A local bio-pharma startup

Question

Can anyone please explain this one?....

MartyTargetTestPrep · Accepted Answer

The key to getting this one right is noticing that the conclusion is that this startup will produce the "best" results.

So there is a comparison going on. This startup is being compared with other companies in the same industry, and the only difference we have been told about, the difference that will make the results different, the best, is the fact the the science managers are going to be paid twice the industry standard.

So that pay difference is reason that this company is expected to be different from others.

(A) This does not somehow strengthen the connection between double pay and producing the best results. For one thing, for all we know, the managers at the other companies are also top engineers.

(B) The easiest way to eliminate B, and this type of answer shows up in a lot of GMAT CR questions, is that B does not talk about something that makes this startup different from others. Right? The point it that this startup is different, and for all we know at all such startups' managers' bonuses are based on performance.

Meanwhile, what B says does not directly or specifically strengthen the idea that paying double will likely generate the best results.

(C) As is the case with A and B, this neither differentiates the company nor directly strengthens the relationship between double pay and producing the best results.

(D) This is clearly related to the connection between paying double and getting the best results. If the primary motivation of the best science managers were not pay but rather making a difference, then one might not attract the best managers, or produce the best results, by simply paying double. So what this says eliminates a potential issue, strengthening the conclusion that paying double will result in producing the best results.

(E) This is tempting, in that one might think that in order for the plan to work, this company has to be able to get managers to move to it from other companies. However, there are many ways to get employees, and for all we know the employees of companies like this one are generally hired right out of school or from universities or something. Meanwhile, if managers were not able to move from company to company, other companies would face the same challenge. So what this choice says does not change the relationship between double pay and best results and is not clearly important for making the plan work.

The correct answer is  D .

louwi · Answer

the conclusion here is not whether the company will produce the best result but instead is whether the salary and bonuses at double the industry standard will attract and retain the best managers.
D is the right answer - In order to strengthen the conclusion that salary will attract and retain the best managers we need to prove that those managers are not interested in making a difference in the field of medecine but rather by money. Given that BioPharma offers the best salaries they will stay.

chesstitans · Answer

this is a common pattern in gmat, test takers should learn this.

Both D and E are assumptions. Nevertheless, E does not fit the scope of this argument.

Prashant10692 · Answer

Hello  chesstitans  would you please provide few questions on this pattern, the one you stated, that is used commonly.

Also could you please add a little more explanation to the learning that need to be inculcated for this pattern.

chesstitans · Answer

learn the pattern is the short way to memorize the question.

There are approximately 2000 questions that are probable to appear in gmat, and those are good questions with great traps and clear explanations, but the verbal only has 41 questions. Certainly, most of the questions will come from those 2000 questions. 
THIS IS THE PATTERN: The best way is to memorize all details for each question. Another way is to memorize the logic, and the main argument structure and the main idea from the passage. Then, memorize the how options are built to fit the questions.

Hussain110 · Answer

Hi  mikemcgarry   Mahmud6 
option D doesn't specifically mention that the main motive of the scientists is to earn money. It only says that they are not interested in pharma work. Then how does this strenthen the argument??
plz help.

chesstitans · Answer

Certainly, you must be sure that only B or D are candidates for the right answer.
D is an important pattern in Kaplan b/c D crosses out a possibility that managers are not motivated by double bonuses and salaries, but the differences. => D strengthens.
B is a trap b/c the argument talks about STANDARD of salaries and bonuses, while B discusses the performances and the bonuses. Also, B can both strengthen and weaken an argument.

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear Hussain110 , I see that chesstitans already responded, but I'm happy to add my two cents.

I think this a poorly constructed question. (A) & (C) & (E) are clearly wrong. Choices (B) & (D) are both plausible but each has its problems: frankly, I would be hard-pressed to determine which is "better" of these two poor choices. Both are bad, and neither is up to the standards of a correct answer on the GMAT. This question does NOT model the kind of choices a student would make on the GMAT. As for (D), even if the #1 highest priority of some of the best pharma managers is making a difference in the field of medicine, then there may be a few companies where this is a possibility, and one might as well go to the one that has the super-high salaries. Even if money is a #2 or #3 priority, paying an extremely high salary is still an excellent way to get very good people. Furthermore, if making that difference is not their highest priority, what is? Travel distance? Company culture? We don't know that automatically it would be money. (D) is very fuzzy. This question does NOT have the clean feeling of an official GMAT CR question. The author, in trying to construct a tricky question, has produced a question without structural integrity. Here's a high quality CR practice question: According to Federal VA Does all this make sense? Mike

Sushilait84 · Answer

for answer D, we can neither assume that money is the factor for manager. if we negate that making difference is the motivating factor for managers, then managers can still join the startup to make a difference there. i do not agree with your answer

chesstitans · Answer

This is a strengthen question, not an assumption question, so the negation technique does not work. D is a strengthener b/c D eliminates one possibility. Among other option choices, B is the closest choice, but B is wrong. Many gmat questions have the pattern in B. That is to say, B only talks about how bonuses are based while the argument here concerns with how bonuses have impact on the results.

GraceSCKao · Answer

I wonder whether it is an official CR question as I found this question while watching a tutoring video.

I have two questions regarding this CR question:

1. Are we looking for an answer that provides the information supporting the PR prep's argument or the passage's final sentence?

I think that the final sentence is the conclusion of the passage, but the stem clearly asks us to support the prep's argument, which is a claim that offering salaries and bonuses double the industry standard should help attract the best science managers.

Some previous discussion focused on whether the startup would produce the best results, but if we are only concerned with the prep's argument, we do not need to mind the results at all.

2. Why is (B) wrong?

I think both (B) and (D) could support the prep's argument: (D) protects the argument by eliminating a possibility that the best science managers could be more interested in making a difference instead of making tons of money. (Although my real world sense tells me that most people in the startups aim to make a difference, however well they are paid.)

On the other hand, (B) specifies that the bonuses is based on managers' performance, measured by objective metrics. Since the prep already said that the company offers double bonuses to the managers, I connected the two dots and thought that the mangers' performance should be good even when measured objectively, otherwise how could the managers get bonuses twice the industry standard? So (B) somehow strengthens the argument by showing that the managers the company has hired are some of the best managers.

Thanks in advance if anyone could interchange ideas with me.

lehung978 · Answer

Simply said. There is a jump between the "double salary" and "best science manager" part. Like how can the bio company assures that the "best science manager" would work for the company just with the "double salary". By assuming that the "best science manager" only cares about $$$$ --> So D all the way

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A local bio-pharma startup

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