Teachers have observed a significant improvement in language and mathe

Question

Teachers have observed a significant improvement in language and mathematics skills of  high school children, which are consistent with the  Reading and Math Program  practiced at the school

(A) high school children, which are consistent with the  Reading and Math Program  practiced at the school
(B) high school children, consistent with the  Reading and Math Program  practiced at the school
(C) children in high school, consistent with the  Reading and Math Program  practiced at the school
(D) high school children, observation consistent with the  Reading and Math Program  practiced at the school
(E) children in high school, observation consistent with the  Reading and Math Program  that the school practices

AndrewN · Answer

The question, as written, has an incorrect answer. Both (D) and (E) need the article  an  before the noun  observation  to work, as I have added below.

emidra · Answer

Can anybody help explain why we prefer "high school children" rather than "children in high school" for this example?

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varshikolla · Answer

Hi, Can someone explain why E is wrong?

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ravigupta2912 · Answer

Can someone please comment on my POE? I was absolutely confused on this question but this was how I worked my PoE:-

(A) high school children, which are consistent with the Reading and Math Program practiced at the school
(B) high school children, consistent with the Reading and Math Program practiced at the school
(C) children in high school, consistent with the Reading and Math Program practiced at the school
(D) high school children, observation consistent with the Reading and Math Program practiced at the school
(E) children in high school, observation consistent with the Reading and Math Program that the school practices

A - "which" modifier is modifying HSC. So the children are consistent with the R&M program practiced at school? Illogical. Eliminate. For the same reason, eliminate B & C which seem to be modifying "children" or "high school"

D & E fix the above error by inserting "observation" after the comma so as to clearly convey the consistency of observation. Between them, honestly, I couldn't eliminate E. I don't find any problem with the modifier "that". I liked D better because it was short and crisp. Turned out to be lucky.

GMATNinja   GMATNinjaTwo  -- Can you help with this?

Dbdollyb · Answer

Which cannot modify a theme, it should modify an object. So, A is out.

The observations of improvement in mathematics and language skills cannot be consistent to the program itself. It should be consistent with the observations of the program. So, B and C gets eliminated.
E is incorrect as the school does not practice the program(being an object), rather the program is practiced at school. 
Thus D is the correct answer

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vps01011989 · Answer

As soon as you see this question, you know the answer is between D and E as both of them use Appositive Phrase Construction (which is always correct in GMAT) by replacing the the whole clause / sentence with a noun. Here Observation replaces the first independent clause of the sentence.

Between D and E - Appositives are phrases and don't contain verbs. E uses verb "practices".  So D is correct . I could find following flaws in other options.

- Option A is out as it uses Which to modify the independent clause of the sentence. Which can only modify noun
- Options B and C, Not sure what is consistent? These options have modifier problems.

ajaygaur319 · Answer

But the verb  practices  in  (D)  is the verb of the modifier. It, in no way, cannot be said as a verb of appositive. The appositive is still an appositive without any verb in it. I feel (D) is correct because it is more aligned with the original statement and the meaning.

vps01011989 · Answer

There is no verb "practices" in D (It is in E). D has a adjective "practiced" which is absolutely fine. Appositives can't use verbs (They are phrases which modify a clause). That is why E is wrong and D is correct. E uses a verb "practices" in Appositive phrase.

ayerhs · Answer

Can anybody help explain why we prefer "high school children" rather than "children in high school"

ayerhs · Answer

VeritasKarishma 
could you please explain this one?

KarishmaB · Answer

In (B) and (C), we don't know what is consistent with the program. 
In (A), "which" will refer to the noun "skills". It doesn't make a lot of sense. 
When you say instead that teachers have observed 'this' and this observation is consistent with 'that', it makes much more sense.

(D) and (E) both are correct once you put in the article "an" before observation.

(D) is just a bit more concise and hence I might pick that but there is nothing wrong with (E) either.

ayerhs · Answer

Thank you Karishma! I am also confused between D and E. I ended up picking E.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Teachers have observed a significant improvement in language and mathe

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