The fifties, for all their advertised conformity, now appear to have

Definetly a Hard One:

The fifties are plural, appear should be without an s and in a plural form,

B, D and E are OUT because they use a singular form of appears.

A uses the present prefect because of now and indicates an Action that started in the past and continuing in the present,

A is the correct Answer.

Remember, it is compared with "a time", not times.

So The fifties has to be singular.

The fifties, for all their advertised conformity, now appear to have been a time of considerable achievement in the arts.

(A) for all their advertised conformity, now appear to have been
(B) despite all their advertised conformity, now appear to be
(C) for all their advertised conformity, now appear that they were
(D) despite all their advertised conformity, now appears as
(E) with all advertised conformity, now appears

Some thoughts:

Use of fifties:
See the following sentences from google:
Before the Pill, before mass immigration and long before globalization, the Fifties were a time of relative innocence.
=> Fifties were=> Fifties is a plural noun when it means number of years.
On one hand, the Fifties were ten years of conformity, of fitting in, of mass consumerism, growing corporate power and reflexive patriotism
=> Again, fifties were.

Conclusion: "Fifties" is a plural noun.

DESPITE:
Despite is used to express contrast. Example:
Despite the rough weather, she came on time.
=> So, the use of despite is incorrect in the given sentence. It changes the meaning of the sentence.

"They were a time" is redundant in C.

So, answer is A.

Could someone please explain why the above logic does not apply? If "the fifties" is being referred to as a plural noun here then the later part of the sentence should read "... now appear to have been times of considerable achievement in the arts."

I usually nail SC this one definitely did not strike me as consistent with the GMAT, do we know the source?

I couldn't agree more. This source seems way too dubious and the logic of answers aren't quite satisfactory.

First -- The fifties was a period. (A timeframe so singular but the number of days or months is plural?? Debatable)
Second -- The fifties WAS a period. ( It's in the past.)

I find it easier to rule out based on Timeframe rather than singular/plural on this question.

The fifties, for all their advertised conformity, now appear to have been a time of considerable achievement in the arts.

(A) for all their advertised conformity, now appear to have been
CORRECT
(B) despite all their advertised conformity, now appear to be
Now appear to be? So, previously they didn't have considerable achievement in the arts? Senseless.
(C) for all their advertised conformity, now appear that they were
This is wordy -- now appear that they were. Now appear that -- is non-idiomatic. I suppose its an old type of question not the new styled of GMAT question.
(D) despite all their advertised conformity, now appears as
This changes the meaning because appears as is an idiom used to describe something contrasting what is expected. But that was not the intended meaning here. Second problem here is appears is plural verb and their is plural subject
(E) with all advertised conformity, now appears
Notice E also changes meaning. Replacing For all with With all has a subtle shift in meaning. For all has a meaning similar to although or even though but with all means JUST with everything without any contrats.

I am afraid there are no two verbs; appear is the only verb that actions the subject ‘the fifties’; ‘to have’ is an infinitive and just a verbal

(A) for all their advertised conformity, now appear to have been
(B) despite all their advertised conformity, now appears to be
(C) for all their advertised conformity, now appear that they were
(D) despite all their advertised conformity, now appears as
(E) with all their advertised conformity, now appears

All the answer options have "their" in them so "fifties" is considered plural here.

This is frankly not a good question. What the sentence is trying to convey is the notion that the fifties, as a period, now appears to be. I respectfully disagree with other posts that suggest that fifties is taking on the 'years' meaning here.

Why do we use the word "for" here. It doesnt make sense to me. Shouldnt a word like "despite" be a better fit?

This was a confusing sentence.

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