Absolute, or perfect, pitch-the ability to identify the pitch of an

Question

Absolute, or perfect, pitch - the ability to identify the pitch of an isolated musical note - is rare in the general population, but relatively common among trained musicians. A survey of fifteen- year-old music students showed that absolute pitch was more common among those who had been studying music since a very early age than among those who started studying a few years later. Thus very early musical training aids in the development of absolute pitch.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A) Young children with absolute pitch might not realize that they have it until they become adolescents.
B) Possession of absolute pitch can hamper a person's enjoyment of musical performances.
C) Most musicians who have absolute pitch started their training before age seven.
D) It is never the goal of early musical training to develop absolute pitch.
E) Children with absolute pitch are more likely to persist in their musical training than are children without absolute pitch.

MartyMurray · Accepted Answer

Absolute, or perfect, pitch - the ability to identify the pitch of an isolated musical note - is rare in the general population, but relatively common among trained musicians. A survey of fifteen- year-old music students showed that absolute pitch was more common among those who had been studying music since a very early age than among those who started studying a few years later. Thus very early musical training aids in the development of absolute pitch.

The conclusion of the argument is the following:

very early musical training aids in the development of absolute pitch

The support for the conclusion is the following:

A survey of fifteen- year-old music students showed that absolute pitch was more common among those who had been studying music since a very early age than among those who started studying a few years later.

We see that the reasoning of the argument is basically that, since absolute pitch was more common in survey respondents who had been studying music since a very early age than in those who started studying at a later age, studying music at a very early age helps someone develop absolute pitch.

A simple way of looking at the argument is that its point is basically that studying at an early age causes absolute pitch.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

This is a Weaken question, and the correct answer will show that, even though the evidence is true, the conclusion may not be correct.

A) Young children with absolute pitch might not realize that they have it until they become adolescents.

Notice that the survey mentioned in the argument is "of fifteen-year-old music students." So, the students surveyed are all "adolescents," since a fifteen-year-old person is considered an adolescent.

Thus, none of the people surveyed are "young children" who "might not realize" that they have perfect pitch. In other words, this choice does not indicate that the survey results are suspect. After all, the survey results don't involve "young children with absolute pitch."

Thus, this choice has no effect on the strength of the argument since the fact that young children with abolute pitch may not realize they have it does not affect the strength of the support provided by the fact that absolute pitch was more common among those who had been studying music since a very early age than among those who started studying a few years later.

Eliminate.

B) Possession of absolute pitch can hamper a person's enjoyment of musical performances.

Regardless of whether this choice is true, it remains the case that absolute pitch was more common among people surveyed who had been studying music since a very early age than among those who started studying a few years later, and that fact still supports the conclusion.

Eliminate.

C) Most musicians who have absolute pitch started their training before age seven.

If anything, this choice strengthens, rather that weakens, the argument.

After all, this new information that, not only most of the fifteen year olds surveyed who have absolute pitch but also most musicians in general who do started their training at a young age, before age 7, do is an additional reason to believe that very early musical training aids in the development of absolute pitch.

Eliminate.

D) It is never the goal of early musical training to develop absolute pitch.

Notice that, regardless of whether development of absolute pitch is the goal of early musical training, its still the case that children who start training earlier are more likely to have abolute pitch than other childen. So, even though development of absolute pitch is not the goal of early musical training, early musical training does appear to result in the development of absolute pitch.

Thus, this choice does not weaken the case for the conclusion.

Eliminate.

E) Children with absolute pitch are more likely to persist in their musical training than are children without absolute pitch.

This choice is interesting.

If children with absolute pitch are more likely to persist in their musical training than are children without absolute pitch, then it could be that the reason why absolute pitch was more common among those who had been studying music since a very early age than among those who started studying a few years later is the following:

A large proportion of the students who started studying at an early age who did not have absolute pitch quit by the time the survey was done. So, the remaining early-age starters included a relatively high proportion of children with absolute pitch.

On the other hand, not as high a proportion of the later starters had dropped out by the tiime the survey was done since they had been studying for less time. After all, they started later. So, there hasn't been as much time since they started for them to quit. Thus, not as high a percentage of those later starters without absolute pitch had quit by the time the survey was done.

In tthat case, the reason for the greater proportion having absolute pitch among those who started early could be attributed to, not their early training, but instead the greater proportion of non-absolute-pitch-having children in the early starter group having dropped out.

So, this choice indicates that there could be a different reason why absolute pitch was more common among those who had been studying music since a very early age than among those who started studying a few years later: It's not that earlier training causes absolute pitch. It's just that people's having quit in different proportions left different proportions of children with absolute pitch in the two groups.

Thus, this choice casts doubt on the conclusion that early training helps to cause absolute pitch by providing a possible alternative cause for the observed difference.

Keep.

Correct answer:  E

gmatophobia · Answer

Conclusion of the passage  : Thus very early musical training aids in the development of absolute pitch.
The conclusion of the passage outlines a causal relation.
 
   Cause  : Very early musical training 
   Effect  : Aids in the development of absolute pitch  
Hence, in concluding the passage the author assumes that the cause leads to the effect. In this context, the author assumes early training causes absolute pitch. Any answer choice that can challenge this assumption would weaken the argument. 
   Answer Choice Elimination   
 A) Young children with absolute pitch might not realize that they have it until they become adolescents. 
This doesn't affect the argument. The author of the passage is not concerned with the timing when young children with absolute pitch realize that they have it. Hence, Option A doesn't weaken the argument. 
 B) Possession of absolute pitch can hamper a person's enjoyment of musical performances. 
This option is irrelevant to the argument. Eliminate B
 C) Most musicians who have absolute pitch started their training before age seven. 
This statement strengthens the argument by providing additional evidence that early musical training is associated with the development of absolute pitch. We can eliminate C. 
 D) It is never the goal of early musical training to develop absolute pitch. 
This option is irrelevant to the argument. Whether absolute pitch is the goal of early musical training or not is not what the conclusion of the passage is all about. We can eliminate Option D.
 E) Children with absolute pitch are more likely to persist in their musical training than are children without absolute pitch. 
The argument assumes early training causes absolute pitch. If children with the ability are more likely to continue training in the first place, regardless of when they started the children would likely to persist their training. This casts doubt on the claim that the author has made based on the survey results. This option weakens the conclusion.
  Option E

egmat · Answer

Let's break down what's happening in this argument:

The author notices that among 15-year-old music students, those who started training early have absolute pitch more often than those who started later. From this correlation, the argument concludes that  early training causes or helps develop  absolute pitch.

Here's the key question you need to ask yourself:  Does early training actually  create  absolute pitch, or could something else explain why early starters have it more often?

Let's think through answer choice E:

"Children with absolute pitch are more likely to persist in their musical training than are children without absolute pitch."

Notice what this does - it completely flips the causation! Instead of:
 
 Early training → develops absolute pitch (what the argument claims)

We get:
 
 Natural absolute pitch → more likely to stick with training from early age

This means the survey findings make perfect sense  without  early training developing the ability at all. Children who naturally have absolute pitch find music more rewarding or intuitive, so they're more motivated to continue from an early age. Children without this natural ability are more likely to quit along the way. By age 15, you'd naturally find more absolute pitch among the "early starters" group - not because training created it, but because kids with the ability were simply more likely to persist in their training from early ages!

This is a textbook example of  self-selection bias  masquerading as a causal relationship.

Quick check of why the others don't weaken:

A  - When children realize they have absolute pitch doesn't matter; by age 15 (when surveyed) they'd know either way

B  - Whether absolute pitch affects enjoyment is completely irrelevant to whether early training develops it

C  - This actually  strengthens  the argument by providing additional evidence that early training correlates with absolute pitch

D  - Just because it's not an intentional goal doesn't mean it can't happen as an unintended result of training

The answer is E.

This question rewards you for recognizing that correlation doesn't automatically prove causation - you need to consider alternative explanations like reverse causation or self-selection. If you want to master the complete framework for systematically identifying and attacking causal arguments in CR questions, you can check out the  step-by-step solution on Neuron by e-GMAT , where they break down the systematic approach that works across all weaken questions and show you how to spot these patterns quickly. You can also explore detailed solutions for  other official GMAT questions here  to build your pattern recognition skills.

Hope this helps!

AditiDeokar · Answer

MartyMurray  - Could you please help me understand : For Option A : I undetstand the surveyed are not children, but can't it weaken the argument by showing how absolute pitch is inherent rather than acquired by training?

MartyMurray · Answer

Think about it.

The fact that children who have absolute pitch may not be aware that they do does not mean that many children have it or that it's inherent. It just means that those children who have it for whatever reason are not aware that they have it.

That fact doesn't change anything.

After all, the survey doesn't compare responses of young children with those of older ones. So, the argument doesn't involve what young children are or are not aware of.

Absolute, or perfect, pitch-the ability to identify the pitch of an

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