Nicole would be allowed to choose among the honors, enrichment, and li

Question

Nicole would be allowed to choose among the honors, enrichment, and liberal studies programs if her score  were at least  six points higher.

A) were at least
B) were
C) was at least
D) was
E) had been

AjiteshArun · Accepted Answer

The person who made this sentence probably wants to present what option E says as a "past hypothetical". In such a case, we'd actually get a "would have been" in the result. However, before you take a look at the following examples, keep in mind that the usage of the conditional is not as clear-cut in English, and that this is not an official question.

1. Let's say that there's a report that predicts that the temperature increase due to global warming  will be  3 degrees.

If the temperature increase  were  more than 4 degrees, a lot more international cooperation  would be needed  to avert disaster. 
This means that in the (hypothetical) scenario that the increase "were" more than 4, a lot more international cooperation would be needed.

2. Now, let's say that the study discusses what happened in the past. The actual increase  was  3 degrees.

If the temperature increase  had been  more than 4 degrees, a lot more international cooperation  would have been needed  to avert disaster. 
This is talking about the past. If the past increase had been (again, this is hypothetical) more than 4, a lot more international cooperation would have been needed.

3. Similarly, in this question, the author would have asked for the following sentence if E had been the correct option:

Nicole  would have been allowed  to choose among the honors, enrichment, and liberal studies programs if her score  had been  at least six points higher. 
or, if we flip it:
  If her score  had been  at least six points higher, Nicole  would have been allowed  to choose among the honors, enrichment, and liberal studies programs.

However, because the non-underlined portion is fixed, we'll have to avoid choosing E.

arimich · Answer

'if her score...' refers to a  hypothetical scenario ; therefore, we can eliminate  c  and  d .
in order to choose the subjects nicole needed  minimum  6 more points thus, 'b) were' can be eliminated as it is too extreme. in a similar sense,  e  is avoidable.
 a  is the right choice

surendrasaini1 · Answer

What is the subject? Is not her score the subject?

Posted from my mobile device

AjiteshArun · Answer

There are two subject-verb pairs in this sentence.

Nicole     would be allowed   to choose among the honors, enrichment, and liberal studies programs if   her score     were   at least six points higher.

We go for  were  even though  score  is singular as the sentence wants to present a  hypothetical scenario .

smita123 · Answer

Can anyone explain why option B is incorrect? I cant find any difference between option A and B. Both are talking about the same thing.

Posted from my mobile device

AjiteshArun · Answer

I get your point, that most people will understand what you mean even if you go with B, but as  arimich  pointed out, it's likely that the author of this sentence wants to say that she ("Nicole") needs ≥ 6 points. Option B seems to limit us to exactly 6 points.

Vinit800HBS · Answer

AjiteshArun : Thank your for the clarifications. I have one doubt here.

I understood the point that because A uses the  SUBJUNCTIVE  form.

But why is  E  wrong?

Can't we use Past perfect for situations that happened before another past event?

As i see here, She does not have 6 points higher when she applied for the courses. And thus she was denied admission. Both of these events happened in the past and not having a score high enough happened before she even applied to the course.

MartyTargetTestPrep   daagh   GMATNinja   egmat : I would appreciate your inputs too.

Vinit800HBS · Answer

Wow, that cleared a whole bunch of doubts that had germinated in my mind. Thank you.

anothermillenial · Answer

Vinit800HBS

E is wrong because it doesn't use subjunctive form. Past perfect goes out the window with subjunctive. It's just something to memorise. Plus with if-then conditionals, specifically conditional perfects, an if + past perfect should be followed by would have - not would.

energetics · Answer

Good discussion, here's the official explanation:

As per MGMAT, this follows the pattern of "IF Hypothetical Subjunctive (Simple Past), THEN Conditional (WOULD+Verb)" except that THEN is omitted and the clauses are switched around:  (THEN)   Conditional ,  IF   Hypothetical Subjunctive .

(THEN)  Nicole  would be allowed  to choose among the honors, enrichment, and liberal studies programs  IF  her score  were  at least six points higher.

Takeaway: Memorize that Hypothetical Subjunctive uses the Simple Past for all verbs except for "to be," which uses the WERE form.

priyanshu14 · Answer

Dear Team, 
I think B should be the answer
A is incorrect because: "were at least six point higher" at least and higher are redundant. It should be one of those. 
kindly suggest

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

The versions created via the use of (A) and (B) have somewhat different meanings. The version created via the use of (A) more clearly expresses that any score six points or more higher would work. Is "at least" necessary or helpful? We could debate that it is or that it isn't.

In any case, both versions express meanings that make complete sense, and so, this question has two correct answers.

CEdward · Answer

On the GMAT, heart rate going, blood pressure is high...I would pick B.

If the threshold is met, then she would be allowed to choose...the 'at least' here is unnecessary.

sharmisthamona2 · Answer

Subjunctive with a condition so A

Posted from my mobile device

SafSin28 · Answer

Nicole would be allowed to choose among the honors, enrichment, and liberal studies programs if her score were at least six points higher.

were>was for singular subjects according to subjunctive rule. So, C and D are out. As here is used present imaginary tense, we do not need to use mixed conditionals. 'had been' is used in conditionals for past imaginary tense. Hence, E is out. A and B are the right choices. But they both differ in their intended meanings.
A) were at least
B) were
C) was at least
D) was
E) had been

SafSin28 · Answer

Nicole would be allowed to choose among the honors, enrichment, and liberal studies programs if her score  were at least   six points higher.

were>was for singular subjects according to subjunctive rule. So, C and D are out. As here is used present imaginary tense, we do not need to use mixed conditionals. 'had been' is used in conditionals for past imaginary tense. Hence, E is out. A and B are the right choices. But they both differ in their intended meanings.
 A) were at least
B) were 
 C) was at least
D) was 
 E) had been

Nicole would be allowed to choose among the honors, enrichment, and li

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GMAT Sentence Correction (SC - EA only) Questions

Nicole would be allowed to choose among the honors, enrichment, and li

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