prakhar992 wrote:
nightblade354 wrote:
Some educators claim that it is best that school courses cover only basic subject matter, but cover it in depth. These educators argue that if student achieve a solid grasp of the basic concepts and investigatory techniques in a subject, they will be able to explore the breadth of that subject on their own after the course is over. But if they simply learn a lot of factual information, without truly understanding its significance, they will not be well equipped for further study on their own.
The educator's reasoning provides grounds for accepting which one of the following statements?
(A) It is easier to understand how plants and animals are classified after learning how plants and animals can be useful
(B) It is more difficult to recall the details of a dull and complicated lecture than of a lively and interesting one.
(C) It is easier to remember new ideas explained personally by a teacher than ideas that one explores independently.
(D) It is easier to understand any Greek tragedy after one has analyzed a few of them in detail.
(E) It is easier to learn many simple ideas well than to learn a few complicated ideas well.
Isn't the word "any" extreme in option D? We can not infer that a student will be able to analyze any Greek tragedy. If the author stated "many", then the answer would be D.
GMATNinja daagh sir, please explain.
The educators in the passage argue that
"if student achieve a solid grasp of the basic concepts and investigatory techniques in a subject, they will be able to explore the breadth of that subject on their own after the course is over." Analyzing a few Greek tragedies in detail, as (D) suggests, might not give the students a
complete grasp of the techniques needed to analyze another Greek tragedy. However, if they achieve a
solid grasp of these techniques, it will
make it easier for them to explore and understand the breadth of other tragedies when they are reading by themselves after they finish school.
The reason it's ok for the word "any" to be used in (D) is that the student doesn't actually have to be able to understand the tragedy fully -- by analyzing a few tragedies in school, they will find it
easier to understand any other Greek tragedy, so we don't need to limit our hypothetical student to understanding "most" tragedies.
You also need to be careful that you don't change any of the wording in the passage or the answer choices -- (D) says that a student will find it easier to
understand (not analyze) any Greek tragedy after they have analyzed a few in detail. This seemingly tiny change in wording can have a big effect on how you look at this answer choice.
Looking at the other answer choices, none of them suggest that learning a small number of concepts and techniques in depth while at school will make it easier to explore the depth of a subject later, so you should cross out the other answer choices and (D) should be your answer to this one.
I hope that helps!