Approximately 500 dancers applied for positions in the Sandrow Ballet

Question

Approximately 500 dancers applied for positions in the Sandrow Ballet Company. The directors of the company, in an attempt to maintain a consistent standard of quality, decided to accept only five dancers from among the applicants each year, based on the quality of the dancers' auditions.

In order to conclude that the directors' plan will be effective, it is necessary to assume that

A) it would be impossible to hire all the dancers who applied for positions, no matter how high the quality of their auditions
B) the number of applicants for positions at the Sandrow Ballet Company will remain at approximately 500 over the next few years
C) every dancer who applies for a position in the Sandrow Ballet Company has the right to be viewed as a serious contender
D) it is often difficult to gauge the quality of a dancer based only on that dancer's audition
E) each year, the quality of the five dancers chosen from those who audition will be consistent with that of previous years

PoojanB · Answer

A) it would be impossible to hire all the dancers who applied for positions, no matter how high the quality of their auditions
 Even if its possible, director wants only 5.A is out. 
B) the number of applicants for positions at the Sandrow Ballet Company will remain at approximately 500 over the next few years
 Irrelevant. B is out 
C) every dancer who applies for a position in the Sandrow Ballet Company has the right to be viewed as a serious contender
 Even if it is not, it doesn't affect the conclusion/Plan's effectiveness. C is out 
D) it is often difficult to gauge the quality of a dancer based only on that dancer's audition
 Difficult doesn't mean can't be done. You can still choose 5 out of 500.D is out 
E) each year, the quality of the five dancers chosen from those who audition will be consistent with that of previous years
 IF the quality of 5 chosen dancer will not be consistent over the year .It will defeat the very purpose to maintain a consistent standard of quality. E is winner

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

This is an assumption-based question. So, we are looking for an unstated premise or basis for the conclusion.

The conclusion is the decision made by the directors of the Sandrow Ballet Company to accept only five dancers from among the applicants based on the auditions of the dancers. This decision has been taken in an attempt to maintain a consistent standard of quality. The directors seem to have taken it for granted that they would have dancers of a certain quality auditioning every year. Option E is only one that states this.

Option A only mentions the number of applicants that can be hired. It doesn’t mention how the quality of the auditions may remain consistent to maintain the quality of the dancers that are hired.

Option B also discusses the consistency in the  number  of applicants, not the  quality  of the dancers.

Options C and D go on a tangent by discussing a dancer’s rights and whether the quality of a dancer can be judged on the basis of only an audition.

E, therefore is the only option that states an additional basis for the directors’ decision.

Jayanthi Kumar.

chrtpmdr · Answer

This question is faulty in my opinion. The director picks only five dancers per year in order to maintain a high level of quality among the dancers. 
It is reasonable to assume to have 5 dancers out of 500 which are qualified. 
However, what if next year only 10 apply - he then would not only accept the best 1% but 50% of those who applied. How can we then reject B) on that basis?

D4498 · Answer

Approximately 500 dancers applied for positions in the Sandrow Ballet Company. The directors of the company, in an attempt to maintain a consistent standard of quality, decided to accept only five dancers from among the applicants each year, based on the quality of the dancers' auditions.

In order to conclude that the directors' plan will be effective, it is necessary to assume that

A) it would be impossible to hire all the dancers who applied for positions, no matter how high the quality of their auditions.   not talking about possibility of hiring dancer rather about consistency of quality .  
B) the number of applicants for positions at the Sandrow Ballet Company will remain at approximately 500 over the next few years.  straightaway OOS  
C) every dancer who applies for a position in the Sandrow Ballet Company has the right to be viewed as a serious contender.  right not discussed OOS  
D) it is often difficult to gauge the quality of a dancer based only on that dancer's audition.  assessment of difficulty not discussed OOS  
E) each year, the quality of the five dancers chosen from those who audition will be consistent with that of previous years.(   The directors of the company, in an attempt to maintain a consistent standard of quality, decided to accept only five dancers from among the applicants each year....so to make it consistent the quality of current year should match previous yr.

Posted from my mobile device

chrtpmdr · Answer

Please ellaborate why the answers are out of scope, labelling 3 out of 5 answers out of scope is not really a high quality explanation.

D4498 · Answer

WHAT THE STIMULUS IS TRYING TO SAY:
1.500 APPLICANTS FOR THE COMPANY.
2.IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN CONSISTENT STANDARD OF QUALITY,DIRECTORS DECIDED TO CHOOSE 5 DANCERS BASED ON QUALITY OF DANCER'S AUDITION.  
A) it would be impossible to hire all the dancers who applied for positions, no matter how high the quality of their auditions. THE STIMULUS DOESN'T TALKS ABOUT POSSIBILITY OF HIRING DANCERS .EVEN IF YOU NEGATE IT DOESN'T BREAK THE ARGUMENT. 
B) the number of applicants for positions at the Sandrow Ballet Company will remain at approximately 500 over the next few years. .IRRELEVANT. CAN WE CONCLUDE ON THE BASIS OF THE STIMULUS THAT APPLICANTS WILL REMAIN APPROX 500 ,MAYBE IT COULD BE 700 OR 800.PLUS NEGATING IT WILL NOT BREAK THE ARGUMENT.  
C) every dancer who applies for a position in the Sandrow Ballet Company has the right to be viewed as a serious contender. WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT RIGHTS OF BEING SEEN AS SERIOUS CONTENDER. TOTALLY OOS 
D) it is often difficult to gauge the quality of a dancer based only on that dancer's audition. DIFFICULTY GUAGING THE QUALITY OF DANCERS IS IRRELEVANT.NOT THE MAIN ISSUE+DOESN'T BREAK ARGUEMENT WHEN WE NEGATE IT.  
E) each year, the quality of the five dancers chosen from those who audition will be consistent with that of previous years.  Correct ,Each year the quality of the five dancers chosen from those who audition will not be consistent to that of previous years.But as per stimulus,the company has to maintain a consistent standard of quality.How will the standard of quality be consistent then?+plus refer to one ,i have explained above.  
Hope that helps.

rvgmat12 · Answer

Official Explanation:

Conclusion: The directors decided to accept only five dancers from among the applicants each year, based on the quality of the dancers’ auditions.
Premise: Approximately 500 dancers applied for positions in the Sandrow Ballet Company. The directors of the company attempt to maintain a consistent standard of quality.
Assumption: There are no problems with the plan. Accepting only five dancers per year will allow the company to maintain a consistent standard of quality.

The phrase it is necessary to assume that in the question stem indicates that this is an assumption question. The word plan in the question stem indicates that this argument exhibits the planning reasoning pattern. The conclusion of any argument that employs the planning pattern is to do the plan. In this case, doing the plan means to accept only five dancers from among the applicants each year, based on the quality of the dancers’ auditions. The company is accepting only five dancers per year in an attempt to maintain a consistent standard of quality.

The standard assumption involved in the planning pattern is that there are no problems with the plan. Because this is an assumption question, the correct answer will support the idea that there are no problems with the plan. Evaluate the answer choices, looking for an answer that rules out a potential problem with the plan.

Choice A: No. The fact that it would be impossible to hire all the dancers who applied is out of scope. The number of dancers the company is capable of hiring is irrelevant to the argument that hiring five dancers per year will serve to maintain a consistent standard of quality.

Choice B: No. The number of applicants is out of scope. Whether or not the yearly number of applicants is roughly consistent has no bearing on the argument that hiring only five dancers per year will serve to maintain a consistent standard of quality.

Choice C: No. The right of every applicant to be viewed as a serious contender is out of scope. Determining whether the directors’ plan will be effective involves determining whether hiring only five applicants per year will maintain a consistent standard of quality. The right of each applicant to be viewed in a certain way is irrelevant.

Choice D: No. This choice weakens the argument by introducing a problem with the plan. If it is difficult to gauge the quality of a dancer based only on that dancer’s audition, then hiring dancers based on their auditions might not produce a consistent standard of quality.

Choice E: Correct. The company’s directors decided to hire only five dancers per year in an attempt to maintain a consistent standard of quality. If newly hired dancers were qualitatively different from those hired in previous years, a consistent standard of quality would not be maintained. By suggesting that the quality of the five dancers chosen…will be consistent with that of previous years, this choice rules out a potential problem with the plan.

The correct answer is choice E.

arushi118 · Answer

The directors’ goal is to maintain a consistent standard of quality by accepting only five dancers per year, based on audition performance.

For that plan to actually work, we must assume that: Each year, the top five dancers who audition will be similar in quality to the top five in previous years.

Otherwise, even if they pick only five, the standard could go up or down drastically, defeating their purpose.

This is exactly what E states.

Approximately 500 dancers applied for positions in the Sandrow Ballet

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GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Approximately 500 dancers applied for positions in the Sandrow Ballet

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