OA is E.
I found the OA in the answer key download for CR1000 (reference: Test D qn 7).
It would really be nice if original poster could post up OA together with the questions each time...
I chose C initially.
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I figured this is how it should be -
Conclusion: postal service badly managed.
Premise: increased price by 10x; decreased efficiency and reliability
Answer should strengthen this.
A - weakens. Gives postal service an excuse to say it's not their fault for increased price n decreased efficiency/reliability
B - weakens. again, not postal services' fault! It was circumstantial.
C - weakens. Over here, it tells us, hey...comparatively, postal service charges less --> good management!
D - weakens. Increased efficiency! --> good management!
E - strengthens. Across the board, consumer prices increased only 3-folds. Postal service increased 10x!! Mismanagement!!
bholakc wrote:
The postal service is badly mismanaged. Forty years ago, first-class letter delivery cost only three cents. Since then, the price has increased nearly tenfold, with an actual decrease in the speed and reliability of service.
Each of the following statements, if true, would tend to weaken the argument above EXCEPT:
(A) The volume of mail handled by the postal service has increased dramatically over the last forty years.
(B) Unprecedented increases in the cost of fuel for trucks and planes have put severe upward pressures on postal delivery costs.
(C) Private delivery services usually charge more than does the postal service for comparable delivery charges.
(D) The average delivery time for a first-class letter four decades ago was actually slightly longer than it is today.
(E) The average level of consumer prices overall has increased more than 300 percent over the last forty years.