Official Explanation:The Of Courses Company offers online courses on a wide range of topics. The company’s general manager has decided to offer a new course on modern philosophy to be taught by Alia O’Connor, a professor who is widely read and respected within the field. Several other companies offer online courses on various philosophical topics, but since none of these are taught by someone with the status of O’Connor, the general manager believes that Of Courses will not have to worry about the competition.
Which of the following, if true, presents the most serious potential weakness of the general manager’s plan? A. The cost of the modern philosophy course would be slightly higher than the cost of most of the company’s other courses.
B. Of Courses has received dozens of requests for a course on modern philosophy.
C. The course on modern philosophy would be substantially more complicated than all the other courses that Of Courses currently offers.D. People who purchase online courses only choose a course based on the reputation of the teacher if that teacher has a name that is widely known to the general public.E. Last year, somewhat more than half of Of Course’s customers were people who already purchased at least one of the company’s other courses.Question Type: Weaken
Boil It Down: Because Professor O’Connor is respected in their field, the company will not have to worry about the competition.
Goal: Find the option that would most weaken this argument to hire Professor O’Connor because they are so highly respected that there won’t be any competition. Analysis:General comments about weakeners: Broadly speaking, most arguments that deal with weakeners have issues related to relevance, where the purported evidence or premises are not completely relevant to the conclusion. Correct answer choices will expose this irrelevance.
Thinking about this visually, the correct answer will pull the connection between the premise(s) and conclusion apart, thereby weakening the argument.
For weakeners, there are three common ways to expose the irrelevance of the premises i.e. weaken an argument:
1.
Mismatched terms: the conclusion introduces terms or concepts not in the premises
2.
Counterexamples/objections: an example where the premises can be true, yet the conclusion does not follow
3.
Overlooked possibilities/unintended consequences: An additional factor, possibility, or consequence that the argument did not consider
Argument analysis:Here is a quick breakdown of the argument:
Argument structure:(P) = Premise/Evidence/Support (C) = Conclusion
P1: Professor A is widely respected in the field of philosophy
C: Regarding Professor A’s philosophy course, Of Courses, will not have to worry about competition
This argument has a mismatch in concepts. The premise talks about professor A being widely respected in their field, whereas the conclusion talks about popularity in the general public. These are not the same concepts, but the argument assumes that being esteemed in one’s field correlates with being popular with the public. The correct answer choice will expose this mismatch.
Alternatively, we think of the argument attempting to link two different concepts: 1. the premise related to being well esteemed in the profession with 2. the conclusion related to being popular to the general public. The correct answer will attack this attempted link whereas incorrect answers will fail to address one or both of these concepts.
A. The cost of the modern philosophy course would be slightly higher than the cost of most of the company’s other courses.
Incorrect. The conclusion is related to competition from outside companies, whereas this answer choice only provides information related to within Of Courses. As such, answer choice A is irrelevant. B. Of Courses has received dozens of requests for a course on modern philosophy.
Incorrect. The conclusion of the argument deals with predicting that there will be a lack of competition for their philosophy course. Having dozens of requests for a philosophy course does not affect whether this prediction is correct or not. As such, answer choice B is irrelevant. C. The course on modern philosophy would be substantially more complicated than all the other courses that Of Courses currently offers.
Incorrect. The conclusion is related to competition from outside companies, whereas this answer choice only provides information related to within Of Courses. As such, answer choice C is irrelevant. D. People who purchase online courses only choose a course based on the reputation of the teacher if that teacher has a name that is widely known to the general public.
Correct. This answer choice correctly identifies the mismatch between being well esteemed within one’s profession vs. being popular with the general public. One can be well esteemed in their profession without being popular with the general public. For the conclusion to follow from the premises, being well esteemed in one’s profession needs to match/ be correlated with being popular. But answer choice D indicates that this not always the case (i.e. there is a mismatch), thereby weakening the argument. E. Last year, somewhat more than half of Of Course's customers were people who already purchased at least one of the company’s other courses.
Incorrect. The conclusion is related to competition from outside companies, whereas this answer choice only provides information related to within Of Courses. As such, answer choice C is irrelevant. Key Takeaway:Close reading. Frequently, to catch a mismatch in concepts, you have to do a close read of the argument. Be on the lookout for changes in terms or concepts as the argument moves from premises to conclusion. If you catch the mismatch, then quite often, you can anticipate the correct answer as the correct answer will expose this mismatch. In this question the mismatch was subtle. There was a change from being popular within one’s profession to being popular with the general public.
Don’t study for the GMAT. Train for it.
_________________
EMPOWERgmat
Total GMAT Content & Tactical Training | 120 Point Guarantee | All 6 Official GMAT Tests
empowergmat.com