Revankumar wrote:
apoorv601 wrote:
In an effort to reduce the number of deer, and therefore decrease the number of automobile accidents caused by deer, the government lengthened the deer hunting season earlier this year. Surprisingly, the number of accidents caused by deer has increased substantially since the introduction of the longer hunting season.
All of the following, if true, help to explain the increase in traffic accidents caused by deer EXCEPT:
A. The presence of humans in the woods causes the deer to move to new areas, which causes the deer to cross roads more frequently than normal.
B. In the area where the deer live, traffic has increased substantially precisely because of the lengthened hunting season.
C. Most automobile accidents involving deer result from cars swerving to avoid deer, and leave the deer in question unharmed.
D. Deer tend to bolt when hearing gunshots or other loud sounds and are more likely to run across a road without warning.
E. A new highway was recently built directly through the state's largest forest, which is the primary habitat of the state's deer population.
None of the options here has any word related to "accident". Let's consider the option B. It says that the traffic might increase, but doesn't guarantee that increased traffic results in accidents. It is only from our prior knowledge that we know that traffic results in accidents. Likewise, we can also state the same reason for almost all the options as none of them mentions anything about accidents at all. So, all the options should be correct right?
Well, in some questions, we need to use prior knowledge whereas in some we shouldn't use any prior knowledge. How do we decide that?
This question of "when and when not to use prior knowledge" troubles me in almost every CR question. Please clarify this for me.
Hello,
Revankumar. I think you may need to read the question itself a little more carefully:
Quote:
All of the following, if true, help to explain the increase in traffic accidents caused by deer EXCEPT:
First, notice the
if true conditional. This is patent GMAT™ phrasing. In other words,
assuming that the information in each answer choice were true, how would we then answer the question?
Next, this particular question uses softer language in
help to explain. We are not looking for proof positive that anything
must be true, only for something that would logically qualify the information given in the passage. You do not need any topic-specific prior knowledge to solve this or any other GMAT™ question. Rather, you should be able to lean on the information provided and make logical deductions or inferences. Here, the task is to think of how the answer choices
help to explain the increase in traffic accidents caused by deer. We cannot go against this premise, but must take it as fact: deer are causing traffic accidents at a greater rate than before.
Finally, notice the word in all caps:
EXCEPT. You are correct in saying that (B), if true, might logically explain an increase in traffic accidents caused by deer, and that other answer choices would prove just as satisfactory. But what about (C)?
Quote:
C. Most automobile accidents involving deer result from cars swerving to avoid deer, and leave the deer in question unharmed.
This information merely informs us as to what causes most deer/automobile accidents
when they do occur and does not give us any reason for
why such accidents would occur at a higher rate than before. So, even though I am happy for the
unharmed deer, this answer choice meets our EXCEPT condition.
I often talk about following the linear logic of a passage to arrive at a correct conclusion. As much as possible, you want to let the passage do the work for you, to lay out the sequence of information you need to know, and then work within the frame of the question itself to process each answer choice. Yes, some basic linguistic skills are necessary prior to encountering any question, but I promise you that a perfect score in Verbal is attainable by using nothing more than the information on the screen.
As you practice, keep looking to disqualify answer choices by utilizing the passage and the question itself. The one that
least veers from the linear logic of the passage and the question that is being asked will end up being correct, even if you have to practice a lot to appreciate how GMAT™ questions are wound together.
Good luck with your studies.
- Andrew
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