Mayor Smith, one of our few government officials with a record

Question

Mayor Smith, one of our few government officials with a record of outspoken, informed, and consistent opposition to nuclear power plant construction projects, has now declared herself in favor of building the nuclear power plant at Littletown. If someone with her past antinuclear record now favors building this power plant, then there is good reason to believe that it will be safe and therefore should be built.

The argument is vulnerable to criticism on which one of the following grounds?

(A) It overlooks the possibility that not all those who fail to speak out on issues of nuclear power are necessarily opposed to it.

(B) It assumes without warrant that the qualities enabling a person to be elected to public office confer on that person a grasp of the scientific principles on which technical decisions are based.

(C) It fails to establish that a consistent and outspoken opposition is necessarily an informed opposition.

(D) It leads to the further but unacceptable conclusion that any project favored by Mayor Smith should be sanctioned simply on the basis of her having spoken out in favor of it.

(E) It gives no indication of either the basis of Mayor Smith’s former opposition to nuclear power plant construction or the reasons for her support for the Littletown project.

Source: LSAT

Bunuel · Accepted Answer

Official Explanation

(A) No. Since she did speak out, this choice is irrelevant.

(B) No. The argument does assume that the mayor has a grasp of the scientific issues; however, it is not necessary to assume this is due to the qualities that got her elected to public office.

(C) No. The passage does not even imply that consistent and outspoken opposition is necessarily an informed opposition. The three features of her opposition to nuclear power plants—outspoken, informed, and consistent—are presented as an independent series.

(D) No. Although this is a possible criticism of the argument, there are better and more direct criticisms.

(E) Yes.  We do not know her motives. Perhaps she changed her mind after carefully weighing the issues, or perhaps she was paid to change her mind.

nightblade354 · Answer

Good explanation from MGMAT: https://www.manhattanprep.com/lsat/foru ... t7197.html

Bombsante · Answer

The author of the passage wants us to believe that building the nuclear power plant at Littletown is safe and the power plant should be built. There are reasons given for the opposition to this thought as well as acceptance of the same.
We are asked to weaken the conclusion. IMO options A, B & C are easy to eliminate. However, most of the test takers would get down to options D & E for the final fight.
Option D IMO is a trap answer. Pay attention to the wording "It leads to the further but  unacceptable conclusion  that any project favored by Mayor Smith should be sanctioned simply on the basis of her having spoken out in favor of it."
Nowhere it is mentioned that this conclusion is unacceptable. In fact actually the passage concludes the same. However, test takers have been asked to negate this and come up with a possible answer.
Therefore, E is better of the two.

neha283 · Answer

Hi,

I marked B. My reasoning was that Mrs Smith swayed her opinion due to lack of technical knowledge. I am not fully convinced why choice E is correct and why B is incorrect. Would appreciate if someone can help me out here.

TIA!

Bombsante · Answer

Hi  neha283  ,
As far as I understand the rule on GMAT CR is not to question or doubt the facts presented in the passage.
In the passage the author clearly states that  Mayor Smith is one of their few government officials with a record of outspoken,  informed , and consistent opposition to nuclear power plant . The passage does not assume what is being said in option B, rather it states a fact about Mayor Smith's competency.
If we choose option B we make a mistake of opposing or criticizing the cardinal fact presented about Mayor Smith. The question asks us to expose that part of the argument which is vulnerable to criticism.
In option E that very part has been highlighted. I hope this line of reasoning will help you to decode why answer is option E?

Meanwhile you must have read in various forums on this great website as well in various study materials that it is paramount to identify the conclusion, if there is any in an argument. I will not mince any words to state the importance of the same. I would suggest that you master this art as it has helped me to increase my accuracy on CR questions from a poor 50% to a satisfactory 80%.

Also start applying strategy of pre-thinking without going through answer choices. I have observed that this strategy has helped many to crack even difficult questions. Though each and every test taker has his or her own strategy, however this one has proven to be pretty successful for a majority of test takers. Even when you see certain experts on this forum decoding and providing explanation, you might observe that they also follow the same approach.

Needless to say that it is up to an individual whether to opt for a particular strategy or not.

Hope this post will be of some help to you.

unraveled · Answer

Mayor Smith, one of our few government officials with a record of outspoken, informed, and consistent opposition to nuclear power plant construction projects, has now declared herself in favor of building the nuclear power plant at Littletown. If someone with her past antinuclear record now favors building this power plant, then there is good reason to believe that it will be safe and therefore should be built.

The argument is vulnerable to criticism on which one of the following grounds?

(A) It overlooks the possibility that  not all those  who fail to speak out on issues of nuclear power are necessarily opposed to it. - WRONG. Not concerned about all.

(B) It assumes without warrant that the qualities enabling a person to be elected to public office  confer on that person a grasp of the scientific principles  on which technical decisions are based. - WRONG. Being technically versed is not necessary.

(C) It fails to establish that a consistent and outspoken opposition is  necessarily  an informed opposition. - WRONG. Informed and consistent and outspoken are independent of each other.

(D) It leads to the further but unacceptable conclusion that any project favored by Mayor Smith should be sanctioned simply on the basis of her having spoken out in favor of it. - WRONG. Yes, that is what which is questionable. But this choice only rephrases what is already stated in the passage.

(E) It gives no indication of either the basis of Mayor Smith’s former opposition to nuclear power plant construction or the reasons for her support for the Littletown project. - CORRECT. Why the conclusion just as it is or why she earlier was like that on the same issue? We have no answer.

Answer E.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Mayor Smith, one of our few government officials with a record

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