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In the Business program at a university, all candidates for the MBA in

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ShashankDave

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20 Jul 2017, 00:45

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nahid78

In the Business program at a university, all candidates for the MBA in International Business who entered the program after 1990 took a seminar on Microeconomics, and all candidates for the MBA in International Business who entered the program after 1994 took a seminar on Applied Economics.
If a student in the Business program described above took a seminar on Microeconomics but did not take a seminar on Applied Economics, which of the following must be true?
A. The student entered the Business program prior to 1995.
B. The student entered the Business program after 1990 and prior to 1995.
C. If the student was a candidate for the MBA in International Business, then the student entered the program prior to 1994.
D. If the student was a candidate for the MBA in International Business, then the student entered the program prior to 1991.
E. If the student was a candidate for the MBA in International Business, then the student entered the program after 1990 and prior to 1995.

Explain plz...

Okay. I would argue against E being the correct answer, and for C being the correct answer.

The argument states that

1. ALL MBA IB students after 1990 took Micro Econ.

2. ALL MBA IB students after 1994 took App Econ.

Does 1 mean that NO MBA IB STUDENT TOOK MICRO ECON BEFORE 1990?

Certainly not. Yes, we know for certainty that each and every MBA IB student took Micro Econ after 1990, but we cannot conclude the above. This similar reasoning goes for statement 2 also.

And thus, we cannot say for certainty that the student entered between 1990 and 1994, inclusive. But, we can certainly say that the student entered before 1994 because he/she did not take App Econ, because we know that each and every MBA IB took App Econ.

What's the source?

Expert comments welcomed.

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Updated on: 11 Oct 2018, 03:47

Originally posted by rever08 on 10 Oct 2018, 06:50.
Last edited by rever08 on 11 Oct 2018, 03:47, edited 1 time in total.

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bb: Could you validate this question? There are three expert replies to this one and all seem to disagree with each other.

GMATNinja GMATNinjatwo Bunuel (If you could please address this one) VeritasKarishma

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12 Oct 2018, 13:52

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rever08

I hate to say this, but this question has a few flaws (a couple of typos and some non-standard capitalization), and it clearly isn't GMAC's work. So I wouldn't lose even the slightest bit of your time worrying about this one. Stick with the official stuff.

gmat1393

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30 Jun 2019, 09:29

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KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
Identify the Question Type:

The phrase “must be true” in the question stem helps identify this as an Inference question. However, this question also provides an additional fact which must be considered in conjunction with the statements in the stimulus: a student in the Business program took a seminar on Microeconomics, but did not take a seminar on Applied Economics.

Untangle the Stimulus:

Start by taking inventory of the facts provided. As described in the passage, International Business candidates who entered the Business program after 1990 were required to take a Microeconomics seminar. Those who entered after 1994 had to take an Applied Economics seminar.

Predict the Answer:

To predict, use the additional information from the question stem: there's a student who took the Microeconomics seminar but not the Applied Economics seminar. The Applied Economics seminar was required for International Business students entering the program after 1994. Therefore, the student in question is either not an International Business student, or did not enter the program after 1994. As for the Microeconomics seminar, that may have become a requirement after 1990, but it still could have been taken any other time. The correct answer must be true based on these deductions.

Evaluate the Choices:

(C) must be true, and is thus correct. If the student was an International Business candidate, that student couldn't enter after 1994 or else Applied Economics would have been required. By not taking Applied Economics, the student must have entered before 1995 (i.e., 1994 or earlier).

Neither (A) nor (B) have to be true. The requirement of Applied Economics is only mentioned for International Business candidates. If the student is not an International Business candidate, no requirements are mentioned, so the student could have entered the Business program in any year without taking Applied Economics.

(D) does not have to be true. The requirement for Applied Economics started after 1994. The student still could have entered any time from 1991 to 1994, as well as the years before that.

(E) does not have to be true. The Microeconomics seminar became a requirement after 1990, but the student could still have entered the program before that and taken the Microeconomics seminar anyway -- even if it wasn't required.

TAKEAWAY: Just because something is not required doesn't mean it can't be done. After all, you're not required to pair peanut butter with jelly, but it sure does taste good to do it anyway!

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15 Dec 2022, 06:59

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IanStewart

Some of the posts above seem not to capture the logic of the question. The only relevant fact is this: if someone joined the International Business program after 1994, they took Applied Economics. So (taking the contrapositive) if someone didn't take Applied Economics, they didn't join the International Business program after 1994. So the answer is C (though C needs to say 'prior to 1995', and not 'prior to 1994' to be perfectly correct).

All of the detail about Microeconomics is simply irrelevant. It is certainly possible that some International Business students took Microeconomics prior to 1990, which is why E is wrong.

Can you explain that it's also possible that a student took applied economics prior to 1995 considering the same logic you used(after 1994, if all students took app. econ. then it's possible that one of the students took applied economy prior to 1995). In this case, those answers would be equally true, isn't it?

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11 May 2025, 16:00

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