Instead of bringing cash to school to pay for food, Swengstowns

Question

Instead of bringing cash to school to pay for food, Swengstown’s schoolchildren will now use electronic cards that record students’ purchases so that parents can later be billed. The goal of this new system is to provide children with a cash substitute that cannot profitably be stolen. To make sure that the cards are worthless to thieves, each card will bear its owner’s picture, so staff at cafeteria checkouts can spot stolen cards easily.

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously undermine the ability of the card system to achieve its goal?

A. As a result of the cards’ introduction, the number of students who purchase food from school cafeterias is expected to increase.

B. The replacement of cash with the electronic cards will not allow any reductions in staffing for the checkouts at the schools’ cafeterias.

C. Staff at the cafeteria checkouts know by name many of the students who regularly use the cafeteria, and the cards will bear the owner’s name as well as his or her picture.

D. The cost to the school system of issuing the cards and installing the checkout machines to read them will be covered by the savings arising from no longer needing to handle cash.

E. The companies operating vending machines in the schools are adapting their machines so that the electronic cards can be used for purchases.

Show Spoiler

Attachment:

GMAT-Club-Forum-d2wv2c5a.png [ 110.79 KiB | Viewed 2669 times ]

Show Answer

Official Answer

E

Fish181 · Accepted Answer

I have scored 99th percentile on verbal sections before and this one threw me through a loop. I was confused because the question asked which answer choice will undermine the goal? Then the goal was explicitly stated in the passage saying "The goal of this new system is to provide children with a cash substitute that cannot profitably be stolen." I didn't consider any other parts of the passage when evaluating.

This left me high and dry with no clear answer choice. Answer E seemed very out of scope but if we know that they use photo recognition you could infer that a vending machine wouldn't have the same protections as a person who can look at your photo. It's sort of a leap but it's the only choice that actually makes any impact on the claim.

gmatophobia · Answer

This is a plan-goal question.

Plan  : Swengstown’s schoolchildren will now use electronic cards instead of bringing cash to school to pay for food.

Goal  : To provide children with a cash substitute that cannot profitably be stolen

Support Given  : Each card will bear its owner’s picture, so staff at cafeteria checkouts can spot stolen cards easily.

We have to weaken the ability of the card system to achieve its goal. Hence, the correct answer will provide us with information that highlights why the plan will not achieve its goal.

Answer Choice Elimination  :

A. As a result of the cards’ introduction, the number of students who purchase food from school cafeterias is expected to increase.

The increased number of students purchasing food doesn't affect the effectiveness of the card system. The premise states that staff at cafeteria checkouts can spot stolen cards easily. Hence, even if the number of students who purchase food from school cafeterias increases any stolen card can still be caught. Hence, we can eliminate this option.

B. The replacement of cash with the electronic cards will not allow any reductions in staffing for the checkouts at the schools’ cafeterias.

This option strengthens the goal. If the number of staff is not reduced, the thieves can likely be caught easily. Eliminate B.

C. Staff at the cafeteria checkouts know by name many of the students who regularly use the cafeteria, and the cards will bear the owner’s name as well as his or her picture.

This option strengthens the security of the card system by stating that staff at cafeteria staff know by name many of the students who regularly use the cafeteria, and the cards will bear the owner’s name as well as his or her picture, making it harder for thieves to use stolen cards. This does not undermine the system's goal. Eliminate C.

D. The cost to the school system of issuing the cards and installing the checkout machines to read them will be covered by the savings arising from no longer needing to handle cash.

This option is out of scope. The information provided in the option is more of an economic support to the plan. Hence, we can eliminate D.

E. The companies operating vending machines in the schools are adapting their machines so that the electronic cards can be used for purchases.

This option introduces a potential pitfall because if the electronic cards can be used for purchases in vending machines as well, it increases the avenue for theft or misuse. If thieves can use the stolen cards not only in the cafeteria but also in vending machines, it undermines the system's goal of preventing theft.

Option E

Kavicogsci · Answer

GMATNinja  
@EmpowerGMATRich 
@Targettestprepscott
 GmatKnightTutor

This was the first Q in my Official mock exam 3 and took 8 minutes and I still screwed it up because while I eliminated option A to D, I couldn't believe that as a compromise option E is correct

Option E says that the vending machines are  adapting their machines so that the electronic cards can be used for purchases.  why can I not assume that they too will have some form of photo recognition. Why do I have to reduce the scope and assume that the adapting of the machines will only be limited to usage of cards and billing to parents and not ensuring that the credibility/authenticity is maintained?

Krunaal · Answer

It may not be a "perfect" answer that accounts for every hypothetical scenario, but it is the best answer given the information available - and that's the key to answering CR questions, we have to select the best from the available options. And once we narrow down to the best choice, we should avoid assuming perfection

Option E already puts forth a potential loophole that can exist in system, making it a plausible answer choice. If it had been explicitly mentioned that verification will be taken care of in machines, then we could've eliminated it but in that case there would another better choice. I hope it helps.

Hitesh0701 · Answer

To tackle these kinds of arguments in 30 seconds, focus on the core idea:
The plan will not achieve its goal, which implies misuse of cards is possible.

All of the options except E do not explain how misuse could happen.
Only E clearly shows a way misuse is possible.

Hence, E is the correct answer.

Instead of bringing cash to school to pay for food, Swengstowns

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Instead of bringing cash to school to pay for food, Swengstowns

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards