V12-02

Question

Marine and Juhu Beach, located 5 miles apart, are the top two beaches in Country X. After an epidemic at Marine Beach in August, the number of tourists at Juhu Beach has since increased compared to the same period in previous years. It is therefore concluded that the increase in tourists at Juhu Beach is directly related to the epidemic at Marine Beach. 
 
 Which of the following, if true, would weaken this argument?

A. In spite of epidemic at Marine beach, there was little effect on tourists who visited country X.
B. The influx of tourists is normally higher in the months following August compared to the rest of the year.
C. There were several cases of drowning at Juhu Beach in the month of August this year.
D. Several highly anticipated tourist attractions have opened in the past three months at the top three beaches of Country X.
E. Although the two beaches are only 5 miles apart, there have been no reported cases of the infection in the area around Juhu Beach.

sayantanc2k · Answer

Official Solution:

Marine and Juhu Beach, located 5 miles apart, are the top two beaches in Country X. After an epidemic at Marine Beach in August, the number of tourists at Juhu Beach has since increased compared to the same period in previous years. It is therefore concluded that the increase in tourists at Juhu Beach is directly related to the epidemic at Marine Beach. 
 
 Which of the following, if true, would weaken this argument?

A. In spite of epidemic at Marine beach, there was little effect on tourists who visited country X.
B. The influx of tourists is normally higher in the months following August compared to the rest of the year.
C. There were several cases of drowning at Juhu Beach in the month of August this year.
D. Several highly anticipated tourist attractions have opened in the past three months at the top three beaches of Country X.
E. Although the two beaches are only 5 miles apart, there have been no reported cases of the infection in the area around Juhu Beach.

A. The argument is about the visitors in Juhu beach, not about total visitors in country X. 
 
 B. The passage states that the visitors to Juhu beach this year is higher than that last year (during the same time). That in general the no. of visitors in August is high does not explain or refute the difference between the numbers in two years. 
 
 C. The conclusion of the passage is that the increase in number of visitors is the effect of epidemic in marine beach. Number of drownings in Juhu beach does not affect this causal relation. 
 
 D. Correct. If the conclusion is that X causes Z, then weakening statement would be something else Y causes Z, since this statement gives reason to doubt the conclusion: Y, not X causes Z. Here X = Epidemic in Marine beach, Z = increase in visitors in Juhu beach, and Y = opening of other tourist attractions. 
 
 E. The reasoning is same as that in option C: this statement does not oppose the causal relation.

Answer: D

deepak268 · Answer

D: Few of the much awaited tourist attractions have been opened in last three months in the three top beaches of country X.

But, this option is not explicit about the cause and effect and it applies to juhu as well as marine.

Please help me with the strategies that should be applied in cause and effect scenarios.

sayantanc2k · Answer

There are 4 broad types of cause and effect questions that are very frequent in GMAT:

Premise: X and Y are observed to happen together
Conclusion: X causes Y

Reversed logic:
Type 1: Strengthen: Y does not cause X.
Type 2: Weaken: Y causes X.

3rd factor:
Type 3: Strengthen: Z does not cause Y.
Type 4: Weaken: Z causes Y.

This question is of type 4.

bharatimalik · Answer

When u said 4 types.. ie the type 1,2,3,4 you have mentioned.
But there are 3 categories of cause and effect arguments, right?

1)Premise: X and Y are observed to happen together
Conclusion: X causes Y

2)Reversed logic:

3) 3rd factor

Am I right in my understanding?

Thanks in advance.

Posted from my mobile device

sayantanc2k · Answer

^

No, what I mean is that the passage will be in the structure (1), i.e.
Main passage: 
Premise: X and Y are observed to happen together
Conclusion: X causes Y

THEN comes the question, which may be a strengthening type (reversed logic OR 3rd factor) or weakening type (reversed logic OR 3rd factor).

So for the same passage (Premise-conclusion), there can be 4 types of question:
1. strengthening reversed logic
2. strengthening 3rd factor
3. weakening reversed logic
4. weakening 3rd factor

anje29 · Answer

Hi,
As Marine is also among top beaches , how it explains that why few tourist visiting Marine beach as compared to last year visiting numbers.

Evgart · Answer

Agreed. Could someone please explain?

ThatKickassGirl · Answer

I have the same doubt. Can any of the experts answer this?

Also, lets the say option C "There were few cases of drowning in Juhu beach in the month of August this year" , was phrased like this:
"There were   fewer   cases of drowning in Juhu beach in the month of August this year"

Then which answer would be more preferable/ more accurate ? Would C be a better option then?

RahulS90 · Answer

The only reason I didn't select this option was the word "few"

Few is a negative word which means "hardly any", as opposed to a few , which means "some"

Hence in GMAT rc and cr questions, should we not care about a few and few?

This is never tested on the gmat?

anshuman234 · Answer

Sub-Standard Question:

Few itself is negative and it is mentioned that the top three beaches have been upgraded. Marina falls in that category, so if all three got upgraded equally why Marina is not getting the tourists? It is kinda strengthening the conclusion. More clarity on this question and the answer choice would be helpful.

cchen679 · Answer

Bump on this question -- can someone provide insight as to why D is correct? If the top three beaches all got new tourist attractions why would Marine and Juhu, which are the two top beaches, not also benefit from this upgrade?

emockus · Answer

Took me a while to reason this through but I think I figured it out! (I'll try to keep this short and simple)

The argument reasons that the increase in attendance at Juhu Beach can be attributed to the incident at Marine Beach. Basically, people heard about the incident at Marine Beach and went to Juhu Beach instead.

We have to weaken this reasoning by identifying another factor that can be attributed to the increase in attendance.

Option D offers another factor. Option D talks about 'much awaited tourist attractions' being opened at all three of the top 3 beaches. AHA! Since the tourist attractions were 'much awaited' (meaning people really wanted to go to them) and all 3 top beaches opened some, we have another reason why the attendance at Juhu Beach could have increased. Therefore, Option D provides an alternative explanation to the incident causing the increase in attendance.

Let me know if it helps!

Danya1 · Answer

I read all the comments, but I still don't understand the answer choice D. The fact that lot's of people expected new attraction is all 3 beaches, means, that the number of people had to be increased in all 2 beaches, so in the 2 of them, we are talking about and the third one. However, this answer does not weaken the author's conclusion. Because he states that due to Y, there is x. The answer В provides Z which is common for all the beaches, so it can only mean the overall increase in all beaches. However, the statement X is still in force. I mean that Z - is only a catalyst of increase, but it doesn't affect the authors conclusion, and thus can't weaken it.

philipssonicare · Answer

C. There were few cases of drowning in Juhu beach in the month of August this year.
 Few  for a negative such as  drowning  implies that it's a good thing. It's not said that there were 'few bushfires in Australia this summer' to say that there were some, cause it sounds like fewer bushfires compared to the past.
So, as few drownings is a good thing, and it happened recently, then more tourists at J than at the past could be because of it.

D. Few of the much awaited tourist attractions have been opened in last three months in the three top beaches of country X.
I believe that  few of the  is a distractor, cause any  much awaited tourist attractions  is a good thing. The problem is, we have to assume that at least one of those attractions was at J. Let's assume that 1 tourist attraction was opened at J. The one at J is much awaited. More tourists at J.

At least it's definite that the few drownings happened at J, but it's not 100% that the tourist attractions are at J, hence favour C.

GMATCoachBen · Answer

RahulS90  Kudos, you are correct! On official questions, this structure using "few" does mean "hardly any".

xXxW33DSm0k3rxXx · Answer

Struggled with this question at first. My thinking is that the big objective is to find a scenario where one beach can be definitively favored over other. C is not adequate because even though it gives us a reason visitors might like J beach (few drownings), there's nothing that indicates there would not also be the case at M beach.

D is a better answer choice because it allows a reason visitors would prefer J beach over M beach: J has some of the small number of attractions that opened up, while M does not, leading to a large relative advantage for J that doesn't involve the epidemic. Although the answer choice doesn't flat-out tell us this is the case, it is the only answer choice that allows for this possibility to exist.

suvabrata · Answer

Option D says Few of the much awaited tourist attractions have been opened in last three months in the three top beaches of country X.
3 top beaches include both juhu and marine. So if the same attraction is there for both the beaches.. why are more tourists going to juhu?

Posted from my mobile device

Gemmie · Answer

A.  In spite of epidemic at Marine beach, there was little effect on tourists who visited country X. 
This option doesn't address the specific increase at Juhu beach. It focuses on the overall tourism in the country, not the specific shift from Marine beach to Juhu beach.

B.  The influx of tourist is normally high in months after August as compared to rest of the year. 
Given that the passage already states the increase in tourists at Juhu beach is compared to the same time in earlier years, a general seasonal trend would not adequately explain why the increase is particularly notable this year. The seasonal trend is consistent each year, so it does not account for the specific increase observed this year.

C.  There were few cases of drowning in Juhu beach in the month of August this year. 
This option doesn't provide a reason for the increase in tourists. It focuses on an unrelated event that might affect the safety perception of Juhu beach but not directly the tourist influx.

D.  Few of the much-awaited tourist attractions have been opened in the last three months in the three top beaches of country X.  
This option weakens the argument by providing an alternative reason for the increased tourist influx at Juhu beach. The opening of new tourist attractions could attract more tourists independently of the epidemic at Marine beach.

E.  Although the two beaches are just 5 miles apart, there has been no reported case of disease from area around Juhu beach. 
This option reinforces the argument by indicating that Juhu beach is safe from the epidemic, which might explain the shift in tourists. It does not weaken the argument.

saibharatmba · Answer

Hi,

Option  D  is correct because, it gives the additional reason for  increase  in the people wanting to visit the top 3 beaches. Which means the  increase of visitors of Juhu  beach might not be due to the decrease in visitors of Marine due to epidemic but due to the attractions.

The trick part in the question is, author never says there is a  decrease in visitors of Marine . He only creates that feeling to us by concluding that the  increase  in Juhu is due to epidemic at Marine.

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