For Q1, use POE :
zac123 dcwanderer30
1. It can be inferred that the author makes which of the following assumptions about biographies?
: This question is an open ended question. The entire passage talks about authors views on bios. SO we cannot zero in on specific places.

A. Their main purpose is to inform readers about key aspects of the subjects’ personalities.
-" What pushes most biographers on in this endeavor is not necessarily affection for the subject but the feeling that they are writing a gory tod book."
The word "pushes" means encourages . In the entire passage we are nowhere talking about WHY bios write bios. The author talks about pronaliy traits to tell us how conventional autobiographers CHOOSE THEIR SUBJECTS. This in no way talks about readers

B. Only subjects who share traits with biographers make good subjects for biographies.
- "only" tpo strong .... "share" is wrong...autobiographers prefer certain traits in subject. BUT this does not mean they "share" the peronality traits

C. Compelling biographies cannot be written about ordinary citizens.
-" Does the subject need a biography? Are the materials available? How much time is needed? "
If the ordinary citizen does need a biography then why not???

D. The biographer’s credibility with readers is a factor in the critical success of a biography.
-"What pushes most biographers on in this endeavor is not necessarily affection for the subject but the feeling that they are writing a good book."
we can infer here that the biographers are concerned bout writing agood book. Now how is a book good? popular opinion is that a book which gains good audience is a good book. SO we can infer this. This may not be a conclusive argument but after POE only D remains !!

E. Practical considerations are most important in the selection of a subject for a biography.
-" what makes one subject better than another for any particular biographer varies dramatically. Some of the reasons are purely practical"
"most important" is unwarranted and unsupported !! the author tells us that "one of therrasons is practicality and not the most importnt reason"

for inference questions, sometimes tone of the answer choices helps eliminate wrong answer choices.

It is preferable to eliminate strong tone answer choices for inference questions.

In qn-1, except option-D, all other options have strong tone words such as - Main purpose, only , cannot, most important.

option-D has none of these strong tone words

Thanks

OA to the first question is debatable. Please see Stacey's (One of Manhattan GMAT's staff member) response on this thread:

"Sorry for the delay - had to talk to our curriculum director for this response. I agree - I think D is too much of a stretch and is not sufficiently GMAT-like, and he had actually already flagged this one, too. We run statistical analyses on our questions as our students answer them and either re-write or discard questions that are not predictive enough (which means they have to hit a bunch of parameters that have to do with validity, consistency, etc.), and this one has recently come up as problematic. It's in the midst of being rewritten. "

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... -t625.html

Nice one!
I found it quite tough... and I got the first question wrong...
The OA for Q1 is:
The question asks us to identify an assumption that the author makes about
biographies. The best approach to this question is simply to evaluate the choices
one-by-one. Since an assumption is an unstated piece of evidence that is necessary
to complete the logic of an argument, we are looking for an answer choice that
completes the logic of the passage.
(A) While the author mentions in the second paragraph that “biographers tend to be
attracted to subjects who display particular personality traits,” informing readers of
these traits is never implied to be the “main” purpose of biographies.
(B) In the first paragraph, the author writes that “serious biographers seek and
welcome the unfamiliar.” The author states in the second paragraph that “the
biographer must like the subject not as a person, but as a subject.” Thus, the author
probably disagrees with this answer choice.
(C) The author concludes in the third paragraph that when choosing a subject, “the
biographer’s main question should be, ‘Can an effective book be made out of this
person’s life?’” The author most likely believes the opposite of this answer choice:
that compelling biographies can be written about ordinary citizens.
(D) CORRECT. In the second paragraph, the author discusses the elements of a
good biography, stating that “a biographer’s knowledge and ability also determine
the choice” of subject. If the author did not assume that the biographer's credibility
with readers is a factor in the critical success of a biography, then this part of the
second paragraph would be meaningless.
(E) In the second paragraph, the author discusses the practical considerations a
biographer faces when selecting a subject, though such considerations are never
presented as “most” important. In addition, the author goes on to add in the third
paragraph that when choosing a subject, “the biographer’s main question should be,
‘Can an effective book be made out of this person’s life?’” An adequate answer to
this suggested question goes beyond practical considerations.

I found it quite vague... any thoughts?

Hi AdityaHongunti

Thank you for your explanation, quite detailed
But I still have doubts to option (C) &(D)

C. Compelling biographies cannot be written about ordinary citizens.


From para1
On the contrary, serious biographers seek and welcome the unfamiliar, however troublesome to account for.

From para2
One also often hears that biographers must like their subjects. That would of course rule out such vastly important subjects as Hitler or Stalin. In practice, the biographer must like the subject not as a person but as a subject.
……..
Biographers tend to be attracted to subjects who display particular personality traits, whether they be ambition, cruelty, ingenuity, or any other characteristic that separates a potential subject from the multitudes.

Can’t we infer that (C) be the correct answer….????


D. The biographer’s credibility with readers is a factor in the critical success of a biography.

D. The biographer’s credibility with readers is a factor in the critical success of a biography.
-"What pushes most biographers on in this endeavor is not necessarily affection for the subject but the feeling that they are writing a good book."
we can infer here that the biographers are concerned about writing a good book. Now how is a book good? popular opinion is that a book which gains good audience is a good book. SO we can infer this. This may not be a conclusive argument but after POE only D remains !!


It’s a plausible explanation
However,
I just wonder that, since nowhere in the passage mention about credibility with “readers” is a factor in the “critical success of a biography”….
We can infer to this answer choice, but its indirectly rather than directly….???


Maybe
ciccione2’s explanation offers another view to Option(D)

(D) CORRECT. In the second paragraph, the author discusses the elements of a
good biography, stating that “a biographer’s knowledge and ability also determine
the choice” of subject. If the author did not assume that the biographer's credibility
with readers is a factor in the critical success of a biography, then this part of the
second paragraph would be meaningless.

But its still vague, we cannot infer directly from the passage to this answer
……