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Bunuel
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Bunuel
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Can someone explain in more detail Option B Vs Option E? I believe both these options are subject to some assumptions.
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Can someone explain in more detail Option B Vs Option E? I believe both these options are subject to some assumptions.

E mentions that the students use techniques. That could be anything but doesn't have to be a strategy to always pick C. B makes way more sense
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Professor Knight has noticed that students who guess on her multiple-choice tests are significantly more likely to choose answer choice C instead of A, B, D, or E. Basing her judgment on the fact that a variety of students from different social groups and backgrounds all do this, she has concluded that this tendency was acquired from her colleague Professor Leigh's habit of predominantly using C as a correct answer choice, rather than students' natural tendency to choose the middle letter. Professors Knight and Leigh are the only professors who give multiple choice tests in the required classes of the first and second year.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn by Professor Knight?


(A) She has noticed that students tend to choose C only at her current school, rather than having noticed this tendency throughout her career.

(B) Professor Knight’s first-year students do not pick C more than any other letter, but her second-year students, who have all taken the same required classes, do.

(C) Professor Leigh has a similar theory and believes that Professor Knight is the cause.

(D) The students are required to take the same classes during their first year, but, with the exception of one required lecture, can choose their electives during their second year.

(E) Previous students who learned test techniques from Professor Leigh applied these techniques to tests in Professor Knight's class

I thought it is between B and E. The tendency to choose c as correct is inherited, and it may take time, which is depicted in option B. Option E says previous year students, it's fine but quite ambiguous because previous year could be first-year students also, but how would they then inherit the pattern? Therefore, the correct option is (B).
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Hi MartyMurray, can you help on how to pick B over A. In the below explanation for option A, the reason given is maybe this generation have begun to choose C and that's why it's happening. Although I think it's not a good idea to reject this option based on that as passage already mention that students are from different social groups and backgrounds, so I would not expect the generational change to all the social groups happening at the same time, it's a bit far fetched.


Bunuel



Official Explanation



Answer = (B). Professor Knight thinks that students are learning to choose C from their experience in another class, because she’s noticed that they choose this more often than the other letters. To strengthen the evidence for this argument, we need a reason that students might choose to do this that stems from the school itself. (B) provides us with this link, as it implies that students learn sometime during their first year to pick this answer choice more than others.

(A) isn’t a strong strengthener, because the additional variable of time comes into play—maybe all students of this generation have begun to choose C more than previous generations, and Professor Knight is attributing it to her current school because she’s been there for only five years.

(C) is interesting. If Leigh and Knight each blame each other for the problem, then it may be something both of them are doing, or it may have a cause beyond what either of them is doing. Either way weakens Professor Knight's theory.

(D) almost provides a good explanation, but stops just short of doing so. So what if the students take the same classes one year and not the other? If it doesn’t have anything to do with picking C, which this answer choice doesn’t, it’s not relevant for our purposes.

In (E), we have a case of students applying test-taking techniques to Professor Knight’s class, but we don’t know what these techniques were, nor do we know if students still do this. Whatever the test techniques may be, it is highly unlikely that Professor Leigh would baldly say, "The answers on my tests is usually (C), so that's what you should always pick." Such a statement would completely subvert the educational process, and it is hard to imagine that any educator would be inclined to do so. It's unclear whether the test-taking techniques themselves or the patterns noticed independently by the students are more responsible the students choosing (C) most frequently. Choice (E) leaves us with too many questions.
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gullyboy09
Hi MartyMurray, can you help on how to pick B over A. In the below explanation for option A, the reason given is maybe this generation have begun to choose C and that's why it's happening. Although I think it's not a good idea to reject this option based on that as passage already mention that students are from different social groups and backgrounds, so I would not expect the generational change to all the social groups happening at the same time, it's a bit far fetched.
We can pick (B) over (A) only by deciding that (B) is a little more clearly tied to the school at which the professors are teaching and therefore is likely the answer that the question-writer considered correct.

After all, choice (A) does strengthen the argument by providing reason to believe that it's not usual for people to predominately choose C.

So, this question doesn't really work and doesn't accurately represent a GMAT Critical Reasoning question.
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Hi MartyMurray

(B) Professor Knight’s first-year students do not pick C more than any other letter, but her second-year students, who have all taken the same required classes, do.

I had rejected (B) with the reasoning that we don't know if Professor Leigh teaches first-year students, no such info is given in the argument. If he does in first year, then second-year students might be picking C due to some other course or reason.

MartyMurray

We can pick (B) over (A) only by deciding that (B) is a little more clearly tied to the school at which the professors are teaching and therefore is likely the answer that the question-writer considered correct.

After all, choice (A) does strengthen the argument by providing reason to believe that it's not usual for people to predominately choose C.

So, this question doesn't really work and doesn't accurately represent a GMAT Critical Reasoning question.
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Hi, can you refer to the last line of the passage! ".. Professors Knight and Leigh are the only professors who give multiple choice tests in the required classes of the first and second year."
agrasan
Hi MartyMurray

(B) Professor Knight’s first-year students do not pick C more than any other letter, but her second-year students, who have all taken the same required classes, do.

I had rejected (B) with the reasoning that we don't know if Professor Leigh teaches first-year students, no such info is given in the argument. If he does in first year, then second-year students might be picking C due to some other course or reason.


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agrasan
Hi MartyMurray

(B) Professor Knight’s first-year students do not pick C more than any other letter, but her second-year students, who have all taken the same required classes, do.

I had rejected (B) with the reasoning that we don't know if Professor Leigh teaches first-year students, no such info is given in the argument. If he does in first year, then second-year students might be picking C due to some other course or reason.
Actually, the argument does indicate that Professor Leigh teaches first-year students:

Professors Knight and Leigh are the only professors who give multiple choice tests in the required classes of the first and second year.

At the same time, even if it did not say so, (B) would still strengthen the argument by indicating that choosing (C) is learned rather than a natural tendency, helping to confirm that students are learning it somewhere, which could be Professor Leigh's class.

Remember, a strengthener does not have to prove a conclusion correct. It has only to provide additional reason to believe it's correct, as (B) would either way.
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