Shipping Clerk: The five specially ordered shipments sent out last wee

Question

Shipping Clerk: The five specially ordered shipments sent out last week were sent out on Thursday. Last week, all of the shipments that were sent out on Friday consisted entirely of building supplies, and the shipping department then closed for the weekend. Four shipments were sent to Truax Construction last week, only three of which consisted of building supplies.

If the shipping clerk’s statements are true, which of the following must also be true?

A. At least one of the shipments sent to Truax Construction last week was specially ordered.

B. At least one of last week’s specially ordered shipments did not consist of building supplies.

C. At least one of the shipments sent to Truax Construction was not sent out on Thursday of last week.

D. At least one of the shipments that were sent out on Friday of last week was sent to Truax Construction.

E. At least one of the shipments sent to Truax Construction last week was sent out before Friday.

KarishmaB · Accepted Answer

Responding to a pm:

Focus on each statement of the argument and ensure that you understand what it does and doesn't imply.

The five specially ordered shipments sent out last week were sent out on Thursday. 
- Last week, there were 5 specially ordered shipments. These were all sent out on Thursday. It is possible that some other shipments were also sent out on Thursday.

Last week, all of the shipments that were sent out on Friday consisted entirely of building supplies,
- All Friday shipments were building supplies. No other shipments were sent on Friday but it is possible that some building supplies were sent on some other day.

Four shipments were sent to Truax Construction last week, only three of which consisted of building supplies.
3 building supplies shipments could have been sent on Friday or before. The other shipment could have been sent on any day from Monday to Thursday. (All Friday shipments were building supplies so the fourth shipment was certainly not sent on Friday). From this, we can say that E is correct.

GMATNinja · Answer

Here's what we know from the statements:

Five specially ordered shipments were sent out last week. All five of those shipments were sent out on Thursday of last week. Thus, we know that no special shipments were sent out any other day besides Thursday of last week. 
 "All of the shipments that were sent out on Friday consisted entirely of building supplies." Notice that this does not necessarily mean that building supplies were not sent out on any other day besides Friday. It simply means that there were no other shipments sent out on Friday besides building supply shipments. 
 The shipping department was closed on the weekend. 
 "Four shipments were sent to Truax Construction last week." Three of those four shipments consisted of building supplies.

If all of these statements are true which of the following must be true?

We know that three of the four shipments sent to Truax Construction consisted of building supplies. Those three shipments could have been sent on Friday, but they also could have been shipped on any other weekday, including Thursday. The fourth shipment also could have been shipped on Thursday (or on any other weekday except for Friday). It is possible that Truax received a special order on Thursday, but we cannot know for sure. Eliminate (A).

We know that one of the shipments sent to Truax did not consist of building supplies, but we do not know whether that shipment was sent on Thursday and, thus, whether it was a special order. Eliminate (B).

We know that all the shipments sent out on Friday consisted of building supplies. However, we do not know whether building supply shipments were sent out on any other weekday besides Friday. Thus, it is possible that  all  of Truax's shipments were sent out on Thursday, so choice (C) does not have to be true.

As described for choice (C), it is possible that all of Truax's shipments were sent out on Thursday. Thus, choice (D) does not have to be true.

We know that one of the shipments sent to Truax did not consist of building supplies. Since "all of the shipments that were sent out on Friday consisted entirely of building supplies," we know that one of the shipments sent to Truax was not shipped on Friday. Thus, choice (E) must be true.

Choice (E) is the best answer.

kys123 · Answer

100% E and OA is E

Since we know that 1 of the box wasn't building material that means one of the box was not sent on Friday. The reason is all the boxes sent on Friday was building material. Also, no shipment afterward Friday, so it has to be before Friday.

honchos · Answer

C is the OA.

PASSAGE ANALYSIS

Comcorp Shipping Clerk: Last week, no shipments of building supplies were sent out on Friday.
This statement tells us that Comcorp did not send out any shipments of building supplies on Friday last week. So, it could have sent out shipments of other supplies on Friday—but none of the Friday shipments consisted of building supplies.
The five specially ordered shipments sent out last week were sent out on Thursday, and each of those specially ordered shipments consisted entirely of building supplies.
This statement tells us that there were only five shipments sent out last week that were specially ordered. The use of ‘the’ before ‘five specially ordered shipments’ tells us that there were no more than five specially ordered shipments sent last week. These five shipments were all of building supplies and were all sent on Thursday.
Four shipments were sent to Truax Construction last week, none of which consisted of building supplies.
This part tells us that Comcorp sent four shipments to its customer, Truax Construction, last week. None of Truax’s shipments consisted of building supplies.
PRE-THINKING

If the shipping clerk’s statements are true, which of the following must also be true?
The question stem asks us to identify a statement that can be inferred from the given information.
First, let’s identify all the information given in the passage about shipments sent by Comcorp last week.
No building supplies were sent on Friday.
All five specially ordered shipments were sent on Thursday, and all five consisted only of building supplies.
Four shipments were sent to Truax, and none of these consisted of building supplies.
What can we derive from this information? First, from (2), we can infer that there were no special orders sent out last week for shipments other than building supplies. We can also infer from this statement that there were no specially ordered shipments sent on any day last week other than Thursday.
Also, from the information given about Truax, we can infer that no specially ordered shipment was sent to Truax last week, since none of its shipments consisted of building supplies, and all the specially ordered shipments consisted of building supplies.
ANALYSIS OF OPTION STATEMENTS

A. All of Comcorp’s shipments of building supplies last week were specially ordered.
This option is incorrect. The passage says that all five specially ordered shipments sent last week consisted of building supplies. This does not mean that only five shipments of building supplies were sent last week. Other shipments of building supplies that were not specially ordered could have been sent last week.
B. None of Comcorp’s shipments sent on Friday of last week was sent to Truax Construction.
This option is incorrect. The only information given in the passage about Friday is that none of Friday’s shipments consisted of building supplies. Since none of the shipments sent to Truax last week consisted of building supplies, one or more of other shipments could have been sent to Truax on Friday.
C. None of the shipments sent by Comcorp to Truax Construction last week was specially ordered.
We know from the passage that all five specially ordered shipments sent last week were for building supplies. Since none of the four orders sent to Truax consisted of building supplies, it can correctly be derived from the passage that none of the specially ordered shipments was sent to Truax. This is the correct answer.
D. None of Comcorp’s shipments sent on Thursday of last week was sent to Truax Construction.
This option is incorrect. The passage does not tell us how many shipments were sent on Thursday. All five specially ordered shipments, which consisted of building supplies, were sent on Thursday. But there could also have been other shipments sent on Thursday that were not specially ordered, and one or more of these could have been sent to Truax.
E. All of Comcorp’s shipments of building supplies last week were sent out on Thursday.
This option is incorrect. We know from the passage that all five specially ordered shipments sent last week were sent on Thursday, and that all of these five shipments consisted of building supplies. This does not mean that only five shipments of building supplies were sent on Thursday. Other shipments of building supplies that were not specially ordered could have been sent on Thursday.

Courtsey: e-gmat

Sikder · Answer

Kindly request a systematic way for solving this question. Also a detailed explanation of the answer choices please. Thank You.

sayantanc2k · Answer

Premise: Four shipments were sent to Truax Construction (TC) last week, only three of which consisted of building supplies... (1)
Inference from (1): Exactly one shipment to TC did not consist of building supplies - Name this shipment X .... (2)

Premise: all of the shipments that were sent out on Friday consisted entirely of building supplies.. (3)
Conclusion from (2) ad (3): Shipment X was not among the shipments sent on Friday... (4).

(4) leads to option E: shipment X was sent before Friday.

gmatexam439 · Answer

My answer: E (Awaiting OA)

Shipping Clerk: The five specially ordered shipments sent out last week were sent out on Thursday. Last week, all of the shipments that were sent out on Friday consisted entirely of building supplies, and the shipping department then closed for the weekend. Four shipments were sent to Truax Construction last week, only three of which consisted of building supplies.

If the shipping clerk’s statements are true, which of the following must also be true?

A. At least one of the shipments sent to Truax Construction last week was specially ordered. - We don't know this from the passage. We are just told that 3 building and 1 other shipment were sent to Traux. 
B. At least one of last week’s specially ordered shipments did not consist of building supplies. - We don't know this either. We are NOT told that all the building supplies were shipped on friday. We are just told that on friday all the shipments were building supplies. 
C. At least one of the shipments sent to Truax Construction was not sent out on Thursday of last week. - We don't know this either. Maybe all the 4 were sent out on thursday. 
D. At least one of the shipments that were sent out on Friday of last week was sent to Truax Construction. - We just know that on friday all the shipments consisted of building supplies. We are not told that all the building supplies were shipped on friday. 
E. At least one of the shipments sent to Truax Construction last week was sent out before Friday. - Correct.

nomoregmat2020 · Answer

Correct answer: E. At least one of the shipments sent to Truax Construction last week was sent out before Friday.

Of TC's four shipments, three were building supplies. Because  entire  shipments sent out on Friday were building supplies, one of TC's shipments that was not building supply must have shipped NOT on Friday, or before Friday.

Raman109 · Answer

Argument analysis
The five specially ordered shipments (SoS) sent out last week were sent out on Thursday. -  Five SoS sent out last Thursday. It doesn't say that only SoS were sent out on Thursday, so it's possible that some non-SoS may also have been sent on Thursday.  
Last week, all of the shipments sent out on Friday consisted entirely of building supplies -  Friday ONLY building materials and no other materials. 
The shipping department then closed for the weekend - weekend no shipments.  
Four shipments were sent to Truax Construction last week, only three of which consisted of building supplies. -  3 building materials may or may not have been sent on Friday (maybe they were sent on Thursday), but one non-building material has to go any day before Friday, as Friday is only building materials

Option elimination

A. At least one of the shipments sent to Truax Construction last week was specially ordered. We don't know. Might-be-true type of wrong option.

B. At least one of last week’s specially ordered shipments did not consist of building supplies. We don't know. Might-be-true type of wrong option.

C. At least one of the shipments sent to Truax Construction was not sent out on Thursday of last week. We don't know. Might-be-true type of wrong option.

D. At least one of the shipments that were sent out on Friday of last week was sent to Truax Construction. We don't know. Might-be-true type of wrong option.

E. At least one of the shipments sent to Truax Construction last week was sent out before Friday. 100% correct per the argument analysis.

iamjatinagrawal · Answer

A. At least one of the shipments sent to Truax Construction last week was specially ordered.

Four shipments were sent to Truax Construction last week but we don't know about how many shipments were sent before Friday and Thursday, it is possible that one of the shipments from M,T,W could have been sent to Truax.   and three of the shipments containing building supplies were the shipments sent on friday so anything is possible.

B. At least one of last week’s specially ordered shipments did not consist of building supplies.

We won't know what was ordered in the specially ordered shipments so cannot infer.
  
  There could have been many other shipments sent on Thursday to Truax apart from the specially ordered - ones, so cannot infer with certainty.

C. At least one of the shipments sent to Truax Construction was not sent out on Thursday of last week.

We are not given if only the specially ordered shipments were sent out on Thursday.
  
  We are not given if the shipments received by Truax are not specially ordered.
  
  We are not given if the specially ordered shipments contained building supplies or something else.
  
  So, it is not possible to infer this option.

D. At least one of the shipments that were sent out on Friday of last week was sent to Truax Construction.

We don't know at least one of the shipments sent on Friday was sent to Truax because we might have sent shipments on other days of the week and all the shipments sent to Truax could have been sent on any combinations of the other days in the week.

E. At least one of the shipments sent to Truax Construction last week was sent out before Friday. - Correct

We know that the 3 shipments received by Truax has building supplies, so even if we assume that all the shipments containing building supplies received by Truax were sent on Friday and we know from the fact that there is another shipments received by Truax which couldn't have been sent on Friday because all the shipments on Friday contained building supplies. Also, we are given that the shipments sent on Friday were the last shipments, after that the shipment department was closed.
  
  So, from all the above reasonings, we can conclude that at least one shipment received by Truax was sent before Friday.

Shipping Clerk: The five specially ordered shipments sent out last wee

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Shipping Clerk: The five specially ordered shipments sent out last wee

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