6. Which of the following is an assumption underlying the author's assessment of Nightingale's creativity?
Original:
(A) Educational philosophy in Nightingale's day did not normally emphasize developing children's ability to observe.
(B) Nightingale was the first to notice the poor living conditions in British military barracks in peacetime.
(C) No educator before Nightingale had thought to enlist the help of village schoolmasters in introducing new teaching techniques.
(D) Until Nightingale began her work, there was no concept of organized help for the needy in nineteenth-century Britain.
(E) The British army's medical services had no cost- accounting system until Nightingale devised one in the 1860's.

Hi PR90, there are some good questions in this passage. Since you specifically asked for question 6, let's review how to attack assumption questions. The best strategy is to employ the Assumption Negation Technique, whereby you negate the stated assumptions and discover which cause the entire argument to fall down. If the argument still stands, then the assumption wasn't necessary. This is the best way to evaluate assumptions that all seem reasonable at first glance.

Negated:
A) Educational philosophy in Nightingale's day DID normally emphasize developing children's ability to observe: Negated, this destroys the entire premise that Nightingale had a heightened sense of creativity. In effect, every child already was subjected to what Nightingale proposed, hence her creativity was somewhere between bland and non-existant.
B) Nightingale was NOT the first to notice the poor living conditions in British military barracks in peacetime: Others had noticed before, but no one did anything. Argument still stands.
C) SOME educators before Nightingale had thought to enlist the help of village schoolmasters in introducing new teaching techniques: Some people already had done this, but what techniques? Same as Nightingale? Different techniques? Could easily be true and the argument holds.
D) Until Nightingale began her work, there WAS already the concept of organized help for the needy in ninteenth century Britain: There was a concept but Nightingale expanded upon it, argument still holds.
E) The British army's medical services had AN cost-accounting system until Nightingale designed one in 1860s: They had one, but Nightingale's was better. Same concept as D.

Once you negate all the options, it becomes clear that only A is required for Nightingale's creativity to be praised. The others could be false and her creativity could still be highly lauded. In assumption questions, the wording used can often be more important than how much the assumption strengthens the text. You're looking for the necessary assumption, not the strongest.
Hope this helps!
-Ron

15 mins


2 wrong

can someone explain me 6th?

6. Which of the following is an assumption underlying the author's assessment of Nightingale's creativity?

(A) Educational philosophy in Nightingale's day did not normally emphasize developing children's ability to observe.
(B) Nightingale was the first to notice the poor living conditions in British military barracks in peacetime.
(C) No educator before Nightingale had thought to enlist the help of village schoolmasters in introducing new teaching techniques.
(D) Until Nightingale began her work, there was no concept of organized help for the needy in nineteenth-century Britain.
(E) The British army's medical services had no cost- accounting system until Nightingale devised one in the 1860's.

Could some1 plz explain the answer to Q5? Why is D the correct answer choice?

5. With which of the following statements regarding the differing interpretations of Nightingale's importance would the author most likely agree?

(A) Summers misunderstood both the importance of Nightingale's achievements during the Crimean War and her subsequent influence on British policy.

(B) The editors of Nightingale's letters made some valid points about her practical achievements but they still exaggerated her influence on subsequent generations.

(C) Although Summers' account of Nightingale's role in the Crimean War may be accurate, she ignored evidence of Nightingale's subsequent achievement that suggests that her reputation as an eminent social reformer is well deserved.

(D) The editors of Nightingale's letters mistakenly propagated the outdated idealization of Nightingale that only impedes attempts to arrive at a balanced assessment of her true role.

(E) The evidence of Nightingale's letters supports Summers' conclusions both about Nightingale's activities and about her influence.

question no 6 .. between A and C.. please dont provide ans with Negated technique...i want it in general way

what is the difficulty level of this rc ?/

1. The passage is primarily concerned with evaluating

(B) contrasting approaches to the writing of historical biography
(C) contradictory accounts of Florence Nightingale's historical significance

Dear moderators,

GMATNinja GMATNinjatwo bm2201 CharuKapoor


My understand in passage structure is:
psg1: (-)tone of the writing of historical FN's biography
psg2: (+)tone of the writing of historical FN's biography
psg3: (+)tone of the author, supporting psg2

Why C is over B?

1. I'm not sure whether this can be biography, or
2. The whole passage, itself, focuses more on significance of FN than writing of historical FN's biography

7. In the last paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with

(A) summarizing the arguments about Nightingale presented in the first two paragraphs
(B) refuting the view of Nightingale's career presented in the preceding paragraph
(C) analyzing the weaknesses of the evidence presented elsewhere in the passage
(D) citing evidence to support a view of Nightingale's career
(E) correcting a factual error occurring in one of the works under review

I believe that the evidence of her letters supports continued respect for Nightingale's brilliance and creativity. When counseling a village schoolmaster to encourage children to use their faculties of observation she sounds like a modern educator. Her insistence on classifying the problems of the needy in order to devise appropriate treatments is similar to the approach of modern social workers. In sum, although Nightingale may not have achieved all other goals during the Crimean War, her breadth of vision and ability to realize ambitious projects have earned her an eminent place among the ranks of social pioneers.

Dear moderators,

GMATNinja GMATNinjatwo bm2201 CharuKapoor


My understand in passage structure is:
psg1: (-)tone of the writing of historical FN's biography
psg2: (+)tone of the writing of historical FN's biography
psg3: (+)tone of the author, supporting psg2

Why C is over B?

1. I'm not sure whether this can be biography, or
2. The whole passage, itself, focuses more on significance of FN than writing of historical FN's biography

(B) contrasting approaches to the writing of historical biography

Hi VeritasKarishma GMATNinja, can you please help with Q7



Last paragraph



Isn't option D too specific? I mean yes the author did cite the evidence as we can see from the first line of the paragraph, but towards the end of the paragraph author also states that In sum, although Nightingale may not have achieved..... which to me implies that author is providing his/her reasoning on why Summers take on Nightingale is not correct, hence isn't the author summarizing the two points of view presented in the first two paragraphs?

Or am I way off the target here?