In the city of Cantville, a high school earns the “Young Women in Scie

In the city of Cantville, a high school earns the “Young Women in Science” award for a given year if at least ten of its female students participate in that year's state science exposition. Last year, 80 percent of all high schools in Cantville's District 1 earned this award, while only 63 percent of all high schools in the city's District 2 earned the same award. Furthermore, these percentages have remained at or near those respective levels throughout the entire twelve years since the award was instituted. It is clear, then, that the high schools in District 1 do a better job of encouraging girls to pursue science than do the high schools in District 2.

Which of the following is assumed in the argument above?

(A)Students in District 1 have more free time to pursue science projects than do students in District 2.
Free time is no where linked to the science exposition
(B)The overall population of District 1 is not substantially larger than that of District 2.
Overal population does not guarantee a higher female ration in District 1
(C)The average high school in in District 2 does not have more students than does the average high school in District 1.
Total studends do not guarantee a higher female ration in District 1
(D)District 1 does not have significantly fewer all-male high schools than does District 2.
Correct. This is directly related to the number of female students, stating that the number of girls students are same in both districts
(E)School is the primary source of encouragement for students' pursuit of science.
Not related

Argument analysis :
P : Last year, 80 percent of all high schools in Cantville's District 1 earned this award, while only 63 percent of all high schools in the city's District 2 earned the same award. Furthermore, these percentages have remained at or near those respective levels throughout the entire twelve years since the award was instituted

Conclusion : that the high schools in District 1 do a better job of encouraging girls to pursue science than do the high schools in District 2

Pre-thinking :
when you give the verdict based on percentage analysis. basically we assumed that Numbers are comparable. Say X attendance is 80% and Y attendance is 50 % we cannot say, if X attended for more days as compared to Y because X's 80% might be calculated against 10 - which mean 8 days and Y's against 100 which mean 50 days. or vice versa.

Keeping above line of though in view. We can say
Author must have assumed that school going girl population is comparable in both the districts D1 and D2

POE
(A)Students in District 1 have more free time to pursue science projects than do students in District 2.
Out of scope (OFS) - Incorrect

(B)The overall population of District 1 is not substantially larger than that of District 2.
Incorrect - Misleading, In exam we may fall for this. But overall population is not discussed in argument.

(C)The average high school in in District 2 does not have more students than does the average high school in District 1.
Incorrect - Average High school population is not considered in argument. Argument is based on girls population

(D)District 1 does not have significantly fewer all-male high schools than does District 2.
Correct : Matches pre thinking. talks about girls population

(E)School is the primary source of encouragement for students' pursuit of science.
Incorrect : nice fact to know but does not relate with argument.

In the city of Cantville, a high school earns the “Young Women in Science” award for a given year if at least ten of its female students participate in that year's state science exposition. Last year, 80 percent of all high schools in Cantville's District 1 earned this award, while only 63 percent of all high schools in the city's District 2 earned the same award. Furthermore, these percentages have remained at or near those respective levels throughout the entire twelve years since the award was instituted. It is clear, then, that the high schools in District 1 do a better job of encouraging girls to pursue science than do the high schools in District 2.

Which of the following is assumed in the argument above?

(A) Students in District 1 have more free time to pursue science projects than do students in District 2. -This would at the most weaken the argument. This gives an alternative to the conclusion that schools encourage children. At the end of the day, its irrelevant.

(B) The overall population of District 1 is not substantially larger than that of District 2. -We are not worried about the overall population

(C) The average high school in in District 2 does not have more students than does the average high school in District 1. -# of students in school doesn't outline anything, since the comparison is between the schools and not the students in those schools.

(D) District 1 does not have significantly fewer all-male high schools than does District 2. -Correct. If there are less female schools in D2 then the comparison would have been wrong.

(E) School is the primary source of encouragement for students' pursuit of science. -Out of scope

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

(1) Identify the Question Type
The problem explicitly asks for an assumption, so this is a Find Assumption question.

(2) Deconstruct the Argument
The argument presents a statistical discrepancy: 80 percent of high schools in Cantville's District 1 have sent at least ten female students to the state science exposition, yet only 63 percent of high schools in the city's District 2 have done the same. The argument uses this statistic to conclude that high schools in District 1 are more active than those in District 2 in encouraging young women to pursue science.

(3) State the Goal
The reasoning in the argument is based on the idea that the difference in these percentages signifies a corresponding difference in the schools' encouragement of their female science students. For that to be the case, there must not be any other viable explanation for the discrepancy. The argument thus must assume that anything that would provide a different explanation for the discrepancy is false.

(4) Work from Wrong to Right

(A) If true, this statement would help explain the discrepancy in a way unrelated to the schools' encouragement of students: namely, because the students in District 1 have more free time, they are more likely to be able to pursue science irrespective of the level of encouragement they receive at school. Therefore, not only is this statement not an assumption, but the argument must in fact assume that it is not true.

(B) The overall populations of the districts are not useful in evaluating the argument, since nothing about the number of students in either district may be reliably inferred from such information. For instance, it could be the case that one district has a much larger proportion of senior citizens than does the other.

(C) Negative statements are often easier to look at through negation. If the average school in District 2 does have more students than the average school in District 1, then it should be even easier for schools in District 2 to find 10 female students to compete in the science fair. That would make it more likely that District 1 does a better job of encouraging girls to pursue science. Because the negation of the statement supports the argument, the original wording must not support the argument. Hence, it cannot be an assumption that the argument relies upon.

(D) CORRECT. This statement is required by the argument. If it is false -- i.e., if District 2 has significantly more all-male high schools -- then we would have an alternate explanation for the difference in statistics, because the all-male schools would be unable to qualify for the award.

(E) The argument does assume that school plays a role in encouraging (female) students to pursue science, but does not require the notion that school is the primary source of that encouragement.

In the city of Cantville, a high school earns the “Young Women in Science” award for a given year if at least ten of its female students participate in that year's state science exposition. Last year, 80 percent of all high schools in Cantville's District 1 earned this award, while only 63 percent of all high schools in the city's District 2 earned the same award. Furthermore, these percentages have remained at or near those respective levels throughout the entire twelve years since the award was instituted. It is clear, then, that the high schools in District 1 do a better job of encouraging girls to pursue science than do the high schools in District 2.

Type-assumption
Conclusion- the high schools in District 1 do a better job of encouraging girls to pursue science than do the high schools in District 2.

(A) Students in District 1 have more free time to pursue science projects than do students in District 2.- incorrect; amount of free time is not relevant

(B) The overall population of District 1 is not substantially larger than that of District 2. - irrelevant

(C) The average high school in District 2 does not have more students than does the average high school in District 1.- incorrect; on negation- the schools in district 2 have more kids than the schools in district 1 -- then the argument becomes even more compelling, since now the district 1 schools are not only winning the award more often, but doing so with fewer students

(D) District 1 does not have significantly fewer all-male high schools than does District 2.- Correct; on negation - if district 2 is loaded with all-boys' schools and district 1 has relatively few of them, then our argument falls apart

(E) School is the primary source of encouragement for students' pursuit of science.- incorrect; schools need not be the primary source

Answer D

If we change option C to
F- "The average high school in District 1 does not have more students than does the average high school in District 2", it would be correct assumption?

On negation of option F, we get - the average school in district 1 has more students than the average school in district 2 ---> so it is relatively easier to 10 female students to participate from schools in district 1

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , MagooshExpert , GMATGuruNY , VeritasPrepBrian , MartyTargetTestPrep
, DmitryFarber , generis , other experts - please enlighten

Hi Skywalker18,

Glad to help

If choice C were rewritten as you said, then it would certainly be a much more plausible option. You're correct that if the average size of schools in District 1 is larger, then it would theoretically be easier to have 10 female students participate. However, choice D would still be a stronger choice, since it would still be possible for a small school to have 10 female students participate in science exposition, unlike in the case of an all-male school.

I hope that helps!
-Carolyn

Very nice question, here for the conclusion to be hold true both the districts must have equal no of Females, which eventually means roughly equal no of Males. Option B and C is really a trap. In B,and C it talks about either overall population of the two districts or the students in general but we have to be very specific as the conclusion is regarding females so their number must be equal.

+1 for D



In the city of Cantville, a high school earns the “Young Women in Science” award for a given year if at least ten of its female students participate in that year's state science exposition. Last year, 80 percent of all high schools in Cantville's District 1 earned this award, while only 63 percent of all high schools in the city's District 2 earned the same award. Furthermore, these percentages have remained at or near those respective levels throughout the entire twelve years since the award was instituted. It is clear, then, that the high schools in District 1 do a better job of encouraging girls to pursue science than do the high schools in District 2.

Which of the following is assumed in the argument above?

(A) Students in District 1 have more free time to pursue science projects than do students in District 2.

(B) The overall population of District 1 is not substantially larger than that of District 2.

(C) The average high school in in District 2 does not have more students than does the average high school in District 1.

(D) District 1 does not have significantly fewer all-male high schools than does District 2.

(E) School is the primary source of encouragement for students' pursuit of science.

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