The book surpasses all expectations. It goes beyond describing the struggle for survival in the valley; it opens to the Western readers hitherto unknown harsh realities of abject poverty and utter negligence by the local government on key issues such as education, healthcare, and terrorism. Clearly, the book indicates that________.

which of the following best completes the passage?

a)Life in the valley is tougher than previously thought -Correct. Highlighted portion is the conclusion and this option complements that.
b) it is time Western readers knew about life in the valley -out of scope
c) books are capable of spreading awareness about certain geographies ignored by other media -out of scope
d) government should focus on providing education and healthcare, and countering terrorism -The argument doesn't talk about the role of government
e) the valley government is unfair to its citizens. -unfair? too strong to be correct

prashant6923 Harshgmat kunalcvrce

Guys, Hope it will be helpful. Do give me your thoughts or raise doubts.

Premise:
describing content of the book. it opens to the Western readers hitherto unknown harsh realities of abject poverty and utter negligence by the local government on key issues such as education, healthcare, and terrorism.

Conclusion:
It goes beyond describing the struggle for survival in the valley

Pre-thinking:
We need to complete the passage and tell what is absolutely indicated by the book. One of the following choice would be absolutely correct.

B. it is time Western readers knew about life in the valley --- we don't know if something such as this is mentioned. is it the time that is why book is written. to wide choice to predict.
C. books are capable of spreading awareness about certain geographies ignored by other media --- Surely book is about the valley, but that does not mean it ignored rest of the geographies.
E. the valley government is unfair to its citizens --- this choice is too wide. unfair can has many meanings. that too in what area. in certain area gov may be fair, but not mentioned in this abstract.

Tricky choices:
D. government should focus on providing education and healthcare, and countering terrorism --- So my question is, from any possible way, one can say that book indicated that gov should do anything at all. Showing some atrocities/negligence does not mean one want to give an indication for focus. Moreover may be many more issues needed gov focus.

A. life in the valley is tougher than previously thought --- So I was left with choice A, but it took me some time to give a verdict. Clearly it not a fav choice but its the best answer. So key work is 'unknown'. This word indicates that readers don't know about few harsh realities and book indicated them in this direction. these few are indicated as education and healthcare, and countering terrorism.
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Just to add onto some previous posts:

The "surpasses all expectations" line suggests that the readers got more than they thought they would. As the book concentrates on highlighting the difficulties in the valley, expectations being surpassed points to the "tougher than previously thought" in option A.
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How is A right?
How do we know about 'previously thought'?
I would go for D in this case.

I have explained it in above post. Please go through that. Please raise any specific doubt.
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I don't think that the OA is correct "life in the valley is tougher than previously thought". Since it is not mentioned by whom it was thought, this should be absolute true for everyone, including people who live in the volley, neighboring countries, or non-Western world. We are told about Western world readers only: "it opens to the Western readers hitherto unknown harsh realities".

The issue can be solved if "by Western world readers" will be added. Otherwise yet non-perfect B sounds stronger.

aragonn

Thanks for OE mate...

You are right key here is words -
unknown harsh realities

So A). life in the valley is tougher than previously thought

Posted from my mobile device
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I think you are thinking too much. this abstract is about book and audience is reader. A book can open up to reader only.
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Hope your preparation is going well. As it can be seen that there is a word clearly present in the last line which shows that the sentence will be completed by presenting the conclusion.
In such questions, the approach is to rightly identify the facts presented in the arguments and see what can be logically interpreted from the information provided. POE tools are
1. Out of scope
2.Extreme language
A- All the details in this options are supported by the premise. It can be said that A is concluded from the details mentioned in the Premise.
The book surpasses all expectations-> same as the phrase “ previously thought”
Struggle for survival in valley-> Life in the valley is tougher. Hence A is the correct Answer.
B-not supported by the premise. There is no detail in the argument that can conclude with B.
C-out of scope/ generalization of facts in the argument.
D- premise doesn’t talk about anything that can conclude to D
E- cannot conclude that being negligent is unfair. Also, E says that all the government is unfair to the citizen( all residents), however, it cannot be concluded from the argument that all the citizens are suffering. Only a few/ most of the citizen( not all citizens) are affected by lack of education, poverty, health care and terrorism.
Hope it helps. consistency is the key to do well.
All the best!!
PythaGURUS Faculty Team
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Let me summarize the important posts on this thread and share the official explanation.

The question:



Official answer is A.

Fine analysis by @aagonn



aragonn's doubt in green addressed beatifully by @Ifc




Further wisdom by aragonn
(It's important to remember that GMAT wouldn't give you the exact answer choice you want; it's about the best of the five answer choices!)



Here is a concise video explanation:



All the best!
Experts' Global team
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Hey aragonn,

I don't where I am leaving the gap.But for me, Conclusion is "Book surpasses all the expectation by opening up unknown reality and negligence of local government.
the author describes how the book surpasses all the expectation.

aragonn