The psychologist reported that the most common problems undergraduates

The determiner article ‘the’ can be used with plurals also. Foe e.g.: the umpteen problems; the victories India has earned; the rivers that run across the world; the students who pursue MBA etc:

The psychologist reported that the most common problems undergraduates experience stem from a lack of self-esteem, difficulty in adjusting to university life and loneliness.

There are three factors in the list namely 1. a lack of self-esteem, 2. difficulty in adjusting to university life and 3. loneliness


A. the most common problems undergraduates experience stem from a lack of self-esteem, difficulty in adjusting to university life and loneliness---- Here the difficulty in adjusting seems to be extending to loneliness also, making the phrase a compound object and limiting the number of difficulties to two.

B. the most common problems undergraduates experienced stemmed from a lack of self-esteem, difficulty in adjusting to university life and loneliness--- The reporting is about a universal happening; hence , the use of past tense experienced and stemmed is wrong

C. the most common problems undergraduates experience stem from loneliness, a lack of self-esteem, and difficulty in adjusting to university life--- by shifting the loneliness to the first place , the allusion of the difficulty to two factors has been avoided. Good choice. See also the use of present tense for the sub clause

D. the most common problem undergraduates have experienced stems from a lack of self-esteem, loneliness, and difficulty in adjusting to university life ---- the use of have experienced is objectionable.
E. the most common problems undergraduates had experienced stem from difficulty in adjusting to university life, lack of self-esteem, and loneliness--- had experienced is faulty; in addition all the three factors seem to be emanating from difficulty in

is Choice A grammatically incorrect? it still makes sense. doesn't it? in such scenarios how to pick an option?

Perhaps the problem is not in grammar but in its meaning. A is a little vulnerable to distortion, while C is somewhat well grounded.

I agree that such hair-line differences between the right and the wrong are rather unlikely to be favored by GMAT.

The meaning of the sentence:
Psychologist reported that common problems undergraduates experience stem from three things:
1) a lack of self-esteem
2) difficulty in adjusting to university life
3) loneliness
The problem with the sentence is the arrangement of the common problems noted.
Answer choice C seemed to get it right.
Other answer choices seem to trick you by adding verb tense issues.

Tricky question - that small difference, the one little ambiguity in (A) - adjusting to university life and loneliness, or is loneliness one of the problems. (C) takes care of that issue. I think it's important to note that there will be more than one thing wrong with an incorrect answer on the GMAT. Most likely it won't come down to just one error, the way it did in this problem.

Hope that helps!

I thought that the use of "experience" is incorrect as "reported" is used which means that the psychiatrist is just reporting something i.e. it must have happened in the past and not a general phenomenon, hence use of "experienced" is correct. Had the word concluded or deduced been used, I would have gone for "experience". By this logic, I shortlisted B and E and rejected others.

Probably I am messing things up here. Somebody please clarify.

Difficulty in adjusting to university life and loneliness doesn't make sense , as u cant have difficulty to adjust to loneliness - so A and B out
D has common problem and have - SV agreement violated - D out
E unnecessary uses had experienced , past perfect not required here, Although its reported is past tense and students problems occurred in the past , but generally speaking the problems are still there that's why the psychologist is reporting otherwise he/she wouldn't

The contenders are A & C.

The comma before and in option C makes it winner. It clearly tell us 3 things in the list whereas option A is unclear about the listed elements.

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.