The quality of unrefined olive oil is not actually defined

Answer B and D seems extreme. Answer E seems out side of the scope. I am between A and C. I think I am going to chose C because the statement mentioned about unrefined oil not refined as mentioned in A.

So, C for me.

hey dwivedys...u always come with explainations.....cheers to u
I will simply go with "C"

I say C for this.

A: We are talking about unrefined olive oil.
B: argument says that other methods are used.
D: Maybe, but we can't determine this from the passage.
E: Goes against passage.

My problem with this is that C directly contradicts the first statement.

"the quality of unrefined olive oil is not actually defined in terms of acidity..."
Answer choice (C) says
"If an unrefined olive oil is intermediate in acidity between two other unrefined olive oils, it will also be intermediate between them in quality."
Which translates to intermediate in quality = intermediate in acidity
so quality = acidity
which contradicts the first part of stem.

Can someone help me understand this? Was this an official GMAT question?

boiled it down to C and E

rest are irrelevant or out of scope

E says that quality is judged by acidity , which is not the case by the argument

C clearly wins sshowing relationship between acidity and quality ,which the argument actually explains.

Hi Sayantac,

I was able to get down to C & E.
I got highly distracted by the jump unrefined olive oil to olive oil in the last sentence.( do you think we should overlook this shift?)

The quality of unrefined olive oil is not actually defined in terms of acidity,
yet extensive tests have shown that the less free oleic acid an unrefined olive oil contains per liter, the higher its quality.

Quality of unrefined olive is not a function of acidity : in mathematical terms
but - Lesser the oleic acid - higher the quality : some relation ship is there. (1)

The proportion of free oleic acid that an olive oil contains is an accurate measure of the oil’s acidity.
Oleic acid is proportional to acidity :
higher the oleic acid - higher the acidity or
lesser the oleic acid - lower the acidity. ( 2)

so combining 1 & 2 we can say that

lesser the oleic acid - lower the acidity - higher the quality

So why can't we say that quality is affected by acidity or acidity is a measure of quality : this is what E says.

E. People who judge the quality of unrefined olive oils actually judge those oils by their acidity, which the judges can taste.

Thanks in Anticipation

Of course you CAN say that acidity can be an indication of the quality - however you CANNOT say that the judges use that parameter to measure quality because nothing is said about the judges in the passage. So there is no way for you to conclude what method the judges adopt to measure the quality, whether they taste acidity or something else ( say, texture).

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sayantanc2k : Thanks ! So the extra fluff here is making the choice incorrect. Though the gist of the sentence does relate to the derived relationship. But the circumstance via which this relationship is presented is no where mentioned in the passage.

Can we say that this choice is inconsistent - or half right or half wrong? This is definitely not OFS as many has suggested.

They are not wrong. Choice E is wrong and out of scope since the argument is not about how the testing is done by experts.

The conclusion of the argument states -- "The proportion of free oleic acid that an olive oil contains is an accurate measure of the oil’s acidity" i.e we can easily state that "Free oleic acid is the only acid that unrefined olive oil contains" i.e option 'D'.

Can anyone please elaborate as to why 'D' is wrong here.

Just because it is extreme ?

Thanks in advance.

I have the same problem, I don't understand why D is wrong.. " accurate" means exact, so only the Free Oleic Acid is present in the unfiltered olive oil

If the statements above are all true, which of the following conclusions is best supported by them?

A. When an olive oil is refined, the concentration of oleic acid in the oil is reduced. -> irrelevant as passage is about unrefined olive oil only
B. The quality of an unrefined olive oil can be determined only by accurately measuring its acidity. -> This is an extreme.
C. If an unrefined olive oil is intermediate in acidity between two other unrefined olive oils, it will also be intermediate between them in quality. -> Correct
D. Free oleic acid is the only acid that unrefined olive oil contains. -> extreme
E. People who judge the quality of unrefined olive oils actually judge those oils by their acidity, which the judges can taste. -> irrelevant

Hi,
Can you tell me why choice D is wrong in this CR question. It is obvious from the last sentence that the measure of oleic acid is the only measure of acidity. This is directly stated in choice D. I think, to reject an option just because it is extreme can't be an intelligent method to solve CR Qs.

First, the last sentence does not say that the measure of oleic acid is the ONLY measure of acidity. Instead, the last sentence tells us that it is AN accurate measure of acidity. There could be numerous other measures of acidity.

Second, just because the proportion of free oleic acid is an accurate measure of an olive oil’s acidity does not mean that free oleic acid is the ONLY acid in unrefined olive oil. Unrefined olive oil could contain numerous other acids, and that would not contradict anything in the passage.


Because of the word "only", choice (D) must be eliminated.

Hi Experts,

I have a doubt on the phrase "The quality of unrefined olive oil is not actually defined in terms of acidity, yet extensive tests have shown that the less free oleic acid an unrefined olive oil contains per liter, the higher its quality."

They seem to be contradictory.

I guess "be defined" is used for the exact relationship, but the phrase " the less ... , the higher" indicate the rightly relationship; however, I'm not so sure whether I'm correct?

Please help me clarify this.
Thank you.

Hi Can you please help me explain why choice D is wrong? In passage it is mentioned that The proportion of free oelic acid in olive oil isAccuratemeasure of the Olive Oil acidity which means oelic acid is the only acid it contains because its proportion is the accurate measure of the acidity of the olive oil. Please help me where am I wrong here?