Patrick usually provides child care for six children. Parents leave

Question

Patrick usually provides child care for six children. Parents leave their children at Patrick's house in the morning and pick them up after work. At the end of each workweek, the parents pay Patrick at an hourly rate for the child care provided that week. The weekly income Patrick receives is usually adequate but not always uniform, particularly in the winter, when children are likely to get sick and be unpredictably absent.

Which of the following plans, if put into effect, has the best prospect of making Patrick's weekly income both uniform and adequate?

(A) Pool resources with a neighbor who provides child care under similar arrangements, so that the two of them cooperate in caring for twice as many children as Patrick currently does.

(B) Replace payment by actual hours of child care provided with a fixed weekly fee based upon the number of hours of child care that Patrick would typically be expected to provide.

(C) Hire a full-time helper and invest in facilities for providing child care to sick children .

(D) Increase the hourly rate to a level that would provide adequate income even in a week when half of the children Patrick usually cares for are absent.

(E) Increase the number of hours made available for child care each day, so that parents can leave their children in Patrick's care for a longer period each day at the current hourly rate .

ID: 500235

anairamitch1804 · Accepted Answer

Situation At the end of the workweek, Patrick is paid a certain amount for each hour of child care he has provided. Patrick usually receives adequate weekly income under this arrangement,
but in the winter Patrick's income fluctuates, because children are unpredictably absent due to illness.

Reasoning Which plan would be most likely to meet the two goals of uniform weekly income and adequate weekly income? Patrick must find a way to ensure that his weekly income is both
adequate—that is, not reduced significantly from current levels—and uniform—that is, not subject to seasonal or other fluctuations. A successful plan would thus most
likely be one that does not increase Patrick's costs. Further, the plan need not increase Patrick's weekly income; it must merely ensure that that income is more
reliable. It should therefore also provide some way to mitigate the unexpected loss of income from children's absences.

A This plan might raise Patrick's income slightly, because he and the neighbor might pay out less in costs if they pool their resources. But this plan would have no effect on the problem that unpredictable absences pose for Patrick's weekly income.

B Correct. This statement properly identifies a plan that would most likely keep Patrick's income adequate (he would probably receive approximately the same amount of money per child as he does now) and uniform (he would receive the money regardless of whether a child was present or absent).

C While this plan might somewhat mitigate the unpredictability in Patrick's income that results from sick children's absences—because parents would be less likely to keep sick children at home—it would increase Patrick's costs. Paying a helper and investing in different facilities would reduce Patrick's income and might thus result in that income being inadequate.

D Under this plan, if we assume that parents did not balk at the increase in Patrick's hourly rate and find alternative child care, Patrick's income would most likely be adequate. But this plan would not help make Patrick's weekly income uniform. His income would continue to fluctuate when children are absent. Remember, there are two goals with regard to Patrick's income: adequacy and uniformity.

E This plan might increase Patrick's income, in that he might be paid for more hours of child care each week. The goals here, however, are to make Patrick's weekly income both adequate and uniform, and this plan does not address the issue of uniformity.

The correct answer is B.

Mbawarrior01 · Answer

(A) Pool resources with a neighbor who provides child care under similar arrangements, so that the two of
them cooperate in caring for twice as many children as Patrick currently does.  it will have no effect on sick kids

(B) Replace payment by actual hours of child care provided with a fixed weekly fee based upon the number of
hours of child care that Patrick would typically be expected to provide.  Perfect, whether a child comes or not, fixed fee will ensure uniform and regular income

(C) Hire a full-time helper and invest in facilities for providing child care to sick children .  facilities wont make sick children step out of the house

(D) Increase the hourly rate to a level that would provide adequate income even in a week when half of the
children Patrick usually cares for are absent.  He may potentially loose more customers in bargain

(E) Increase the number of hours made available for child care each day, so that parents can leave their
children in Patrick's care for a longer period each day at the current hourly rate . :   Does not matter, parents may not want more no of hours

nelz007 · Answer

Patrick usually provides child care for six children. Parents leave their children at Patrick's house in the morning
and pick them up after work. At the end of each workweek, the parents pay Patrick at an hourly rate for the child
care provided that week.  The weekly income Patrick receives is usually adequate but not always uniform ,
particularly in the winter, when children are likely to get sick and be unpredictably absent.

Which of the following plans, if put into effect,  has the  best prospect  of making Patrick's weekly  income both
uniform and adequate  ?

We need to select an option where the income is uniform so there isn't any fluctuations - an option which makes consistent income.

(B) Replace payment by actual hours of child care provided with a fixed weekly fee based upon the number of
hours of child care that Patrick would typically be expected to provide.

There is a balanced rate per week, hence guarantees uniform income.

(D) Increase the hourly rate to a level that would provide adequate income even in a week when half of the
children Patrick usually cares for are absent.

There isn't consistency in this option, also note just cos he's increasing fee it could mean the parents could use other child care services. He might lose money if he does this.

Jamiedodd · Answer

Answer is B and I would say that when there are lot of children it needs to take a lot of care.

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

Current Scenario: Patric is getting paid at an hourly rate at the end of each week.
But there are certain weeks in winters when the children are sick and do not come.
Hence the income is less.

In order to counter this, Patric can have a steady flow of income by charging a weekly/monthly rate irrespective of whether a child is absent or not.
This will make his income uniform and adequate also.

The same logic is conveyed in option B, hence the correct option.

Skywalker18 · Answer

Boil it down - The current payment system provides adequate but not always uniform, particularly in the winter, when children are likely to get sick and be unpredictably absent.

(A) Pool resources with a neighbor who provides child care under similar arrangements, so that the two of
them cooperate in caring for twice as many children as Patrick currently does. - Irrelevant as it does not resolve the issue of variable income .

(B) Replace payment by actual hours of child care provided with a fixed weekly fee based upon the number of
hours of child care that Patrick would typically be expected to provide. - Correct

(C) Hire a full-time helper and invest in facilities for providing child care to sick children . Incorrect - It does not address the issue of variable income . On the contrary this will reduce the total income .

(D) Increase the hourly rate to a level that would provide adequate income even in a week when half of the
children Patrick usually cares for are absent. - Incorrect - Increase in hourly rate might force some parents to withdraw their children and it does not address the issue of variable income

(E) Increase the number of hours made available for child care each day, so that parents can leave their
children in Patrick's care for a longer period each day at the current hourly rate . Incorrect

adkikani · Answer

GMATNinjaTwo   GMATNinja   generis

Why is below option incorrect?

We are given that hourly rate is increased, hence ADEQUATE part is taken care of

Also, since the phrase - even in .. ensures that the above pay is GUARANTEED/UNIFORM when 
children are sick in winter.

GMATNinja · Answer

The phrase "even in" does indeed suggest that his pay would be  adequate  even when children are sick. But that still would not make his pay UNIFORM. His pay would fluctuate greatly depending on how many children were sick each week.

Also, the higher rate would only make his pay adequate IF parents decide to continue paying him at the higher price. In other words, his pay will only be adequate if he doesn't lose any customers.

Either way, his pay will definitely not be uniform, so (D) must be eliminated.

samstthomas · Answer

Hi,

Is this not a Strengthen Question? As the tag is missing and then again OG classifies as "Evaluation of Plan". Can someone please categorise this question please, as I am trying to define thought process flow chart for question types and this one falls into none.

Appreciate your help.

Thanks

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

This question is probably closer to Strengthen than to Evaluate, as, although, in answering it, you do assess the effects of the plans described in the answer choices, correctly answering it involves finding a choice that best supports the conclusion "Patrick's income will be both uniform and adequate."

So, I think, if you consider this a Strengthen question in which the conclusion appears in the question stem, it should basically fit your flow chart.

That said, my suggestion is that you be careful with how you prepare and don't make your approaches to answering questions too rigid. You could run into an out-of-the-box question when you take the test, and you have to be ready to be flexible in your approach. So, it would be good to be ready to use a basic, logic based approach without any particular pattern in case you have to.

samstthomas · Answer

Thanks for your response Marty. Of course you are right, there is no set pattern always and it is a very dangerous strategy for the exam. I completely
 agree with you.

Although, I am trying my best to be more efficient, by finding some patterns and see if there are any minor improvements. Sorry I am more of VISIO and Flowchart guy!

Having said that, I also found something very interesting that Strengthen question by itself has two categories, 1. Argument Construction and 2. Evaluate a Plan. 
Where the reasoning to strengthen the argument differs accordingly. For instance, incase of type 1, the assumption that we are strengthening is wholly on the argument itself and for type 2, the assumption that we are strengthening is wholly on the question stem which is focusing on a particular premise within the argument. And what more interesting is, the common trap answer (after eliminating 3 answers) for type 2 is the correct answer if the question would have been type 1. What are your thoughts please, wish I had explained better.

Thanks, 
Sam Walter

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

What you are saying sounds about right, although I hadn't really noticed that pattern with the trap answers. So, I'm now going to keep it in mind and look to see whether I see it too.

That said, I tend to come at Strengthen from a direction a little different from what you described. I tend to focus on the conclusion and, regardless of the type of Strengthen question, look for a choice whose effect goes in a direction such that the choice provides support for the conclusion. So, direction of effect of answer choices, above all else, is what I look for.

Of course, since there are certain patterns to the questions, such as variable control and stating unstated assumptions, that seem to appear repeatedly, an awareness of those patterns can be helpful.

I too analyzed the questions for patterns, and found various categories of questions, some similar to yours, about 8 patterns to correct answers, and various patterns to incorrect and trap answers. Of course, the question writers can and do come up with new patterns.

In any case, the more analysis you do, the clearer what's going on in the questions becomes, and the clearer it all becomes, the more consistently and quickly you correctly answer the questions.

woohoo921 · Answer

I had a difficult time choosing between choices B and D when attempting this problem.

For, Choice B what if some of the children were out for a whole week at various times throughout the year (=no payment at all)? In that scenario, choice B's payment plan would not necessarily be uniform if you look at the payment streams over the course of the year.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Here's choice (B).

(B) Replace payment by actual hours of child care provided with a fixed weekly fee based upon the number of
hours of child care that Patrick would typically be expected to provide.

Notice that this method involves replacing payment for actual hours of childcare provided with a fixed weekly amount. Patrick would get this fixed weekly amount even if the number of hours of childcare provided during a particular week were 0. After all, Patrick would typically be expected to provide a full week's worth of childcare for this child who happens to be sick for a particular week.

Braintree · Answer

This is one of the classic reasoning questions which has a distinct GMAT flavour. What makes this question hard is the unique approach needed - a cross of logic and real life business sense:

1. The precision to not conflate adequacy with uniformity; Stick to the OBJECTIVE of the plan: If you do not have this precision, Answer choice "D" might sound attractive, since you may think that in such a case even in the lean winter months Patrick's income will be 'adequate', and therefore he may not need uniformity at all!! But you have to read the objective of the plan literally. The end outcome needs to be uniform. So even if he say earns a hundred times of what he was earning previously, but with equal (or higher) variability than before it will be the wrong answer (as opposed to real world situation, where one would any day accept that proposal). Note the language trick in (D) - "would provide adequate income even in a week when half of the children Patrick usually cares for are absent" - which primes you to think real life situation that Patrick doesn't NEED uniformity anymore.

2. Think Business-wise: At the same time of not letting go of the objective of the plan, no matter how absurd it may become (since as explained in point 1 above, if Patrick's incomes double, Patrick may not NEED uniformity anymore), the question also requires us to think Business-wise: To cross of C, you have to realise that hiring help will cost money, and therefore while answer choice C may improve the uniformity, it might render Patrick's income insufficient.

3. Also note that, in order to get this answer correct, how the question maker requires you to shift your priorities from Answer choices B to C to D!

Imo, this question is more difficult that what its statistics suggest!

Sonia2023 · Answer

My two cents on this question:

Stimulus summary: 
At the end of each workweek, the parents pay Patrick at an hourly rate for the child care provided that week. 
But the weekly income Patrick receives is  usually adequate  but  not always uniform ,  particularly in the winter , when children are likely to get sick and be unpredictably absent.

Question stem:  Which of the following plans, if put into effect, has the best prospect of making Patrick's weekly  income both uniform and adequate?
  -  Which means we need a plan which achieves both the goals - Uniformity and Adequacy of Income.

Answer choice analysis:

(A) Pool resources with a neighbor who provides child care under similar arrangements, so that the two of them cooperate in caring for twice as many children as Patrick currently does.
 
 Adequacy : May or may not be fulfilled: The income needs to be shared so we don't know whether it will be adequate after increasing the resources. It may increase from $600 to $1000 but if divided between two people - It may be $500 each.  Ambiguous impact 
 Uniformity : No help in that respect.

ELIMINATE

(B) Replace payment by actual hours of child care provided with a fixed weekly fee based upon the number of hours of child care that Patrick would typically be expected to provide. 
 Adequacy : Since the income that he receives during normal times is being replicated to all the periods through fixed pricing- The impact is positive. 
 Uniformity : The fixed plan will definitely give uniform income.

KEEP

(C) Hire a full-time helper and invest in facilities for providing child care to sick children. 
 Adequacy : Ambiguous. The income from providing child care to sick children may not fully offset the expense of hiring the full time helper. The question has asked for income and not revenue so the impact on net income may or may not be positive. Ambiguous
 Uniformity : Yes there is a uniformity of revenue but nothing can be said about the income.

ELIMINATE

(D) Increase the hourly rate to a level that would provide adequate income even in a week when half of the children Patrick usually cares for are absent. 
 Adequacy : This choice is tricky. It first seems to be the right choice but a careful evaluation of the stimulus and impact of what is being stated helps in eliminating this one. This option will help in increasing the income because when children are not sick, they will be paying a higher rate so overall the income will increase.

Uniformity : It won't be uniform, however, because in periods when the children are not sick, he will have more income than in periods when children are sick.

ELIMINATE

(E) Increase the number of hours made available for child care each day, so that parents can leave their children in Patrick's care for a longer period each day at the current hourly rate  .
 Adequacy : Increases the income. Okay. 
 Uniformity : No help in that respect.

ELIMINATE

The stimulus already mentions that the income is adequate so we actually have to deal only with uniformity. Choice A, D and E both help in increasing the income so we could eliminate them on that basis also because the question stem never mentions increase in income. The weekly income of Patrick at the current levels is adequate. Choice C, has an ambiguous impact on the income, so can be eliminated.

Choice B seems to be the best answer.

P.S. 
a) Nothing has been assumed on the demand side as these plans may or may not be taken positively by parents but this is common to all the choices so can be taken as constant for all the plans.

JM007 · Answer

This Question looks more like Evaluate than an Assumption.

Patrick usually provides child care for six children. Parents leave

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Patrick usually provides child care for six children. Parents leave

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