imSKR wrote:
Quote:
3. The passage suggests which of the following about the claim that a firm will become more efficient and competitive by downsizing?
(A) Few firms actually believe this claim to be true.
(B) Fewer firms have been making this claim in recent years.
(C) This claim contradicts the basic assumption of organization theory.
(D) This claim is called into question by certain recent research.
(E) This claim is often treated with skepticism by the business press.
Hi
AndrewN sir
Sorry for bringing your attention again on similar issue.
I have read
GMATNinja ’s explanation above. I remember we need to understand from high level perspective . I have no doubts on why answer is D.
I wanted to clarify some points for option A. ( I find hard to eliminate A)
1. If the question says “passage suggests” then I need to take meaning from overall perspective as we have to take for Q3?
2. Should not the beginning of sentence should be “Firms traditionally claimeD xxx” . They used to claim before.
3. When I read first few lines , firms traditionally claim that they downsize xx.
Does traditionally claim not mean (actually) believe?
4. Since claim is in present tense, so even many companies agree that they are wrong still some companies may believe that downsizing is to become more efficient and competitive.
(since questions ask passage suggests so I may no need to find option that is directly given in passage but something that can be derived.)
5. IN order for A to be answer: If A were: Few firms traditionally claim, then this option could be true.
Or
If question were: Which of the claim is true?
Then A could have been answer?
Btw, How was your approach to eliminate A?
Some key words in option A? – “actually” ?
You need not worry about bringing questions to my attention,
imSKR. As long as I feel you are doing so in a respectful manner and that your questions are put forth to help you in your preparation, then I will keep answering them. It helps me become a better student of the test myself, not to mention a more informed tutor. In this case, (A) is directly contradicted in the passage. What information do we have about
the claim that a firm will become more efficient and competitive by downsizing? Such a belief is outlined in the third sentence:
Quote:
There is evidence that firms believe they are behaving rationally whenever they downsize; yet recent research has shown that the actual economic effects of downsizing are often negative for firms.
We can thus deduce that firms think they are doing the right thing in choosing to downsize. It seems to me as if you latched onto the word
claim and went fishing for an answer in the opening line of the passage instead. But we have discussed trying to force an answer before. When you twist and turn to try to fit information into what you want to be the answer, you are almost certainly going to make an incorrect conclusion.
Does the opening line need to say
claimed? No. The firms still exist, and the claim is the sort of reasoning they may still use to justify downsizing, similar to saying that the French traditionally
believe in Catholicism. Getting back to answer choice (A), the only way it could be correct is if the passage said something different, so we cannot speculate on what would make it true.
I hope that helps. Although I may not agree with
GMATNinja about the level of engagement the material provides—I happen to like business passages the least on the GMAT™—I did manage to navigate the passage and questions without any trouble, spending a little extra time to check my answers before committing, particularly in the beginning. (My times were 2:18, 1:11, 1:17, 0:46, and 1:02.) And, in case you were curious, no, I did not picture any attractive person reading the passage to me, or my times would have been way worse and my accuracy all over the place.
- Andrew
Please help with question 3 again. Why is A wrong? The first line itself says that firms' traditional claim to downsize it to increase efficacy and competitiveness. Hence they do believe that the claim is true.
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23 Aug 2021, 11:19
