The Of Courses Company offers online courses on a wide range of topics

Question

The Of Courses Company offers online courses on a wide range of topics. The company’s general manager has decided to offer a new course on modern philosophy to be taught by Alia O’Connor, a professor who is widely read and respected within the field. Several other companies offer online courses on various philosophical topics, but since none of these are taught by someone with the status of O’Connor, the general manager believes that Of Courses will not have to worry about the competition.

Which of the following, if true, presents the most serious potential weakness of the general manager’s plan?

A. The cost of the modern philosophy course would be slightly higher than the cost of most of the company’s other courses.
B. Of Courses has received dozens of requests for a course on modern philosophy.
C. The course on modern philosophy would be substantially more complicated than all the other courses that Of Courses currently offers.
D. People who purchase online courses only choose a course based on the reputation of the teacher if that teacher has a name that is widely known to the general public.
E. Last year, somewhat more than half of Of Course’s customers were people who already purchased at least one of the company’s other courses.

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Question 85: Of Courses Company

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sanya2711 · Answer

Can someone please explain this question.

AkashM · Answer

We are asked to find out why GM's plan, which is to introduce a philosophy course taught by a renowned professor, might face competition from courses provided by other companies.

Eliminate B, C and E because they are irrelevant. 
Eliminate D because it strengthens the GM's plan.

A remains and is the correct answer. If pricing is also one of the factors that influences user decision, then a lower priced course might have a competitive edge.

chillbrorelax · Answer

Answer choice D states that if the teacher is widely known among general public. But we only know from the passage that the teacher is known within her field. Hence, D is the correct answer.

Posted from my mobile device

arnab2312 · Answer

D is the correct answer since it clearly shakes up the premise that courses which are bought need to be by teachers known to "General Public".

The actual Premise states that she is known widely within her field.

winterschool · Answer

The Of Courses Company offers online courses on a wide range of topics. The company’s general manager has decided to offer a new course on modern philosophy to be taught by Alia O’Connor, a professor who is widely read and respected within the field. Several other companies offer online courses on various philosophical topics, but since none of these are taught by someone with the status of O’Connor, the general manager believes that Of Courses will not have to worry about the competition.

Which of the following, if true, presents the most serious potential weakness of the general manager’s plan?

A. The cost of the modern philosophy course would be slightly higher than the cost of most of the company’s other courses.  Incorrect

company's plan can be successful although cost is slightly higher

B. Of Courses has received dozens of requests for a course on modern philosophy.  Incorrect

support argument

C. The course on modern philosophy would be substantially more complicated than all the other courses that Of Courses currently offers.  Incorrect

if people are interested to purchase courses than it will not be a problem

D.  People who purchase online courses only choose a course based on the reputation of the teacher if that teacher has a name that is widely known to the general public .  Correct

dedicated teacher only known in his department, general public not know about him; so plan will not be successful

E. Last year, somewhat more than half of Of Course’s customers were people who already purchased at least one of the company’s other courses.  Incorrect

new info

I think answer is D

Abhijeet612 · Answer

It is question of weakness. So, answer is "E" , while chioce "D" is supporting the GM plans.

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sanya2711 · Answer

I think it can be A also but I was not sure considering that they have not mentioned anything related to the cost in the statements.

RajatJ79 · Answer

The Of Courses Company offers online courses on a wide range of topics. The company’s general manager has decided to offer a new course on modern philosophy to be taught by Alia O’Connor, a professor who is widely read and   respected within the field  . Several other companies offer online courses on various philosophical topics, but since none of these are taught by someone with the status of O’Connor, the general manager believes that Of Courses will not have to worry about the competition.
 
 Which of the following, if true, presents the most serious potential weakness of the general manager’s plan? 
 
A. The cost of the modern philosophy course would be slightly higher than the cost of most of the company’s other courses.
  Cost should not be a deterrent  against competition. Drop A.

B. Of Courses has received dozens of requests for a course on modern philosophy.
  Out of scope.  Does not mention anything about competition.

C. The course on modern philosophy would be substantially more complicated than all the other courses that Of Courses currently offers.
  Out of scope . Compares with other courses.

D. People who purchase online courses only choose a course based on the reputation of the teacher if that teacher   has a name that is widely known to the general public  .
 Option D mentions that people consider reputation and popularity of the teacher among general public. Whereas the passage mentions that the professor is respected only within the field. This can be a potential weakness of the general manager’s plan.

E. Last year, somewhat more than half of Of Course’s customers were people who already purchased at least one of the company’s other courses.
  Out of scope .

IMO answer should be Option D.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Official Explanation:

The Of Courses Company offers online courses on a wide range of topics. The company’s general manager has decided to offer a new course on modern philosophy to be taught by Alia O’Connor, a professor who is widely read and respected within the field. Several other companies offer online courses on various philosophical topics, but since none of these are taught by someone with the status of O’Connor, the general manager believes that Of Courses will not have to worry about the competition.
 
 Which of the following, if true, presents the most serious potential weakness of the general manager’s plan? 
 
 A. The cost of the modern philosophy course would be slightly higher than the cost of most of the company’s other courses.
B. Of Courses has received dozens of requests for a course on modern philosophy.
C. The course on modern philosophy would be substantially more complicated than all the other courses that Of Courses currently offers. 
 D. People who purchase online courses only choose a course based on the reputation of the teacher if that teacher has a name that is widely known to the general public. 
 E. Last year, somewhat more than half of Of Course’s customers were people who already purchased at least one of the company’s other courses.

Question Type:   Weaken
  Boil It Down:   Because Professor O’Connor is respected in their field, the company will not have to worry about the competition.
  Goal:    Find the option that would most weaken this argument to hire Professor O’Connor because they are so highly respected that there won’t be any competition.

Analysis:

General comments about weakeners:  
 
Broadly speaking, most arguments that deal with weakeners have issues related to relevance, where the purported evidence or premises are not completely relevant to the conclusion. Correct answer choices will expose this irrelevance.
 
Thinking about this visually, the correct answer will pull the connection between the premise(s) and conclusion apart, thereby weakening the argument.
 
For weakeners, there are three common ways to expose the irrelevance of the premises i.e. weaken an argument:
1.  Mismatched terms:  the conclusion introduces terms or concepts not in the premises
2.  Counterexamples/objections:  an example where the premises can be true, yet the conclusion does not follow
3.  Overlooked possibilities/unintended consequences:  An additional factor, possibility, or consequence that the argument did not consider

Argument analysis:

Here is a quick breakdown of the argument:

Argument structure: 
(P) = Premise/Evidence/Support (C) = Conclusion
 
P1: Professor A is widely respected in the field of philosophy
C: Regarding Professor A’s philosophy course, Of Courses, will not have to worry about competition
 
This argument has a mismatch in concepts. The premise talks about professor A being widely respected in their field, whereas the conclusion talks about popularity in the general public. These are not the same concepts, but the argument assumes that being esteemed in one’s field correlates with being popular with the public. The correct answer choice will expose this mismatch.
 
Alternatively, we think of the argument attempting to link two different concepts: 1. the premise related to being well esteemed in the profession with 2. the conclusion related to being popular to the general public. The correct answer will attack this attempted link whereas incorrect answers will fail to address one or both of these concepts.

A. The cost of the modern philosophy course would be slightly higher than the cost of most of the company’s other courses.
 Incorrect. The conclusion is related to competition from outside companies, whereas this answer choice only provides information related to within Of Courses. As such, answer choice A is irrelevant. 
 
B. Of Courses has received dozens of requests for a course on modern philosophy.
 Incorrect. The conclusion of the argument deals with predicting that there will be a lack of competition for their philosophy course. Having dozens of requests for a philosophy course does not affect whether this prediction is correct or not. As such, answer choice B is irrelevant. 
 
C. The course on modern philosophy would be substantially more complicated than all the other courses that Of Courses currently offers.
 Incorrect. The conclusion is related to competition from outside companies, whereas this answer choice only provides information related to within Of Courses. As such, answer choice C is irrelevant. 
 
D. People who purchase online courses only choose a course based on the reputation of the teacher if that teacher has a name that is widely known to the general public.
 Correct. This answer choice correctly identifies the mismatch between being well esteemed within one’s profession vs. being popular with the general public. One can be well esteemed in their profession without being popular with the general public. For the conclusion to follow from the premises, being well esteemed in one’s profession needs to match/ be correlated with being popular. But answer choice D indicates that this not always the case (i.e. there is a mismatch), thereby weakening the argument. 
 
E. Last year, somewhat more than half of Of Course's customers were people who already purchased at least one of the company’s other courses.
 Incorrect. The conclusion is related to competition from outside companies, whereas this answer choice only provides information related to within Of Courses. As such, answer choice C is irrelevant.

Key Takeaway: 
Close reading. Frequently, to catch a mismatch in concepts, you have to do a close read of the argument. Be on the lookout for changes in terms or concepts as the argument moves from premises to conclusion. If you catch the mismatch, then quite often, you can anticipate the correct answer as the correct answer will expose this mismatch. In this question the mismatch was subtle. There was a change from being popular within one’s profession to being popular with the general public.

Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Congratualtions Rajat8 , winterschool , arnab2312 , and chillbrorelax ! You all cracked the code on this one - kudos to you!

sanya2711 every time we post a new CR question, we will come back in 48 hours to add an explanation. Until then, it's your job to take a crack at it and see if you can answer it yourself. Check back on Monday for a new question!

The Of Courses Company offers online courses on a wide range of topics

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The Of Courses Company offers online courses on a wide range of topics

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