Researchers agreed that the study of new treatments for

Question

Researchers agreed that the study of new treatments for heart attack patients was extremely important but  more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with ultrasound was or was not any better for heart attack patients than  the balloon procedure by itself.

A. more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with ultrasound was or was not any better for heart attack patients than

B. more research was needed for determining whether or not balloon angioplasty preceded by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than is

C. that more research was needed to determine whether balloon angioplasty preceded by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than

D. that more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with ultrasound was any better for heart attack patients than

E. that more research was needed for determining that balloon angioplasty preceded by ultrasound is or is not any better for heart attack patients than is

Ferihere · Answer

C seems good except the word 'that' in the begining.

I would chose C, (though I was hesitating between B and C)

Fistail · Answer

C is it. for llism and proper use of whether.......

bkk145 · Answer

C looks best for clarity.
I don't see anything with A, but C is clear.

younggun044 · Answer

Well guys and gals......i do not see any reasoning explainations for the answers. Not currently giving OA....since it might be wrong, as currently nobody has opted it (neither did I). But evrybody needs explainations to make sure correct logic is applied for choosing best answer.

b14kumar · Answer

In my opinion, "that" is not required after "but".

 I agree that GMAT is a hard nut to crack but practice can make you crack it. 

 I agree that GMAT is a hard nut to crack but  that  practice can make you crack it. 


Between A and B, I would choose B.

- Brajesh

dkverma · Answer

Only C looks correct to me. But I don't think 'that' is required in the beginning.

FN · Answer

C for me too

the idiom is to determine...

that...but ..that is needed to make it parallel

GMATBLACKBELT · Answer

I pick C.

I don't agree w/ "that" at the begining, but its the best otherwise.

A: was or was not is wordy. Placement of whether in the sentence near the begining as in C, would have made this sentence better.

B: whether this is the OA, use of "whether or not" is not permitted on the GMAT so this choice is out.

D: use of was all over this SC caused me to rule it out.
E: is or is not is wordy. why use this wordy awkward structure when whether establishes whether something is or isn't much better.

kaleoncheng · Answer

I go for C

"was or was not any better for heart attack patients than"

Regardless of the ambiguity of "was or was not", this part of the sentence has to be in present tense. This might not be very clear with the verb "to be", but if you replace "to be" with "to work", this becomes much clearer.

"more research was needed to determine that angioplasty worked better for heart patients" (?) - WRONG

"more research was needed to determine that angioplasty works better for heart patients - MUCH BETTER

This rules out A and D

B and E can be ruled out simply because of bad idiom: needed for determining, WRONG, the idiom is "need TO determine"

That leaves C as the correct answer.

What is OA?

pmenon · Answer

C ... my reason has been covered by the other brilliant folks on here.

I think you need "that" to make the sense of the sentence be clearly understood.

younggun044 · Answer

well my set shows answer "A" as OA. But i think "C" is correct.
OA can be wrong.

beckee529 · Answer

I believe the OA is wrong too. Also agreed that C is the clear choice.

singh_amit19 · Answer

I still don't understand why we need "that" after "but" as "but" is doing the required job by qualifying the previous sentence! 

Just a thought........"but" & "that" together seem redundant to me! 

Opinions please!

b14kumar · Answer

As I stated before, I really don't see the need of "that" after "but".
IMO, choice is between A and B and I like B better than A.
"  preceded with  " in A is not correct idiom. 
"  preceded by  " is the correct idiom.

And ofcourse, "to determine" in A is better than "for determining" in B. But "for determining" is not wrong.

hence I still go with B.

- Brajesh

Researchers agreed that the study of new treatments for

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