Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Nov 1811:00 AM PST
-12:00 PM PST
Join us in a live GMAT practice session and solve 30 challenging GMAT questions with other test takers in timed conditions, covering GMAT Quant, Data Sufficiency, Data Insights, Reading Comprehension, and Critical Reasoning questions.
Nov 2211:00 AM IST
-01:00 PM IST
Do RC/MSR passages scare you? e-GMAT is conducting a masterclass to help you learn – Learn effective reading strategies Tackle difficult RC & MSR with confidence Excel in timed test environment- Nov 23
11:00 AM IST
-01:00 PM IST
Attend this free GMAT Algebra Webinar and learn how to master the most challenging Inequalities and Absolute Value problems with ease. 
Nov 2510:00 AM EST
-11:00 AM EST
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors.
25 Jul 2022, 23:28
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi everyone, i need some comments on my AWA skill. Please feel free to comment your thought about my essay below.
Question
The following appeared as part of an annual report sent to stockholders by Olympic Foods, a processor of frozen foods.
“Over time, the costs of processing go down because as organizations learn how to do things better, they become more efficient. In color film processing, for example, the cost of a 3-by-5-inch print fell from 50 cents for five-day service in 1970 to 20 cents for one-day service in 1984. The same principle applies to the processing of food. And since Olympic Foods will soon celebrate its twenty-fifth birthday, we can expect that our long experience will enable us to minimize costs and thus maximize profits.”
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
Answer
The passage claims that the cost of processing in food industry will decrease because of 25 years’ experience of food manufacturer. The author assumes that when organizations learn how to do things better they tend to more efficient, resulting in lower cost and higher profit. To illustrate, the passage cites example case of color film industry in the past in order to assume the same will happen to the food manufacturer. Further, the authors concludes that more efficient processing and lower cost of processing will maximize profit. The argument relies on assumption that has no concrete evidence. Hence, the argument is therefore unconvincing and has some several flaws.
First, the argument readily assumes that film industry and food industry have same nature in terms of processing. Comparing two industries to have similar cost of processing may be too vague. Processing cost of film industry is surely different from that in food industry. For example, nutrition test, timely transportation, and contamination are present in processing of foods, while these costs are clearly not associate with film industry. The argument would have been much clearer, if the argument explicitly states similarity of processing between film industry and food industry in terms of processing costs.
Second, the author concludes that more efficient processing will result in higher profit. However, the author fails to address other factors that contribute to the profit, for example, economic condition of the market. Using only one factor, that is a cost of processing, the authors fails to create substantiative conclusion and over depend on single evidence. If the argument stated that cost of processing is the significant factor which drives profitability of the industry, the argument could have been a lot more convincing.
Finally, What are the similarities between color film industry and food industry in terms of processing cost? How is cost of processing correlate with the industry profitability? Without convincing answers to these questions, the argument remains more of an unsubstantiated claim and therefore weak.
In summary, the argument is flawed for the above-mentioned gap, and therefore not convincing. The author could strengthened the argument, if the author clearly states all related facts on how he/she arrives at the conclusion. In order to fully understand the conclusion, it is essential to have full knowledge of all contributing factors and further evaluation. Without this information, the argument is unsubstantiated and open to debate.
Question
The following appeared as part of an annual report sent to stockholders by Olympic Foods, a processor of frozen foods.
“Over time, the costs of processing go down because as organizations learn how to do things better, they become more efficient. In color film processing, for example, the cost of a 3-by-5-inch print fell from 50 cents for five-day service in 1970 to 20 cents for one-day service in 1984. The same principle applies to the processing of food. And since Olympic Foods will soon celebrate its twenty-fifth birthday, we can expect that our long experience will enable us to minimize costs and thus maximize profits.”
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate its conclusion.
Answer
The passage claims that the cost of processing in food industry will decrease because of 25 years’ experience of food manufacturer. The author assumes that when organizations learn how to do things better they tend to more efficient, resulting in lower cost and higher profit. To illustrate, the passage cites example case of color film industry in the past in order to assume the same will happen to the food manufacturer. Further, the authors concludes that more efficient processing and lower cost of processing will maximize profit. The argument relies on assumption that has no concrete evidence. Hence, the argument is therefore unconvincing and has some several flaws.
First, the argument readily assumes that film industry and food industry have same nature in terms of processing. Comparing two industries to have similar cost of processing may be too vague. Processing cost of film industry is surely different from that in food industry. For example, nutrition test, timely transportation, and contamination are present in processing of foods, while these costs are clearly not associate with film industry. The argument would have been much clearer, if the argument explicitly states similarity of processing between film industry and food industry in terms of processing costs.
Second, the author concludes that more efficient processing will result in higher profit. However, the author fails to address other factors that contribute to the profit, for example, economic condition of the market. Using only one factor, that is a cost of processing, the authors fails to create substantiative conclusion and over depend on single evidence. If the argument stated that cost of processing is the significant factor which drives profitability of the industry, the argument could have been a lot more convincing.
Finally, What are the similarities between color film industry and food industry in terms of processing cost? How is cost of processing correlate with the industry profitability? Without convincing answers to these questions, the argument remains more of an unsubstantiated claim and therefore weak.
In summary, the argument is flawed for the above-mentioned gap, and therefore not convincing. The author could strengthened the argument, if the author clearly states all related facts on how he/she arrives at the conclusion. In order to fully understand the conclusion, it is essential to have full knowledge of all contributing factors and further evaluation. Without this information, the argument is unsubstantiated and open to debate.
26 Jul 2022, 00:41
Kudos
Bookmarks
AWA Score: 5.5 out of 6
Coherence and connectivity: 5/5
This rating corresponds to the flow of ideas and expressions from one paragraph to another. The effective use of connectives and coherence of assertive language in arguing for/against the argument is analyzed. This is deemed as one of the most important parameters.
Paragraph structure and formation: 3/5
The structure and division of the attempt into appropriate paragraphs are evaluated. To score well on this parameter, it is important to organize the attempt into paragraphs. Preferable to follow the convention of leaving a line blank at the end of each paragraph, to make the software aware of the structure of the essay.
Vocabulary and word expression: 4.5/5
This parameter rates the submitted essay on the range of relevant vocabulary possessed by the candidate basis the word and expression usage. There are no extra- points for bombastic word usage. Simple is the best form of suave!
Coherence and connectivity: 5/5
This rating corresponds to the flow of ideas and expressions from one paragraph to another. The effective use of connectives and coherence of assertive language in arguing for/against the argument is analyzed. This is deemed as one of the most important parameters.
Paragraph structure and formation: 3/5
The structure and division of the attempt into appropriate paragraphs are evaluated. To score well on this parameter, it is important to organize the attempt into paragraphs. Preferable to follow the convention of leaving a line blank at the end of each paragraph, to make the software aware of the structure of the essay.
Vocabulary and word expression: 4.5/5
This parameter rates the submitted essay on the range of relevant vocabulary possessed by the candidate basis the word and expression usage. There are no extra- points for bombastic word usage. Simple is the best form of suave!
Follow the AWA rule before your next post, read the rules in the post in the link below
https://gmatclub.com/forum/awa-forum-ru ... 64141.html
Good Luck
wtaechaprapasaeng
27 Jul 2022, 19:43
Kudos
Bookmarks
wtaechaprapasaeng
+ is something you did well.
- is something you probably should have changed.
0 is something relatively neutral but worth considering.
Overall, a strong AWA.
++ Great job addressing both the processing cost and the profitability, not simply one or the other. This is probably the most important part of the prompt and you nailed it.
++ I very much appreciate the "tell them what you're going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you've told them" approach, and you've done a nice job actually doing something with your intro and conclusion paragraphs aside from just having them sit there as bookends.
+ Clear paragraph transitions and structure.
- I'm not sure if you had a third separate idea that you were trying to convey, but your "Finally,..." paragraph rings very similar to your "First,..." paragraph. This paragraph may have been better between the other two body paragraphs, rolled into the "First,..." paragraph, or omitted altogether. Or maybe you just started to run out of time and felt like you had to cut it short to have time to write the conclusion?
0 Minor thing, but I love seeing the word "analogy" or "analogous" when the prompt structure is that (or "causal" or "sample" when those are applicable). Define the argument structure.
-/0 You mention other factors to profitability, but are vague. I think the big one that you could have mentioned is that if other companies have also improved their processing over time, the efficiencies and assumed cost savings are likely to be factored into the pricing competition among those companies.
0 I think there was also an opportunity here to question whether the entire film industry changed because any individual company had 25 years of experience or simply because technology advances. Were newcomers to film processing not also able to benefit? How is length of time that a company has been in business comparable to changes for an overall industry?
