The comparison should be between the average (annual) salary of master's degree graduates and the average (annual) salary of bachelor's degree graduates.

Master's degree program graduates' average annual salaries exceed bachelor's degree holders by more than 25%.

(A) Master's degree program graduates' average annual salaries exceed
wrong comparison: this choice compares the master's graduates' salary with a person who holds a bachelor's degree

(B) Master's degree program graduates are earning average annual salaries exceeding
wrong comparison: this choice compares the master's graduates' salary with a person who holds a bachelor's degree

(C) Graduates of master's degree programs earn average annual salaries that exceed those of
CORRECT comparison: compares the average salaries of two types of degree holder --> KEEP

(D) The average annual salaries of graduates from master's degree programs exceed
wrong comparison: this choice compares the master's graduates' salary with a person who holds a bachelor's degree

(E) The average annual master's degree program graduates' salaries exceed those of
CORRECT comparison: compares the average salaries of two types of degree holder --> KEEP

Between C&E:
(E) The average annual master's degree program graduates' salaries exceed those of
The average salary of the graduates should be singular. Whenever you talk about an average of something, that average will be singular eventhough you are taking an average of something plural.
(For example if you calculate the average height of a basketball team you will have many players but only one average height)

(C) Graduates of master's degree programs earn average annual salaries that exceed those of
Here salaries is correctly plural because the sentence is saying that the graduates (of a specific degree) (plural) earn (plural) average annual salaries (plural).
The sentence is basically saying: they earn (avg.) salaries

If this helped you I would appreciate a kudos

Comparison is between average annual salaries of master's degree program graduates and average annual salaries of bachelor's degree holders
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Master's degree program graduates' average annual salaries exceed bachelor's degree holders by more than 25%.

(A) Master's degree program graduates' average annual salaries exceed Incorrect

comparison error - average annual salaries compare with bachelor's degree holders

(B) Master's degree program graduates are earning average annual salaries exceeding Incorrect

sounds awkward

(C) Graduates of master's degree programs earn average annual salaries that exceed those of Incorrect

earn - changes meaning

(D) The average annual salaries of graduates from master's degree programs exceed Incorrect

comparison error - salaries compare with bachelor's degree holders

(E) The average annual master's degree program graduates' salaries exceed those of Correct

though i marked C, i was confused between C and E. and someone please elaborate why E is wrong. i chose C over E as C was more clear with its meaning

is it because "those" has no proper antecedent

Not a 100% sure why E is wrong, but I just feel "average annual master's degree program graduates' salaries" is one phrase. This is literally the worst phrase i've seen in a while. There are better ways to communicate the intended meaning. I believe "those" clearly refers to "salaries" in E so that shouldn't be the reason.

Bunuel, could you please post OA ? How to eliminate E

I eliminated E because the phrase "average annual" is too far apart from salaries. Kind of weirdly suggests that we are talking about the salaries of average Masters degrees students, which is wrong!

C has them together and is more clear

The biggest problem at E is that "average annual" should be describing the "salaries" - which is separated by a long phrase (master's degree program graduates'). This makes the sentence very confusing to read!

Option A there is wrong comparison
Option B there is wrong comparison
Option C there is wrong comparison

Now between C and E the comparison is right
But E is wrong because of its construction "master's degree program graduates'"

Therefore C is correct both in terms of comparison and construction

Posted from my mobile device

Dear Bunuel,

Can you please suggest why E is incorrect?
It will be of much help!

Thanks & Regards.

(A) Master's degree program graduates' average annual salaries exceed => salaries exceed holders (wrong comparison)
(B) Master's degree program graduates are earning average annual salaries exceeding => Same error as in A
(C) Graduates of master's degree programs earn average annual salaries that exceed those of => Correct
(D) The average annual salaries of graduates from master's degree programs exceed => Same error as in A
(E) The average annual master's degree program graduates' salaries exceed those of => There's ambiguity about what average modifies

In C, the focus is on graduates rather than the annual salaries. E correctly compares the average annual salary. Don't see anything wrong with E.

Experts pls let me know why E is wrong.

in C - it says they earn salaries THAT are more...does not make sense.


I think it is E

I eliminated options A, B, and D as they illogically compare the salaries of master's program graduates with the bachelor's degree holders. The salaries of the two should be compared and options C and E do so.
Now option E can be eliminated as "annual master's degree program graduate" is singular and thus "salaries" is incorrect. Option C avoids this error by using the plural form "graduates".

IMHO, C changes the meaning, but E has poor construction...I chose E in the end but was not convinced.

SharmaRahul10201 Careful--E also uses the plural (graduates'), but in any case, since these words are acting as modifiers, they don't affect whether salaries should be singular or plural. For instance, we say "graduate tuition" and "graduate fees," just as we'd say "school tuition" or "school fees." Either way, "graduate/school" is just a modifier.

THIS9
The trouble with E is that it overloads us with modifiers past the point of comprehension. The word THOSE is a flexible relative pronoun. It can refer back to a noun without keeping its modifiers: "Students at my school are more demanding than those at most other schools." THOSE refers just to students, not to students at my school. So we could use something like the structure of D and get away with "those": "The avg salaries of X exceed those of Y." But since E throws all the modifiers in front of the word SALARIES, it's not clear which words to strip off. It can't just be the bare word SALARIES, since presumably we still want to talk about average annual salaries, so E does not express its intended meaning at all clearly.

As for C, be wary of "changes the meaning." First, A has no claim to the correct meaning. We could just as well say that A changes the meaning. Don't rely on the idea of changing the meaning unless 1) after reading all the choices, you are confident that you understand the author's intent, and this choice doesn't express that, or 2) the meaning in this choice doesn't make any sense. In that latter case, it's less a matter of changing the meaning than of failing to express a reasonable meaning at all. In any case, C conveys more or less the same meaning as A, so it's a moot point here.
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Thank you for the explanation, especially on the "correct meaning" part. I agree choice E sounds long winded and confusing. If meaning wasn't an issue, it's now obvious to me that the best choice is C