Rap artists had trouble breaking into the daily rotation of videos on

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION





• QUICK POE

→ Split #1: gained vs. had been gaining

Options A, B, C, and D incorrectly use the simple past tense gained.
For several years indicates duration. The event was not one and done.
Furthermore, their exposure happened before the artists encountered difficulty breaking into TV music video stations' rotations.

We need a verb that both indicates an event prior in time and one that endured for a period of time.
The best verb tense to capture this situation is past perfect continuous: had been gaining.

Eliminate options A, B, C, and D.
(Option C also contains the error exposure . . . with radio charts and record stores. "Exposure with" is not idiomatic or logical in this context.

By POE, the answer is E.

• more in depth analysis

THE PROMPT

• Meaning?
Although rap artists had been gaining exposure on radio charts and in record stores for several years in the 1980s, they had a hard time getting exposure on music video television channels.

• Strategy: pay attention to splits, especially 4-1 splits.

As you scan these answer choices, you will not find many differences among the sentences.

Despite the fact that and even though might tempt you.
Resist the siren call of this split on the first pass.
Quite a few official questions use the words although, even though, and despite the fact that in different options.
(Although and even though are interchangeable.)

Typically, the correct answer will contain although or even though because both are more concise than despite the fact that. Nonetheless, do not eliminate options on the basis of style until you have exhausted all other options (grammar, meaning, logic, parallelism, etc.).

Four of these options contain the verb gained, in simple past tense.
One option contains the verb had been gaining, in the past perfect continuous tense.

And there is your 4-1 split.
The four options that use gained are inferior to the option that uses had been gaining.

• the signals: a sentence that talks about the past and that uses the phrase "for several years."
→ This sentence describes two past events, one of which occurred before the other.
The artists' exposure on record charts and in music stores preceded their struggle to break into rotation of television music channels.

→ The later-in-time event is described in the nonunderlined portion with the simple past tense verb phrase had trouble.
→ The artists exposure in radio lineups and in record stores, the earlier in time event, was not a one-time deal.
Events that occur FOR a period of time are ongoing for at least that time period and typically require a continuous (progressive) tense.

So how do we signal an event that both preceded another past event and that "kept going" for a period of time?
We use the past perfect continuous verb tense: the artists had been gaining exposure for several years.

Past perfect continuous is constructed this way:
HAD BEEN + present participle (verbING)

Past perfect continuous:
1) signals an event that began in the past, continued for a period of time in the past, and ended in the past;
2) often accompanies [FOR + TIME] and [SINCE date / time period].
→ Rain had already been pummeling the city for weeks when the first hurricane hit.
→ Alarmingly frequent heavy rainstorms had already been pummeling the city since early August when the hurricane finally hit.

• despite / despite the fact that / even though

→ Despite is a preposition that must be followed by a noun or noun phrase.
Despite his cynicism about politics, he joined the progressive candidate's campaign.

→ Despite the fact that ← We can add "the fact that" after the word "despite" if we need or want a subject and verb to follow. (The subject and verb go in the that-clause.)
Despite the fact that he was cynical about politics, he joined the progressive candidate's campaign.

→ Even though is a subordinating conjunction (as is although), both of which are more formal and concise than the "despite the fact that" construction.
Even though he was cynical about politics, he joined the progressive candidate's campaign.

Almost always, the shorter construction is preferred.
When the expressions of contrast are as similar as they are in this question, leave those subtleties until the end.
In this case, you will not even have to consider those words.

• THE OPTIONS
Options A, B, and D are nearly indistinguishable.
(Option C uses the unidiomatic "exposure . . . with," but in all other respects, option C, too, is nearly indistinguishable from the others.)
The verb gained in all four is problematic.

Simple past tense gained does not fit with "for several years" as well as had been gaining does.
Simple past tense gained also fails to convey an ongoing event or process that preceded the artists' trouble breaking into television.

-- Finally, even though is almost always preferred to despite the fact that.
-- Suspect: Despite the fact that is almost never preferred to even though. The latter is shorter and more polished.
-- we need had been gaining, not gained

A) despite the fact that they gained exposure on radio charts and in record stores for several years.

B) even though for several years they gained exposure on radio charts and in record stores.
-- we need had been gaining, not gained

C) despite the fact that these artists gained exposure for several years with radio charts and record stores.

D) despite the fact that for several years these artists gained exposure on radio charts and in record stores.

E) even though these artists had been gaining exposure on radio charts and in record stores for several years

The best answer is E.

COMMENTS

From a strategy standpoint, this question is instructive.
GMAT writers rarely hand you a 4-1 split unless they know that the split will rattle you.

The split does seem strange.
Why are four of the options so similar?
After you ask yourself that question, ask this one: Am I missing a "big ticket" item as I try to find significant differences between these options A, B, C, and D and find few?

4-1 splits are rare but not unheard of.
The posters here handled the split with confidence.
(As questions get harder, you will see fewer "easy" splits. I have a theory (which, at the moment, is impressionistic only) that GMAT writers have made it more difficult to find clean "splits" than they did before.

Do look for splits. They are the fastest way out of almost all SC questions.

Kudos for analysis or bravery or both.
sivatx2 , I am bumping you to Best Community Reply.