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According to a 1980 survey, ten percent of all United States

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mbassmbass04
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According to a 1980 survey, ten percent of all United States [#permalink] New post   15 Dec 2004, 13:45
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According to a 1980 survey, ten percent of all United States citizens over the age of sixteen are functionally illiterate. Therefore, if the projection that there will be 250 million United States citizens over sixteen in the year 2000 is correct, we project that 25 million of these citizens will be functionally illiterate.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion drawn by the author of the passage above?

(A) The percentage of high school graduates who do not go on to college has grown steadily over the past two decades.
(B) From 1975 to 1980 there was a three-percent decrease in the rate of functional illiteracy among United States citizens over the age of sixteen.
(C) Many United States citizens included in the 1980 survey would be also included in a survey conducted in the year 2000
(D) Surveys that are improperly designed usually provide inaccurate results.
(E) In 1980 sixty-five percent of all United States citizens were over the age of sixteen.
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jainu
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Re: According to a 1980 survey, ten percent of all United States [#permalink] New post   21 Mar 2009, 04:18
B it is...
I eliminated it to A and B. Now A actually carries no signficance because it does not weaken the conclusion because it does not talk about the specific age group(above sixteen). Hence B...
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Re: According to a 1980 survey, ten percent of all United States [#permalink] New post   27 Mar 2009, 06:13
IMO B.

if the pattern does not follow, conclusion will not perpetuate from pattern.
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Re: According to a 1980 survey, ten percent of all United States [#permalink] New post   27 Mar 2009, 09:11
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Yes, certainly should be B here. We can see from B that illiteracy has already been trending downward leading up to 1980; this suggests that the illiteracy rate is not constant, and that there is no reason to expect a 10% illiteracy rate in twenty years.
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Re: According to a 1980 survey, ten percent of all United States [#permalink] New post   27 Mar 2009, 15:22
IanStewart wrote:
Yes, certainly should be B here. We can see from B that illiteracy has already been trending downward leading up to 1980; this suggests that the illiteracy rate is not constant, and that there is no reason to expect a 10% illiteracy rate in twenty years.


While I agree that other choices do no make sense, this one needs us to estimate what happens in 20 years based on last 5 years. Even if the downward trend is true (as said in the gmat Q's) it does not necessarily mean that the trend in the 20 years will NOT remain constant. Who know? huh?
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Re: According to a 1980 survey, ten percent of all United States [#permalink] New post   27 Mar 2009, 15:57
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icandy wrote:
IanStewart wrote:
Yes, certainly should be B here. We can see from B that illiteracy has already been trending downward leading up to 1980; this suggests that the illiteracy rate is not constant, and that there is no reason to expect a 10% illiteracy rate in twenty years.


While I agree that other choices do no make sense, this one needs us to estimate what happens in 20 years based on last 5 years. Even if the downward trend is true (as said in the gmat Q's) it does not necessarily mean that the trend in the 20 years will NOT remain constant. Who know? huh?


Bear in mind that we only need to weaken the conclusion - that is, cast some doubt on its validity. We don't need to do anything nearly as strong as disproving the argument. If the literacy rate hasn't been constant over the last five years, then it's reasonable to think that the rate could be quite different in twenty years. The projection in the argument assumes a constant literacy rate; if the literacy rate is not constant, the projection isn't likely to be correct. As you say, there's no way to be sure what the literacy rate will be in twenty years - the 25 million may turn out to be correct after all - but we have more reason to doubt that if we know that B is true.
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Re: According to a 1980 survey, ten percent of all United States [#permalink] New post   25 May 2023, 14:58
Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

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Re: According to a 1980 survey, ten percent of all United States [#permalink]
25 May 2023, 14:58
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