CR Strengthen Series: 2) Automobile Collectors Recently, automobile collectors have been especially interested in 1960s, and early 1970s American muscle cars, and particularly those from 1969, and 1970. This clear preference highlights a certain shift in taste on the part of many serious collectors to favor particularly rare models that were iconic when new.
Which one of the following, if true, most strongly supports the observed shift in taste described above?
Ⓐ During the 1980s, a similar shift occurred within the classic car collector market wherein American muscle cars from the 1960s and 1970s were highly coveted.
Ⓑ As time has passed, a growing and substantial proportion of serious automobile collectors are those who were exposed to late 1960’s and 1970s American muscle cars as young adults.
Ⓒ Recently, the collector automobile market in general has undergone an unprecedented surge in popularity.
Ⓓ During the 1960s and 1970s, the prices of American muscle cars often exceeded the prices of other cars that are currently popular among collectors.
Ⓔ American muscle cars of the late 1960s and early 1970s started to garner significant interest by serious collectors over two decades ago.
Official Explanation:Question Type: Strengthen
Boil It Down (Simplified & Abbreviated Summary of the Prompt): Shift in taste -> Surge in iconic muscle car interest
Missing Information (assumption): Proof of causality. A shift in taste is what caused the surge in interest for iconic muscle cars
Goal: Look for an option that reinforces the idea there is a shift in taste in the marketplaceⒶ Irrelevant. Other shifts in taste are outside of the argument's logical focus. Whether there were OTHER similar shifts in taste in the past has no logical strengthening effect on an argument about THIS shift.Ⓑ Yes! This option provides evidence of an evolving marketplace that would have a reason to favor American muscle cars: there has been an apparent generational shift in the market. If a growing and SUBSTANTIAL proportion of the collector marketplace were exposed to American muscle cars as young adults, it would provide logical force to the idea that there is indeed a shift in taste in the market as a whole. Now, is this a slam dunk case for the argument though? No, but we’re not asked to PROVE the observation, but rather we’re asked to select the option that provides the best SUPPORT for the claim that that a shift in taste is responsible. This option does exactly that.
Ⓒ Irrelevant. This option offers no support to the claim that a shift in taste is responsible for the boost in American muscle car popularity. Whether the entire market is increasing, decreasing, or remains the same size doesn’t impact the fact that there is a documented boost in popularity in favor of American muscle cars.
Ⓓ Irrelevant. The pricing of the cars WHEN THEY WERE NEW has absolutely no relevance to the collector automobile market TODAY. American muscle cars could have been twice the price of other cars when new, and that wouldn’t reinforce why there would be a recent shift in taste in favor of American muscle cars today.
Ⓔ Also irrelevant. Precisely when the shift in taste began in no way backs up the that claim that the cause behind the shift is a CHANGE IN TASTE on the part of the marketplace. We don't need support that the shift has happen. That's a documented fact. We need support that a change in marketplace taste is responsible for the shift, and that's exactly what option B does. There’s a good GMAT CR lesson here. In official GMAT Strengthen or Weaken questions, sometimes the right option does not deliver a decisive piece of information, but rather in the case of a Strengthen question, something that lends support to the claim rather than a smoking gun.
The Kurion question in the 2015
GMAT Official Guide is a good example of that (
excavation-of-the-ancient-city-of-kourion-on-the-island-of-79679.html). With the correct option, just because the same year that the earthquake occurred appears to be the point at which these coins were minted doesn’t definitively prove that the earthquake brought about the end of the city, but it definitively provides the most compelling supporting for the argument.
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Updated on: 13 Aug 2019, 22:20
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