Last February, during which a coffee shop offered free refills for

Question

Last February, during which a coffee shop offered free refills for that month only, the shop experienced its busiest month since opening six months ago. Since in no other way were significant changes made to the operation or marketing of the business, the free refill promotion was entirely responsible for the increase in business.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

(A) The coffee shop did not see much change in the amount of business throughout the months preceding last February.
(B) Only ten customers who filled out a questionnaire available at the coffee shop said they came to the shop because of the free refills.
(C) A bookstore located on the same block as the coffee shop closed their café during the first week of last February.
(D) The profit made by the coffee shop last February was slightly less than that of last January.
(E) During last February, the coffee shop had more repeat business than it had in any previous month.

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Question 6: Free Coffee

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gvij2017 · Answer

Conclusion: The free refill promotion was entirely responsible for the increase in business.
It is cause and effect type relationship which can be logically attacked by other reason or changes which business has made. or somewhere around the business, something has occurred, leading to busy business. 
But author has already made it clear that no other operation or marketing strategy has been adopted by coffee store. 
So that other reason must be outside of business which boosted the sales of coffee.

After having look at all options, option C matches with above logic. If nearby book store which was operated as coffee cafe has closed, its customers will most likely shift to coffee shop mentioned in argument.

C is correct.

prateekchugh · Answer

Last February, during which a coffee shop offered free refills for that month only, the shop experienced its busiest month since opening six months ago. Since in no other way were significant changes made to the operation or marketing of the business, the free refill promotion was entirely responsible for the increase in business.

Premise 1: Last February, during which a coffee shop offered free refills for that month only, the shop experienced its busiest month since opening six months ago.

Aug 2019: New Coffee shop " Star Bucks" open 
Feb 2020: In this month, the shop offer a free refill.

Premise 2: Since in no other way were significant changes made to the operation or marketing of the business,

In Feb 2020: No major changes in the operation and marketing department of the shop
 
Conclusion: the free refill promotion was  entirely  responsible for the increase in business.

Therefore, increase in business or profit is due to refill promotion in the month of Feb 2020

Only refill promotion ( cause)-------> Increase in Business( Effect)

We need to weaken the argument: We can say that because of some other thing also, the business of the coffee shop increased 
 
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

(A) The coffee shop did not see much change in the amount of business throughout the months preceding last February.
  
We are cared about some other reason which increase the business, not about changes in the amount of business. Incorrect Answer

(B) Only ten customers who filled out a questionnaire available at the coffee shop said they came to the shop because of the free refills.

Ok 10 customer said they came due to free refills, so what I think total customers were 10 and all of them said they are due to free refill. Does not weaken the conclusion

(C) A bookstore located on the same block as the coffee shop closed their café during the first week of last February.

Ok...Book store closed their cafe...means I need to find a new cafe...Oh there is a new cafe in the same block...Oh wow they are also giving a refill promotion. That great!!!. So it not entirely due to refill promotion. Correct Answer

(D) The profit made by the coffee shop last February was slightly less than that of last January.

So what, In this month it was due to Refill promotion. Does not weaken the conclusion.

(E) During last February, the coffee shop had more repeat business than it had in any previous month.

Good it repeated the business, but this month it was due to refill promotion. Do not weaken the conclusion.

Varunsawhney8 · Answer

Question 6: Free Coffee

Last February, during which a coffee shop offered free refills for that month only, the shop experienced its busiest month since opening six months ago. Since in no other way were significant changes made to the operation or marketing of the business, the free refill promotion was entirely responsible for the increase in business.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

Type: Cause and effect
Conclusion: Refill Plan Increased business

Question: Weaken

Weaken the Conclusion means we have to make another Cause for the conclusion.

(A) The coffee shop did not see much change in the amount of business throughout the months preceding last February.
It is strengthening the conclusion.
Incorrect

(B) Only ten customers who filled out a questionnaire available at the coffee shop said they came to the shop because of the free refills.
Not help much, Also it is strengthening the conclusion.
Data is too small.
Incorrect

(C) A bookstore located on the same block as the coffee shop closed their café during the first week of last February.
Correct Choice

(D) The profit made by the coffee shop last February was slightly less than that of last January.
We are concerned for business not profit
Incorrect

(E) During last February, the coffee shop had more repeat business than it had in any previous month
This can be the answer, but there is always a possibility that the repeat customers have heard refill plan and is coming because of that reason.
Incorrect

EMPOWERgmatVerbal · Answer

Official Explanation:

Last February, during which a coffee shop offered free refills for that month only, the shop experienced its busiest month since opening six months ago. Since in no other way were significant changes made to the operation or marketing of the business, the free refill promotion was entirely responsible for the increase in business.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

(A) The coffee shop did not see much change in the amount of business throughout the months preceding last February. 
 (B) Only ten customers who filled out a questionnaire available at the coffee shop said they came to the shop because of the free refills. 
 (C) A bookstore located on the same block as the coffee shop closed their café during the first week of last February. 
 (D) The profit made by the coffee shop last February was slightly less than that of last January. 
 (E) During last February, the coffee shop had more repeat business than it had in any previous month.

Question Type:   Weaken
  Boil It Down:   The coffee shop offered free refills à the coffee shop is now the busiest it has ever been à offering free refills was the only factor responsible for increasing business.
  Missing Information:   Was the free refill promotion the only factor which could have led to this increase in business?
  Goal:    Find a plausible, alternative explanation as to why the business increased so much during this promotion.

Analysis:

Our focus is on the last clause of the prompt: “ he free refill promotion was entirely responsible for the increase in business.” By claiming that the promotion was entirely responsible, the prompt has made the assumption that nothing else could be responsible. The prompt does claim that no significant changes have been made to the operation or marketing of the business, but is that the only way to increase or decrease business? From your own experiences, you should be able to definitively answer ‘No.’ Brainstorm – draw upon your own experiences. What, other than changes to marketing and operations, could cause an increase in customers? Before even looking at any of the possible answers, you should write down your own prediction. My prediction is that, in February, the coffee shop’s town hosts its annual “Coffee Drinker Enthusiasts Convention” which is attended by thousands of people from all over the world to try new coffee. If this was true, then the increase in business is attributable simply to the fact that there are a lot more coffee drinkers in town than normal. The shop would have more customers, regardless of the free refill promotion.
The prediction does not have to exactly match the answer, and in most cases it won’t. But it helps us understand possible alternative explanations. In the case of my prediction, I would want the correct answer to provide an explanation as to why there are a significant number of extra customers; like in the case of my coffee convention. After we understand our predictions, we break down the possible answer choices:

A)  How does this weaken the argument? We need an alternative explanation, and this provides us with nothing. In fact, this would probably strengthen the conclusion. In the prior 5 months, there was little change in business. However, the first month they offer free refills and there is suddenly a large increase in customers? That seems to suggest that the free refill promotion did in fact cause the increase in customers. This is not the answer we are looking for.

B)  This is a tricky answer. My guess is that of the wrong answers, this was the most picked by students. Why? Because it could weaken the argument, but only if you assume some facts. Students will see that ‘only 10 customers’ said it was for the free refill promotion, and 10 is a low number, so it wasn’t the promotion. However, that reasoning – just like our prompt – is flawed. If you picked this answer, go back and re-read this answer choice and answer one question: 10 customers, out of how many? We don’t know. What if it was only 10 customers total who filled out the questionnaire? That would mean 100% of those customers came because of the free refills. This would strengthen the argument, not weaken. For this to weaken, you have to assume that a significant number of customers filled out the questionnaire, and we don’t know that for sure. When picking answers, we do not want to assume at all. If we do have to assume, we must minimize our assumptions. This answer choice asks us to assume too much, and that makes it wrong.

C)  This is the correct choice. Why is there an increase in customers? Because the customers who went to the other café need a new place to buy coffee. This is our alternative explanation. The closing of the other café was not related to the marketing or operation of our café but would still cause an increase in customers.

D)  This is a classic ploy by the LSAT for wrong answers. They switch the topic to something related, but not the same. We are focused on customers. Our prompt never once mentions profit, yet this answer talks about profits. Don’t fall for this trick. More or less profit proves nothing about customers. We are focused on customers. Any conclusion you draw from profits about customers contains an assumption that the two are related. But that is not always true. If the owner charged a million dollars for one coffee and only sold one cup a day, she could make more profit than charging 1 dollar to 100 customers a day. Try not to make any assumptions in choosing an answer.

E)  Closer, but we still don’t know how this weakens the prompt. Unlike with answer D, this does not switch the underlying concept, but there is nothing to explain to use why repeat customers is relevant. Again, this answer wants us to make an assumption. It wants us to assume that having more repeat customers would cause an increase in business. But we do not know this is true. If during February, the business had an increase in repeat customers but also had the lowest amount of new customers, then there is no guarantee business actually increased. Plus, this could actually strengthen the argument. Repeat customers tend to be aware of the businesses’ promotions. One could argue that the increase in repeat business was specifically because those customers were aware of the free refill promotion and came back exactly for that. We need to weaken the argument, not strengthen it.

Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Hoozan · Answer

EMPOWERgmatVerbal  while I understand the assumption that one needs to make in (B) in order for this choice to be correct don't we also need to assume a couple of things for option C? we have to assume that

(1) the cafe that shut down indeed was quite busy and had a line of customers in its cafe - because if the cafe that shut down did not have much customers itself then its closure wouldn't have much of a positive impact on the barista serving a free refile.
(2) the customers of the old cafe were happy with the coffee at this barista - the argument states that the barista that served free refills was busy for a "month" and not just for a day or two. This means that we have to assume that the customers of the old cafe were significantly happy with the offerings of the new cafe. If they weren't happy then they would have gone to some other cafe.

WeakToComprehend · Answer

Problem in Option C- We have no information about the amount of traffic in the bookstore cafe. What if the bookstore cafe had zero traffic(hence the reason for its closure), then the statement is neither strengthening nor weakening the argument. The option at least should have mentioned 'busy' cafe IMO

Last February, during which a coffee shop offered free refills for

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