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Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach 16 Oct 2022, 11:19
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Your explanation is extremely confusing GMATNinja. This is unlike of your other explanations. Can you please explain in easier language?

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Hello Verbal Experts (GMATNinja,e-Gmat)

I am confused how option A is the answer?

Can someone help over here..

Thanks in advance!
Quote:
A) Whether significantly more than eight percent of motorcyclists have taken a motorcycle-safety course
We are told that 92% of the motorcyclists involved in serious accidents (NOT 92% of ALL motorcyclists) have never taken a safety course. This also means that 8% of those involved in serious accidents HAVE taken a safety course.

Before we dig into choice (A), pretend that half of ALL motorcyclists took a safety course and the other half did not. In that case, consider the following possible results from the data:

  • Half of motorcyclists involved in serious accidents took the course and half did not (an even split) - this would suggest that the course had no effect. Motorcyclists who took a safety course were just as likely to get in a serious accident as motorcyclists who did not take a safety course.
  • Most motorcyclists involved in serious accidents did NOT take the course - this would suggest that the course did help. Motorcyclists who did not take the course were MORE likely to get in a serious accident.

Now, what if only 8% of all motorcyclists have taken a safety course? Well, if the course was useless, then we would expect that 8% of those involved in serious accidents have taken the course. It would be like if we painted blue nail polish on 8% of all motorcyclists. If the nail polish has no effect on safety, then we would expect 8% of those involved in serious accidents to have blue nail polish. In other words, those with blue nail polish are just as likely to be involved in a serious accident as those without blue nail polish.

Similarly, if only 8% of motorcyclists have taken a safety course, then this would suggest that the safety courses did NOT have a significant effect on safety, hurting the argument. However, if significantly more than eight percent of motorcyclists have taken a motorcycle-safety course, then the data would suggest that the safety courses were effective.

Thus, choice (A) is the best answer.
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Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach 22 Nov 2022, 12:21
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Hope the hand-written text is readable.
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Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach 19 Feb 2023, 12:58
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thangvietnam
we have only 2 minutes for each cr question. make the reasoning simple.
choice A is the only choice which is relevant to the statistics in the argument. other choices are not relevant. we give choice A a deep analysis.

evaluate question is potential weakening question

if substantially more than 8 percent , say , 15 percent of general drivers take the course and 8 percent=100-92 percent of the persons who involve in accidents take the course, this mean among person who involve in accident, only 8 percent take the course while for all persons, 15 percent take the course- this mean among persons who involve accident , the portion who take the course is lower than the portion of the total population who take the course-this mean if you take the course, you are at risk of 8 percent to be in accident and if you dont take the course, you are at risk of 15 percent to be in accident.

taking course is safer.
this kind of statistic problem is more easy if you know this kind before you are in test room
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This was the clearest explanation for me. Thanks
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Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach 19 Feb 2023, 13:16
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Of the people who fail gmat, 92% don't use GMAT club, 8% do. Is GMATClub responsible for their failure of the 8%? If only 2% of overall test takers use GMATClub, then it it means you stand a higher chance to fail by using GMAT Club because a small percentage using a resource is responsible for a higher % of failures. But if 30% of overall test takers use GMAT club and only 8% of successful candidates use GMAT club fail then we can't really say its a link to their failure. We would expect the users to represent a higher percentage of successful candidates for us to say a resource is working well.

My Take. Correct?
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Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach 03 Mar 2023, 15:49
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yalembagrad
Of the people who fail gmat, 92% don't use GMAT club, 8% do. Is GMATClub responsible for their failure of the 8%? If only 2% of overall test takers use GMATClub, then it it means you stand a higher chance to fail by using GMAT Club because a small percentage using a resource is responsible for a higher % of failures. But if 30% of overall test takers use GMAT club and only 8% of successful candidates use GMAT club fail then we can't really say its a link to their failure. We would expect the users to represent a higher percentage of successful candidates for us to say a resource is working well.

My Take. Correct?
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I might tweak the language a bit, but your statistical reasoning is valid. If, say, 8% of the people who bomb use GMAT Club, but only 2% of the population in general use the site, we can say there's a correlation between using GMAT Club and failing the test, because GMAT Club users are disproportionately represented among people who fail.

But we can't necessarily say that using GMAT Club is causing the underperformance. (Maybe if you suspect that you're at risk of failing, you'd be more likely to use this gorgeous website.)

Nice work!
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Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach 10 Oct 2023, 02:25
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Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach motorcyclists important techniques for handling and for safely sharing the road with other road users. If more motorcyclists took these courses, there would be fewer serious motorcycle accidents. Data show that 92% of the motorcyclists who are involved in a serious motorcycle accident have never taken a motorcycle-safety course.

In assessing whether the data cited provided support for the position taken about motorcyclists' taking the courses, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?


(A) Whether significantly more than eight percent of motorcyclists have taken a motorcycle-safety course

(B ) Whether it is riskier for a motorcyclist to ride with a passenger behind the rider than to ride alone

(C) Whether the different organizations that offer motorcycle-safety courses differ in the content of the courses that they offer

(D) Whether more than 92% of serious motorcycle accidents involve collisions between a motorcycle and another vehicle in motion.

(E) Whether variations in the size and potential speed of a motorcycle influence the risk of a serious accident's occuring.

The passage talks about safety courses that teach motorcyclists important stuff for when they use the road. It goes on to say that if more motorcyclists took these courses, there would be fewer serious motorcycle accidents. And that the stats show that 92% of motorcyclists involved in a serious motorcycle accident have never taken a safety course.

We're asked to look for something that would help us evaluate whether the cited stats provide support that there would be fewer serious motorcycle accidents if more motorcyclists took these safety courses.

(A) is the answer. Imagine if "significantly more" meant that 50 percent of all motorcyclists have taken a safety course. And that 92 percent of motorcyclists involved in a serious motorcycle accident have NOT taken a course. This would mean that 50 percent of all motorcyclists (the 50 percent who HAVE taken a safety course) are involved in only 8 percent of serious motorcycle accidents. Fair to say this would make the cited stats more meaningful and support the position that: "If more motorcyclists took these courses, there would be fewer serious motorcycle accidents."

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Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach 30 Nov 2023, 22:31
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Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach motorcyclists important techniques for handling and for safely sharing the road with other road users. If more motorcyclists took these courses, there would be fewer serious motorcycle accidents. Data show that 92% of the motorcyclists who are involved in a serious motorcycle accident have never taken a motorcycle-safety course.

In assessing whether the data cited provided support for the position taken about motorcyclists' taking the courses, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?


(A) Whether significantly more than eight percent of motorcyclists have taken a motorcycle-safety course

(B ) Whether it is riskier for a motorcyclist to ride with a passenger behind the rider than to ride alone

(C) Whether the different organizations that offer motorcycle-safety courses differ in the content of the courses that they offer

(D) Whether more than 92% of serious motorcycle accidents involve collisions between a motorcycle and another vehicle in motion.

(E) Whether variations in the size and potential speed of a motorcycle influence the risk of a serious accident's occuring.


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GMATNinja KarishmaB

Could you help me understand the rationale for eliminating (D) and (E)

While evaluating (D), I used the logic that if 92% of serious motorcycle accidents happen between 2 vehicles then the arg. is strengthened, and if they don't happen between 2 vehicles (i.e maybe happens when motorcyclists hit a wall or something) then it's weakened because, as per the argument, the course only teaches handling road safety with other users.
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Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach 01 Dec 2023, 01:24
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Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach motorcyclists important techniques for handling and for safely sharing the road with other road users. If more motorcyclists took these courses, there would be fewer serious motorcycle accidents. Data show that 92% of the motorcyclists who are involved in a serious motorcycle accident have never taken a motorcycle-safety course.

In assessing whether the data cited provided support for the position taken about motorcyclists' taking the courses, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?


(A) Whether significantly more than eight percent of motorcyclists have taken a motorcycle-safety course

(B ) Whether it is riskier for a motorcyclist to ride with a passenger behind the rider than to ride alone

(C) Whether the different organizations that offer motorcycle-safety courses differ in the content of the courses that they offer

(D) Whether more than 92% of serious motorcycle accidents involve collisions between a motorcycle and another vehicle in motion.

(E) Whether variations in the size and potential speed of a motorcycle influence the risk of a serious accident's occuring.


Show Spoiler
Attachment:
GPEP1.png


GMATNinja KarishmaB

Could you help me understand the rationale for eliminating (D) and (E)

While evaluating (D), I used the logic that if 92% of serious motorcycle accidents happen between 2 vehicles then the arg. is strengthened, and if they don't happen between 2 vehicles (i.e maybe happens when motorcyclists hit a wall or something) then it's weakened because, as per the argument, the course only teaches handling road safety with other users.
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(D) Whether more than 92% of serious motorcycle accidents involve collisions between a motorcycle and another vehicle in motion.

Whether the accident occurs with another vehicle or the wall has no bearing on this argument.

... teach motorcyclists important techniques for handling and for safely sharing the road with other road users.

The course teaches handling (e.g. how not to bang into a wall) and safely sharing the road with others. Essentially, the course teaches how to avoid any kind of accident. Hence option (D) is irrelevant.


(E) Whether variations in the size and potential speed of a motorcycle influence the risk of a serious accident's occuring.

This is something you may learn in the course if these factors do affect the risk of accidents. But whether our answer here is yes or no, it doesn't help us decide whether the course is useful. The course will tell us about all the risk factors. Whether that will make a difference on the road, we cannot say. We have to figure out whether the data supports that taking the course makes you safer. If out of those who have not been involved in an accident also 92% have never taken the course and 8% have (making the average number of people who took the course 8%), then it looks like the course has no impact. But, if out of those who have not been involved in an accident 50% have never taken the course and 50% have (making the average number of people who took the course must higher than 8%) then it seems that the course has benefits and makes you safer.
That is why (A) works.

To understand this better, you can use Sets. Split all motorcyclists into two - taken course and not taken course. Now the circle of accidents lies 92% in no course and 8% in course. The point is where do the other people lie?
Check this video in which I discuss how to use Sets for confusing CR questions: https://youtu.be/XCBp62o70Eg
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Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach 08 Dec 2023, 09:02
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Understanding the Argument -
Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach motorcyclists important techniques for handling and for safely sharing the road with other road users. - Fact
If more motorcyclists took these courses, there would be fewer serious motorcycle accidents. - Conclusion. It is conditional, but if we put our SC hat on, then this is hypothetical as well. So, while this tries to establish a positive correlation between taking these courses and a reduction in the number of motorcycle accidents, it in no way shares a certain guarantee.
Data show that 92% of the motorcyclists who are involved in a serious motorcycle accident have never taken a motorcycle safety course. - This fact tries to substantiate the claim by talking about the subset of motorcyclists involved in a serious accident. But what about the people other than those not involved in accidents?

Option Elimination - Our job here is to assess. Assess what? Assess the data provided (Data show that 92% of the motorcyclists who are involved in a serious motorcycle accident have never taken a motorcycle safety course) support the position (a positive correlation between taking these courses and a reduction in the number of motorcycle accidents). So, while the data talks about the subset (maybe 10% of the overall Motorcyclists are involved in serious accidents), how about the remaining people (maybe 90% who are not involved in serious accidents)?

(A) Whether significantly more than eight percent of motorcyclists have taken a motorcycle safety course - say 80% of the total 1000 motorcyclists took the course. So, overall, 800 people took the course, and 200 people did not take the course. Out of these 800, 8 met with a severe accident means 1%, and out of these 200 who did not take the course, 92 met with an accident, or 46.5% of those who did not take the course met with an accident. It is a solid case to substantiate further the conclusion that there is a positive correlation between taking these courses and reducing the number of motorcycle accidents. If we don't read correctly, we may drop this option, considering it mentions 8%, which may discuss the 8% number mentioned in the argument. It's a bit deceiving, so be very careful when you reject an option; understand it fully (100%) before rejecting or keeping it for later review.

(B ) Whether it is riskier for a motorcyclist to ride with a passenger behind the rider than to ride alone - out of scope.

(C) Whether the different organizations that offer motorcycle safety courses differ in the content of the courses that they offer - even if the content is different, they'll still teach about essential techniques for handling and safely sharing the road with other road users. Isn't it? We aren't talking about courses that teach how to be a street fighter. This is a classic distortion if we don't read well that the first statement, which clearly states with a present tense "teach," signifies habitual action.

(D) Whether more than 92% of serious motorcycle accidents involve collisions between a motorcycle and another vehicle in motion. - If we say no, only 50% were involved in that type of conclusion. Does it matter? They were still in a serious accident. Maybe it was due to bad handling. But the conclusion is still there. This is a distortion.

(E) Whether variations in the size and potential speed of a motorcycle influence the risk of a serious accident occurring. - It does not matter. Out of scope.
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Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach 16 Jul 2024, 00:56
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Quote:
 Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach motorcyclists important techniques for handling and for safely sharing the road with other road users. If more motorcyclists took these courses, there would be fewer serious motorcycle accidents. Data show that 92% of the motorcyclists who are involved in a serious motorcycle accident have never taken a motorcycle-safety course.

In assessing whether the data cited provided support for the position taken about motorcyclists' taking the courses, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?

(A) Whether significantly more than eight percent of motorcyclists have taken a motorcycle-safety course

(B ) Whether it is riskier for a motorcyclist to ride with a passenger behind the rider than to ride alone

(C) Whether the different organizations that offer motorcycle-safety courses differ in the content of the courses that they offer

(D) Whether more than 92% of serious motorcycle accidents involve collisions between a motorcycle and another vehicle in motion.

(E) Whether variations in the size and potential speed of a motorcycle influence the risk of a serious accident's occuring.
 
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To solve this question, let us deploy IMS's four-step technique.

STEP #1 -> IDENTIFY THE QUESTION TYPE

To identify the question type, let us read the question stem. The question stem states, 'In assessing whether the data cited provided support for the position taken about motorcyclists' taking the courses, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?' What we have is an evaluate question.

Now that the question type is identified, let us proceed to the second step. 

STEP #2 -> DECONSTRUCT THE ARGUMENT

In an evaluate question, it is a must to deconstruct the argument by figuring out the conclusion and the premise. Let us therefore read the argument and deconstruct it. 

CONCLUSION: If more motorcyclists took motorcycle-safety courses, there would be fewer serious motorcycle accidents.
PREMISE: Data show that 92% of the motorcyclists who are involved in a serious motorcycle accident have never taken a motorcycle-safety course.

Now that the argument is deconstructed, let us proceed to the next step.

STEP #3 -> FRAME A SHADOW ANSWER

In order to frame a shadow answer, we need to know what the right answer is supposed to do. In this evaluate question, the right answer must help us assess whether the data cited actually provided support for the position taken about motorcyclists' taking the courses. The author concludes his argument by stating there would be fewer serious motorcycle accidents if more motorcyclists took motorcycle-safety courses. However, in the premise he speaks of motorcyclists who are involved in serious motorcycle accidents. 

SHADOW ANSWER: Any situation that helps us evaluate, based on the data cited by the author, whether there would be fewer serious motorcycle accidents if more people took the safety courses.

Now that we have a shadow answer, let us proceed to the final step. 

STEP #4 -> PROCESS OF ELIMINATION

Let us eliminate the answer options that do not match the shadow answer. 

A) Whether significantly more than eight percent of motorcyclists have taken a motorcycle-safety course - MATCHES THE SHADOW ANSWER

Let us say there are 200 motorcyclists, and let us say out of these 200 motorcyclists, 100 got involved in serious accidents. Based on the data we have, we can safely say

92 people out of the 100 involved in serious accidents did not take the course.
8 people out of the 100 involved in accidents took the course at least one.
This would mean 100 people who were not involved in serious accidents may or may not have taken the course.  

Now, 8 per cent of 200 is 16.

If 16 motorcyclists took the course out of 200 (out of which we know 8 got into serious accidents), it means 50 percent of the people getting involved in serious accidents have taken the course. The argument that more motorcyclists taking these courses would lead to fewer serious motorcycle accidents is therefore weakened. 

But if 100 (50 percent of motorcyclists - significantly higher than 8 per cent) took the course out of 200 (out of which we know only 8 got into serious accidents), it means 92 percent of people taking the course did not get involved in any serious accident. The argument of the author is therefore strengthened. 

- KEEP

(B ) Whether it is riskier for a motorcyclist to ride with a passenger behind the rider than to ride alone - NOT A MATCH - Whether or not it is riskier for  a motorcyclist to ride with a passenger behind the rider than to ride alone will not help us check whether safety courses lead to fewer accidents. - ELIMINATE

(C) Whether the different organizations that offer motorcycle-safety courses differ in the content of the courses that they offer - NOT A MATCH - Whether or not the different organizations that offer motorcycle-safety courses differ in the content of the courses that they offer will not help us assess whether safety courses lead to fewer accidents. - ELIMINATE

(D) Whether more than 92% of serious motorcycle accidents involve collisions between a motorcycle and another vehicle in motion. - NOT A MATCH - Whether or not more than 92% of serious motorcycle accidents involve collisions between a motorcycle and another vehicle in motion will not help us assess whether safety courses lead to fewer accidents. - ELIMINATE

(E) Whether variations in the size and potential speed of a motorcycle influence the risk of a serious accident's occuring.  - NOT A MATCH-  Whether or not variations in the size and potential speed of a motorcycle influence the risk of a serious accident's occurring will not help us evaluate whether safety courses lead to fewer accidents. - ELIMINATE

Hence, A is the correct answer. ­
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Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach 18 Jul 2025, 05:57
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