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 required for PulsePoint’s plan to work? (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.

Archived Topic

Hi there,

This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.

Where to now? Join ongoing discussions on thousands of quality questions in our Critical Reasoning (CR) Forum

Still interested in this question? Check out the "Best Topics" block below for a better discussion on this exact question, as well as several more related questions.

Thank you for understanding, and happy exploring!

Show Answer

Official Answer

JiriNovacek

Joined: 14 Dec 2025

Last visit: 07 Feb 2026

Posts: 17

Own Kudos:

[1]

Posts: 17

Kudos: 9

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 09:13

Kudos

Bookmarks

D) is correct, since the plan depends on that if there will be a motivation to upgrade to the new plan, and restricting access during most convennient time will be enough of motivation for basic members to upgrade

ReetArora

Joined: 19 Jan 2022

Last visit: 22 Apr 2026

Posts: 29

Own Kudos:

[1]

Given Kudos: 33

Posts: 29

Kudos: 7

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 09:16

Kudos

Bookmarks

Option C because going by negation technique basic members will respond to the restriction by switching to other gym makes argument ineffective.
hence option C

vikramadityaa

Joined: 28 Jul 2025

Last visit: 23 Dec 2025

Posts: 55

Own Kudos:

[1]

Given Kudos: 1

Posts: 55

Kudos: 41

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 09:37

Kudos

Bookmarks

Bunuel

Here in this argument, PlusPoint Gym presupposes that by restricting its basic membership users to use the new equipment in the most convenient time slot, it can solve the problem of reducing upgrades to elite membership. Now let's explore the option with the same in mind:
A) Well, this may be the case, but it is not the assumption of PulsePoint gym, as they believe that their members are not upgrading to the elite zone because of the equipment.
B) This infact weakens the entire argument because if basic members like working out during inconvenient hours, blocking access doesn't make any sense.
C) We don't know about other gym - out of scope.
D) This perfectly fits what PulsePoint gym presupposes. CORRECT.
E) This again we don't know about - out of scope.

Hence, OPTION D.

paragw

Joined: 17 May 2024

Last visit: 22 Apr 2026

Posts: 189

Own Kudos:

193

[1]

Given Kudos: 38

Posts: 189

Kudos: 193

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 09:41

Kudos

Bookmarks

The plan is to push basic members to upgrade by limiting their access to the new equipment at convenient times. For this to work the restriction must actually upgrades.

A: Price level of elite membership is not required for the plan to work. Eliminate
B. If most basic members already prefer inconvenient times, the restriction would not matter.
Eliminate
C. Switching gyms is possible risk, but the plan does not logically depend on ruling it out
Eliminate
D:Restricting access during convenient time slots will give basic members enough reason to upgrade. Correct
E. Competitor's equipment offerings are irrelevant to whether the restriction causes upgrades. Eliminate

rutikaoqw

Joined: 29 Oct 2025

Last visit: 20 Mar 2026

Posts: 30

Own Kudos:

[1]

Given Kudos: 5

Location: India

Schools: ISB '27 IIM

GMAT Focus 1: 605 Q84 V82 DI72 Verified score

GPA: 9.28

Schools: ISB '27 IIM

GMAT Focus 1: 605 Q84 V82 DI72 Verified score

Posts: 30

Kudos: 16

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 09:47

Kudos

Bookmarks

Conclusion: This makes the basis membership far more attractive and risks reducing ....
C: Negating the statement - basic members will switch to other gym weakens conclusion. Hence is the correct answer.

Archit3110

Major Poster

Joined: 18 Aug 2017

Last visit: 22 Apr 2026

Posts: 8,627

Own Kudos:

5,190

[1]

Given Kudos: 243

Status:You learn more from failure than from success.

Location: India

Concentration: Sustainability, Marketing

GMAT Focus 1: 545 Q79 V79 DI73 Verified score

GMAT Focus 2: 645 Q83 V82 DI81 Verified score

GPA: 4

WE:Marketing (Energy)

Products:

GMAT Focus 2: 645 Q83 V82 DI81 Verified score

Posts: 8,627

Kudos: 5,190

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 09:50

Kudos

Bookmarks

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.

PPG has upgraded equipment .. elite zone membership..
basic members will avoid elite memberships upgrades..
conclusion : restrict basic members using new equipment during most convenient time slots so that they upgrade to elite

use negation technique and break conclusion

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

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

OPTION D is correct

Bunuel

Math Expert

Joined: 02 Sep 2009

Last visit: 22 Apr 2026

Posts: 109,754

Own Kudos:

810,668

Given Kudos: 105,823

Products:

Expert

Expert reply

Posts: 109,754

Kudos: 810,668

16 Dec 2025, 10:00

Kudos

Bookmarks

Bunuel

GMAT Club Official Explanation:

PulsePoint plans to protect elite-membership upgrades by limiting basic members’ access to the new equipment during convenient time slots. For this plan to work, basic members must stay at the gym and view upgrading as a reasonable response to the new restriction. If instead they leave for a competitor, the restriction cannot achieve its purpose.

(A) Incorrect. This answer choice tells us that the upgrade plan is doomed anyway, but that's not our argument or the assumption we need. We would not bother if the Elite upgrades were too expensive and even if they were, we don't need to worry about it. Eliminate.

(B) Incorrect. This is a funny statement since by stating that the most convenient times are being restricted, it implies that the most convenient times are actually convenient, so this is definitely not accurate and not the assumption. Moreover, this statement is not needed for the argument to hold if you are using the negation test to check the assumption.

(C) Correct. If basic members respond to the restriction by switching gyms, the plan cannot preserve or increase elite upgrades. The plan depends on basic members staying and considering an upgrade instead of leaving.

(D) Correct. Originally was a trap but it seems it is too subtle so this answer choice is also correct-enough.

(E) Incorrect. Even if competitors offer similar equipment, the plan’s success hinges on how PulsePoint’s members react to its own restriction, not on market comparisons.

luisdicampo

Joined: 10 Feb 2025

Last visit: 19 Apr 2026

Posts: 480

Own Kudos:

[1]

Given Kudos: 328

Products:

Posts: 480

Kudos: 73

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 10:11

Kudos

Bookmarks

Bunuel

Deconstructing the Argument
Goal: Prevent the decline of upgrades to "elite" memberships (since the basic zone now has better equipment).
Plan: Restrict basic members from using the new equipment during the most convenient time slots.
Underlying Logic: The gym assumes that by making the basic membership inconvenient, members will be forced to upgrade to elite to get access during good times.
Identify the Assumption
The plan relies on a specific reaction from the customers: faced with the restriction, they will choose to upgrade.
The plan fails if there is a third option: leaving the gym completely.
If basic members get annoyed by the restrictions and simply switch to a competitor, PulsePoint loses revenue instead of gaining upgrades.
Therefore, the plan assumes this "churn" (switching gyms) will not happen.

Analyze the Options
(A) Elite memberships are currently too expensive for most basic members. If this were true, the plan would likely fail because members couldn't upgrade even if they wanted to. The plan assumes the opposite (that they can afford it).
(B) Most basic members prefer to work out during inconvenient time slots anyway. If this were true, the restriction would have no impact. The plan assumes members do want to work out during convenient times (otherwise, where is the pressure to upgrade?).
(C) Basic members will not respond to the restrictions by switching to another gym. CORRECT.
This is a classic "Defender Assumption."
Negation Test: If basic members WILL respond by switching to another gym, then the plan destroys the customer base rather than increasing elite memberships. The plan collapses. Thus, the argument requires this to be true.
(D) Restricting access during convenient time slots will give basic members enough reason to upgrade. This is close, but it's more of a prediction of success rather than a fundamental necessary condition regarding external threats (like competition). Option (C) is stronger because it eliminates the worst-case scenario (losing the customer entirely).
(E) Other gyms in the area do not offer comparable equipment. Even if other gyms have worse equipment, members might still leave out of principle or frustration. While this helps the plan, (C) is the direct assumption about member behavior required for the plan to hold together.

Answer: C

sitrem

Joined: 19 Nov 2025

Last visit: 24 Feb 2026

Posts: 91

Own Kudos:

[1]

Given Kudos: 238

Posts: 91

Kudos: 84

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 10:30

Kudos

Bookmarks

D
The goal is avoiding a decrease in the upgrades from basic to elite membership at the gym. To achieve this the gym must give members a reason to upgrade, this reason used to be the equipment, but now that is available to the basic members as well.
To achieve their goal, the new restriction imposed on basic member must be enough to make them want to upgrade to elite membership.

All other options are not essential to the "plan" of the gym working.
The plan DEPENDS on the time restriction actually motivating people to upgrade.

ManifestDreamMBA

Joined: 17 Sep 2024

Last visit: 21 Feb 2026

Posts: 1,387

Own Kudos:

897

[1]

Given Kudos: 243

Posts: 1,387

Kudos: 897

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 10:38

Kudos

Bookmarks

PRETHINKING
1. Restriction will help to maintain the upgrades
~~2. Members won't leave the gym~~

A - The cost or the difference is not a concern. And if it is that expensive, the basic members might not upgrade anyway.
B - If this were true, it won't work for the gym - it gives bsic members no reason to upgrade
C - This is in line with one of the assumption. But, the plan here is to protect reduction in upgrades. What if 10 people leave but still out of the remaining pool the usual 20% still upgrade? D looks closer, so this is eliminated
D - This has to be true for the plan to work. Negating it, if restricting access does't give basic members reason to upgrade, then the plan fails.
E - Irrelevant, the scope of the argument is PP gym

Bunuel

okHedwig

Joined: 13 Apr 2022

Last visit: 22 Apr 2026

Posts: 51

Own Kudos:

[1]

Given Kudos: 68

Posts: 51

Kudos: 30

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 10:44

Kudos

Bookmarks

IMO C

A- not relevant how much expensive the elite membership is
B- Ok, but most members inconvenient slots might be different, its kind of vague
C- feels right, since on negating the statement, the argument falls apart as now the basic members will switch to another gym
D- we don't know how much enough is the reason
E- out of scope

Bunuel

flippedeclipse

Joined: 26 Apr 2025

Last visit: 20 Apr 2026

Posts: 105

Own Kudos:

[1]

Given Kudos: 37

GMAT Focus 1: 655 Q80 V87 DI80 Verified score

Products:

GMAT Focus 1: 655 Q80 V87 DI80 Verified score

Posts: 105

Kudos: 73

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 10:52

Kudos

Bookmarks

Bunuel

Going through sentence by sentence to understand the argument first:

Sentence 1: Gym upgraded its equipment, now equivalent to that which was only accessible via premium membership previously.
Sentence 2: Basic membership is now too attractive, customers won't upgrade.
Sentence 3: Gym is not going to allow access to basic membership during peak hours to incentivize upgrading to premium.

We're looking for an assumption here - which of the options is something that the plan absolutely needs to be able to succeed?

Option A: If it's too expensive, they won't upgrade, making the whole plan pointless. Eliminate.
Option B: This weakens the plan, opposite of what we're trying to do. Eliminate.
Option C: This is very tempting, but we need to remember that the plan is to get basic members to upgrade to premium, not to make sure they are retained despite the hour restrictions on new equipment.
Option D: This is exactly what we're looking for: by restricting access, basic members will have a good enough reason to upgrade. Hold onto this.
Option E: While tempting as well, other gyms having comparable equipment is out of scope because we are not given any information on how competitors factor into this argument.

obedear

Joined: 05 Sep 2024

Last visit: 22 Apr 2026

Posts: 61

Own Kudos:

[1]

Given Kudos: 11

Products:

Posts: 61

Kudos: 39

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 10:53

Kudos

Bookmarks

Close call between C and D, but I picked D.

For assumption questions, always negate each answer choice and see which causes the argument stem to disintegrate.

The basic question stem is:
Restricting basic members from using new equipment during convenient time slots will incentivize upgrading membership.

A - If Elite memberships are not too expensive for most basic members, that is fine, but it doesn't mean that they will have a reason to upgrade if they have access to this new equipment.

B - If most basic members do not prefer to work out during the inconvenient time slots, that supports the arguments' assumption that restricting access during that time will incentivize them to upgrade.

C - If basic members will respond to the restrictions by switching to another gym, that will definitely cause less upgrades to the elite membership. However, the specific objective of the plan is to prevent reducing upgrades to the premium membership due to access to the upgraded equipment. This is a trap answer in my opinon.

D - This is the better answer because it directly addresses the plan. If restricting access does NOT give basic members enough reason to upgrade, their plan will fail.

E - Irrelevant, no reason to assume people would take advantage of other equipment if other gyms did have comparable equipment.

SwethaReddyL

Joined: 28 Nov 2023

Last visit: 22 Apr 2026

Posts: 106

Own Kudos:

[1]

Given Kudos: 266

Location: India

Products:

Posts: 106

Kudos: 26

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 10:55

Kudos

Bookmarks

Conclusion - 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.

This is a plan effect assumption question, the correct answer has to be true in order for the conclusion to hold good

Option a - cheap or expensive doesn't matter - this isn't about the cost issue - eliminate A
Option b - this would actually destroy the plan, if MOST basic members prefer to work out during inconvenient time slots, then why would they upgrade - eliminate B
Option c - this goes against the plan too - eliminate C
Option d - this looks good. If you are not sure, try the negation method here - "Restricting access during convenient time slot will NOT give basic members enough reason to upgrade" - Breaks the conclusion - Hold on
Option e - Other gyms doesn't matter to us - eliminate e

Correct answer - Option D

Bunuel

gchandana

Joined: 16 May 2024

Last visit: 22 Apr 2026

Posts: 192

Own Kudos:

140

[1]

Given Kudos: 170

Location: India

Products:

Posts: 192

Kudos: 140

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 10:58

Kudos

Bookmarks

If we don't keep a close eye, more than one answer will seem plausible here.

We want to avoid the risk of reducing upgrades to elite memberships by restricting the equipment.

A. This isn't required to be true.
B. Sure, it's a preference, but the actual event could be different.
C. This is a nice trap. We don't know if otherwise these are the guys who would be upgrading to elite memberships. If not, even if they leave, there wouldn't be a decline in upgrades.
D. Yes, this is required. If it doesn't give them enough reason, then they wouldn't do it, hence cause a decline.
E. This is not relevant.

Option D.

Bunuel

Ayeka

Joined: 26 May 2024

Last visit: 22 Apr 2026

Posts: 528

Own Kudos:

402

[1]

Given Kudos: 158

Location: India

Schools: ISB

GMAT Focus 1: 645 Q82 V83 DI80 Verified score

GPA: 4.2

Schools: ISB

GMAT Focus 1: 645 Q82 V83 DI80 Verified score

Posts: 528

Kudos: 402

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 10:59

Kudos

Bookmarks

A. Elite memberships are currently too expensive for most basic members......Irrelevant
B. If most basic members already prefer inconvenient time, then the restriction wouldn’t work......no
C.Even if some memebrs switch gyms, the plan could still work some basic might uograde to elite memberships.......No
D. Restricting access during convenient time slots will give basic members enough reason to upgrade.....Negating this completely destroys the goal of gym of basic members upgrading from basic to elite membership........Answer
E. Comparison isn't needed....No

D

harishg

Joined: 18 Dec 2018

Last visit: 09 Apr 2026

Posts: 176

Own Kudos:

174

[1]

Given Kudos: 31

GMAT Focus 1: 695 Q88 V84 DI81 Verified score

Products:

GMAT Focus 1: 695 Q88 V84 DI81 Verified score

Posts: 176

Kudos: 174

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 11:07

Kudos

Bookmarks

A- This need not be an assumption. Basic members should be able to upgrade to elite.

B - This is a weakener and not the assumption

C - This is our assumption. If the basic customers switch to another gym, it would be counterproductive to the ultimate goal

D - This need not be an assumption. It can be one of the reasons for upgrade and need not be enough by itself.

E - We do not need any assumptions about other gyms in the area.

Therefore, Option C

linnet

Joined: 11 Dec 2025

Last visit: 22 Jan 2026

Posts: 81

Own Kudos:

Given Kudos: 1

Posts: 81

Kudos: 42

16 Dec 2025, 11:28

Kudos

Bookmarks

Our correct answer is the assumption in Statement B

aka007

Joined: 15 Nov 2019

Last visit: 19 Mar 2026

Posts: 42

Own Kudos:

[1]

Given Kudos: 84

Posts: 42

Kudos: 37

[1]

16 Dec 2025, 11:34

Kudos

Bookmarks

The argument is based on weather restricting access to convenient time slots for basic members will be enough for basic member to upgrade to elite membership.
Question is to find the key assumption behind the argument.

A. Incorrect. Argument doesn't speak about prices of elite membership nor does it speak about change of the prices.
B. Incorrect. It does the opposite hence Not the assumption.
C. Incorrect. May be an additional assumption but not the underlying assumption on which the plan depends. Also there may be other reasons to not change your gym such as equipment, location, misc.
D. Correct. Exactly targets the argument. It deals with the question at hand. Mentions that restricting the access to convenient time slots will give enough reason to upgrade. Helps the argument.
E. Incorrect. Irrelevant. Argument doesn't speak about gym equipment.

Answer is D

Bunuel