MPRS22 wrote:
Hi
AndrewN,
Another question I would love to hear about from you. I marked D as my answer. E makes no sense. The conclusion is about saving the store so even a slight increase in profit might help. E is out. A is also out because the block is only temporary. B is out of scope. C seems appealing, because it seems to offer an alternative explanation. However, the fact that they have higher purchasing power implies nothing for the situation before and after the works.
What do you think?
Thanks
Honestly, I would call this a flawed question, one that does not have a clearcut and compelling answer. I could not even get past the sloppy writing in the passage. Who are
they, for example, in the third line?
Quote:
Meanwhile, in Ipswich, the stores are thriving since they widened the road to Martin.
Did the stores widen the road? Are these same stores going to widen the road between Ipswich and Rodway?
And what about that
which clause in the opening line? Is it commenting on
traffic specifically, or on the situation outlined in the preceding clause?
Quote:
The highway from Ipswich to Rodway is currently overcrowded with traffic, which deters potential customers from visiting Rodway's stores.
The writing is unclear, never mind the answer choices. Even something as seemingly irrelevant as (B) could provide an alternative explanation that would cast doubt on the argument—i.e. if the stores in Rodway are
only profitable at a certain time, then widening the road/highway (which one is it? The first and last lines use different words to describe this thoroughfare) might have no effect on business in Rodway in any other part of the year.
I say this all the time in the forum, and I will repeat myself here:
stick to official questions to prepare for the Verbal section of the GMAT™. If you have managed to exhaust the thousands of questions that fall into this category, and by some miracle you have also mastered all of them through review, you can seek the advice of a tutor or teacher—this forum is full of them—who can point you to high-quality third-party questions from the LSAT, Veritas Prep, or
Manhattan Prep. Not all such questions are stand-ins for those you might see on the GMAT™, but a qualified professional should be able to tell the difference between what is more or less applicable and, well, offer appropriate guidance.
- Andrew