Last visit was: 17 May 2026, 20:11 It is currently 17 May 2026, 20:11
Home
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
   1   2 
655-705 (Hard)|   Inference|      
avatar
AndrewN
avatar
Volunteer Expert
Joined: 16 May 2019
Last visit: 29 Mar 2025
Posts: 3,489
Own Kudos:
7,686
 [2]
Given Kudos: 500
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 3,489
Kudos: 7,686
 [2]
The number of wild tigers living in india dropped from an estimated 40 19 Mar 2020, 11:01
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
GDT
VeritasKarishma MentorTutoring
I narrowed down to B & E but since E was difficult to eliminate I chose it. Still somehow B also seemed to be around since, it said that there are fewer than 2000 wild tigers outside India which can be thought of as a better chance for wild tigers to survive is perhaps in India. It would be very helpful of you if you could provide a better basis to eliminate B
Show more
Thank you, GDT, for tagging me. I spent a moment debating the relative merits of (C) and (E) before choosing (E), and for the same reason you indicated above. Choice (B), on the other hand, was one that I ripped right through. Why? Because it puts a specific number on the population of wild tigers outside of India, and the passage does not give us enough information to lean on to make such an assessment. Maybe there are pockets of several hundred animals in various parts of the world, but India simply has the largest population within its borders. It would make perfect sense that if countries A through E had, say, 600 down to 200 wild tigers, respectively--a total of exactly 2,000 such animals--the best chance for the survival of the animal in its natural habitat would be the place with the largest population. Thus, we cannot say with certainty that (B) is true.

I hope that helps. Please ask if you have further questions.

- Andrew
User avatar
GDT
User avatar
Joined: 02 Jan 2020
Last visit: 18 Sep 2020
Posts: 232
Own Kudos:
118
Given Kudos: 477
Posts: 232
Kudos: 118
The number of wild tigers living in india dropped from an estimated 40 20 Mar 2020, 01:41
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Quote:
GDT wrote:
VeritasKarishma MentorTutoring
I narrowed down to B & E but since E was difficult to eliminate I chose it. Still somehow B also seemed to be around since, it said that there are fewer than 2000 wild tigers outside India which can be thought of as a better chance for wild tigers to survive is perhaps in India. It would be very helpful of you if you could provide a better basis to eliminate B

Thank you, GDT, for tagging me. I spent a moment debating the relative merits of (C) and (E) before choosing (E), and for the same reason you indicated above. Choice (B), on the other hand, was one that I ripped right through. Why? Because it puts a specific number on the population of wild tigers outside of India, and the passage does not give us enough information to lean on to make such an assessment. Maybe there are pockets of several hundred animals in various parts of the world, but India simply has the largest population within its borders. It would make perfect sense that if countries A through E had, say, 600 down to 200 wild tigers, respectively--a total of exactly 2,000 such animals--the best chance for the survival of the animal in its natural habitat would be the place with the largest population. Thus, we cannot say with certainty that (B) is true.

I hope that helps. Please ask if you have further questions.

- Andrew
Show more

Thank you Andrew for your continued help!

I eliminated C because of its relatively strong language indicated by the use of "will become extinct"-is it correct?
avatar
AndrewN
avatar
Volunteer Expert
Joined: 16 May 2019
Last visit: 29 Mar 2025
Posts: 3,489
Own Kudos:
7,686
 [2]
Given Kudos: 500
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 3,489
Kudos: 7,686
 [2]
The number of wild tigers living in india dropped from an estimated 40 20 Mar 2020, 05:10
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
GDT


Thank you Andrew for your continued help!

I eliminated C because of its relatively strong language indicated by the use of "will become extinct"-is it correct?
Show more
Yes, nowhere does the passage indicate that wild tigers will certainly become extinct if they fail to thrive in India, just that, once again, the best chance for survival for the animal is in India. Look at the exact phrasing of the conditional statement in the passage:

if the tiger is to survive in the wild at all, its best chance is in india [sic]

Here, best chance does not equate to only chance. Simply put, India has the largest population of wild tigers, according to the passage, so that is the country in which the animal has the greatest probability of surviving in the wild.

- Andrew
User avatar
KarishmaB
User avatar
Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Last visit: 13 May 2026
Posts: 16,465
Own Kudos:
79,641
 [2]
Given Kudos: 485
Location: Pune, India
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
Posts: 16,465
Kudos: 79,641
 [2]
The number of wild tigers living in india dropped from an estimated 40 20 Mar 2020, 05:18
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
aadikamagic
The number of wild tigers living in india dropped from an estimated 40,000 at the turn of the century to 2,000 in 1970. Although determined conservation efforts have hatled the precipitous decline, the survival of the wild tiger in india is uncertain even now. Still, it is beyond doubt that if the tiger is to survive in the wild at all, its best chance is in india.

The statements above, if true, supports which of the following?

(A) There are now more than 2,000 wild tigers surviving in india.
(B) There are fewer than 2,000 wild tigers living in the wild outside of india.
(C) If tigers fail to survive in the wild in india, the species will become extinct.
(D) IT is impossible for a tiger raised in captivity to ever successfully adapt to life in the wild.
(E) The survival of the wild tiger in countries other than india is also endangered.
Show more

In 1970, there were 2000 tigers (down from 40k) in the wild in India.
Efforts have halted the decline (so now, the number of tigers is not decreasing. Exactly how many are there is not known)
Still, survival in the wild is uncertain.
It is beyond doubt that if the tiger is to survive in the wild at all, its best chance is in india.

(A) There are now more than 2,000 wild tigers surviving in india.

We don't know how many are surviving in the wild now. The decline has halted now. But exactly at what number the decline halted, we don't know.

(B) There are fewer than 2,000 wild tigers living in the wild outside of india.

Not necessary. Across the world, 100 tigers could be surviving at each of 10 different places.

(C) If tigers fail to survive in the wild in india, the species will become extinct.

Incorrect. The species may not become extinct. The question clearly talks about "tigers in the wild". They may still survive in captivity.

(D) IT is impossible for a tiger raised in captivity to ever successfully adapt to life in the wild.

Nothing in the argument implies that.

(E) The survival of the wild tiger in countries other than india is also endangered.

Correct. Since India has the best chance of survival in the wild, other countries apparently are even more poorly placed. Hence the survival must be endangered everywhere.

Answer (E)
User avatar
prateekchugh
User avatar
Joined: 05 Aug 2017
Last visit: 27 Sep 2021
Posts: 357
Own Kudos:
595
Given Kudos: 277
Location: India
Concentration: Strategy, Marketing
WE:Engineering (Energy)
Posts: 357
Kudos: 595
The number of wild tigers living in india dropped from an estimated 40 21 Nov 2020, 07:18
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



Step 1: Identify the Question Type
Whenever we are asked to make a deduction based on the stimulus, we have an Inference question.

Step 2: Untangle the Stimulus
The stimulus for an Inference question will typically not be an argument. Instead of looking for
evidence and conclusion, we simply take the statements in the stimulus at face value and paraphrase
them to make sure we understand the situation they describe. Here we’re told that conservation
efforts have stopped the decline of wild tigers in India, the number of which decreased from 40,000
in 1900 to 2,000 in 1970. Moreover, while tigers are still endangered in India, that country is nonetheless
the wild tiger’s best chance for survival.

Step 3: Predict the Answer
The answer to an Inference question is often difficult to predict because there are any number of
deductions we might make from the stimulus. Instead, we must go through the answer choices,
carefully checking each against the information in the stimulus, until we find the one that must
be true based only on the information we are given.

Step 4: Evaluate the Choices
(A) cannot be the correct answer because the stimulus mentions nothing about the number of wild
tigers existing in India at the present time; we only have numbers for 1900 and 1970. (B) is also
incorrect because it mentions the number of tigers living outside India, about which we have no
information. We cannot glean an inference this precise from this stimulus. For example, it’s possible
that Malaysia and Thailand each have 900 wild tigers, but it’s also possible that Thailand has
3,000 but is losing 500 a year. We can’t infer the statement in (B) without bringing in imagined
outside information. (C) is too extreme. The stimulus does say that India is the best chance of the
wild tiger’s survival, but it does not go so far as to say that India is the tiger’s only hope. Perhaps
there is another location where tigers could survive in the wild, and failing that, perhaps they could
be bred at zoos. (D) is incorrect because the stimulus gives us no information about tigers raised in
captivity. By process of elimination, (E) must be the right answer. Indeed, the stimulus tells us that
the wild tiger’s best chance of survival is in India, even though it is endangered there. It follows
that it must be endangered elsewhere as well. Because choice (E) states a deduction we can draw
from the stimulus, it is correct.
User avatar
VerbalBot
User avatar
Non-Human User
Joined: 01 Oct 2013
Last visit: 04 Jan 2021
Posts: 19,427
Own Kudos:
1,012
Posts: 19,427
Kudos: 1,012
The number of wild tigers living in india dropped from an estimated 40 07 Oct 2024, 23:20
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot:

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

This post was generated automatically.
   1   2 
Moderators:
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7393 posts
AbhishekP220108
575 posts
bhanu29
368 posts