Events & Promotions
| Last visit was: 14 Sep 2026, 08:49 |
It is currently 14 Sep 2026, 08:49 |
|
|
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
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Sep 1507:00 PM EDT
-09:00 PM EST
Elite scores are possible when you enroll in a powerful GMAT course, taught live online + 6 months access to TTP OnDemand video courses included! Class starts Tues/Thurs Sept. 15, 2026 - Nov. 15, 2027, 7:00pm-9:00pm EST
Sep 1808:00 PM PDT
-09:00 PM PDT
Video explanations + diagnosis of 10 weakest areas + 150+ short videos + study plan!
Sep 2107:00 PM EDT
-10:00 PM EDT
Boost your GMAT score in less than one month in a live online class + 6 months access to TTP OnDemand video courses included! Class starts Mon, Tues, Wed, Thur, Fri Sept. 21, 2026 - Oct. 9, 2027, 7:00pm-10:00pm EST
14 Jul 2026, 08:00
Kudos
Bookmarks
E
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
95%
(hard)
Question Stats:
51% (02:30) correct
49%
(03:10)
wrong
based on 256
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
In recent years a number of popular snacks have generated nearly as much total nationwide revenue from sales of pre-packaged one-hundred-calorie packets as from sales of the traditional packages, even though the 100-calorie packs sell for anywhere from two to four times as much per ounce. What explains the surprisingly strong performance of the 100-calorie packs for these snacks? One possible explanation is convenience: consumers may be unconcerned with subjective impressions made by the small packets and, more fundamentally, willing to pay a significant premium to avoid having to measure out and package their own portions. Another possible explanation is that the 100-calorie pack, at least in the case of snacks for which it has sold well, represents the smallest portion that still looks and feels “substantial” to the person who consumes it.
Which of the following, if true, supports one of the given explanations while undermining the other?
(A) A rapidly growing segment of the market for 100-calorie packs consists of parents who put them into their children's school lunches.
(B) Because each of the manufacturer’s 100-calorie portions comes in its own separately sealed sterile packet, the stable shelf life after opening of the 100-calorie packs is anywhere from one to two years longer than that of the traditional bulk-packaged product.
(C) In several studies, subjects who ate a 100-calorie pack of a given snack felt the same reduction in appetite, after 30 minutes with nothing further to eat, as those who ate a traditionally sized portion of the same snack.
(D) Manufacturers seal air into the packages along with the snacks, both to protect the snacks from being crushed and to make the packs appear larger.
(E) Sales of 100-calorie packs for nuts such as almonds and cashews, which are so nutrient-dense that such packs contain only ten to twelve nuts on average, have been quite poor and have remained so even as the sales of other 100-calorie packs have exploded.
Which of the following, if true, supports one of the given explanations while undermining the other?
(A) A rapidly growing segment of the market for 100-calorie packs consists of parents who put them into their children's school lunches.
(B) Because each of the manufacturer’s 100-calorie portions comes in its own separately sealed sterile packet, the stable shelf life after opening of the 100-calorie packs is anywhere from one to two years longer than that of the traditional bulk-packaged product.
(C) In several studies, subjects who ate a 100-calorie pack of a given snack felt the same reduction in appetite, after 30 minutes with nothing further to eat, as those who ate a traditionally sized portion of the same snack.
(D) Manufacturers seal air into the packages along with the snacks, both to protect the snacks from being crushed and to make the packs appear larger.
(E) Sales of 100-calorie packs for nuts such as almonds and cashews, which are so nutrient-dense that such packs contain only ten to twelve nuts on average, have been quite poor and have remained so even as the sales of other 100-calorie packs have exploded.
|
⚠️ Important: GMAT Club does not allow AI-generated posts. AI-generated solutions are not eligible for kudos, and users who post them may face moderation action, including a ban.
V26-52
14 Jul 2026, 09:00
Kudos
Bookmarks
Bunuel
GMAT Club Official Explanation
The argument seeks to explain the surprisingly strong sales of “100-calorie packs” of snack foods to consumers, in spite of the fact that they cost up to four times as much per ounce (or per gram, or per any other quantity unit) as the more traditionally familiar packages of the same snack. One given explanation is that consumers are single-mindedly concerned with convenience—to the exclusion of all other factors, including appearance and price—and are happy to overspend to avoid having to measure and bag the snacks themselves. The other given explanation is entirely based on the psychology of superficial appearances, positing that 100-calorie packs are popular because they are the smallest possible snack size that still looks substantial AND takes the edge off of a snack craving ("feels substantial").
We need an answer choice that is simultaneously a STRENGTHENER of one of these two (we can't tell which) hypotheses, but a WEAKENER of the other. Let’s take it to the choices.
(A) "A rapidly growing segment" could represent any imaginable share of the market, from negligibly tiny to substantial; there is no way to tell whether this segment is large enough to explain market-wide trends. Furthermore, either of the explanations presented in the passage could conceivably apply: the parents could be primarily drawn to the convenience and time savings of dropping 100-calorie packs in their children's lunches rather than measuring and bagging equivalent portions themselves, but it also could be the case that the 100-calorie portions are the smallest amounts of junk food that satisfy their children's eyes and stomachs—or both, or neither. So, even if these parents do represent a large enough slice of the market to have explanatory power, their presence does not definitively strengthen or weaken either of the two hypotheses.
(B) This choice provides an altogether novel reason for consumers' purchases of 100-calorie packs, thereby undermining both of the explanations provided in the passage.
(C) This answer choice is at least consistent with the second hypothesis, in that it backs the idea that the 100-calorie portions feel substantial to those who consume them. However, that hypothesis is at best supported only modestly, as the assumption that people will wait 30 minutes before eating anything else—hoping that their cravings will disappear in the meantime—is highly questionable. Moreover, the evidence in this choice is entirely irrelevant to the convenience hypothesis.
(D) This answer choice seems to indicate that the manufacturers themselves believe, at least somewhat, in the second hypothesis; else, they would have little motivation to make the packs appear larger than the actual size. However, this statement does not offer any evidence for that hypothesis. Specifically, it is not stated that the puffed-up packs actually sell any better than their counterparts with less air. Moreover, this statement neither strengthens nor weakens the convenience hypothesis, which contains the explicit premise that consumers are relatively unconcerned with the physical characteristics of the packs.
(E) CORRECT. The convenience hypothesis includes the explicit premise that consumers are relatively unconcerned with subjective impressions. Under the convenience hypothesis—since 100-calorie packs are, after all, no less convenient (and perhaps even more so) when they are very small—we would expect the volume of product in the pack to have little or no influence on sales. Therefore, this choice weakens the convenience hypothesis. On the other hand, the second hypothesis is based on the idea that the 100-calorie packs, despite their small size, still look and feel substantial to those who consume them—an effect that is no longer plausible for a tiny packet containing just ten or eleven nuts. The POOR sales figures for the snacks that CANNOT possibly still look “substantial” at the 100-calorie size—amid an unprecedented boom in the sales of other snacks in similar packaging—end up lending support to the second, appearance-based hypothesis. This choice therefore weakens the first hypothesis while strengthening the second, so it's the correct answer.
The correct answer is (E).
General Discussion
14 Jul 2026, 08:18
Kudos
Bookmarks
Answer: E)
Explanation 1: Convenience, consumers would rather buy
Explanation 2: Smallest substantial packet size
A) Strengthens both explanations -> INCORRECT
B) Shelf life isn't really relevant to either explanation -> INCORRECT
C) Does nothing to either explanation -> INCORRECT
D) Does nothing to either explanation -> INCORRECT
E) If people are buying fewer packets when the perceived convenience is the same, it undermines explanation 1. It strengthens explanation 2 because 10-12 nuts per packet looks unsubstantial and thus people are buying less. -> CORRECT
Explanation 1: Convenience, consumers would rather buy
Explanation 2: Smallest substantial packet size
A) Strengthens both explanations -> INCORRECT
B) Shelf life isn't really relevant to either explanation -> INCORRECT
C) Does nothing to either explanation -> INCORRECT
D) Does nothing to either explanation -> INCORRECT
E) If people are buying fewer packets when the perceived convenience is the same, it undermines explanation 1. It strengthens explanation 2 because 10-12 nuts per packet looks unsubstantial and thus people are buying less. -> CORRECT
14 Jul 2026, 08:34
Kudos
Bookmarks
I was very confused on this. I ultimately guessed C. Here's how came to it:
Option A: This was my second choice option. It in some way strengthens the first explanantion. As parents would have to do daily protioning, and they have been using the newer packaging extensively, it shows that the protioning explanation holds true. I kept this during my inital elimination process, but went with C as a guess eventually.
Option B: Shelf life is not a parameter in either of the explanations. Hence, I chose to eliminate this right away. It seemed irrelevant to either explanantions.
Option C: This supports explanation 2. SInce there is a similar reduction of appetite when someone consumes this small packet, it should mean that this size is actually working in making the consumers feel it is "substantial". I am not sure how it undermines the other explanation, but as I said it was a guess.
Option D: There is no mention of making the packets appear large visually. It is actually about the consumer feeling substantial after consuming it. It does not discuss about convenience in portioning as well. Hence, it doesn't seem to be relevant.
Option E: This was so complicated phrasing. I could not break down the phrasing itself. So I went ahead with an option that I actually understood and took my chances with guessing it.
Option A: This was my second choice option. It in some way strengthens the first explanantion. As parents would have to do daily protioning, and they have been using the newer packaging extensively, it shows that the protioning explanation holds true. I kept this during my inital elimination process, but went with C as a guess eventually.
Option B: Shelf life is not a parameter in either of the explanations. Hence, I chose to eliminate this right away. It seemed irrelevant to either explanantions.
Option C: This supports explanation 2. SInce there is a similar reduction of appetite when someone consumes this small packet, it should mean that this size is actually working in making the consumers feel it is "substantial". I am not sure how it undermines the other explanation, but as I said it was a guess.
Option D: There is no mention of making the packets appear large visually. It is actually about the consumer feeling substantial after consuming it. It does not discuss about convenience in portioning as well. Hence, it doesn't seem to be relevant.
Option E: This was so complicated phrasing. I could not break down the phrasing itself. So I went ahead with an option that I actually understood and took my chances with guessing it.
