In Brindon County, virtually all of the fastenerssuch as nuts, bolts,

Question

In Brindon County, virtually all of the fasteners—such as nuts, bolts, and screws—used by workshops and manufacturing firms have for several years been supplied by the Brindon Bolt Barn, a specialist wholesaler. In recent months many of Brindon County’s workshops and manufacturing firms have closed down, and no new ones have opened. Therefore, the Brindon Bolt Barn will undoubtedly show a sharp decline in sales volume and revenue for this year as compared to last year.

The argument depends on assuming which of the following?

(A) Last year the Brindon Bolt Barn’s sales volume and revenue were significantly higher than they had been the previous year.

(B) The workshops and manufacturing firms that have remained open have a smaller volume of work to do this year than they did last year.

(C) Soon the Brindon Bolt Barn will no longer be the only significant supplier of fasteners to Brindon County’s workshops.

(D) The Brindon Bolt Barn’s operating expenses have not increased this year.

(E) The Brindon Bolt Barn is not a company that gets the great majority of its business from customers outside Brindon County.

ID: 500391
004003

I marked the OA but I want to check my reasoning. So, please explain your answer.

SaraiYaseenGMAT · Accepted Answer

The issue of scope is often misapplied to assumption questions. An assumption is a piece of information that is altogether missing from the argument; it is  completely new  information that, if true, makes the conclusion more believable.

The answer should make the conclusion that  sales will drop because there are fewer Brindon firms&workshops  more believable.

A. What happened last year is irrelevant to the future prediction for sales based on loss of clientele in Brindon.

B. Even if the Brindon clientele (firms and workshops) have a smaller volume of work, Brindon Bolt Barn may still have clientele elsewhere, in which case sales might not drop.

C. If Brindon Bolt Barn's competition increases, then sales declines will not have resulted from the loss of clientele.

D. Operating expenses are not related to sales.

E. Correct: If Brindon Bolt Barn's loses its Brindon clientele AND has little other clientele to rely on, then it is safe to conclude that sales will decline due to the loss of Brindon's firms and workshops.

A good break down of how to approach conclusion and assumption questions can be found in the Critical Reasoning I lesson at gmaxonline.

KarishmaB · Answer

Brindon Bolt Barn (BBB) supplies all fasteners used in Brindon County. 
In recent months many of Brindon County’s manufacturing firms have closed down, and no new ones have opened.

Conclusion: BBB will undoubtedly show a sharp decline in sales volume and revenue for this year as compared to last year.

In recent months many manufacturing units in Brindon County have closed down. So the conclusion says that BBB will show a sharp decline in sales.
But that may not be the case. What if other manufacturing units of Brindon County have started producing much more? What if BBB has a lot of business outside Brindon County where manufacturing units have not closed or in fact many new have opened? 
So to conclude that BBB will see sharp decline in sales, we are assuming that other manufacturers have not kicked up the production and we are assuming that BBB's major customers are not outside Brindon County.

(A) Last year the Brindon Bolt Barn’s sales volume and revenue were significantly higher than they had been the previous year.

The revenues could have been stable still now. We don't need to assume that last year saw an uptick.

(B) The workshops and manufacturing firms that have remained open have a smaller volume of work to do this year than they did last year.

We do not need to assume that the ones that have remained open have a smaller volume of work. They could have maintained their volume of work. Still BBB could see a sharp decline in sales. 
We are assuming that the work of the ones that have remained open has not increased greatly.

When we negate (B), we get: 
(B) The workshops and manufacturing firms that have remained open do not have a smaller volume of work to do this year than they did last year.

Ok, they do not have smaller volume of work. They could have the same volume of work as last year. The conclusion is still possible. Many units have closed. So BBB can see a sharp decline in revenues.

(C) Soon the Brindon Bolt Barn will no longer be the only significant supplier of fasteners to Brindon County’s workshops.

No such assumption.

(D) The Brindon Bolt Barn’s operating expenses have not increased this year.

No such assumption about expenses. We are talking about revenues only.

(E) The Brindon Bolt Barn is not a company that gets the great majority of its business from customers outside Brindon County.

Correct. This is one of the assumptions we discussed above.

Answer (E)

nusmavrik · Answer

C is a possibility rather than a statement. "Soon the Brindon Bolt Barn will no longer be". Negating C
C. Soon the Brindon Bolt Barn will BE the ONLY significant supplier of fasteners to Brindon County’s workshops. >> Contradicts the premise.

E is left.

TGC · Answer

A. Last year the Brindon Bolt Barn’s sales volume and revenue were significantly higher than they had been the previous year.
 Comparison should be between This year and last year, so out  
B. The workshops and manufacturing firms that have remained open have a smaller volume of work to do this year than they did last year.
 Can work as a strengthen option.Also if we will use ANT, then negate - This year W/MF have work  greater than or equal to   work last year.So in case of == conclusion still stands. 
C. Soon the Brindon Bolt Barn will no longer be the only significant supplier of fasteners to Brindon County’s workshops.
 It will or will not that is OOS, as we care comparing sales and have to justify drop in sales. 
D. The Brindon Bolt Barn’s operating expenses have not increased this year.
 Sales vol. not equivalent to Ope. expenses.
E. The Brindon Bolt Barn is not a company that gets the great majority of its business from customers outside Brindon County.
That is the answer ,can use ANT also you will get it.

JarvisR · Answer

In Brindon County, virtually all of the fasteners—such as nuts, bolts, and screws— used by workshops and manufacturing firms have for several years been supplied by the Brindon Bolt Barn, a specialist wholesaler.  
In recent months  many of Brindon County’s workshops and manufacturing firms have closed down, and no new ones have opened.  
 Therefore, the Brindon Bolt Barn will undoubtedly show a sharp decline in sales volume and revenue for this year as compared to last year.

The argument depends on assuming which of the following?
B Vs E.

B. The workshops and manufacturing firms that have remained open have a  smaller  volume of work to do this year than they did last year.
 >> Even if its "same" the sharp decline would be there. So doesn't affect conclusion.
E. The Brindon Bolt Barn is not a company that gets the great majority of its business from customers outside Brindon County.

manlog · Answer

The confusion that might arise between E and B is easily solvable by proper negation technique:
B) The workshops and manufacturing firms that have remained open  DON'T  have a smaller volume of work to do this year than they did last year.
This doesn't ruin the argument, since if they don't have a smaller, they might have the same volume and the the decline will not be sharp. On contrast, if the technique is used incorrectly, then the argument will be turned into LARGER volume, which might ruin the argument.

nickrocks · Answer

Premise 1.  In Brindon County -   workshops and manufacturing firms have for several years been supplied by the  Brindon Bolt Barn , a specialist wholesaler. 
Premise 2. In recent months many of Brindon County’s workshops and manufacturing firms have closed down, and no new ones have opened. 
 
 Conclusion . Therefore, the Brindon Bolt Barn will undoubtedly show a sharp decline in sales volume and revenue for this year as compared to last year.

Assumption  
Since workshops and manufacturing firm are closed down In Brindon County it will impact Brindon Bolt Barn. That is only possible if they don't have sales outside Brindon County, which is what E is stating.

ChiranjeevSingh · Answer

Let me talk about options B and E. Option B can be the CORRECT answer if I make the following change: (B) The workshops and manufacturing firms that have remained open DO NOT have a significantly bigger volume of work to do this year than they did last year. The negation of this option would be: The workshops and manufacturing firms that have remained open have a significantly bigger volume of work to do this year than they did last year. In such a case, these firms may end up compensating for the firms that closed down, and thus, the Brindon Bolt Barn may not see any decline. Thus, the argument breaks down. Now, let's come back to the original option B: (B) The workshops and manufacturing firms that have remained open have a smaller volume of work to do this year than they did last year. This option is a good strengthener but not an assumption. The only way to differentiate strengtheners from assumptions is the NEGATION technique. Without negation, you may end up considering strengtheners assumptions. Now, this option is not an assumption since its negation doesn't break down the argument. The negation of this option is: ~B: The workshops and manufacturing firms that have remained open DO NOT have a smaller volume of work to do this year than they did last year. This means that they have the same volume of work or a higher volume of work. Since the negation allows the possibility of the "same volume" of work - a possibility that doesn't break down the argument - this option is not an assumption. ************* Let me explain the importance of words by talking about option E. Let's say I remove the word "sharp" from the conclusion of the argument. In this case, option E will become INCORRECT. Surprised? Let me explain. In this case, the conclusion is: the Brindon Bolt Barn will undoubtedly show a decline in sales volume and revenue for this year as compared to last year. Now, let's consider the negation of option E: ~E: The Brindon Bolt Barn is a company that gets the great majority of its business from customers outside Brindon County. Even if the BBB gets the majority of its business from customers outside Brindon County, we can still expect some decline in sales volume and revenue for this year, given that many of Brindon County’s workshops and manufacturing firms have closed down. If your one avenue of revenue goes down, it is sensible to expect some decline in revenue. Right? Thus, the negation of option E will not break down the argument in this case. Therefore, option E will not be an assumption in this case. ***** Now, option E is correct in case of the original passage because the conclusion mentions "sharp decline". Now, if the BBB gets the majority of its business from customers outside Brindon County, we don't expect a "sharp decline" in sales volume and revenue for this year. You see how a single word can change the whole game. Here's an article that discusses more examples of how small changes can make or break options: https://gmatclub.com/forum/what-defines ... 43346.html

agrasan · Answer

Hi  KarishmaB   GMATNinja   ChiranjeevSingh

I thought of option E but had a doubt in my mind that we don't know what's going on with companies outside the town Brindon. Like we know that many companies in Brindon are facing issues and same can happen with companies outside Brindon too so didn't go ahead with the option E. Could you please help me what was the mistake in this thought?

bb · Answer

You did not need to go where you went but if you are going to, then go to the end. 
Let's go with your reasoning:

Scenario 1:  companies outside of Brindon are also going bankrupt and per E), Bolt barn does not have many customers outside of town.  Conclusion : Bolt barn will fail
 Scenario 2:  companies outside of Brindon are NOT going bankrupt but per E), Bolt barn does not have many customers outside of town.  Conclusion : Bolt barn will fail

Your big deal of not knowing what's happening outside does not matter. The conclusion is the same.

egmat · Answer

Let me help you tackle this assumption question systematically. The key here is recognizing what the argument  doesn't  tell us but must be true for the conclusion to follow.

Step 1: Identify the Argument Structure

Premise 1:  Brindon Bolt Barn supplies virtually all fasteners to workshops/manufacturing firms in Brindon County
 Premise 2:  Many of these local businesses have closed; no new ones opened
 Conclusion:  Brindon Bolt Barn will  undoubtedly  show sharp decline in sales/revenue

Step 2: Find the Logical Gap 
The argument jumps from "local customers decreased" to "overall sales will sharply decline." But wait - what if Brindon Bolt Barn has significant business  outside  Brindon County? The conclusion would fall apart.

Think about it: If 80% of their revenue comes from customers in neighboring counties or states, then losing some local customers might barely affect their overall sales.

Step 3: Apply the Negation Test

For assumption questions, negating the correct answer should destroy the argument:
 Option E:  "The Brindon Bolt Barn is not a company that gets the great majority of its business from customers outside Brindon County."

Negated: "Brindon Bolt Barn  does  get the great majority of its business from outside the county."

If this negation is true, then the closure of local businesses wouldn't necessarily cause a sharp overall decline. The argument collapses!

Step 4: Eliminate Wrong Answers

Option A  Past year's performance trend - irrelevant to this year vs. last year comparison
 Option B  Remaining firms' work volume - not necessary; fewer total firms alone could cause decline
 Option C  Future competition - doesn't affect current year's performance based on closures
 Option D  Operating expenses - relates to profit, not sales volume/revenue

Answer: E 
The argument critically depends on assuming that Brindon County customers represent a significant portion of Brindon Bolt Barn's total business. Without this assumption, local closures wouldn't guarantee overall sales decline.

Want to master the complete framework for solving assumption questions and learn advanced pattern recognition techniques?  Check out the  step-by-step solution on Neuron by e-GMAT , which includes 3 alternative approaches and shows how this pattern appears across similar CR problems. You can also explore all GMAT Official Guide questions with detailed solutions on  Neuron  for structured practice.

KevinMercurio · Answer

This is another question I have issues with, the question stem says "sharp decline in sales", sharp just mean a rapid or quick decline however it does not speak to size of the decline. If the question would have said "large decline in sales" I would have picked E no doubt. The issue with E is that it address the question of magnitude of this decline, however this isn't what the question is asking. Someone can try to explain to me why E is right given the criteria, however I still rest in the boat that this question is very open ended depending on how you read the word "sharp".

guddo · Answer

I think the key is the meaning of  “sharp decline” in this context . In business language, a “sharp decline in sales” means a  large or steep decrease in sales , not merely a decrease that happens quickly.

The stem is comparing this year’s sales with last year’s, so the issue is clearly the size of the drop. If most of Bolt Barn’s business came from outside Brindon County, the local closures might cause only a small decline in total sales. That is why  (E) is required .

In Brindon County, virtually all of the fastenerssuch as nuts, bolts,

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GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

In Brindon County, virtually all of the fastenerssuch as nuts, bolts,

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