Can someone explain Q2 of this passage.
I don't understand how we inferred that B to be the correct ans.

Took 16 minutes to solve all the 8 questions. Got 2nd question incorrect. I understood the reasoning of my mistake from this thread.

When I solve passages related to business, I am confident to answer and able to solve within time. Major problem happens when I get science related passages. Here in GMAT CLUB, i see more science related passages too. I have few questions and I would appreciate a response from experts here.

1. Can we really get such a long list of questions on any passage in actual GMAT or will it range in 3 - 5 questions mostly?
2. When we get RC in the GMAT, how do we know that how many questions are there for this passage? Does GMAT provide some indication when we get RC? - The main reason to ask is my current strategy to give time for reading. If passage has 8 questions, I give 8 min to read so I will read slowly and then go to question. If passage has 4 questions, I will give 4 mins to read and rest 4 min to answer questions. Overall, I consider 2 min time to answer each question.
3. Does science related passages come more often in the actual GMAT?

I would appreciate response to my question. Pardon me if I have posted this to incorrect thread. I am not sure where else can I post such questions so sharing it here.

TommyWallach, VeritasKarishma, egmat

You can expect to see 3 - 4 questions per passage. It will not be known in advance how many questions are based on that passage so allot max 3 mins for the initial reading.
You can expect to see passages from any field including science, business, sociology, history etc. Most of us are comfortable with our field of interest, but make more mistakes when the passage is from a field outside our sphere of knowledge. It is best to read up on other fields too i.e. you should invest some time in reading science articles from popular dailies, magazines etc.
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Question: It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is true of majority shareholders in a corporation?

Initially I was also confused because of the use of "present tense - is true". I inferred the question about the current shareholders.
However, in the passage it is mentioned: "because these institutions are prohibited by antitrust laws from owning a majority of a company's stock". This statement suggests that the question is not about the current shareholders, instead the question is asking about the shareholders mentioned in lines 1 -7.

Once we understand this, the question is quite straight forward:

(A) They make the corporation's operational management decisions.
- They defined the company policy - say in five years the company should have a majority stake in sales of a particular product in country X.
Operational management decisions - day to day activities.
- Wrong

(B) They are not allowed to own more than fifty percent of the corporation's stock.
- Wrong
- In fact they owned majority stake. Majority > 50%

(C) They cannot make quick profits by selling their stock in the corporation.
-Correct
-Excerpt from the passage: "Because putting such large amounts of stock on the market would only depress its value, they could not sell out for a quick profit and instead had to concentrate on improving the long-term productivity"

(D) They are more interested in profits than in productivity.
- Wrong
- Not mentioned in the passage

(E) They cannot sell any of their stock in the corporation without giving the public advance notice.
- Wrong
- This is true for the recommended course of action and not for the shareholders in consideration for this question.

Hope the explanation helps!

Got #89 (Q2) wrong and I selected A. My reasoning was that P1 discussed how individual institutions who are not permitted to own majority shares in a corporation cannot engage in the corporation's decision making; therefore, if you reverse the previous statement for the minority/individual institutions, for majority shareholders, they have the decision making power.
But apparently you are supposed to go back to the first part of P1 where "old capitalists" is mentioned to find the correct answer...

I was able to find the OE shared by a test taker on the Chase Dream forum. Figured I would paste it here in case anybody else is confused on Q2.

2. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is true of majority shareholders in a corporation?

(A) They make the corporation's operational management decisions.
(B) They are not allowed to own more than fifty percent of the corporation's stock.
(C) They cannot make quick profits by selling their stock in the corporation.
(D) They are more interested in profits than in productivity.
(E) They cannot sell any of their stock in the corporation without giving the public advance notice.


This is what is given to us about majority shareholders:
Most large corporations in the United States were once run by individual capitalists who owned enough stock to dominate the board of directors and dictate company policy.
Because putting such large amounts of stock on the market would only depress its value, they could not sell out for a quick profit and instead had to concentrate on improving the long-term productivity of their companies...
... institutions are prohibited by antitrust laws from owning a majority of a company's stock and from actively influencing a company's decision-making...



(A) They make the corporation's operational management decisions.
We are not given that they make operational decisions. The passage only mentions that they make company policy.

(B) They are not allowed to own more than fifty percent of the corporation's stock.
"Majority shareholder" means someone who owns more than 50% stake in a company. Majority is more than 50%.

(C) They cannot make quick profits by selling their stock in the corporation.
Correct. The highlighted part tells us that they cannot sell such large quantities of stock because it will depress prices.

(D) They are more interested in profits than in productivity.
Not given.

(E) They cannot sell any of their stock in the corporation without giving the public advance notice.
The author suggests that any institution holding more than 20% should be made to give a day's notice. It is not given that majority shareholders need to this.

Answer (C)
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In addition, any institution that holds twenty percent or more of a company's stock should be forced to give the public one day's notice of the intent to sell those shares. Unless the announced sale could be explained to the public on grounds other than anticipated future losses, the value of the stock would plummet and, like the old-time capitalists, major investors could cut their losses only by helping to restore their companies' productivity.

Dear VeritasKarishma, GMATNinja - can you please explain the above lines? The solution that they have stated means that any Institution that owns more than 20% or more stock should give one day prior notice.
Why they should gave one day prior notice?
Because if the didn't announce the sale, then the value of the stock would plummet. So, does this mean that Institutions find it difficult to explain and hence the stock would plummet which will help in restoring long term productvity?
If they are going to announce the reasons for their sales then the stock would not plummet and hence long term productivity cannot be met?
Didnt really understand this bit.

Alsi, if you could explain last ques A, B and D and choice

Hi Experts, (GMATNinja, @VeritasKarishma)
In Question 4 option B, [They seldom engaged in short-term trading of the stock they owned.], isn't ''seldom'' extreme? I mean someone at some time could have sold, despite the reduced profits, due to some financial needs. I eliminated this choice for the same reason.
And chose 'D' after POE.
Where did I go wrong? Please explain.
Thank you.

Question 4

For an in-depth look at (B) for question 4, check out this post. Here are a few quick thoughts on the issue:

• The passage states that old-style capitalists "could NOT sell out for a quick profit and instead had to concentrate on improving the long-term productivity of their companies."
• Although this does not EXPLICITLY tell us that old-style capitalists "seldom engaged in short term trading," it suggests that is the case.
• Remember -- the question isn't asking for something the author states EXPLICITLY, but merely something he/she SUGGESTS.

Regarding answer choice (D), here are a few key points from the passage:

• Today, "institutions are prohibited by antitrust laws from owning a majority of a company's stock."
• "A minority shareholder is necessarily a short term trader."

So antitrust laws definitely explain why today's institutions are short term traders. However, nowhere does the passage suggest that these antitrust laws cased old-style capitalists to play a "much smaller role in the stock market as a result of antitrust legislation," as (D) suggests. In fact, the passage does not address why old-style capitalists play a smaller role in the stock market today.

Also, the passage does state that "the return of the old-style capitalist is unlikely," even if the antitrust laws are eliminated. This provides even more reason to eliminate (D), since it suggests that antitrust laws are not a key reason for the absence of old-style capitalists.

I hope that helps!
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Thank you sir (@GMATNinja).
My doubt is now cleared, and I understood my mistake.