume increase also gives them a benefit of receiving bonus or actual delivery increases with this plan. Lets see the answer choices.

Answer:


(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely. (Nothing will change, vol. will remain same, this doesnt tell us about why inc in volume will increase profit earned by state govt)
(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally. (This is what we summed up in our prethinking, This gives a valid reason why their profit will inc)
(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses. (In real world, this seems like a good option but this doesnt tell why their profit increase)
(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes. (The arg is not concerned with delivery time)
(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments. (This seems like saying actual delivery will be in small proportion of rest will go to other regions, Now we dont know how large the company is or what increase that small portion can make, so this is not a concrete assumption)

Answer B
Bunuel
To encourage economic development in remote regions, the federal government pays regional governments a bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region. A shipping company proposes building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere. In exchange, the company requests a share of the bonuses, arguing that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume.

The company’s argument depends on which of the following assumptions?

(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.
(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.
(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.


 


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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 07:11
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(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.- shipments would increase but done not explain why bonus would increase

(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.- If bonuses are based on passing through, then routing shipments through the hub increases the bonus otherwise the regional government doesn’t gain & the company’s argument falls apart.

(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.-companys logic for requesting share is not justified

(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.-- delivery times are irrelevant

(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.--doesnt address bonus sharing request

Ans B
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in Updated on: 10 Jul 2025, 00:07
Originally posted by jnxci on 09 Jul 2025, 07:11.
Last edited by jnxci on 10 Jul 2025, 00:07, edited 1 time in total.
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- Isolation the conclusion: The regional government would greatly profit from the total volume of shipments routing through the proposed national hub
- Isolate the premise: Subsidies received from the government (for goods delivered to businesses within the region) are shared with the shipping company, who proposed the national hub
- Here, we can see the potential flaw of the shipping company's proposal, which generalizes the subsidy received for a regional total volume routing to that of a national routing. Therefore, the shipping company must have assume Choice (B) since without it the profit claim proposal may not work: Imagine that the regional government only receives subsidies for only shipments delivered locally BUT still has to share the bonuses with the shipping company; i hardly believe that the reduced revenue w/ the same amount of cost after the proposal can generate profits.
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 07:28
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Type : Assumption
Statement : A shipping company proposes building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere. In exchange, the company requests a share of the bonuses, arguing that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume.

(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.- Not relevant to the question.
(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally. - This is a very important point to note, which has been assumed by the company.
(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses. - Not mentioned in the passage
(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes. - Not a requirement or mentioned in the passage, not relevant to the question.
(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments. - Not relevant to the question

Correct option is Option B
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 07:37
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(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.
If goods weren't coming here before, but now will stop at the hub, that's new deliveries that count for bonuses.

(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
"passing through" could mean be transported throughout the region without stopping at any hub. It is not an assumption.

(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.
Not relevant. The argument is about shipment numbers, not benefits to other businesses

(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
The argument is about shipment volume, not speed.

(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.
Even if true, it doesn't prove the hub will create new qualifying deliveries.

The right answer is A
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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 07:44
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Option B is the correct answer.

Lets understand the information mentioned passage before trying to solve for the answer.

The passage starts by telling us that the federal government has launched a scheme to encourage economic development in remote regions, in this scheme encourage economic development in remote regions. Then the passage tells us that a major shipping company has proposed a plan to the regional government in which they propose to building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere and in exchange, the company requests a share of the bonuses, arguing that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume.

Now the question asks us on which assumption does the argument depends upon.

Negation is the best technique to answer assumption questions. And after negation whichever option destroys/weakens the argument will be our answer.

Option A: "Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely". After negating this option it will be "Without the proposed hub, most shipments won't be able to bypass the remote region". This negated option is strengthening the answer instated by weakening it by telling that even if the proposed hub is not build the shipments have need to be routed by the region only. Eliminated

Option B:"The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally". After negating this option it will be "The federal government will not award bonus based on the total shipment volume passing through a region, only on the shipments delivered locally. This negated option actually weaken the argument by saying the the government will give you bonus only when the shipments are delivered locally, not for the shipments passing routed through the place/region which in return will destroy the whole point of building a distribution hub and weaken the passage. This is the ideal choice for the answer but lest check other options as well. Selected

Option C: "The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses". We can eliminate this option even without negating it because as per the statement it tells that the government will share bonus only when the local business is getting the benefit but no where in the passage it is mentioned whether the shipping company which proposed the plan is local or not and whether the people working in their will be of the locality or not foe which we need to do additional assumption on top of this one which is incorrect. Eliminated

Option D: "Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes". This option talking about whether the shipping time will get longer or not which is basically irrelevant as it does not have a clear impact on regional government getting the bonus because if it is the only option to ship the product then people have no other choice rather than to wait for it. Eliminated

Option E: "Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments". After negating this option it will be "Business in the remote region currently account for a large proportion of the shipping company's national shipments" which will make sense why the shipping company is proposing to build a distribution hub, it also strengthen the passage. Eliminated

So from here we can conclude that except for Option B no other option weakens the passage after being negated or either they are irrelevant to the question. That's why Option B is our answer.

Bunuel
To encourage economic development in remote regions, the federal government pays regional governments a bonus based on the total volume of goods delivered to businesses within their region. A shipping company proposes building a national distribution hub in one such region, routing most national shipments through the hub before final delivery elsewhere. In exchange, the company requests a share of the bonuses, arguing that the regional government would greatly profit from the substantial increase in shipment volume.

The company’s argument depends on which of the following assumptions?

(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.
(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.
(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.


 


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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 7): To encourage economic development in 09 Jul 2025, 07:50
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(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.
Irrelevant as this doesent address the assumption. Even if shipments previously bypassed the region we see that the assumption is about how bonuses are calculated and that is not addressed with the hub increasing traffic

(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
Relevant as this directly addresses the assumption. If bonuses are only for shipments delivered to local businesses, then routing through the hub doesnt help the region and the company’s argument fails.
This is basically our main required assumption the argument will depend on.

(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.
Irrelevant as this talks about government’s willingness to share, not about the core of the company’s argument.

(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
Irrelevant as this is a logistical concern, but not central to the logical structure of the company’s bonus argument

(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.
Irrelevant as this doesn’t address the bonus assumption.

(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
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(A) Without the proposed hub, most shipments would bypass the remote region entirely.
The whole plan only works if the center creates new deliveries that weren't happening before.

(B) The federal government awards bonuses based on total shipment volume passing through a region, not just on shipments delivered locally.
"passing through a region" is much broader than "delivered to businesses within the region". Not neccesary.

(C) The regional government would only share bonuses if the new hub directly benefited local businesses.
This weakens the company's argument, but it's not an assumption of their argument.

(D) Routing shipments through the new hub would not make delivery times longer than shipping via current routes.
That might be relevant to feasibility or efficiency, but not to the assumption underlying the bonus-sharing argument.

(E) Businesses in the remote region currently account for a small proportion of the shipping company’s national shipments.
It doesn't affect the assumption about how the bonuses are calculated.

Correct answer is A
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