Official Explanation:People with a rare hearing disorder perceive pitched sounds, such as musical notes, to be of a higher frequency than do people without the disorder. For example, when the note “A” is played on a piano, these people hear it as an “A-sharp,” the next note higher on the piano. This is why some children, when asked to match a note that is played for them, consistently sing the next higher note.
The proposed explanation is most vulnerable to the criticism that it fails to A. mention any possible method of alleviating this disorder among children.
B. provide any indication of how common the hearing disorder is among children.
C. consider the hearing abilities of adults who have tested the ability of children to correctly sing pitches.D. recognize that the hearing disorder would affect the perception of a note sung by an individual.E. consider that pitches can differ significantly from one piano to another.Question Type: Weaken
Boil It Down: Because children with the disorder hear a note as higher, they sing the note higher as well.
Goal: Find the option that best shows a criticism one could have about this argument. Analysis:Argument structure:(P) = Premise/Evidence/Support (C) = Conclusion/ Observation
P: An A is heard as an A sharp
C: Some children sing one note higher than what is heard
This question turns out to be one of the more challenging weaken examples in the question pool. The argument is trying to explain an observation based on knowledge about a disorder. The evidence deals with a fact that some children hear a note as one note higher than what was played. From this, it tries to explain the observation that some children sing a heard note, one not higher. This is a case of mismatched terms where the conclusion introduces a term that was not presented in the evidence. In this case, the mismatch in terms are singing in the conclusion and hearing in the evidence. Although related, these two concepts are different. The correct answer choice will point out this difference, namely that hearing is not the same as singing. This makes the evidence less relevant to the conclusion, thereby weakening the argument.
A. mention any possible method of alleviating this disorder among children.
Incorrect. The core of the argument addresses the dynamics of the disorder. It is not concerned with alleviating the disorder, whereas answer choice A addresses alleviating the disorder. As such, this answer choice is irrelevant. B. provide any indication of how common the hearing disorder is among children.
Incorrect. The core of the argument addresses the dynamics of the disorder. It is not concerned with how common the disorder is, whereas answer choice B addresses the commonality of the disorder. As such, this answer choice is irrelevant. C. consider the hearing abilities of adults who have tested the ability of children to correctly sing pitches.
Incorrect. In effect, this answer choice says that the evidence is false. For weakeners, we assume that the evidence is correct. In other words, we grant the evidence and ask whether, given this evidence, how might the conclusion be weakened. Answer choices that attack the premises are never correct. As such, answer choice C, which in effect attacks a premise/evidence, is not correct. D. recognize that the hearing disorder would affect the perception of a note sung by an individual.
Correct. This answer choice rightly exposes the difference between hearing and singing. In the argument analysis, it was mentioned that the evidence is based off information about hearing one note higher and from this tries to explain the observation about children singing one note higher. E. consider that pitches can differ significantly from one piano to another.
Incorrect. Even if pitches differ from one piano to another, the argument is interested in the relative higher pitch that some children perceive when they hear and/or sing a note. This argument is unaffected by different pitches across pianos. As such, this answer choice is irrelevant.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