Many office buildings designed to prevent outside air from entering

Option A explains the difference why air in some buildings has elevated level of toxic substances and other buildings do not.

Although option E is the tempting choice, it fails to explain the difference.

Because, "even though those buildings are the same age as the "sick" buildings and have similar designs and ventilation systems."

The argument believes that sick building syndrome is caused by 'age' ,and design and ventilation systems of buildings. Something along the lines of - something else is causing this syndrome will clear confusion.

we need to find an answer choice explaining why some same office buildings have same toxic levels of air. A does the job

not able to figure out why option E is wrong ? I couldn't find the flaw,please help

Thanks! @akshayk,missed the trap

Correct choice is A - Many office buildings designed to prevent outside air from entering have elevated levels of toxic substances in their interior air, but other such buildings similar in age, design, and ventilation do not. So the statement to look for is the one that describes differences in the air quality, designs and ventilation.

Option E does not explain the discrepancy because it is given in the question stem that "sick buildings" have similar designs and ventilation systems.

Option A explains this discrepancy nicely making it the best choice.

What is the paradox ?
Many office building are found to have sick building syndrome. Yet the air in other office buildings does not have elevated levels of these substances, even though those buildings are the same age as the "sick" buildings and have similar designs and ventilation systems.

Pre-think:

Some thing that will separate both type of buildings. So two similar type of buildings. from where the air inside both these type of builds is coming from. well, both will be having some people in them. but difference will be made if something else is also contributing to this . Sick buildings might have something in them that is increasing the pollution. Option A is on the same lines. Some buildings may have these types of furniture, carpets, and paint, while other buildings similar in age, design, and ventilation do not.

sorry but this is not explaining the difference between some buildings that have elevated levels of toxic substance, and others dont have elevated levels.
what i dont understand in option A is that, it states that chemicals in furniture/carpets etc .... causes toxic substances to circulate, but were is it mentioned that there is a lot of such furniture in 'sick' buildings w.r.t to other buildings (non-sick buildings which also prevents outside air from coming in)

Official Answer:

Argument Evaluation

Situation Many office buildings designed to prevent outside air from entering have elevated levels of toxic substances in their interior air, but other such buildings similar in age, design, and ventilation do not.

Reasoning What would help to explain the difference in air quality among buildings similar in age, design, and ventilation? If office buildings are designed to prevent outside air from entering, toxic substances emitted into the interior air might not be ventilated out quickly, and thus might become more concentrated inside the building. But if such toxic substances are not emitted into a building's interior air in the first place, they will not become concentrated there, even if the building is poorly ventilated. So any factor that suggests why toxic substances are emitted into the interior air of some buildings but not others of similar age and design would help to explain the difference in the buildings' air quality.

Option A is correct: Correct. Some buildings may have these types of furniture, carpets, and paint, while other buildings similar in age, design, and ventilation do not.

Option B to E are incorrect because:-

Reasoning for B: Since all these buildings were built during the same period, this does not help to explain the difference in air quality among buildings similar in age.

Reasoning for C: The passage concerns air quality in office buildings only, not in houses.

Reasoning for D: This does not help to explain why these toxic substances are more concentrated in some office buildings than in others.

Reasoning for E: The passage concerns the differences in air quality only among office buildings that were designed to prevent outside air from entering.

Dear DmitryFarber VeritasKarishma,

I have 1 quick question on the correct choice A.

Why cannot we interpret that buildings with "similar DESIGNS" would have the same "types of furniture, carpets, and paint"?

Those items clearly affect the designs of the buildings.

Thank you in advance!

Furniture and furnishings cannot be called a part of the design of the building.

Besides, check the context of the argument:

Many office buildings designed to prevent outside air from entering ... even though those buildings are the same age as the "sick" buildings and have similar designs and ventilation systems.

This implies that the office buildings are similarly designed such that they prevent outside air from entering and they have similar ventilation systems.
The buildings may not have similar designs in other aspects.

Why C is wrong?
Nearby houses might have the same problem, proves that it is a locality specific problem. So the buildings with elevated levels of these substances is located in an area where the concentration of these substances is higher and in the locality of other buildings there is no such problem.

A:Certain adhesives and drying agents used in particular types of furniture, carpets, and paint contribute the bulk of the toxic substances that circulate in the air of office buildings.
It explains why certain buildings have air that contains elevated levels of toxic substances. In turn, it says that certain buildings don't have air with elevated levels of toxicity.
Correct
(C) Among buildings designed to prevent outside air from entering, houses are no less likely than office buildings to have air that contains elevated levels of toxic substances.
The passage only talks about Office buildings , not about houses. Wrong
E:O(C) Among buildings designed to prevent outside air from entering, houses are no less likely than office buildings to have air that contains elevated levels of toxic substances.ffice buildings with windows that can readily be opened are unlikely to suffer from sick building syndrome.
Office buildings with windows: not in the category of “office buildings designed to prevent outside air from entering”
Wrong

Hi experts,

Question 1: For the part of the passage that mentions "yet the air in other office buildings" I was not sure if this was specifically referring to office buildings that are "designed to prevent outside air from entering", but it seems that this is the case based on Choice E being correct. I found this a bit ambiguous, unlike other GMAT CR questions, so I would be so appreciative if this can be confirmed.

Question 2: I do not understand Choice A. Is Choice A saying that basically that furniture in office buildings that are designed to prevent outside air from entering obtain these substances that contribute to toxicity? Per my question above, I chose E because again the GMAT just said "other office buildings", so I thought that the office could just be aired out then, equating to whatever may be toxic to dissipate.

Thank you for your time and help.

In option D, isn't it implying that only around sick air building these toxic substances are found. This could be reason that around the 'non-sick air' buildings no such toxic substances are present in air.