OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
(1) Identify the Question
The word assumption in the question indicates the question type: Find the Assumption.
(2) Deconstruct the Argument
Chapter Internet, which has a monopoly on high-speed internet, won the Worst Business of the Year award two years ago. Last year, the company improved its technology but did not improve its customer service (CS). The author concludes that the latter fact is the reason Chapter won the award again last year.
Here is one possible way to map the argument.
CI improved speeds, didn’t improve CS
won award
© didn’t improve CS à won award
This is a standard argument of correlation and causation. From the fact that two things both happened (Chapter not improving its customer service; Chapter winning the award), the author concludes that one of those things (bad customer service) caused the other (winning the award).
(3) State the Goal
The goal in this question is to identify a necessary assumption in the argument: something that must be true in order for the conclusion to be true, given the evidence.
(4) Work From Wrong to Right
(A) This may be true, but the author doesn’t have to assume it. It doesn’t matter by what margin Chapter won the award; what matters is the reason Chapter won the award.
(B) CORRECT. The argument indicates that bad customer service was correlated with Chapter’s receipt of the award, but the author never provides any reason to believe that those two factors are causally related. If none of the voters actually cared about customer service, then the author’s conclusion that bad customer service caused Chapter to win the award is completely groundless. Thus, the author must assume that customer service matters to the award voters.
(C) Other businesses or industries are irrelevant. Even if internet providers were the only companies in the running for the Worst Business of the Year, the author could still be correct in claiming that Chapter won because of its poor customer service.
(D) What would happen if certain conditions came to pass has no bearing on the reason Chapter actually won the award last year. This choice attempts to explain one of the premises of the argument (that Chapter has poor customer service). On assumption questions, the answer should further explain the conclusion, not the premises.
(E) Even if award voters were influenced by previous years’ results, customer service could still be to blame for Chapter winning the Worst Business award, so the argument does not depend on this statement.
For example, some voters might not have voted for Chapter because they were bored of seeing the same company win year after year, yet Chapter won anyway, maybe because other voters thought Chapter had bad customer service. This would be compatible with the argument. Or, if half of the voters were influenced one way and half the other, then this information would have no effect on the argument whatsoever. A choice that requires its own assumptions in order to be relevant to the argument is never correct on the GMAT.