Sager wrote:
Recently, professional wild berry pickers have noticed a serious reduction in the total volume of wild berries they harvest each summer. This is due in large part to the increase in tourism in the area: each spring, many amateur birdwatchers and wildlife aficionados come to the area, and, as they move through the fields, they pick berries which are not yet fully ripe.
Which of the following regulatory actions would be most likely to increase the harvests of professional wild berry pickers?
A. Prohibiting tourists from picking wild berries until the end of the spring
B. Using repellants on the wild berries, so that they have a sour taste
C. Placing a limit on the number of berries tourists are allowed to pick
D. Placing a limit on the period in which professional wild berry pickers can pick berries
E. Restricting access to the area during the spring and summer months to only professional wild berry pickers
Dear
Sager,
I'm happy to respond.
I don't know the source, but I am not impressed at all with this question. Here's my analysis.
A. Prohibiting tourists from picking wild berries until the end of the springThis is too good to be a wrong answer. If the OA did not exist, this conceivably could be a right answer. Too plausible for an incorrect answer on the CR. On the GMAT, there's a clear reason why each incorrect answer is wrong.
B. Using repellants on the wild berries, so that they have a sour tasteHmm. Then it might be that no one could use them. Presumably the "
professional wild berry pickers" would not want them then.
C. Placing a limit on the number of berries tourists are allowed to pickAgain, plausible, especially if the number is low. Too plausible for an incorrect answer.
D. Placing a limit on the period in which professional wild berry pickers can pick berriesIncorrect: limits the wrong group.
E. Restricting access to the area during the spring and summer months to only professional wild berry pickersHoly Toledo!! That's completely draconian!! Why not simply shoot any tourist who dares to come the region?? Yes, we certainly can get a clear answer if we impose an over-the-top extreme solution, but (a) this is not realistic at all, and (b) this does not have the subtle feel of the official CR questions. This has a kind of sledgehammer clarity to it, much more heavy-handed than the GMAT would be.
I write GMAT practice questions professionally. As a question writer, I would give this particular question a grade of a
D.
Here's a high quality GMAT CR practice question:
Violent felonies in DismastonDoes all this make sense?
Mike
_________________
Mike McGarry
Magoosh Test PrepEducation is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. — William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)