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Official Solution:


Dr. Helen Purdy Beale, a pioneering virologist, made a groundbreaking discovery about the Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV). TMV, known for causing disease in tobacco plants, forms distinctive patterns of mottling and discoloration on the leaves. Dr. Beale's work, initially met with skepticism, has been validated by later research and significantly advanced our understanding of viral structures and plant pathology.

Dr. Beale observed that TMV particles form helical structures, a feature not widely accepted or understood at the time. Her studies revealed that these helical structures are critical for the virus's ability to infect and replicate within plant cells. She postulated that the helical form allows the virus to interact more effectively with the host cell's mechanisms, facilitating the spread of the infection through the plant's vascular system.

Most notably, Dr. Beale suggested that the helical structure of TMV played a role in the specific symptoms exhibited by infected plants. She observed that the virus's form influenced how it moved and spread within the plant tissues, leading to the characteristic patterns of discoloration. While many scientists focused on the chemical composition of the virus, Dr. Beale's emphasis on physical structure as a determinant of viral behavior was innovative.

Dr. Beale's work laid the foundation for subsequent research into viral morphology and its impact on plant diseases. Her insights have led to a deeper understanding of how viruses, such as TMV, interact with their hosts. The study of TMV's helical structure has since become a classic example in plant virology, illustrating the link between viral form and function.


Of the features of TMV discussed in the passage, Dr. Beale’s research explicitly focuses on which of the following aspects?

A. The virus’s chemical composition and infectivity.
B. The physical structure and symptom expression.
C. The virus's interaction with the plant's vascular system.
D. The rate of spread of the virus within plant tissues.
E. The methods of controlling the spread of TMV in tobacco plants.

The passage emphasizes Dr. Beale's study of the helical structure of TMV and how this structure influences the virus's movement within plant tissues and the resulting symptoms in infected plants. This focus on physical structure and symptom expression aligns with option B.

Answer: B

Can I ask something BB
I read the question as "Of the features of TMV" so I thought something belonging to the Virus. I avoid B as the second feature, symptom expression, is not the TMV's, but the Tobaccos's

Please kindly elaborate more
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While i chose the right ans i want to undrstand why option c is not the rigt answer and what

"She observed that the virus's form influenced how it moved and spread within the plant tissues, leading to the characteristic patterns of discoloration." statement means

Thank you for the question - I appreciate them.
The reason C is not the right answer is because it is too narrow of a scope. This is a scope error/trap. While plant's vascular system was one of the areas she covered in the research, that was not the focus and she actually focused on the structural characteristics of the virus and their impact on symptom expression. Vascular system was just one of the areas impacted. Hope this helps. Let me know if not.

P.S. If you have chosen the correct answer that means you have a good "gut" feel and on hard RC questions that's very helpful. You need to learn to trust it over time.


Of the features of TMV discussed in the passage, Dr. Beale’s research explicitly focuses on which of the following aspects?
C. The virus's interaction with the plant's vascular system.
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Official Solution:


Dr. Helen Purdy Beale, a pioneering virologist, made a groundbreaking discovery about the Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV). TMV, known for causing disease in tobacco plants, forms distinctive patterns of mottling and discoloration on the leaves. Dr. Beale's work, initially met with skepticism, has been validated by later research and significantly advanced our understanding of viral structures and plant pathology.

Dr. Beale observed that TMV particles form helical structures, a feature not widely accepted or understood at the time. Her studies revealed that these helical structures are critical for the virus's ability to infect and replicate within plant cells. She postulated that the helical form allows the virus to interact more effectively with the host cell's mechanisms, facilitating the spread of the infection through the plant's vascular system.

Most notably, Dr. Beale suggested that the helical structure of TMV played a role in the specific symptoms exhibited by infected plants. She observed that the virus's form influenced how it moved and spread within the plant tissues, leading to the characteristic patterns of discoloration. While many scientists focused on the chemical composition of the virus, Dr. Beale's emphasis on physical structure as a determinant of viral behavior was innovative.

Dr. Beale's work laid the foundation for subsequent research into viral morphology and its impact on plant diseases. Her insights have led to a deeper understanding of how viruses, such as TMV, interact with their hosts. The study of TMV's helical structure has since become a classic example in plant virology, illustrating the link between viral form and function.


Of the features of TMV discussed in the passage, Dr. Beale’s research explicitly focuses on which of the following aspects?

A. The virus’s chemical composition and infectivity.
B. The physical structure and symptom expression.
C. The virus's interaction with the plant's vascular system.
D. The rate of spread of the virus within plant tissues.
E. The methods of controlling the spread of TMV in tobacco plants.

The passage emphasizes Dr. Beale's study of the helical structure of TMV and how this structure influences the virus's movement within plant tissues and the resulting symptoms in infected plants. This focus on physical structure and symptom expression aligns with option B.

Answer: B

Can I ask something BB
I read the question as "Of the features of TMV" so I thought something belonging to the Virus. I avoid B as the second feature, symptom expression, is not the TMV's, but the Tobaccos's

Please kindly elaborate more

Very good question and you had me pause for a minute thinking we screwed up but I think the question is correct because The physical structure and symptom expression are referring to the virus. She was not studying tobacco plants physical structure and their symptoms. She was studying physical structure of the virus and its symptoms. A plant can have symptoms but it does not cause them - instead the virus causes the symptoms and the plat exhibits them. Does this make sense?
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Official Solution:


Dr. Helen Purdy Beale, a pioneering virologist, made a groundbreaking discovery about the Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV). TMV, known for causing disease in tobacco plants, forms distinctive patterns of mottling and discoloration on the leaves. Dr. Beale's work, initially met with skepticism, has been validated by later research and significantly advanced our understanding of viral structures and plant pathology.

Dr. Beale observed that TMV particles form helical structures, a feature not widely accepted or understood at the time. Her studies revealed that these helical structures are critical for the virus's ability to infect and replicate within plant cells. She postulated that the helical form allows the virus to interact more effectively with the host cell's mechanisms, facilitating the spread of the infection through the plant's vascular system.

Most notably, Dr. Beale suggested that the helical structure of TMV played a role in the specific symptoms exhibited by infected plants. She observed that the virus's form influenced how it moved and spread within the plant tissues, leading to the characteristic patterns of discoloration. While many scientists focused on the chemical composition of the virus, Dr. Beale's emphasis on physical structure as a determinant of viral behavior was innovative.

Dr. Beale's work laid the foundation for subsequent research into viral morphology and its impact on plant diseases. Her insights have led to a deeper understanding of how viruses, such as TMV, interact with their hosts. The study of TMV's helical structure has since become a classic example in plant virology, illustrating the link between viral form and function.


Of the features of TMV discussed in the passage, Dr. Beale’s research explicitly focuses on which of the following aspects?

A. The virus’s chemical composition and infectivity.
B. The physical structure and symptom expression.
C. The virus's interaction with the plant's vascular system.
D. The rate of spread of the virus within plant tissues.
E. The methods of controlling the spread of TMV in tobacco plants.

The passage emphasizes Dr. Beale's study of the helical structure of TMV and how this structure influences the virus's movement within plant tissues and the resulting symptoms in infected plants. This focus on physical structure and symptom expression aligns with option B.

Answer: B

Can I ask something BB
I read the question as "Of the features of TMV" so I thought something belonging to the Virus. I avoid B as the second feature, symptom expression, is not the TMV's, but the Tobaccos's

Please kindly elaborate more

Very good question and you had me pause for a minute thinking we screwed up but I think the question is correct because The physical structure and symptom expression are referring to the virus. She was not studying tobacco plants physical structure and their symptoms. She was studying physical structure of the virus and its symptoms. A plant can have symptoms but it does not cause them - instead the virus causes the symptoms and the plat exhibits them. Does this make sense?

Hi BB, honestly it is still hard to digest.
If we dissect the phrase, we will read it as "The Physical structure of Virus and The Symptom expression of Virus"
While the Virus cause a certain Symptom expression, which is a pattern discoloration of the infected Tobacco, the Virus is not the executor of this action (express). Therefore it should be categorized as neither the Virus' features nor its characteristic.

Hypothetically the question creator tried to refer Tobacco's certain discoloration, which is the virus' impact, as a feature of Virus, it would be too illogical to do so as a feature should be an inherrent, standalone trait.

If a policemen show up and ask the hood, what the feature of the burglar is, they would expect feedbacks such as brown hair, 6 ft in height, etc.
They would be stunned if the answers are glass broken, 5000$ stolen, etc. (his impact not his feature)

The explanation above is my perspective as regular people.
If I switch on my knowledge on some medical terms, usually unrecommended when doing GMAT test, the symptom expression of Virus is impossible to comprehend. The simple definition of symptom is a trait expressed by an organism that has a disease. Virus is not really accepted as an organism yet, however, even assumed it is, the literal meaning would be virus has a symptom and we would talk about the expression of the virus' symptom. The virus, in the passage, is the agent of infection, not the infected being.

BB, one additional question, is it okay to use ",etc." in a AWA section?

Thanks in advance
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Thank you - that's very thoughtful. It seems you know quite a bit more about the terminology so appreciate your help and patience. By the way, knowing a lot about the field it can also mess things up if you bring prior knowledge as you may lose track of what was said and not said in the passage, so it may be good your field is not tested...

I got your point now. Thank you. If I suggest to add "of the virus" to the end of the question choice B to remove any ambiguity or remove the word "expression". Does that fix the meaning in your view?

B. The physical structure and symptom expression of the virus.
B. The physical structure and symptoms.

It appears there are 2 ways to read it. One can read it as "symptom expression by the plant" or "expression of the virus's symptoms". 2 different meanings. Expression is done by the plant. Symptoms belong to the virus. Expression of the virus's symptoms even though performed by the plant could be a feature unique to the virus. The passage does seem to say "the helical structure of TMV played a role in the specific symptoms exhibited by infected plants".


P.S. etc. is totally fine on AWA and schools do not care about AWA. It is about to go extinct on the GMAT with GMAT focus eliminating it.
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Thank you - that's very thoughtful. It seems you know quite a bit more about the terminology so appreciate your help and patience. By the way, knowing a lot about the field it can also mess things up if you bring prior knowledge as you may lose track of what was said and not said in the passage, so it may be good your field is not tested...

I got your point now. Thank you. If I suggest to add "of the virus" to the end of the question choice B to remove any ambiguity or remove the word "expression". Does that fix the meaning in your view?

B. The physical structure and symptom expression of the virus.
B. The physical structure and symptoms.

It appears there are 2 ways to read it. One can read it as "symptom expression by the plant" or "expression of the virus's symptoms". 2 different meanings. Expression is done by the plant. Symptoms belong to the virus. Expression of the virus's symptoms even though performed by the plant could be a feature unique to the virus. The passage does seem to say "the helical structure of TMV played a role in the specific symptoms exhibited by infected plants".


P.S. etc. is totally fine on AWA and schools do not care about AWA. It is about to go extinct on the GMAT with GMAT focus eliminating it.

Hi BB, thanks for the discussion, I hope my inputs are valuable for GMATCLUB community.

I do understand we have to stick to the passage for reading, the specific knowledge there just an additional

Let us try to use some of GMAT reasoning

We can also look at it this way, the symptom expression (expected answer) is an OUTPUT from the plant, let us name the Output O.
It is said that TMV played a role for the plant to express O, but it does not say TMV is the proprietary reason of expression O

For that reason, we have an idea that expression O is multivariable dependent. Hence we have not the idea that eliminating TMV would result in a complete absence of this expression.

Applying this logic, I am more confidently to say the feature of TMV is interaction rather than symptom expression.
Interaction, it takes two to tango right? Absence of TMV means such interaction is gone.

Anyway wish me luck guys, I am going to take the test on 19th Jan :lol:
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Good luck on the test - I think you definitely got it. Thank you for the help and attempting to clarify and help - I appreciate it and I was not arguing - just trying to get to the bottom of it. It is a nice little trap that perhaps the author can use in another question. Definitely was missed.

However, at this point, I am going to kick this upstairs to some much smarter folks than I am and let them sort this out 😂😇
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Thanks BB.. Same here, we all are learners. Hopefully by expressing my thought, whether right or wrong, I can be more fluent in answering the test tomorrow. GMATclub rocks!
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Thanks BB.. Same here, we all are learners. Hopefully by expressing my thought, whether right or wrong, I can be more fluent in answering the test tomorrow. GMATclub rocks!

I have asked two neutral verbal experts and both have agreed with your comment so we will revise the question and hopefully a great boost of confidence to your test tomorrow 👍

Posted from my mobile device
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Got an update that fixing the answer choices will make this question pretty simple, so I am going to decommission it and we will come up with another question instead.
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Thanks BB.. Same here, we all are learners. Hopefully by expressing my thought, whether right or wrong, I can be more fluent in answering the test tomorrow. GMATclub rocks!

Hey Maxsparrow - how did it go?
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Thanks BB.. Same here, we all are learners. Hopefully by expressing my thought, whether right or wrong, I can be more fluent in answering the test tomorrow. GMATclub rocks!

Hey Maxsparrow - how did it go?

Not good enough, stuck on the same score. Next stop is GFE then, wish me luck..
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