V01-10

Question

Which of the following best completes the passage below?
 
A new children’s book by a prominent invertebrate expert features detailed profiles and photographs of the thousands of bee species common to North America. To the surprise of many children, these profiles reveal that, contrary to popular belief, many bees are solitary insects. The author hopes not only to educate children about the various types of bees but also to

A. expand knowledge about the environmental needs of bees.
B. share surprising findings with other invertebrate experts.
C. encourage greater public interest in invertebrate biodiversity.
D. correct the common misconception among children that all bees are social insects.
E. explain what makes bees different from other pollinating insects.

Bunuel · Answer

Official Solution:

Which of the following best completes the passage below?
 
A new children’s book by a prominent invertebrate expert features detailed profiles and photographs of the thousands of bee species common to North America. To the surprise of many children, these profiles reveal that, contrary to popular belief, many bees are solitary insects. The author hopes not only to educate children about the various types of bees but also to

A. expand knowledge about the environmental needs of bees.
B. share surprising findings with other invertebrate experts.
C. encourage greater public interest in invertebrate biodiversity.
D. correct the common misconception among children that all bees are social insects.
E. explain what makes bees different from other pollinating insects.

This is a complete the passage question, which if you are starting with the GMAT, may be new to you. The solution to this question can vary - sometimes it can be similar to resolve the paradox or other questions. The correct answer to this question will continue the passage, staying withint the scope of the passage, and will complete it in the most logical way. 
 
In this case, passage uses the "not only ... but also" type of an expression, indicating that the final part will be in agreement with the passage and provide an additional component. 
 
The easiest ways to spot incorrect answers will be by staying within the scope of the passage. Notice how A. is talking about something that has never been brought up in the passage (environmental needs of bees). Similarly, E is talking about other insects that are not brought up in the passage. C is also out of scope as it is too generic. 
 
Option A: Expand knowledge about the environmental needs of bees.
 Out of scope of the passage. This choice does not fit the not only but also mold as it introduces another unrelated topic - environmental needs and does not directly relate to correcting misconceptions about bees' social behavior.
 
Option B: Share surprising findings with other invertebrate experts.
 This option is incorrect because the primary audience of the book is children, not experts. The intent of the book is to educate young readers and correct misconceptions, not to present novel research to specialists.
 
Option C: Encourage greater public interest in invertebrate biodiversity.
 Out of Scope as well. This option does not address the specific misconception about bees being primarily social creatures. It's more general and does not fulfill the specific purpose mentioned in the stem as it talks about invertebrate rather than bees. 
 
Option D: Correct the common misconception among children that all bees are social insects.
 This is the correct answer because it directly aligns with the author's intention to address and correct a specific misconception among children. The setup indicates that the book reveals many bees are solitary, which counters the common belief about bees' social behavior.
 
Option E: Explain what makes bees different from other pollinating insects.
 Out of scope. This option does not address the misconception about bees' social behavior. It focuses too broadly on differentiating bees from other insects rather than addressing the social versus solitary nature of bees. This option also introduces another concept that has no support in the passage. The passage does not talk about other pollinating insects - only bees.

Answer: D

maitysourav · Answer

Hi,
In "what best complete the statement" type of question, what answer is required ?
Is it not the inference of the passage ? Doe ?s these questions seek new information in the answer (same as Strengthen, weaken question) ?

Option A in this question is mentioned as wrong. But this answer mentions the inference of the passage.
Request your explanation with examples.

sayantanc2k · Answer

Option A  could be  an intention of the author, but from the information given in the passage, the same cannot be conclusively said. However from the second line of the passage ("...........most of which, children are often surprised to learn, are comprised of solitary insects"), option D can be conclusively said, as described in the OE.

theincredible · Answer

sayantanc2k  completely disagree with the solution. How can we know from the passage that bees are not social insects is a common misconception. There is nothing in the passage which indicates that such misconception exists. It entirely possible that children consider this a misconception but scientists don't. It cannot be said with any certainty that this is a COMMON misconception. Very misleading solution!

sayantanc2k · Answer

Your point is partly valid. Option D would be more appropriate if it is clarified that the misconception is among children. However, you are erroneously considering this an inference type question - it is not. Option D could  possibly  complete the passage and among the given options is the best.

Option D has been modified to eliminate the above issue.

syahasa2 · Answer

I do not agree at all with the explanation.
In the argument it is clearly stated that children are surprised about MOST OF THE BEES.
D says that the intention of the expert is to counter the misconception among students that ALL bees are social insects.

I think D does not fit well here.
One thing that we are taught in GMAT is to avoid extreme answers when the passage does not state anything like this.

sayantanc2k · Answer

The children are surprised about those bees which are solitary insects, because they think that in general bees ( all bees ) are social insects. The phrase "most of the bees" does not refer directly to the number of species about which children are surprised about, but to the number of species that comprise of solitary insects.

Moreover please note that this question is not a typical inference type question in which the answer  must be  true. This is a  complete the argument  type question, and here an answer which could  possibly  fit in (more like an  explain  question) is good enough (may not be mandatorily true) to qualify as a correct answer.

varunjoshi31 · Answer

Dear Sayan,

This question depends on one's knowledge of the word solitary. Unfortunately while solving, I didn't know the meaning came down to final 2 choices D/E and finally went for E. My POV, it would have been better if a more commonly used word was used here for non native speakers to comprehend.

sayantanc2k · Answer

"Solitary" is not a specialized subject word (such as entropy) - it is expected in GMAT that such words are known to the candidate.

Aishwarya369 · Answer

I think this is a  poor-quality  question and I don't agree with the explanation.

bb · Answer

Thanks for feedback. Don't know what you did not like but i have word-smithed some of the answer options and updated the explanations. Not sure it made a big difference but polished a few things. Hope it helps everyone. Welcome questions if anyone has any about this question.

atharvash · Answer

I think this is a  poor-quality  question and the explanation isn't clear enough, please elaborate.

bb · Answer

I have expanded the explanation of this lower-difficulty question. 
If you have specific questions, please let me know.

V01-10

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards