Manufacturers of mechanical pencils make most of their profit on penci

Question

Manufacturers of mechanical pencils make most of their profit on pencil leads rather than on the pencils themselves. The Write Company, which cannot sell its leads as cheaply as other manufacturers can, plans to alter the design of its mechanical pencil so that it will accept only a newly designed Write Company lead, which will be sold at the same price as the Write Company's current lead.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the Write Company's projection that its plan will lead to an increase in its sales of pencil leads?

A. The new Write Company pencil will be introduced at a price higher than the price the Write Company charges for its current model.
B. In the foreseeable future, manufacturers of mechanical pencils will probably have to raise the prices they charge for mechanical pencils.
C. The newly designed Write Company lead will cost somewhat more to manufacture than the Write Company's current lead does.
D. A rival manufacturer recently announced similar plans to introduce a mechanical pencil that would accept only the leads produced by that manufacturer.
E. In extensive test marketing, mechanical-pencil users found the new Write Company pencil markedly superior to other mechanical pencils they had used.

CR14430.02

CrackverbalGMAT · Accepted Answer

Let’s look at the stimulus-

Premises 
Manufacturers of mechanical pencils make most of their profit on pencil leads rather than on the pencils themselves.
The Write Company cannot sell its leads as cheaply as other manufacturers can

Conclusion/ plan- 
to alter the design of its mechanical pencil so that it will accept only a newly designed Write Company lead, which will be sold at the same price as the Write Company's current lead.

We need to find an option that supports the Write Company's projection that its plan will lead to an increase in its sales of pencil leads

A. The new Write Company pencil will be introduced at a price higher than the price the Write Company charges for its current model.
If the new Write Company increases the price of its new pencil, how will the sales increase?
It may very well go down as well. If that’s the case, option A weakens the conclusion.
 Eliminate

B. In the foreseeable future, manufacturers of mechanical pencils will probably have to raise the prices they charge for mechanical pencils.

This does not tell us whether the company’s plan will work or not.  Eliminate .

C. The newly designed Write Company lead will cost somewhat more to manufacture than the Write Company's current lead does.

Same as B.  Eliminate .

D. A rival manufacturer recently announced similar plans to introduce a mechanical pencil that would accept only the leads produced by that manufacturer.

How would that make customers buy/ not buy the new Write Company pencil?
Irrelevant.  Eliminate .

E. In extensive test marketing, mechanical-pencil users found the new Write Company pencil markedly superior to other mechanical pencils they had used.

Option E tells us why customers would buy the new Write Company pencil- Because of the superior quality. 
This will increase the sale of the new Write Company pencil. Hence E strengthens the plan and is the  correct  answer.

Vishnupriya
GMAT Verbal SME

itspC · Answer

Reasoning:   Introduce new pencils which accept only write company leads so as to improve profits.  If this plan has to succeed New pencils should be sold more

A)Some what weakens if price increase sales may go down or.. anything may happen.
B)Irrelavant to sales of new pencils
C)Then profits might decrease or anything may happen to new pencil sales
D) So our point of discussion is about write company. Rival comp. is irrelavant

E) This shows why sales of new pencil will be more comparatively. >> sales more>>profit

OA:E

NiftyNiffler · Answer

Manufacturers of mechanical pencils make most of their profit on pencil leads rather than on the pencils themselves. The Write Company, which cannot sell its leads as cheaply as other manufacturers can, plans to alter the design of its mechanical pencil so that it will accept only a newly designed Write Company lead, which will be sold at the same price as the Write Company's current lead.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the Write Company's projection that its plan will lead to an increase in its sales of pencil leads?

A. The new Write Company pencil will be introduced at a price higher than the price the Write Company charges for its current model.  -- This weakens the plan by making the pencil costlier for the customer 
B. In the foreseeable future, manufacturers of mechanical pencils will probably have to raise the prices they charge for mechanical pencils.  -- We can't predict about the future sales of the pencil 
C. The newly designed Write Company lead will cost somewhat more to manufacture than the Write Company's current lead does.  -- IRRELEVANT info, customer only sees the selling price 
D. A rival manufacturer recently announced similar plans to introduce a mechanical pencil that would accept only the leads produced by that manufacturer.  -- At best it can weaken the company's plan or at worst it is irrelevant (because we don't know whether rival company will price its pencil competitively) 
E. In extensive test marketing, mechanical-pencil users found the new Write Company pencil markedly superior to other mechanical pencils they had used.  -- CORRECT, this survey tells us customers prefer new model even though it's costlier than the current model. Our best choice
 
Hence, answer is  E

jaisonsunny77 · Answer

I've broken down this passage into smaller bits so that it becomes easier to grasp whats going on in the passage.

1. Lead in pencils is more profitable than the mechanical pencils themselves. 
2. A company called Write Company (WC) cannot lower its price of the lead used in its current design
3. WC makes a newly designed mechanical pencil that accepts only WC modeled lead. 
4. This newly designed mechanical pencil will be sold at the same price as the price of current lead sold by WC

We have been asked to strengthen the idea that this newly designed pencils (by WC) will lead WC to experience an increase in the sale of its leads.

Generally speaking, a new product/design will lead to increased sales if the benefit experienced by the users make them feel that they will not enjoy the same benefits if they switch over to other products sold by competitors. 
 
The right answer to this question will also be in line with this general thought.

So, let's take a look at the answer choices to see which one fits this general description:

A.  The new Write Company pencil will be introduced at a price higher than the price the Write Company charges for its current model. - Okay. this means that whatever WC came up with (the new design) is now more expensive for customers to purchase than the current price of its lead. This option itself does not tell us whether WC enjoys massive customer loyalty to offset the potential loss of customers (assuming that some customers won't be able to purchase its product at this new price). How does a price increase lead to increased sales? As you can see, there are a lot of moving terms here that does not generate a solid reason why WC will experience increased sales. Hence,   (A) is eliminated. 
  
B.  In the foreseeable future, manufacturers of mechanical pencils will probably have to raise the prices they charge for mechanical pencils.  - What this option conveys is that there will be an industry-wide increase in the price of mechanical pencils. But how does this industry wide action explain why WC will experience an increase in sales of its lead? Just like in (A), (B) leaves a room of doubt. Hence,   eliminate (B)

C.  The newly designed Write Company lead will cost somewhat more to manufacture than the Write Company's current lead does.  - Now we know that it is more expensive for WC to roll out its newly designed mechanical pencil. What would still explain the potential for increased sales of WC lead? This is not made clear in (C). Hence,   eliminate (C).

D.  A rival manufacturer recently announced similar plans to introduce a mechanical pencil that would accept only the leads produced by that manufacturer.  - A competitor announcing the same plan still does nothing to prove that WC will experience an increase in the sale of its lead. Hence,   eliminate (D)

E.  In extensive test marketing, mechanical-pencil users found the new Write Company pencil markedly superior to other mechanical pencils they had used.  - (E) gives a solid reason why customers would love the new WC mechanical pencil design. if they love this new design, they would purchase more of it. More purchases made = more sales. BINGO. This is what we are looking for. Notice that this answer choice is perfectly in line with what's described in  the highlighted section . Hence,   (E) is the right answer.

GMATCoachBen · Answer

This question is very similar to another one, from the free 15 CR questions on "GMAT Official Practice": https://gmatclub.com/forum/manufacturer ... 49439.html

CEdward · Answer

Manufacturers of mechanical pencils make most of their profit on pencil leads rather than on the pencils themselves. The Write Company, which cannot sell its leads as cheaply as other manufacturers can, plans to alter the design of its mechanical pencil so that it will accept only a newly designed Write Company lead, which will be sold at the same price as the Write Company's current lead.

P: Manufacturers of mechanical pencils make most of their profit on lead rather than on penciles
P: Write Company cannot sell its lead as cheaply compared to other manufacturers
C: Write Company will alter the design of the pencil to only accept the company’s lead
P: The new lead will be sold at the same price as the current lead

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the Write Company's projection that its plan will lead to an increase in its sales of pencil leads?

A. The new Write Company pencil will be introduced at a price higher than the price the Write Company charges for its current model.

This can’t be it. Generally speaking, anytime the price of a product increases, people will be less likely to buy.

B. In the foreseeable future, manufacturers of mechanical pencils will probably have to raise the prices they charge for mechanical pencils.

Similar rationale as B.

C. The newly designed Write Company lead will cost somewhat more to manufacture than the Write Company's current lead does.

This goes in the opposite direction compared to the choice that we are looking for.

D. A rival manufacturer recently announced similar plans to introduce a mechanical pencil that would accept only the leads produced by that manufacturer.

We aren’t concerned with what other manufacturers do.

E. In extensive test marketing, mechanical-pencil users found the new Write Company pencil markedly superior to other mechanical pencils they had used.

Correct. This gives us reason to believe that the newly designed pencil will attract sales. So, if people are going to buy the new pencil, then surely they would also have to buy the lead that goes with it because that’s the only lead that the pencil accepts.

VIBHOJAIN · Answer

I chose the correct option, but I have one doubt regarding the correct choice.
Option E says that people will find out that Writing company pencils are of superior choice but where is it mentioned that superior quality pencils will lead people to buy the pencil more in the question stem? Are we not using external knowledge in this case?
 Bunuel 
@karishmaveritas
 TargetTestPrep

Udita7 · Answer

I also had in the same question in my mind . i got the question correct pretty soon, but I feel the question relies too much on assumption that market study will lead to higher sales.

DmitryFarber · Answer

The point of a strengthen is not to prove the conclusion; it's just to make the conclusion more likely. The problem with making a special pencil that only uses one kind of lead is that maybe people just won't bother with this pencil. But if it happens to be a very good pencil, people MIGHT have a reason to buy it despite the annoying compatibility issue. (Honestly, it sounds kind of like Apple--we'd probably put up with Apple much less if its products weren't so compelling.) We don't need to bring in any assumptions to figure that product quality may help drive the sales of a product. Any desirable feature might help sales, even if it's not guaranteed to do so.

Udita7

I also had in the same question in my mind . i got the question correct pretty soon, but I feel the question relies too much on assumption that market study will lead to higher sales.

egmat · Answer

Great job choosing option E!  Your concern about using outside knowledge is actually a sign that you're thinking carefully about GMAT principles - this is exactly the right instinct to develop.

The Key Distinction: Reasonable Inference vs. Outside Knowledge
 
You're  not  using improper outside knowledge here. The GMAT expects you to make  reasonable, common-sense inferences  that any educated person would make. The connection between "markedly superior product" → "more people will buy it" falls into this category.

What IS acceptable on the GMAT: 
 
 Basic cause-and-effect relationships (better product → more sales) 
 Common human behavior (people prefer superior products) 
 Simple business logic (customers choose better options when available)  
 
What is NOT acceptable (true outside knowledge): 
 
 Industry-specific information (e.g., "mechanical pencils have a 15% profit margin")  
 Technical knowledge (e.g., "graphite leads require specific manufacturing processes") 
 Market statistics not provided in the passage  
 
Why Option E Works:
 
The logical chain is straightforward:
 
 Users find Write pencils  markedly superior  
 → More people will buy Write pencils (reasonable inference) 
 → These buyers are locked into Write leads (stated in stimulus) 
 → Lead sales increase (the desired outcome)

The GMAT  relies  on you making this type of reasonable connection. If we couldn't assume "superior products sell better," countless CR arguments would be impossible to evaluate.
 
Strategic Tip:  When evaluating whether you're making an acceptable inference, ask yourself: "Would any reasonable person, regardless of specialized knowledge, make this same connection?" If yes, it's fair game on the GMAT.

Your reasoning was spot-on - trust these common-sense inferences while staying alert for times when questions truly require specialized knowledge (which the GMAT will always provide in the passage).

Manufacturers of mechanical pencils make most of their profit on penci

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Manufacturers of mechanical pencils make most of their profit on penci

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