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655-705 (Hard)|   Strengthen|      
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Manager: Our company's mail-order sales have recently increased 24 Nov 2024, 13:06
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Please explain this choice !
If the question says the company "sales" have increased how can we assume that there i a decrease in the sales of other companies. There is not enough data to incur this !!!
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Manager: Our company's mail-order sales have recently increased 13 Dec 2024, 14:41
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colhaox
Please explain this choice !

If the question says the company "sales" have increased how can we assume that there i a decrease in the sales of other companies. There is not enough data to incur this !!!
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I'm not quite sure that I understand your question correctly, but just in case it wasn't clear, note that we're looking for a choice that strengthens the argument, not something that can be inferred based on what's in the passage.

Check out this post for more on (A), and let us know if you still have questions.
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Manager: Our company's mail-order sales have recently increased 16 Feb 2026, 22:42
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Hi KarishmaB MartyMurray

(E) Most companies offer free shipping only on mail-order purchases over $50.
Can we reject (E) on the basis of reasoning that we don't know anything about sales of these "most companies" whether they have increased their sales or it remained constant so (E) seems like a partial information, thus, irrelevant for us.

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Manager: Our company's mail-order sales have recently increased 25 percent. This increase started around the time we started offering unlimited free shipping, rather than just free shipping on orders over $50. Thus, our change in policy probably caused the increase.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the manager's argument?

(A) Mail-order sales have been decreasing for companies that do not offer unlimited free shipping.
(B) The company did not widely advertise its change in policy.
(C) The company's profits from mail-order sales have increased since the change in policy.
(D) The company's change in policy occurred well after its competitors started offering unlimited free shipping.
(E) Most companies offer free shipping only on mail-order purchases over $50.

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Manager: Our company's mail-order sales have recently increased 16 Feb 2026, 23:15
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agrasan
Hi KarishmaB MartyMurray

(E) Most companies offer free shipping only on mail-order purchases over $50.
Can we reject (E) on the basis of reasoning that we don't know anything about sales of these "most companies" whether they have increased their sales or it remained constant so (E) seems like a partial information, thus, irrelevant for us.


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Yes, I think, you can reject (E) for that reason.

(E) is just a background fact about what most companies do. It gives no link between unlimited free shipping and higher sales, because it does not tell you how sales changed for companies with or without unlimited free shipping. So it is not evidence that the policy change caused the 25% increase.
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Manager: Our company's mail-order sales have recently increased Updated on: 17 Feb 2026, 06:32
Originally posted by MartyMurray on 16 Feb 2026, 23:25.
Last edited by MartyMurray on 17 Feb 2026, 06:32, edited 1 time in total.
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agrasan
Hi KarishmaB MartyMurray

(E) Most companies offer free shipping only on mail-order purchases over $50.
Can we reject (E) on the basis of reasoning that we don't know anything about sales of these "most companies" whether they have increased their sales or it remained constant so (E) seems like a partial information, thus, irrelevant for us.
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That reasoning basically makes sense, though I would be careful about characterizing the information as "irrelevant" because it's partial. After all, information about the industry could be relevant even if it's "partial."

In other words, I get what you're saying, and at the same time, you'll benefit from tuning up the way you think about these things because what you said, "'irrelevant' because it's partial," is not completely accurate, and how we say things reflects how we think about them. Therefore, it's likely that you can increase your CR accuracy by being a little more precise in how you think about answer choices.

For instance, in this case, it would be more accurate to say that the information could be relevant even though it's partial, but the fact that it's partial means that, in this specific case, it doesn't provide a clear indication of whether the increase in sales can be attributed to the change in the shipping policy.
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Manager: Our company's mail-order sales have recently increased 16 Feb 2026, 23:35
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Thanks MartyMurray for this new learning
MartyMurray

That reasoning basically makes sense, though I would be careful about characterizing the information as "irrelevant" because it's partial. After all, information about the industry could be relevant even if it's "partial."

In other words, I get what you're saying, and at the same time, you'll benefit from tuning up the way you think about these things because what you said "'irrelevant' because it's partial," is not completely accurate, and how we say things reflects how we think about them. Therefore, it's likely that you can increase your CR accuracy by being a little more precise in how you think about answer choices.

For instance, in this case, it would be more accurate to say that the information could be relevant even though it's partial, but the fact that it's partial means that, in this specific case, it doesn't provide a clear indication of whether the increase in sales can be attributed to the change in the shipping policy.
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