In January 1992, the Sylvanic Exterminator Service of Salem

Question

In January 1992, the Sylvanic Exterminator Service of Salem County began a new service concentrating on the removal of bats, rats, and mice. Revenue increased twofold by the end of the year. However, since 1991 more people in Salem County have been taking care of their extermination problems on their own, and the extermination industry’s revenues have been dropping because of it. Sylvanic Exterminator Service has reported no such loss in revenue.

Which one of the following statements, if true, would best explain the above paradox?

A. The Sylvanic Exterminator Service was audited in 1992 and has had to be extremely careful with its bookkeeping ever since. 
 
B. In 1990, Sylvanic upgraded all of its poison sprayers, incurring a debt which will not be paid off until 1998. 
 
C. People would rather take care of the pest problems themselves because it is less expensive. 
 
D. The bat, rat, and mouse populations of Salem County have increased significantly since 1991. 
 
E. The Sylvanic Exterminator Service’s new pest service has compensated for the losses it has been experiencing in the rest of its services.

vivesomnium · Accepted Answer

The Sylvanic Exterminator Service was audited in 1992 and has had to be extremely careful with its bookkeeping ever since.  which means that the revenue hadnt actually doubled? But that is in contradiction with an assertion in the stem. incorrect  
 In 1990, Sylvanic upgraded all of its poison sprayers, incurring a debt which will not be paid off until 1998.  a debt will not really have any effect on revenues. and upgrading sprayers cannot explain how Sylvanic doubled its revenues, if people have started doing extermination themselves, then it will be a big leap to assume that just because Sylvanic has upgraded sprayers, people preferef it to other exterminators/ themselves 
 
 People would rather take care of the pest problems themselves because it is less expensive.  that just gives a reason for an assertion in the stem. doesnt explains why Sylvanic's revenues are still high 
 
 The bat, rat, and mouse populations of Salem County have increased significantly since 1991.  that might mean the need for more extermination, especially the kind which sylvanic started as a new service. howeevr do these two factors together say that this extermination was actually done by Sylvanic only? population has increased, sylvanic starts a service to control it - but that is no guarantee that people will hire sylvanic to do it- they can still continue to do it themselves 
 
 The Sylvanic Exterminator Service’s new pest service has compensated for the losses it has been experiencing in the rest of its services.  this clearly mentions that this new service got Sylvanic extra revenues as compared to others, and compensated for the loss of revenue it faced (just like the industry) in other types of extermination because people started doing it themselves. this takes care of all the conditions of the argument and still explains the paradox

crick20002002 · Answer

Clear E. Only other choice worth considering is D. However E is a clear winner as it explains the paradox.

Crick

navami · Answer

E is the only choice available which explains why there is no revenue loss for the company.

dentobizz · Answer

Bumping for review and further discussion
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Source: Magoosh
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ronr34 · Answer

The problem I see here with E is that if more people do their pest control on their own, and all other companies are experiencing losses, we still don't have an explanation as how the services are still making money....
Anyone help with that?

PathFinder007 · Answer

mikemcgarry ,

could you please provide your comments on this.

rohitt911 · Answer

E doesn't mention anything about losses in revenue, E only talk about compensating losses. Loss in revenue vs profit and loss can be two different things, right?

Still confused. IMO D

Subanta · Answer

A.   No.  Careful bookkeeping doesn't necessarily explain why they're still making money.
 B.   No.  However effective their machinery is, they might still be losing money to the do-it-yourself crowd.
 C.   No.  This still doesn't explain why Sylvanic kept making the same amount of money.
 D.   No.  Close, but the argument indicates that people could be getting rid of these pests without the help of professionals.
 E.   Yes.  Sylvanic has compensated for the potential loss of revenue by offering a different service.

Hope this helps!

iikarthik · Answer

Hi Rohit,

If D is true then all exterminator services (including Sylvanic Exterminator Service) should make money but the passage clearly states that the exterminator services
as an industry isnt doing well.The exception here is Sylvanic Exterminator Service,which means it should be doing something different from the ordinary.A different reason and 
not a common reason( as explained in D) is the cause behind Sylvanic Exterminator Service success

Hope this helps

rash1488 · Answer

IMO E.

Prethink - Something that helps Slyvanic to prevent its losses.could be something to do with it's new service.

A]The Sylvanic Exterminator Service was audited in 1992 and has had to be extremely careful with its bookkeeping ever since. -- bookkeeping nothing to do with maintaining the revenue . NO

B]In 1990, Sylvanic upgraded all of its poison sprayers, incurring a debt which will not be paid off until 1998. --- debt nothing to do with maintaining the revenue . NO

C]People would rather take care of the pest problems themselves because it is less expensive. --- this hurts the argument instead. NO

D]The bat, rat, and mouse populations of Salem County have increased significantly since 1991. --- ok . population increased but whether ppl contacted Sylvanic is not mentioned. NO

E] The Sylvanic Exterminator Service’s new pest service has compensated for the losses it has been experiencing in the rest of its services. --- ok . cool so this new service is preventing the loss for Sylvanic . YES

LODD2 · Answer

In January 1992, the Sylvanic Exterminator Service of Salem County began a new service concentrating on the removal of bats, rats, and mice. Revenue increased twofold by the end of the year. However, since 1991 more people in Salem County have been taking care of their extermination problems on their own, and the extermination industry’s revenues have been dropping because of it. Sylvanic Exterminator Service has reported no such loss in revenue.

Which one of the following statements, if true, would best explain the above paradox?

A]The Sylvanic Exterminator Service was audited in 1992 and has had to be extremely careful with its bookkeeping ever since. 
 Doesn't explain, actually makes it even more confusing since that means their financials are perfectly fine.

B]In 1990, Sylvanic upgraded all of its poison sprayers, incurring a debt which will not be paid off until 1998. 
 Incurring debt has nothing to do with revenue in this case

C]People would rather take care of the pest problems themselves because it is less expensive. \
 Still doesn't explain why SES has reported no loss in revenue, but does explain why the extermination industry revenues have dropped

D]The bat, rat, and mouse populations of Salem County have increased significantly since 1991. 
 So this explains why SES has had not decrease in revenue despite people wanting to exterminate on their own, but does NOT explain why the industry has dropped

E] The Sylvanic Exterminator Service’s new pest service has compensated for the losses it has been experiencing in the rest of its services.
 This explains why SES's revenue has not decreased. It implies that SES's other service is losing money, but is counteracted by a new business service

mdsaddamforgmat · Answer

I Have a doubt in option E , How does "compensate" can provide "Revenue increase of twofold".

i thought compensate here is equal to making up the losses.

any expert take on this please...

rvgmat12 · Answer

OE:

Fact 1: Since 1991 more people in Salem County have been taking care of their extermination problems on their own, and the extermination industry's revenues have been dropping because of it.

Fact 2: In January 1992, the Sylvanic Exterminator Service of Salem County began a new service concentrating on the removal of bats, rats, and mice. Revenue increased twofold by the end of the year.

The phrase which of the following would best explain in the question stem indicates that this is a Resolve/Explain question. Because more people in Salem County have been taking care of their own extermination problems and the extermination industry's revenues have been dropping since 1991, it seems contradictory that Sylvanic Exterminator Service has reported no such loss in revenue, but rather, revenue increased twofold by the end of the year.

For an answer choice to explain the discrepancy, it must provide a reason that Sylvanic Exterminator Service has reported no such loss in revenue, but rather, revenue increased twofold by the end of (1992), even though more people in Salem County have been taking care of their own extermination problems and the extermination industry's revenues have been dropping since 1991. Evaluate the answer choices, looking for one that reflects this idea.

Choice A: No. Extremely careful bookkeeping is out of scope. Even if Sylvanic Exterminator Service was audited in 1992 and has had to be extremely careful with its bookkeeping ever since, it would have no impact on the company’s revenue by the end of the year.

Choice B: No. A debt which will not be paid off until 1998 is out of scope. Even if Sylvanic upgraded all of its poison sprayers in 1990, incurring a debt which will not be paid off until 1998, it would have no impact on the company’s revenue by the end of 1992.

Choice C: No. This answer choice makes the conflict worse. If people would rather take care of the pest problems themselves because it is less expensive, then it would be even less likely that Sylvanic Exterminator Service’s revenue increased twofold by the end of 1992.

Choice D: No. This answer choice addresses only one side of the conflict. If the bat, rat, and mouse populations of Salem County have increased significantly since 1991, it explains why in January 1992, the Sylvanic Exterminator Service of Salem County began a new service concentrating on the removal of bats, rats, and mice. However, this does not explain the fact that since 1991 more people in Salem County have been taking care of their extermination problems on their own, and the extermination industry's revenues have been dropping because of it.

Choice E: Correct. If the Sylvanic Exterminator Service's new pest service has compensated for the losses it has been experiencing in the rest of its services, this it explains why revenue increased twofold by the end of 1992. This also takes into account that since 1991 more people in Salem County have been taking care of their extermination problems on their own, and the extermination industry's revenues have been dropping because of it.

The correct answer is choice E.

avellanjc · Answer

Hi,

I chose option D, as I interpreted that it meant that "niche" of mice, rat and bat extermination had grown while the general "pest extermination as a whole" had shrinked.

I didnt choose E, as generally "losses" is related to profitability and not to decline in revenue.

I guess the wording of the statement could be improved.

Regards,

Juan C. Avellan

In January 1992, the Sylvanic Exterminator Service of Salem

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In January 1992, the Sylvanic Exterminator Service of Salem

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