Events & Promotions
|
|
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.
May 1408:30 AM PDT
-09:30 AM PDT
Most GMAT test-takers are intimidated by the hardest GMAT Verbal questions. In this session, Target Test Prep GMAT instructor Erika Tyler-John, a 100th percentile GMAT scorer, will show you how top scorers break down challenging Verbal questions..
May 1212:00 PM EDT
-11:59 PM EDT
Make the most of your break with the most realistic GMAT™ prep. Take up to $700 off select products.- May 13
08:30 AM PDT
-09:30 AM PDT
In Episode 4 of our GMAT Ninja CR series, we tackle the most intimidating CR question type: Boldface & "Legalese" questions. If you've ever stared at an answer choice that reads, "The first is a consideration introduced to counter a position that... - Jun 10
06:00 AM PDT
-06:15 PM PDT
Register for the GMAT Club Virtual MBA Spotlight Fair – the world’s premier event for serious MBA candidates. This is your chance to hear directly from Admissions Directors at nearly every Top 30 MBA program..
souvik101990
Expert
Alum
Joined: 19 Mar 2012
Last visit: 11 Nov 2025
Posts: 4,312
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 2,326
Location: United States (WA)
Concentration: Leadership, General Management
Schools: Ross '20 (M)
GMAT 1: 760 Q50 V42
GMAT 2: 740 Q49 V42 (Online)
GMAT 3: 760 Q50 V42 (Online)
GPA: 3.8
WE:Marketing (Non-Profit and Government)
Products:
Expert reply
26 Apr 2018, 02:09
Kudos
Bookmarks
Frequency-dependent foraging refers to the tendency of an individual to selectively forage on a certain species based on the relative frequency of that foraged species in the wild. Generally, the more populous a species, the more likely that species is to be selected as the primary foraged species. Surprisingly, several unrelated university sponsored laboratory experiments on bumblebees, tested with an identical foraged species, yielded dramatically different results. In some experiments, the bumblebees thrived, while in others they perished. Given that each of the experiments had comparable funding, the varying results must have been attributable to the quality of the way the experiments were maintained by the researchers conducting them.
Which one of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the conclusion drawn above?
A. In the wild, frequency-dependent foraging among bumblebees typically occurs when any one of a small number of foraged species is present.
B. The same basic experiment design guidelines were used for each of the experiments.
C. The number of academic calendar years of experience among those who conducted the laboratory experiments varied from four years to five years.
D. The species of bumblebee used in the laboratory experiments varied from experiment to experiment.
E. A team at the same university that conducted one of the frequency-dependent foraging experiments has been accused of exaggerating the findings of an experiment conducted just two years prior.
Which one of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the conclusion drawn above?
A. In the wild, frequency-dependent foraging among bumblebees typically occurs when any one of a small number of foraged species is present.
B. The same basic experiment design guidelines were used for each of the experiments.
C. The number of academic calendar years of experience among those who conducted the laboratory experiments varied from four years to five years.
D. The species of bumblebee used in the laboratory experiments varied from experiment to experiment.
E. A team at the same university that conducted one of the frequency-dependent foraging experiments has been accused of exaggerating the findings of an experiment conducted just two years prior.
souvik101990
Expert
Alum
Joined: 19 Mar 2012
Last visit: 11 Nov 2025
Posts: 4,312
Own Kudos:
Given Kudos: 2,326
Location: United States (WA)
Concentration: Leadership, General Management
Schools: Ross '20 (M)
GMAT 1: 760 Q50 V42
GMAT 2: 740 Q49 V42 (Online)
GMAT 3: 760 Q50 V42 (Online)
GPA: 3.8
WE:Marketing (Non-Profit and Government)
Products:
Expert reply
26 Apr 2018, 02:09
Kudos
Bookmarks
Official Solution:
Frequency-dependent foraging refers to the tendency of an individual to selectively forage on a certain species based on the relative frequency of that foraged species in the wild. Generally, the more populous a species, the more likely that species is to be selected as the primary foraged species. Surprisingly, several unrelated university sponsored laboratory experiments on bumblebees, tested with an identical foraged species, yielded dramatically different results. In some experiments, the bumblebees thrived, while in others they perished. Given that each of the experiments had comparable funding, the varying results must have been attributable to the quality of the way the experiments were maintained by the researchers conducting them.
Which one of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the conclusion drawn above?
A. In the wild, frequency-dependent foraging among bumblebees typically occurs when any one of a small number of foraged species is present.
B. The same basic experiment design guidelines were used for each of the experiments.
C. The number of academic calendar years of experience among those who conducted the laboratory experiments varied from four years to five years.
D. The species of bumblebee used in the laboratory experiments varied from experiment to experiment.
E. A team at the same university that conducted one of the frequency-dependent foraging experiments has been accused of exaggerating the findings of an experiment conducted just two years prior.
Question Type: Weaken
Boil It Down (Simplified & Abbreviated Summary of the Prompt): Cost didn't cause different outcomes, experiment maintenance did.
Missing Information (assumption): There were no other factors that could have caused the different outcomes in the bumblebee experiements.
Goal: Find the option that presents a factor other than the maintenance of the experiments that could have caused the dramatically different outcomes.
Let's see which option best achieves the goal:
Ⓐ This option is irrelevant since the experiments used the same foraged species and the experiments are thereby standardized in terms of foraged a species.
Ⓑ If anything, this option that the design guidelines were the same would strengthen the argument that it was the manner in which the experiment was carried out that is to blame because this option dismisses another possibility. This option is an example of a 180 choice-the opposite of what we're looking for.
Ⓒ The number of average academic calendar years of experience is a variable that either has no clear impact on the argument, or one that might even reinforce the notion that it was THE MANNER in which the experiments were carried out were to blame.
Ⓓ Yes! This option gives another possible factor for the differing bumblebee results OTHER THAN the manner in which the experiments were carried out. It was the difference in bumblebee species that's to blame for the different results, and not the manner in which the experiments were conducted. With this option, maybe the manner in which the experiments were carried out was exactly the same, it's just that different species of bumblebee responded to the experiment in different ways (unfortunately, some perished).
Ⓔ This option fails in a couple of ways. First, if any misconduct happened in another study at the same university how can we make the leap that because one study is suspected of being tampered with that the bumblebee study was tampered with too? We can't. Secondly, the malfeasance is only suspected. It hasn't even been proven yet. E sounds like it might be a negative for the argument because it provides another issue, but the problem is that the other issue is ENTIRELY irrelevant from what's offered in the language.
Answer: D
Frequency-dependent foraging refers to the tendency of an individual to selectively forage on a certain species based on the relative frequency of that foraged species in the wild. Generally, the more populous a species, the more likely that species is to be selected as the primary foraged species. Surprisingly, several unrelated university sponsored laboratory experiments on bumblebees, tested with an identical foraged species, yielded dramatically different results. In some experiments, the bumblebees thrived, while in others they perished. Given that each of the experiments had comparable funding, the varying results must have been attributable to the quality of the way the experiments were maintained by the researchers conducting them.
Which one of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the conclusion drawn above?
A. In the wild, frequency-dependent foraging among bumblebees typically occurs when any one of a small number of foraged species is present.
B. The same basic experiment design guidelines were used for each of the experiments.
C. The number of academic calendar years of experience among those who conducted the laboratory experiments varied from four years to five years.
D. The species of bumblebee used in the laboratory experiments varied from experiment to experiment.
E. A team at the same university that conducted one of the frequency-dependent foraging experiments has been accused of exaggerating the findings of an experiment conducted just two years prior.
Question Type: Weaken
Boil It Down (Simplified & Abbreviated Summary of the Prompt): Cost didn't cause different outcomes, experiment maintenance did.
Missing Information (assumption): There were no other factors that could have caused the different outcomes in the bumblebee experiements.
Goal: Find the option that presents a factor other than the maintenance of the experiments that could have caused the dramatically different outcomes.
Let's see which option best achieves the goal:
Ⓐ This option is irrelevant since the experiments used the same foraged species and the experiments are thereby standardized in terms of foraged a species.
Ⓑ If anything, this option that the design guidelines were the same would strengthen the argument that it was the manner in which the experiment was carried out that is to blame because this option dismisses another possibility. This option is an example of a 180 choice-the opposite of what we're looking for.
Ⓒ The number of average academic calendar years of experience is a variable that either has no clear impact on the argument, or one that might even reinforce the notion that it was THE MANNER in which the experiments were carried out were to blame.
Ⓓ Yes! This option gives another possible factor for the differing bumblebee results OTHER THAN the manner in which the experiments were carried out. It was the difference in bumblebee species that's to blame for the different results, and not the manner in which the experiments were conducted. With this option, maybe the manner in which the experiments were carried out was exactly the same, it's just that different species of bumblebee responded to the experiment in different ways (unfortunately, some perished).
Ⓔ This option fails in a couple of ways. First, if any misconduct happened in another study at the same university how can we make the leap that because one study is suspected of being tampered with that the bumblebee study was tampered with too? We can't. Secondly, the malfeasance is only suspected. It hasn't even been proven yet. E sounds like it might be a negative for the argument because it provides another issue, but the problem is that the other issue is ENTIRELY irrelevant from what's offered in the language.
Answer: D
23 Sep 2018, 10:58
Kudos
Bookmarks
in the argument it showed" tested with an identical foraged species", if they use same species, how could be answer D is right ? please help to explain. thanks
