Last visit was: 24 Apr 2026, 00:23 It is currently 24 Apr 2026, 00:23
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
User avatar
manasveek
Joined: 18 Jun 2017
Last visit: 02 Jan 2021
Posts: 40
Own Kudos:
247
 [50]
Given Kudos: 78
Posts: 40
Kudos: 247
 [50]
9
Kudos
Add Kudos
41
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Most Helpful Reply
User avatar
AshutoshB
Joined: 07 Dec 2017
Last visit: 16 Jan 2022
Posts: 322
Own Kudos:
2,320
 [19]
Given Kudos: 348
GMAT 1: 650 Q50 V28
GMAT 2: 720 Q49 V40
Products:
GMAT 2: 720 Q49 V40
Posts: 322
Kudos: 2,320
 [19]
14
Kudos
Add Kudos
5
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
General Discussion
avatar
hongg7
Joined: 13 Aug 2018
Last visit: 15 Mar 2019
Posts: 36
Own Kudos:
10
 [1]
Given Kudos: 118
Posts: 36
Kudos: 10
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
User avatar
CJWORK
Joined: 27 Jul 2016
Last visit: 28 Jun 2020
Posts: 54
Own Kudos:
15
 [1]
Given Kudos: 55
GMAT 1: 730 Q49 V40
WE:Consulting (Consulting)
GMAT 1: 730 Q49 V40
Posts: 54
Kudos: 15
 [1]
Kudos
Add Kudos
1
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
hongg7
I chose answer A, because I thought that A eliminates possibilities that other factors were involved that could have affected the study. Can anyone clarify how A could be eliminated?

IMO, A is already stated in the argument.
User avatar
Mansoor50
Joined: 29 May 2017
Last visit: 04 Jul 2021
Posts: 139
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 63
Location: Pakistan
Concentration: Social Entrepreneurship, Sustainability
Posts: 139
Kudos: 31
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
As a general question....can practice on LSAT question help in gmat CR?
User avatar
nightblade354
User avatar
Current Student
Joined: 31 Jul 2017
Last visit: 22 Apr 2026
Posts: 1,769
Own Kudos:
7,116
 [1]
Given Kudos: 3,305
Status:He came. He saw. He conquered. -- Going to Business School -- Corruptus in Extremis
Location: United States (MA)
Concentration: Finance, Economics
Expert
Expert reply
Posts: 1,769
Kudos: 7,116
 [1]
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Mansoor50, yes. And bumping for further discussion.
User avatar
unraveled
Joined: 07 Mar 2019
Last visit: 10 Apr 2025
Posts: 2,706
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 763
Location: India
WE:Sales (Energy)
Posts: 2,706
Kudos: 2,329
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
A recent study showed that the immune system blood cells of the study's participants who drank tea but no coffee took half as long to respond to germs as did the blood cells of participants who drank coffee but no tea. Thus, drinking tea boosted the participants' immune system defenses.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

.(A)  All of the participants in the study drank either tea or coffee, and none drank both.

.(B)  Coffee has no health benefits that are as valuable as the boost that tea purportedly gives to the body's immune system.

.(C)  In the study, drinking coffee did not cause the blood cell response time to double.

.(D)  Coffee drinkers in general are no more likely to exercise and eat healthily than are tea drinkers.

.(E)  Coffee and tea do not have in common any chemicals that fight disease in the human body

One may think of a possible assumption that blood cell response time in participants who drank tea didn't halved but if that is so then the question would have been easy. On the contrary, C says the opposite of above, making it difficult to answer.
Only A and C look good but A loses for considering participants who may/may not have drank both i.e. increasing the scope of participants of experiment.

Answer C.
User avatar
GmatKnightTutor
User avatar
Major Poster
Joined: 31 Jan 2020
Last visit: 01 Nov 2025
Posts: 5,204
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 18
Posts: 5,204
Kudos: 1,575
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Does someone become faster because their rival has becomes slower? That's kind of what could be happening here. What if tea didn't boost one's immune system but coffee slows it down?

(C) is the answer. If we negate it, we get: In the study, drinking coffee DID cause the blood cell response time to double.

This would be devastating for the argument.
User avatar
PSKhore
Joined: 28 Apr 2025
Last visit: 27 Feb 2026
Posts: 190
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 112
Posts: 190
Kudos: 33
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
manasveek
A recent study showed that the immune system blood cells of the study's participants who drank tea but no coffee took half as long to respond to germs as did the blood cells of participants who drank coffee but no tea. Thus, drinking tea boosted the participants' immune system defenses.


Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

.(A) All of the participants in the study drank either tea or coffee, and none drank both.

.(B) Coffee has no health benefits that are as valuable as the boost that tea purportedly gives to the body's immune system.

.(C) In the study, drinking coffee did not cause the blood cell response time to double.

.(D) Coffee drinkers in general are no more likely to exercise and eat healthily than are tea drinkers.

.(E) Coffee and tea do not have in common any chemicals that fight disease in the human body


Source: LSAT
(C) In the study, drinking coffee did not cause the blood cell response time to double.

Explanation:

The argument concludes that drinking tea boosted immune system defenses based on a comparison between two groups: tea drinkers and coffee drinkers. The study found that tea drinkers' blood cells responded twice as fast as coffee drinkers'. The logical leap is assuming the difference is due to tea's positive effect, rather than coffee's negative effect.
The conclusion is: Tea's effect is a positive boost. The evidence is: Tea group's response time is half of the coffee group's.
For the conclusion to be valid, it must be assumed that the coffee group's response time is the baseline or normal, and tea sped it up. If, however, the coffee group's response time was slowed down by the coffee itself, the conclusion that tea provides a "boost" is not necessarily true. It could simply be that tea is a neutral substance, and the coffee is the one causing the negative effect.
Therefore, the argument depends on the assumption that coffee did not negatively impact the blood cells' response time, making the faster response of the tea group a result of a positive boost from the tea.

Source: Google Gemini
Moderators:
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7391 posts
501 posts
358 posts