12 Days of Christmas GMAT Competition 2025 - Day 2: PulsePoint Gym

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16 Dec 2025, 22:21

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D. The plan works only if restricting access during convenient time slots actually pushes basic members to upgrade to elite. If the restriction doesn’t create enough incentive to upgrade, the plan fails. So this must be assumed. Can not C as the question is not talking about retention of basic consumers but about the elite users, thus irrelevant.

BunuelPulsePoint Gym recently upgraded the equipment in the basic-members area so that it now matches many of the features previously available only in the elite zone. This makes the basic membership far more attractive and risks reducing upgrades to elite memberships. To prevent that, PulsePoint plans to restrict basic members from using the new equipment during the most convenient time slots, even though the facility has enough capacity to allow it.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the plan depends?

(A) Elite memberships are currently too expensive for most basic members.
(B) Most basic members prefer to work out during inconvenient time slots anyway.
(C) Basic members will not respond to the restrictions by switching to another gym.
(D) Restricting access during convenient time slots will give basic members enough reason to upgrade.
(E) Other gyms in the area do not offer comparable equipment.

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16 Dec 2025, 23:46

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plan: restrict basic members from using new equipment during convenient time slots

goal: people will continue to upgrade to elite membership

A. Weakener. If they are anyways unaffordable, the plan won't lead to goal.
B. Weakener. If most people actually prefer the opposite of the plan, then the plan won't succeed.
C. Let's say some basic members will switch to other gym. But out plan is made with goal that elite membership should still be a preferable option in this gym and that people will desire to upgrade if they are continuing here.
D. Correct. plan is the enough reason to reach the goal.
E. Let's say other gyms do offer. But we dont know about the cost and other factors there. So negating this doesn't necessarily destroy the argument

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17 Dec 2025, 00:45

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Bunuel

Pulse point gym has two modes of subscription, one is basic area subscription and the other being Elite area subscription. The gym plans to upgrade the basic area subscription to Elite zone. This enables the basic area zone to look fresh and equipped with new equipments. This makes the basic area zone more attractive for new customers.

By upgrading the basic area zone to elite area, we risk the transition from basic to elite. So, this arrangement seems to be one sided, as Basic zone area upgraded to match the features of elite zone. And, the elite zone remains the same.

Two concern areas are here :

1) Elite zone customers feel let down as they might have paid an extra fee to get the access pertaining to elite zone. They might even think of downgrading their membership status.

2) The Pulse point gym is on the verge of losing money, that would have been their profits if the transition has happened. But, now with the downgrading option open for elite members, the pulse point gym has to come up with a plan to keep things moving.

How is the pulse point gym going to satisfy these concerns? They come up with a plan to restrict access of basic members during the MOST CONVENIENT TIME SLOTS , so they cannot use the new equipments during those slots.

The reason behind the restriction is not capacity constraints. But, to show that elite members receive a preferential treatment compared to basic members.

The pulse point gym uses this plan to make a statement that : Elite members receive a convenience for that membership, Secondly, this acts as a catalyst to push members to switch from basic to elite membership. Thirdly, this might hurt the feelings of basic membership, and they might take a decision either to switch or upgrade , provided they want to use equipments during convenient times.

What’s the underlying assumption on which the plan depends?

A) Elite memberships are currently too expensive for most basic members.

We don’t know the price points or the economic status of basic members. Even we are not aware of the subscription plans between the two. Hence, this is not a valid assumption. If the option is true, it justifies why the gym has two modes of subscription. May be the timings or extra attention by a trainer would have been a feature that’s lacking with basic membership.

B) Most basic members prefer to workout during inconvenient time slots.

If most basic members prefer to work during the alternative - inconvenient time slots. Then, there lies no bone of contention or Dissatisfaction among the two membership groups. Hence, not a valid assumption.

C) Basic members will not respond to the restrictions by switching to other gyms.

If the basic resented members did not make the switch from pulse point to another gym is the underlying assumption of the plan. Either they upgrade or choose the inconvenient time zone. This is the correct answer.

Let’s apply the NEGATION TEST: Basic members respond to the restriction by switching to an alternative gym, then the plan fails miserably. Eventually losing profits and expenses incurred on upgrading the gym remains unreaped. This negation makes the conclusion to fail. Hence, correct answer.

D) Restriction access during convenient time slots will give basic members enough reason to upgrade.

Yeah, this is one of the intended plan outcomes. Hence, it’s not an assumption. Moreover, an assumption is something which fills the logical gap, connects the dots, one which is not mentioned in the question, but provides additional information to make the jigsaw puzzle come to completion. Hence, wrong.

E) Other gyms in the area do not offer comparable equipment.

This is not an assumption. If other gyms offer comparable equipment, then with or without the plan being put to work, will lead to business opportunities if the pricing and early bird plan proposals are enticing and capable to attract more customers. Hence, wrong. Since, they don’t offer comparable equipments, the pulse point gym has an edge to retain customers.

Option C

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17 Dec 2025, 00:48

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Premise: PPgym upgraded its equipment and now the basic zone matches the features provided to elite zone. This is make the elite membership seem unnecessary and unattractive leading to reduction in upgrades of membership which results in revenue loss
Conclusion: PPgym plans to restrict usage of the upgraded equipment by basic members during the convenient slots to prevent the losses.
Logical gap: The basic members will not choose to come on other slots to use the new equipments so that the restriction will directly translate to upgraded elite membership

Evaluating options

A) This is irrelevant. The price for elite memberships has not changed after the equipment upgrade
B) This is a weakener. If this is true, the restriction will not have any effect on most of basic members leading to reduced upgrades
C) This is more an emotional response. This need not be true for the conclusion to hold.
D) This is an assumption and needs to be true. If the restriction is not enough (negating to see if conclusion breaks) , then the plan will not succeed in maintaining the upgrades to elite membership and hence break the conclusion
E) This is irrelevant. We are not concerned about other gyms in the area

Bunuel

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17 Dec 2025, 01:20

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Main Conclusion of the argument is : To prevent that, PulsePoint plans to restrict basic members from using the new equipment during the most convenient time slots, even though the facility has enough capacity to allow it.

From here it assumes that the plan will act as reason to make the upgradation and upgradation will become more attractive. We need to identify such assumption.

Lets check option one by one:

(A) Elite memberships are currently too expensive for most basic members. No , this is not acting as assumption. There is nothing to do with price of the membership.
(B) Most basic members prefer to work out during inconvenient time slots anyway. We need exact opposite of this. So no this is not an assumption.
(C) Basic members will not respond to the restrictions by switching to another gym. Tricky one, but this will not act as assumption since even if we neget it , it will become Basic memebers will respond to the restrictions to another gym. It is acting as sufficient condition but not necessary.The argument still holds if we neget it.
(D) Restricting access during convenient time slots will give basic members enough reason to upgrade. Yes this is an Assumption. If we neget it then the argument fell. Negation will the argument inconclusive. So it is acting as necessary condition.
(E) Other gyms in the area do not offer comparable equipment.Irrelevant and not acting as assumption.

So correct answer is D

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17 Dec 2025, 01:41

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In PulsePoint Gym basic members get features of elite members. Risk for up gradation from basic to elite membership.
Therefore, timing restrictions were implemented for basic members for elite zone.

Assumption: To avoid timing restriction, members will upgrade.

If assumption is negated, the conclusion falls apart.

A. Additional information. Incorrect
B. If this is true, timing restriction will not result in upgrade. Incorrect
C. The argument is not concerned with another gym. Incorrect
D. This matches assumption above. Correct
E. The argument is not concerned with another gyms and their facilities. Incorrect

IMO D

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17 Dec 2025, 02:09

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First thing first: we're looking at an assumption on which the PLAN depends, and not any argument or conclusion, so the right answer will try to establish that "For this plan to succeed, it must be true that_____.

The plan is: The basic members area has now as good equipment as the elite zone, which makes it 'far more attractive' than the elite zone. PulsePoint, however, feels this will restrict people from upgrading to the elite memberships. They then come up with a plan - let's restrict members from using the new equipment during convenient hours.

In other words, they are playing on building inconveniences, to resolve which, people may seek to upgrade their membership.

Now we come to "for this plan to succeed, it must be true that_____":

A. "Elite memberships are currently too expensive for most basic members". Not quite the assumption. If elite memberships were affordable, then the plan may have had a higher possibility of success, since the economic barrier wouldn't have prevented basic-members from seeking an upgrade.

B. "Most basic members prefer to work out during inconvenient time slots". Definitely not the assumption. This will make the plan fall flat - the basic-tier members will retain status quo, continuing to exploit the new machinery during the 'inconvenient' hours.

C. "Basic members will not respond to the restrictions by switching to another gym". This can be an assumption. If basic members will shift to another gym because of the restrictions, then forget about upgrades, the gym will lose so much more business. Still, a caveat - "by not switching to another gym" is not solving the problem, as we're not establishing that "by not switching to another gym, it will encourage people to upgrade". We're yet to find an assumption that encourages upgradation.

D. "Restricting access during convenient time slots will give basic members enough reason to upgrade." - This definitely is the assumption. If we assume that through the act of limiting access to new equipment during convenient hours, people will be given enough reason to upgrade - whatever the nature of these reasons - the success of the plan can be determined.

E. "Other gyms in the area do not provide comparable equipment" - Well, even if other gyms do, it doesn't imply people won't be prompted to upgrade at their current gym. Other factors, like distance from home or availability of personal trainers will still matter in their decision-making, as it is inconvenient to shift gyms at a glance. So this cannot be it either.

Bunuel

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17 Dec 2025, 02:21

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Assumption : Pulsepoint is assuming that when basic members face restrictions , they will stay or accept the restriction not leave the gym.
Statement 1 : Talks about Price affordability - not required .
Statement 2 : Says restriction don't matter - weakens the plan , Not Required.
ST 3 : Basic members will not respond to restriction by switching to other gym . If this is false assumption falls apart. Correct choice.✅
ST 4 : Says restriction will cause upgrades - Too strong.
ST 5 : Other's gym equipment - Irrelevant to logic of the plan.

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17 Dec 2025, 03:37

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On analyzing the options below we get

(A) This is irrelevant to the argument because the plan relies on inconvenience, not elite pricing. Eliminate
(B) The argument would be weakened since the restriction would have little impact on user preferences. Eliminate
(C) This is not really necessary as some members may switch gyms & The argument would still hold. Eliminate
(D) This assumption is required because the plan only succeeds if the restriction actually motivates basic members to upgrade. Keep
(E) Not relevant because competitors’ equipment offerings are irrelevant to the plan’s logic. Eliminate

The answer is option (D)

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17 Dec 2025, 04:23

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Assumption

Conclusion: Restricting basic members from using the upgraded equipments in convenient timings will make them not take too much advantage of those equipments & probably make them upgrade to ELITE package.

Premise: PulsePoint gym has recently added almost all elite category equipments to the basic-members area as well.

Assumption (Holding Link): To be found.

Answer: C

Reason: if basic members respond to this time restriction by switching to other gyms, then the plan FAILS, which is not we want.

Not the answer & reason:

D - Time restriction COULD or COULD NOT give enough reason to upgrade their package. DILEMMATIC.

E - DISTRACTION, other gym offering comparable equipments may or may not end up switching, so can't be sure here.

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17 Dec 2025, 04:35

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A. No. Negate the statement => Elite membership are not too expensive for most basic members => This doesn't break the conclusion => Not the argument.
B. No. This statement weakens the Gym's plan rather than being the assumption.
C. No. Negate the statement => Basic members will respond to the restrictions by switching to another gym => However, the Gym's plan is to prevent the risks of reducing upgrades to elite, not to increase the number of basic members.
D. Yes. Negate the statement => Restricting access during convenient time slots won't give basic member enough reason to upgrade => Therefore basic members still won't upgrade to elite despite the Gym's plan => This breaks the conclusion.
E. No. Negate the statement => Other gyms in the area offer comparable equipment => But we don't have infomation about their basic and elite membership rules and PulsePoint's objective is to prevent the risks of reducing upgrades to elite => This can't break the conclusion.

Bunuel

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17 Dec 2025, 04:44

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D, c also was close but do sounds closer as it talks about upgrade to elite.

Bunuel

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17 Dec 2025, 04:55

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PulsePoint Gym recently upgraded the equipment in the basic-members area so that it now matches many of the features previously available only in the elite zone. This makes the basic membership far more attractive and risks reducing upgrades to elite memberships. To prevent that, PulsePoint plans to restrict basic members from using the new equipment during the most convenient time slots, even though the facility has enough capacity to allow it.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the plan depends?

(A) Elite memberships are currently too expensive for most basic members. (If elite is too expensive, the plan would fail. The basic should upgrade to elite) Wrong
(B) Most basic members prefer to work out during inconvenient time slots anyway. (If it were true, the restriction wouldn’t matter and wouldn’t push upgrades to elite) Wrong
(C) Basic members will not respond to the restrictions by switching to another gym. (The plan doesn't depend on people leaving or staying. Maybe other gym also don't give elite benefits to basic) Wrong
(D) Restricting access during convenient time slots will give basic members enough reason to upgrade. (If the restriction doesn't motivate people to upgrade, then there is no point in imposing it. This is an assumption on which plan depends) Correct

(E) Other gyms in the area do not offer comparable equipment. (It might matter but plan is not about whether people will switch to the competitor gyms) Wrong

D

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17 Dec 2025, 05:24

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The gym reasons in this way: now basic has fancy equipment => they won't need elite anymore => we need to limit most convenient slots (so that they are forced to go to elite).

For this logic to work, the two decisive factors for basic/elite memberships must be 1. the equipment and 2. the time slot availability. Otherwise, neither adding new equipment would prevent people from going elite, nor would limiting access at some time hinder them from staying basic.
Therefore, let's look for one of these connections in the answer options.

A) If this were an assumption, the whole argument about increasing elite subs would fall apart.
B) This would have the opposite effect, since the plan would definitely not work should this be an assumption.
C) Unexpected but seems right! Using the negation test, we see that if basic user WILL actually switch to another gym, then the whole plan will go the exact opposite way from intended (it will directly lead to a huge subscription reduction).
D) This seems good, since that is the whole underlying point for suggesting such a plan in the first place. However, instead of being an assumption, it's more of a goal that the plan targets to achieve.
E) Other gyms are not exactly in scope per say, since we're comparing plans within only pulsepoint.

Therefore, the right answer is C.

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17 Dec 2025, 05:35

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A -> This is not an assumption without which the argument may not stand
B -> This would go directly against the plan hence not an assumption
C -> This was a contender for the answers but there was a better one
D -> Since the plan is to upgrade this must be assumed that restricting during a certain time would make the upgrade attractive enough
E -> This assumption is not required for this argument to stand.

Option D

Bunuel