Professor: Neither good study habits nor innate intelligence is enough

Question

Professor:  Neither good study habits nor innate intelligence is enough alone to ensure a student's good performance in the economics class; to guarantee success, a student needs both. Good study habits are useless if the student lacks the ability to grasp concepts in class and discern which information to research, and innate intelligence cannot guarantee good performance unless regularly exercised and applied through organized and diligent study methods.

Choose one statement that must be true, and one statement that must be false, based on the professor's statements above.

Bismuth83 · Answer

1. We are asked to  find which statements must be true or false or neither .

2. Let's look at the possible answers:

-  A student will have poor performance in the economics class without both good study habits and innate intelligence.  The text states that both factors will ensure good performance, which means that not having both doesn't necessarily mean that a student will have good or poor performance.   This statement is neither.

-  A student cannot have good performance in the economics class without good study habits.  Same with the other statement, not having one of the factors doesn't necessarily give good or bad performance.   This statement is neither.

-  If a student has the ability to grasp concepts in class, then that student may be able to achieve good performance as long as she applies regular and diligent study methods.  Here, if the student has both factors, then this ensures good performance and may be possible.   This statement must be true.

-  A student is guaranteed good performance in the economics class as long as that student has the abilities to both grasp concepts in class and discern which information to research.  They're ensured good performance, however, it isn't 100% or guaranteed.   This statement must be false.

-  There are at least some students with innate intelligence who achieve good performance without regular study habits.  Here, not having both factors doesn't necessarily mean that a student will have good or poor performance. So, there could be some students that have good performance this way, or not.   This statement is neither.

Krovi18 · Answer

This is kinda confusing, can someone explain

Bismuth83 · Answer

Hello! Which part is confusing for you?

miag · Answer

hi can you explain a bit more on how you have inferred the it doesnt mean there is good or poor performance part...didnt understand..

cheshire · Answer

What the professor actually says 
 
 “Neither good study habits nor innate intelligence alone is enough to ensure good performance.” In logic‐speak, good habits by themselves = MAYBE good performance, but not guaranteed; innate intelligence by itself = MAYBE good performance, but not guaranteed. 
 Only both together guarantee success.  
 Why you cannot infer “poor performance” 
 
 Just because A = “not guaranteed success” 
 It does not follow that “not guaranteed success” = “guaranteed failure.”  
 Why “A student will have poor performance...” is too strong 
 
 “Poor performance” is a strong claim: it says that if you lack either good habits or innate intelligence, you will do badly. 
 The professor only claimed you can’t be sure to do well; he did not claim you must do poorly.

srik410 · Answer

Neither good study habits nor innate intelligence is enough alone to ensure a student's good performance in the economics class; to  guarantee success , a student needs both. Good study habits are useless if the student lacks the ability to grasp concepts in class and discern which information to research, and innate intelligence cannot guarantee good performance unless regularly exercised and applied through organized and diligent study methods.

Say H represents good study habits and I represents intelligence, then
First bold is equivalent to sufficiency ie   H and I -> P  (good performance)

1) A student will have poor performance in the economics class without both good study habits and innate intelligence.
This is saying not H and not I -> P. This is incorrect because if you say A->B, you can infer B only if A. If not A does not say anything about B. So this is vague and says nothing

2) A student cannot have good performance in the economics class without good study habits.
Says not H -> not P Same as above, even more vague than 1

3) If a student has the ability to grasp concepts in class, then that student may be able to achieve good performance as long as she applies regular and diligent study methods.
Says if I and H, then maybe P. We know H and I -> P. A loose version of this is If H and I then maybe P, the loose version is true always

4) A student is guaranteed good performance in the economics class as long as that student has the abilities to both grasp concepts in class and discern which information to research.
Says I -> P. Note that the "and" above is tricky. It just refers to Intelligence in both, nothing is said about habits. Both grasping concepts and discerning info are traits of intelligence. In addition, I also think "guarantee success" and "ensure good performance" are the same thing.  Bismuth83  can disambiguate here.

Anyway, this is always false because we need both I and H to guarantee, either one is not sufficient.

5) There are at least some students with innate intelligence who achieve good performance without regular study habits.
Vague. There can be some scenarios where there are no students fitting that description. So, this can neither be "must be true" or "must be false"

haianh · Answer

Professor:  Neither good study habits nor innate intelligence is enough alone to ensure a student's good performance in the economics class;  to guarantee success ,  a student needs both . Good study habits are useless if the student lacks the  ability to grasp concepts in class and discern which information to research  (1), and innate intelligence cannot guarantee good performance unless  regularly exercised and applied through organized and diligent study methods  (2).

Summary: 
To guarantee success, a student needs:
(1) Innate intelligence: ability to grasp concepts + discern which information to research;
(2) Good study habits: regularly exercised + applied through organized and diligent study methods.

C: If a student has both (1) and (2), that student may achieve good performance. ( Always true )
D: If a student has only (1), that student is guaranteed good performance. (Missing condition 2 –  always false )

Professor: Neither good study habits nor innate intelligence is enough

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Must be true	Must be false	Statements
		A student will have poor performance in the economics class without both good study habits and innate intelligence.
		A student cannot have good performance in the economics class without good study habits.
		If a student has the ability to grasp concepts in class, then that student may be able to achieve good performance as long as she applies regular and diligent study methods.
		A student is guaranteed good performance in the economics class as long as that student has the abilities to both grasp concepts in class and discern which information to research.
		There are at least some students with innate intelligence who achieve good performance without regular study habits.

GMAT Two-part Analysis (TPA) Questions

Professor: Neither good study habits nor innate intelligence is enough

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My Rewards