In order to be considered a contender during awards season, a film mus

Question

In order to be considered a contender during awards season, a film must be widely acclaimed by film critics around the time of its release. The Final Whistle, then, will not be a contender during awards season, as noted critic Benjamin Bourne has awarded the film his lowest rating of the year thus far.

Which of the following is a necessary assumption of the argument above?

A) No films other than The Final Whistle received similarly low ratings from critic Benjamin Bourne.
B) Benjamin Bourne’s film ratings do not always match the ratings of the majority of his peers.
C) No film has ever received Benjamin Bourne’s lowest rating while still remaining a contender during awards season.
D) Benjamin Bourne uses the same ratings system as does the majority of film critics.
E) Benjamin Bourne’s opinion of The Final Whistle was not dissimilar from other opinions of the film.

Kurtosis · Accepted Answer

For a film to be considered a contender, it has to be widely acclaimed by critics. 
Final Whistle - not a contender - Why? Because the movie has received the lowest rating from a critic.

Possible Assumptions: 1. Benjamin was the sole jury deciding the contenders. 
2. All the critics had common views about Final Whistle.

A) No films other than The Final Whistle received similarly low ratings from critic Benjamin Bourne. - Incorrect - Irrelevant

B) Benjamin Bourne’s film ratings do not always match the ratings of the majority of his peers. - Incorrect - Opposite

C) No film has ever received Benjamin Bourne’s lowest rating while still remaining a contender during awards season. - Incorrect - Out of scope

D) Benjamin Bourne uses the same ratings system as does the majority of film critics. - Incorrect - Ratings system may be the same but it does not address the crux of the argument.

E) Benjamin Bourne’s opinion of The Final Whistle was not dissimilar from other opinions of the film. - Correct - Benjamin's opinion were similar to the opinion of other critics.

Answer: E

BillyZ · Answer

VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL SOLUTION:

The logical flaw in the given argument is one of generalization. Given only one data point - critic Benjamin Bourne rated the film poorly - the argument makes a general claim that the film will not contend during award season (which would be the case if it were generally reviewed poorly). Therefore, in order to correct/improve the argument, one would need to make Bourne's review more indicative of other reviews. Choice E does that, by saying that Bourne's review - the single data point - was not dissimilar from other reviews, meaning that the current lone data point is now joined by others.

As always with Assumption questions, it can be helpful to consider the opposite of choice E: if Bourne's opinion was dissimilar from other opinions, then you're left with one lone data point and therefore incapable of drawing the general conclusion.

OmarFirdaus · Answer

a) other films ratings dont matter....eliminate
b) ratings of benjamin and other critics dont have to match..........eliminate
c)other films can receive B's lower ratings, if other peers critically acclaimed them............eliminate
d) rating systems .? .......can be different /cant be.....out of scope.

CounterSniper · Answer

A) No films other than The Final Whistle received similarly low ratings from critic Benjamin Bourne.
B) Benjamin Bourne’s film ratings do not always match the ratings of the majority of his peers.
C) No film has ever received Benjamin Bourne’s lowest rating while still remaining a contender during awards season.
logical opposite -
Some films have received Benjamin Bourne’s lowest rating while still remaining a contender during awards season.
Well if this is to be true ,  it weakens the argument because for certain films Benjamin's ratings do not matter
 , but we need to strengthen Benjamin's case

D) Benjamin Bourne uses the same ratings system as does the majority of film critics.
E) Benjamin Bourne’s opinion of The Final Whistle was not dissimilar from other opinions of the film. 
This means that there were others who agreed with Benjamin ,and since in the premise it is stated

a film must be widely acclaimed by film critics around the time of its release

should be E

keats · Answer

I was down to C and E and got tricked! Picked C unfortunately

sivaspurthy · Answer

hi
i think D should be the answer...since Benjamin Bourne uses the same ratings system as does the majority of film critics the parameters should be same...hence his opinion should be considered as the over all opinion....E says others? dose that mean other critics...?? just a doubt
siva

keats · Answer

sivaspurthy  Using the same rating system doesn't ensure that each critic will have the same opinion about the film.

Yes, in E, by others, it means "other critics".

abhimahna · Answer

Extreme answers should always be avoided in Assumption Questions. Hence, C should be your chosen option only when you donot have any other reliable option.

akhileshdas · Answer

I was down to C and E and got tricked! Picked C unfortunately

It showing why pre-thinking the assumption is important.

abhishekdadarwal2009 · Answer

In order to be considered a contender during awards season, a film must be widely acclaimed by film critics around the time of its release. The Final Whistle, then, will not be a contender during awards season, as noted critic Benjamin Bourne has awarded the film his lowest rating of the year thus far.

Which of the following is a necessary assumption of the argument above?

A) No films other than The Final Whistle received similarly low ratings from critic Benjamin Bourne.  many other films would have received lower ratings than Final Wistle
 B) Benjamin Bourne’s film ratings do not always match the ratings of the majority of his peers.  out of scope
 C) No film has ever received Benjamin Bourne’s lowest rating while still remaining a contender during awards season. it may be that all the critics would have given high ratings but not Benjamin Bourne,but then the films would still be the award contender.
 D) Benjamin Bourne uses the same ratings system as does the majority of film critics.  rating system used is out of scope of the topic
 E) Benjamin Bourne’s opinion of The Final Whistle was not dissimilar from other opinions of the film.  
 correct answer that all of the critics have given low ratings to The Final Whistle including Benjamin Bourne

aragonn · Answer

question type :  Assumption, means load negation gun.
 premise:  film is contender if it is widely acclaimed by film critics.
 Situation :  The Final Whistle is not a contender cause Mr. BB has awarded lowest rating.

A) No films other than The Final Whistle received similarly low ratings from critic Benjamin Bourne.--- other films are not in same scope.
B) Benjamin Bourne’s film ratings do not always match the ratings of the majority of his peers. --- Which means it matches some times and some times it don't. May be this film is really bad.
C) No film has ever received Benjamin Bourne’s lowest rating while still remaining a contender during awards season. --- well if films that received lower rating while remaining a contender then why not this movie.
D) Benjamin Bourne uses the same ratings system as does the majority of film critics. ---- rating system is out of scope.
E) Benjamin Bourne’s opinion of The Final Whistle was not dissimilar from other opinions of the film  .---- if bb's opinion is diff from everyone else film should be contender and this is very unfair. if his opinion is not diff then it is right that film is not contender. 
E should be the right answer.

Aviral1995 · Answer

VeritasKarishma   jennpt , how to eliminate C, please explain??

gmatexplorer92 · Answer

In order to be considered a contender during awards season, a film must be widely acclaimed by film critics around the time of its release. The Final Whistle, then, will not be a contender during awards season, as noted critic Benjamin Bourne has awarded the film his lowest rating of the year thus far.

Which of the following is a necessary assumption of the argument above?

A) No films other than The Final Whistle received similarly low ratings from critic Benjamin Bourne.
B) Benjamin Bourne’s film ratings do not always match the ratings of the majority of his peers.
C) No film has ever received Benjamin Bourne’s lowest rating while still remaining a contender during awards season.
D) Benjamin Bourne uses the same ratings system as does the majority of film critics.
E) Benjamin Bourne’s opinion of The Final Whistle was not dissimilar from other opinions of the film.

Answer:

Premise #1: Film must be widely acclaimed by critics to be a contender. 
Premise #2: Noted critic BB has awarded his lowest rating to the film in this year.
Conclusion: Final Whistle will not be a contender.

Assumption?

A -> We cannot say for sure if BBs ratings alone determine whether a film will be a contender or not. It may be that films with low ratings from BB have been contenders, and it may equally also be that films with low ratings from BB are not considered contenders. That sort of evidence is absent in the argument as well as the answer choice.

B -> This may be true, but then again, it does not go to say that BBs rating will then be the deciding factor in whether a film is a contender or not. Since we want it to be widely acclaimed, this option may even act as a weakener to the argument presented, as mahority of other critics would have rated the film highly.

C -> Historically, this may be true. So far there may not have been a film that received a low rating from BB and still remained a contender. However, this isn't indicative of what can happen in the case of Final Whistle.

D -> We have no information on the credibility of each of the rating systems, and hence we cannot decide if the usage of one system trumps the usage of another.

E -> If BB had a dissimilar opinion of the film than others, i.e. a different opinion, then the argument does not hold, as the argument inherently states that wide acclaim is a necessary condition for a contender. Therefore, the original statement here, where BBs opinion is the same as many other critics indicates that a majority of them feel that the film deserved the low rating, hence not being widely acclaimed. This is the answer.

pk123 · Answer

Conclusion: The Final Whistle will not be a contender 
Given: Benjamin Bourne has awarded lowest ration of year thus far
A film in order to be a contender must be widely acclaimed around the time of its release

Falsify conclusion: The final whistle will be a contender 
given Benjamin Bourne has awarded lowest rating of year thus far
A film in order to be a contender must be widely acclaimed around the time of its release

The above can happen if some movie even though it gets BB's low rating can still become a contender---> Assumption will be negation of this i.e No movie can move a contender if it gets BB's low rating

If Benjamin assessment is different from other critics then also final whistle will be a contender. As other critics have given good rating..So Assumption will be "Other critics opinion is not different to Benjamin's"

Both of these assumptions are in Option C and E.. ..By looking at explanation above not getting a solid reason why C cant be correct.

egmat, GMATNInja and VeritasPrepKrishna-- could you please help

gvij2017 · Answer

How BB's reviews are representative! Is his review close to others'.

D) Benjamin Bourne uses the same ratings system as does the majority of film critics.

Rating system can be different, giving similar outcome for a product or service. Suppose, Moody rating and S&P are two different rating system, but if their ultimate opinion or views might be same for a product.

E) Benjamin Bourne’s opinion of The Final Whistle was not dissimilar from other opinions of the film.

BB's opinion is not different than other's. Therefore, E is correct choice.

sayan640 · Answer

VeritasKarishma  
Can you please use the negation technique to discard option C and choose option E?

Posted from my mobile device

KarishmaB · Answer

In order to be considered a contender during awards season, a film must be widely acclaimed by film critics around the time of its release.
Noted critic Benjamin Bourne has awarded the film his lowest rating of the year thus far.

Conclusion: The Final Whistle will not be a contender during awards season.

The argument says that to be contender, the film must be widely acclaimed by critics. BB has awarded the film his lowest rating of the year. So the film will not be a contender. The assumption is that since BB has given low rating, the film will not be widely acclaimed. Note that the argument does not say that since BB has given low rating, it will not be a contender. It says that to be a contender, it must be widely acclaimed.

Hence assumption is (E)
Negate (E): Benjamin Bourne’s opinion of The Final Whistle was dissimilar from other opinions of the film.
Other opinions gave it good rating. Then it could be a contender. The conclusion doesn't stand.

Negate (C): Some films have received Benjamin Bourne’s lowest rating while still remaining a contender during awards season.
What happened to some films is irrelevant. We know what a film needs to be a contender - wide acclaim. We know this film has low rating from BB. But does this film have wide acclaim? Some films which had low rating from BB must have had wide acclaim to be a contender. 
The assumption we are making is about this film.

Hence answer has to be (E).

pk123 · Answer

GMATNinja  /  egmat  could you please help here as I am still confused y C cannot be the contender and answer as well

Posted from my mobile device

pk123 · Answer

@eGMAT/@GMATNinja: still not clear how to eliminate C as this still looks a good contender

In order to be considered a contender during awards season, a film mus

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