The metropolitan cooking academy surveyed prospective students and

VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL SOLUTION:

Correct Answer: E

Since the M.C.A. needs to appear to offer more "healthy" information in its cooking classes, the new programs should address this concern. Since we know that the courses offer classes on fish, grains, and organic vegetables, the correct answer will link these ingredients with health -- as does answer choice (E), the correct answer. Answer choice (A) suggests that these classes may be effective for teaching other concepts, but does not speak to the requirement that they appear "healthy." Answer choice (B) is irrelevant but does make the M.C.A.'s struggles even more surprising. Answer choice (C) enables the plan much as (A) does but does not suggest it will succeed in attracting students. Answer choice (D) offers no helpful information.

I am no expert. but this is my explanation. I have a doubt that this is an official level question (just an opinion)

The argument - Prospective students want courses that stress on healthy dining needs.
If new courses stress on cooking exotic fish/alt grains/etc., decline in interest in programs will be reduced. - this has to be strengthened.

A. this does not matter. whether the cooking relies on same fundamentals or other is of no relevance. It in no way increases interest.
B. Culinary skills is of no relevance.
C. This just wants to say that because local producers are excellent source, hence plan will work. Even though they are excellent sources, how does it increase interest?
D. So, this is trying to show that because other schools have found a decline, this school will get increased interest.
E. Because advocates of healthy dining (so can include students) want to include fish/etc. in one's diet, hence they are likely to study programs concerned with fish/etc. This makes a link between healthy dining (the need of students) and the fish/etc. (the new courses). So quite logically.

I hope it helps.

Between A & E.

A - Weaken
E- Strengthen

Question
Which of the following if true,supplies the best reason to suspect that the proposed new course will increase interest in the metropolitan cooking
academy?

I am thinking if the question looks below, then it is strengthen
Which of the following if true,supplies the best reason that the proposed new course will increase interest in the metropolitan cooking academy?
Does this mean to strengthen / weaken?

If the word suspect is added, then is it weaken? Can someone explain?

Thanks talismaaniac, however seems that probably you dint read the question stem.. E actually supports the argument rather than providing any reason 'to suspect'.
This doesnt help to clear my doubt.

Powerscore CR Bible, Chapter 6, page number 111-
Name of the chapter- Weaken questions
Quoting their lines-"...keep the following rules in mind when approaching Weaken questions:
1).......
2).......
3).......The information in the stimulus is SUSPECT. Their are often reasoning errors present, and you must read the argument very carefully."



Now my doubt is that if "suspect" means to strengthen, then why powerscore used this information in this chapter.
Even I have also observed for the first time that "suspect" means "strenthen".
Please karishma, let me know if I am missing something.

below is the dictionary meaning of suspect. I still can't understand how come this is a strengthen question? Are there any other pointers through which we can conclude that its a strengthen question??

: regarded or deserving to be regarded with suspicion : suspected <investigates suspect employees>
: doubtful, questionable <whose skills are suspect — Peter Vecsey>

There is a reason we say reading extensively is important but before I come to that, let me give you the various meanings of the word 'suspect' from dictionary.com.

sus·pect [v. suh-spekt; n. suhs-pekt; adj. suhs-pekt, suh-spekt] Show IPA
verb (used with object)
1.
to believe to be guilty, false, counterfeit, undesirable, defective, bad, etc., with little or no proof: to suspect a person of murder.
2.
to doubt or mistrust: I suspect his motives.
3.
to believe to be the case or to be likely or probable; surmise: I suspect his knowledge did not amount to much.
4.
to have some hint or foreknowledge of: I think she suspected the surprise.

The construction "I suspect that ..." implies the meaning number 3. It is very commonly used. I typed 'suspect that' in google news and am giving the first two I found (other that 'The police are searching for the suspect that crashed stolen car...')

"According to the Mail, officials suspect that he abducted the girl to get revenge on his former employers."
"Feds Suspect That Man With Throat Slit And Tongue Missing May Not Have Died Of An Overdose"

Hi Mam

Now my question to you is that since suspect could mean both believe as well as doubt so how are we supposed to understand the meaning the suspect implies in a particular question.Ex in this question if we would think suspect==believe then its a strengthener and ans is E else if suspect==weakener answer is A...Please help mam

i 'suspect' that gmat test will have such an ambiguous questions

You can figure it out from the construction of the sentence. As I said in my previous post, "I suspect that A will happen." implies "believe to be true".

Whereas a construction such as "suspect his honesty", or "this is a suspect package" implies "believe to be guilty/bad etc".

Many words have multiple meanings but we are able to figure out the one that is applicable in a particular situation from the context. The same is true here. It is important to read extensively to intuitively know these nuances of English language. When I read this question, I did not have even a shred of doubt about what the question is asking. The same will be true for most native speakers and people who like to read.

What you are implying is that you believe that GMAT will have ambiguous questions. You cannot just replace 'doubt' by 'suspect'.
Also, in my opinion, this question is not ambiguous.

yes, i did this question yesterday and immediately thought it was "weaken" type, reread several times and still think so. I wonder if native speakers understand the question differently from me? and is it a only language matter?

[quote="Vips0000"]Found this and many similar problems in veritas prep CAT and have a serious doubt about OA provided.
Would request experts to take a look and suggest explanation:

The metropolitan cooking academy surveyed prospective students and found that students wanted a curriculum that focused on today's healthy dining trends. In order to reverse the trend of declining interest in the school's programs, administrators propose a series of new courses focused on cooking exotic species of fish, alternative grains such as quinoa, and organically produced vegetables.

Which of the following if true,supplies the best reason to suspect that the proposed new course will increase interest in the metropolitan cooking academy?

A) cooking fish, grains, and vegetables relies on same culinary fundamentals as does the preparation of other ingredients.
B) In the food and beverage industry, many employers no longer have time to train apprentices and therefore demand basic culinary skills from their new hires.
C) Local producers in the area near the Metropolitan cooking academy are excellent sources of exotic fish and organic vegetables.
D) Many other cooking schools have found a decline in the level of interest in their program.
E) Many advocates of healthy dining stress the importance of including fish, grains and organically produced vegetables in one's diet.

[/Greetings everyone its fun to be here:) this is my first try so i got into trap - i was between A and E and chose A since it mentioned fundamentals but then i realized that there were more keywords (such as healthy dining, etc:) in E but on the other hand ... " many advocates" is a bit unclear who are these "many" are they potential customers or ....]

Premises:
- Students want a curriculum that focuses on today's healthy dining trends.
- To reverse the trend of declining interest in the school's programs, administrators propose a series of new courses focused on cooking exotic species of fish, alternative grains such as quinoa, and organically produced vegetables.

Which of the following supports that the new course will increase interest?

The problem with the argument is that it tells us that healthy dining is popular. It also tells us that the new courses will focus on fish, quinoa and organic vegs. But how can this imply that the new courses will be popular? The argument doesn't tell us the link between fish, quinoa, organic vegs etc and healthy dining.

A) cooking fish, grains, and vegetables relies on same culinary fundamentals as does the preparation of other ingredients.
This doesn't link healthy dining to fish, grains and organic vegs. Whether the culinary fundamentals of old courses and new courses are same or different is immaterial.

E) Many advocates of healthy dining stress the importance of including fish, grains and organically produced vegetables in one's diet.
This options tells us that many people believe that fish, quinoa and organic vegs are a part of healthy dining. This does strengthen the idea that students who prefer to learn healthy dining culinary skills will find the new courses appealing.

Answer (E)

Dear Karishma,

The question stem below the argument says- "Which of the following if true,supplies the best reason to suspect that the proposed new course will increase interest in the metropolitan cooking academy"

Doesn't that mean that we're supposed to weaken the argument? Please clarify this confusion. Thanks..

Check out this post: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2014/03 ... n-suspect/
It explains you how suspect is used here and also discusses the solution in detail.

Even if i were to assume this is a strengthen Question, my common sense will say , "look at the tag "

Under such circumstances, does Veritas can edit the tag ?

Bunuel bb VeritasKarishma Sajjad1994