Researchers agreed that the study of new treatments for heart attack p

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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 When presenting a choice (better or not), "whether" should be used and not "that". Since it is talking about a general truth (better or not), simple present "is" should be used and not "was". Eliminate.

(B) more research was needed for determining whether or not balloon angioplasty preceded by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than is "to determine" is the correct idiom, not "for determining". The "is" at the end is redundant since we already have "is any better...". Eliminate.

(C) that more research was needed to determine whether balloon angioplasty preceded by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than Correct answer. Tense and idiomatic errors have been corrected and no new errors have been introduced.

(D) that more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with ultrasound was any better for heart attack patients than Same errors as in (A). Eliminate.

(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 "that" followed by "is or is not" is too wordy. A better construction is simply using "whether...is". Eliminate.

Hope this helps.

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 -> But hints a parallelism. Let's check, "that the study..." is not parallel to "more research was...". Incorrect.

(B) more research was needed for determining whether or not balloon angioplasty preceded by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than is -> Same as A.

(C) that more research was needed to determine whether balloon angioplasty preceded by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than -> Parallelism error is corrected. Tense agreement, "was needed" is also correct. Finally, "whether" makes sense too as ultrasound is better or not. Let's keep it.

(D) that more research was needed to determine that balloon angioplasty preceded with ultrasound was any better for heart attack patients than -> "preceded with ultrasound" is incorrect.

(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 -> "for determining" is incorrect, we have more error in this option.

So, I think C.

EducationAisle VeritasKarishma GMATNinja egmat


Shouldn't we need is before "the balloon procedure by itself." If one assumes a for before the phrase "the balloon procedure by its self" one would read the comparison between "for heart attack patients" and "for the balloon procedure by itself" which of course is illogical

Yep...and because this interpretation is illogical, the only logical interpretation is:

...whether balloon angioplasty preceded by ultrasound is any better for heart attack patients than (is) the balloon procedure by itself.

The verb is is implied after than.

Hi Experts,

I get really confused about the usage of idioms such as for determing or to determine. I am not sure when to use for and to and I end up making mistakes. Please help, my exam is in 2 days.

Thanks a lot

Hello, ankitapugalia. I understand feelings of uncertainty surrounding particular grammatical, idiomatic, or semantic issues. We all encounter grey areas from time to time, even if we would not like to admit it. Regarding idioms, though, the modern exam is much more likely to present other considerations in the different answer choices that will allow you to make a more informed decision, so you should not worry too much about idioms that fall into this side camp. Case in point: this question can be answered correctly without even thinking about the split you have identified. (In fact, I came across this very question in my own studies on 7 February, and I answered in 21 seconds.) Look again at the question. I will remove the idiomatic split to point out other concerns.

A quick look at each of the options other than the correct one reveals redundancies or grammatical problems. Preceded by is the passive form of the verb to precede—to precede with does not make sense, since with is used to indicate accompaniment, while precede means to come before. Answer choices (A) and (D) can be dropped from contention. The former also uses a redundant and implied or was not. The question is whether something is better, a comparison, than something else, so the or need not be mentioned explicitly. Answer choice (E) suffers from the same problem, while (B) adds or not to whether. Again, since nothing is known for certain, or not is implied. Notice how answer choice (C) avoids all these issues. Furthermore, we do not even have to worry about that at the beginning of the underlined portion. Whenever you see easier targets, go for those before you fixate on something that makes you doubt yourself. SC will go much more smoothly for you, and your performance will improve.

At this point in your preparation, you should not be looking to make last-minute fixes. Just relax as much as you can, reinforce your methods for taking on each type of question, and, if possible, get your mind off the test.

Good luck.

- Andrew

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