Last visit was: 11 Jul 2025, 05:35 It is currently 11 Jul 2025, 05:35
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.
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
705-805 Level|   Weaken|            
User avatar
harshi
Joined: 14 Dec 2004
Last visit: 19 Jun 2010
Posts: 24
Own Kudos:
76
 [70]
Posts: 24
Kudos: 76
 [70]
9
Kudos
Add Kudos
61
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Most Helpful Reply
User avatar
nverma
Joined: 24 Jul 2009
Last visit: 13 Jun 2011
Posts: 155
Own Kudos:
526
 [35]
Posts: 155
Kudos: 526
 [35]
34
Kudos
Add Kudos
1
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
avatar
greycellz
Joined: 05 Apr 2005
Last visit: 24 Jul 2005
Posts: 4
Own Kudos:
7
 [7]
Posts: 4
Kudos: 7
 [7]
4
Kudos
Add Kudos
3
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
General Discussion
User avatar
rthothad
Joined: 03 Nov 2004
Last visit: 14 Feb 2009
Posts: 315
Own Kudos:
Posts: 315
Kudos: 111
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
I will go with 'B'
'D' - This could be the case only if we assume that not all applicants take the qualifying audition.
User avatar
DJK
Joined: 25 Mar 2011
Last visit: 28 Oct 2013
Posts: 26
Own Kudos:
16
 [3]
Given Kudos: 1
3
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
nverma
vaivish1723
22. The trustees of the Avonbridge summer drama workshop have decided to offer scholarships to the top 10 percent of local applicants and the top 10 percent of nonlocal applicants as judged on the basis of a qualifying audition. They are doing this to ensure that only the applicants with the most highly evaluated auditions are offered scholarships to the program.
Which one of the following points out why the trustees’ plan might not be effective in achieving its goal?
(A) The best actors can also apply for admission to another program and then not enroll in the Avonbridge program.
(B) Audition materials that produce good results for one actor may disadvantage another, resulting in inaccurate assessment.
(C) The top 10 percent of local and nonlocal applicants might not need scholarships to the Avonbridge program.
(D) Some of the applicants who are offered scholarships could have less highly evaluated auditions than some of the applicants who are not offered scholarships.
(E) Dividing applicants into local and nonlocal groups is unfair because it favors nonlocal applicants.


OA is
Please explain

Liked this question...!!
Its D.

let say u have 100 local and 100 non-local actors.
and each of these 200 guys have been evaluated and been given some marks out of 500 on the basis of evaluation.

Then we can have the following scenario when first 10 students (10%) of local group are scoring 499,498,497......490.
and first 10 students (10%) of local group are scoring 200,199,198.....190.

It means there can be some actors beyond 10% in local group who have scored more than 200(topper of non local group) and less than 490 (scored by 10th guy) in local group.

And these actors will not be awarded scholarships even though they have higher scores than those of first 10% guys in non-local.

I know the explanation is long, but mathematical modeling always helps.Revert in case of doubt.


Fun question! Nverma does a nice job attacking the stimulus and directing your brain to the right answer. I'll just have fun explaining why each wrong answer is wrong.

A. The conclusion of the stimulus deals with offering those with the most highly evaluated auditions, scholarships. What the applicants do after the committee's offer is beyond the scope. Remember, this is a weaken question. This does not attack the conclusion - that the method the committee is employing will ensure the top 10% of each group will receive scholarship offers. What if the committee DID make offers to the top 10% of each? This seems to fail at weakening the argument.

B. The method of assessment is outside the scope of the argument. But let's run with this idea. So, person A comes in. Person A brought with them a lion from the Savannah. The lion fakes eating person A, the whole act blows the judges away, person A exits the stage and is lauded by the judges. Then person B comes up to be evaluated. Person B has a pet mouse. Person B finds it brilliant to use the mouse in his/her routine. The judges aren't thrilled. They went from a lion almost eating someone, to a mouse doing next to nothing. BUT WHO CARES? The conclusion states that the top 10% of each group are OFFERED scholarships. Person B jaded in comparison to Person A. You could probably make the argument that the magnificence of A negatively affected B. But again, who cares? B could have sucked regardless of A - so B shouldn't be offered a scholarship anyway. This is perfectly plausible with the conclusion. Hence, it does NOT weaken.

C. The need of the scholarships is outside of the scope. Curse the LSAT gods for wasting seconds of your life, then move on.

D. nverma explains why this is true. think about relativity. 500 in group a. 100 in group b.
10% of 500 = 50
10% of 100 = 10

However, applications in group A from 400-449 scored 97% on their applications.
In group B - the 10/100 applications scored -- 3, 99%s ; 4 98%s ; but 3, 92%s

Seems to me that those in group a from 400-449 got SCREWED!

E. This is tricky, however outside of the scope. Even though the non locals may be favored, this doesn't necessarily preclude the offering of scholarships to the most highly evaluated candidates.
User avatar
semwal
User avatar
Current Student
Joined: 04 May 2013
Last visit: 13 May 2017
Posts: 206
Own Kudos:
506
 [2]
Given Kudos: 70
Location: India
Concentration: Operations, Human Resources
Schools: XLRI GM"18
GPA: 4
WE:Human Resources (Human Resources)
Schools: XLRI GM"18
Posts: 206
Kudos: 506
 [2]
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
IMO ANSWER SHOULD BE "D"......
WE ARE SELECTING 10% BEST APPLICANTS FROM DIFFERENT GROUPS AND THEN ASSUMING WE HAVE SELECTED THE BEST OUT OF THE AMALGAMATED JOINT GROUP.....WHICH IS WRONG....POINTS TO FLAW........

THE 10% IN EACH GROUP MAY BE THE BEST IN THEIR RESPECTIVE GROUPS BUT SOME MAY NOT BE THE BEST AMONGST THE WHOLE LOT...
ASSUME ONE GROUP WITH ALL TALENT AND ANOTHER WITH ALL DUDS..........EVEN THE BEST OF THE DUD LOT CANNOT BEAT THE 11TH OF THE OTHER LOT.......HENCE "D" WHICH SAYS----- Some of the applicants who are offered scholarships could have less highly evaluated auditions than some of the applicants who are not offered scholarships .....BRINGS OUT THE FLAW.....
HENCE CORRECT ANSWER....
avatar
sanket1991
Joined: 14 Sep 2014
Last visit: 22 Aug 2015
Posts: 74
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 51
WE:Engineering (Consulting)
Posts: 74
Kudos: 103
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Which one of the following points out why the trustees' plan might not be effective in achieving its goal

What is goal : Give scholarships to highly evaluated applicants (If they don't want to take it, it will be their problem not trustee's)

Option D correctly states that, because of local and non-local grouping there might be a chance that some of the scholarship baggers will be less evaluated.

Let's see an Example :
Local Got : (100,90,80,70,60,50..,10) Points
Non Local got : (10,9,8,7,6,5..,1) Points
In this case it will be unfair for 90% local as None of non local is highly evaluated than local.

IMO 'D' is correct.
avatar
Kanika3agg
Joined: 09 May 2018
Last visit: 20 Feb 2021
Posts: 96
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 75
Posts: 96
Kudos: 79
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
The trustees of the Avonbridge summer drama workshop have decided to offer scholarships to the top 10 percent of local applicants and the top 10 percent of nonlocal applicants as judged on the basis of a qualifying audition. They are doing this to ensure that only the applicants with the most highly evaluated auditions are offered scholarships to the program.

They want to give scholarship to both Local and Non-Local applicants. They want to give scholarships to the most highly evaluated auditions.

Which one of the following points out why the trustees' plan might not be effective in achieving its goal?

(A) The best actors can also apply for admission to another program and then not enroll in the Avonbridge program - Thats okay but their plan of giving to only highly evaluated auditions are still maintained.
(B) Audition materials that produce good results for one actor may disadvantage another, resulting in inaccurate assessment -If that is the case, then actor would not be highly evaluated who performed bad.
(C) The top 10 percent of local and nonlocal applicants might not need scholarships to the Avonbridge program - Thats okay but we are still offering to highly evaluated people.
(D) Some of the applicants who are offered scholarships could have less highly evaluated auditions than some of the applicants who are not offered scholarships - This could be true in the case if we have two different groups of talent pool we want to judge on. Then, we would not offer based on high evaluation criteria.
(E) Dividing applicants into local and nonlocal groups is unfair because it favors nonlocal applicants - But still we cant say that it is affecting the plan trustees have in mind.

Correct Answer D
User avatar
lakshya14
Joined: 31 Jan 2019
Last visit: 27 Jul 2022
Posts: 362
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 529
Posts: 362
Kudos: 45
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Difference between (B) and (D)?
avatar
AndrewN
avatar
Volunteer Expert
Joined: 16 May 2019
Last visit: 29 Mar 2025
Posts: 3,502
Own Kudos:
7,372
 [1]
Given Kudos: 500
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 3,502
Kudos: 7,372
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
lakshya14
Difference between (B) and (D)?
Hello, lakshya14. The difference I see between the two answer choices is that (B) focuses on the materials used during the auditions, and that is an independent variable that does not in any way tie into the trustees' plan. The goal of that plan, as outlined in the passage, is to ensure that only the applicants with the most highly evaluated auditions are offered scholarships to the program. In order to weaken that plan, then, we need to find an answer that focuses on the evaluations themselves, not on the audition materials. Choice (D) is exactly what we are looking for:

Quote:
(D) Some of the applicants who are offered scholarships could have less highly evaluated auditions than some of the applicants who are not offered scholarships
Because the plan adopts a top 10 percent local/nonlocal split, it could be true that, say, many more qualified (higher-scoring) nonlocal applicants from a pool of 100,000 students might not receive scholarships when applicants from a smaller local pool of maybe 10,000 students might be offered them. We have no numbers to lean on in the passage, but our little scenario here shows that (D) attacks the plan itself, just what we are looking to do.

I hope that helps. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew
User avatar
unraveled
Joined: 07 Mar 2019
Last visit: 10 Apr 2025
Posts: 2,727
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 763
Location: India
WE:Sales (Energy)
Posts: 2,727
Kudos: 2,166
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
The trustees of the Avonbridge summer drama workshop have decided to offer scholarships to the top 10 percent of local applicants and the top 10 percent of nonlocal applicants as judged on the basis of a qualifying audition. They are doing this to ensure that only the applicants with the most highly evaluated auditions are offered scholarships to the program.

Which one of the following points out why the trustees' plan might not be effective in achieving its goal?

(A) The best actors can also apply for admission to another program and then not enroll in the Avonbridge program

(B) Audition materials that produce good results for one actor may disadvantage another, resulting in inaccurate assessment

(C) The top 10 percent of local and nonlocal applicants might not need scholarships to the Avonbridge program

(D) Some of the applicants who are offered scholarships could have less highly evaluated auditions than some of the applicants who are not offered scholarships

(E) Dividing applicants into local and nonlocal groups is unfair because it favors nonlocal applicants

One of the possible assumption of the ASDW trustees make is that segregating the applicants would help them chose best auditions - possibly because they might think that auditions are at par to each other.

It can be possible that top 10% of the applicants of either group scores below the top 20% applicants of the other group. This is what D points out.
In B, it's possible that good results for one actor may disadvantage another, but isn't that is what is expected out of auditions i.e. the better one is selected.

Answer D.
User avatar
VerbalBot
User avatar
Non-Human User
Joined: 01 Oct 2013
Last visit: 04 Jan 2021
Posts: 18,437
Own Kudos:
Posts: 18,437
Kudos: 953
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
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.
Moderators:
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7349 posts
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
235 posts