This year's pool of business school applicants includes three times

C changes the meaning of the sentence slightly. The original sentence compares the number of liberal arts majors in last year‘s pool to the number of liberal arts majors in this year’s pool. (C) compares the number of liberal arts majors in last year's pool to the total number of applicants in this year’s pool. For example, imagine there were 100 liberal arts majors in last year's pool. (C) is stating that this year’s pool of applicants contains at least 300 applicants. Hence Eliminate (C).

Thanks Akash720! I just wasn't sure if there is more to it than (A) being wordier

Thanks Akash for this nice explantion but i cant understand how C changs the intended meaning ...can you help me pls

I think there is no change in intended meaning but the idiom X times as many as is correct and D is unidiomatic.

I've edited my above response accordingly - Thanks for pointing it out janadipesh

Kaplan's Explanation:

Read the Original Sentence Carefully, Looking for Errors:

While this sentence contains no obvious grammar errors, it is awkwardly written. The phrase three times as many should not be split up. "Three times, or more, as many" is clunky and confusing. The correct answer will provide a clearer way to convey the same idea.

Scan and Group the Answer Choices:

A quick vertical scan reveals an obvious split on the first word. (A), (C), and (E) have "includes," while (B) and (D) have "include." Looking a bit further reveals that (B) contains the same awkward "three times, or more, as many" that (A) does. (C) and (D) use "at least triple the," and (E) uses "at least three times as many."

Eliminate Wrong Answer Choices:

(A) and (B) can be eliminated because they contain the awkward phrase, "three times, or more, as many."

(D) changes the verb from "includes" to "include." The subject of the sentence is pool, which is singular. Therefore the correct verb is the singular includes. In terms of subject-verb agreement, the original sentence was fine: "This year's pool ... includes." The testmaker wrote (D) to trap students who thought the subject was applicants. However, applicants is part of the prepositional phrase "of business school applicants." The subject will never be the noun inside a prepositional phrase. Eliminate (D).

(C) changes the meaning of the sentence slightly. The original sentence compares the number of liberal arts majors in last year‘s pool to the number of liberal arts majors in this year’s pool. (C) compares the number of liberal arts majors in last year's pool to the total number of applicants in this year’s pool. For example, imagine there were 100 liberal arts majors in last year's pool. (C) is stating that this year’s pool of applicants contains at least 300 applicants. Eliminate (C).

(E) provides the clearest revision of the sentence. It doesn't split up "three times as many," and it unmistakably compares the number of liberal arts majors in each year's pool of applicants. (E) is correct.

TAKEAWAY: The GMAT prefers clear, direct language. If there are no grammar errors, find the choice that most clearly reflects the meaning in the original sentence without introducing errors.

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