Sarah: "I don't understand why you recycle so much. The recycling pr

Question

Sarah: "I don't understand why you recycle so much. The recycling program costs the city several million dollars a year. Trash disposal at the landfill costs half as much per household than the municipal recycling program. It just doesn't seem cost effective to have a recycling program."

Lauren: "The point of recycling isn't to save money. By recycling, we keep thousands of tons of materials out of our landfills, which mean we can use the same landfills longer. It's about conserving our resources, not about saving money on trash pickup."

Lauren's response to Sarah serves to

A. Support Sarah’s contention that recycling is too expensive.

B. Refute Sarah’s argument that recycling is more expensive than taking trash to the landfill.

C. Suggest to Sarah that there is an alternate view of why recycling makes good sense for the people of their city.

D. Points to a fundamental value difference between the two when it comes to conservation.

E. Points out her ignorance of municipal finances.

amanvermagmat · Answer

Sarah's point is that recycling program is NOT cost-effective. Lauren starts with, "Point of recycling isn't to save money.." She then goes on to give another value addition of recycling program, which is not related to money/cost.

So Lauren neither supports nor refutes Sarah's point about cost. A & B eliminated.

Only Lauren talks about conservation, not Sarah. So D eliminated.

There is no discussion about municipal finances from Lauren. So E eliminated.

C only makes sense. Hence  C

chesstitans · Answer

Sarah: "I don't understand why you recycle so much. The recycling program costs the city several million dollars a year. Trash disposal at the landfill costs half as much per household than the municipal recycling program. It just doesn't seem cost effective to have a recycling program."

Lauren: "The point of recycling isn't to save money. By recycling, we keep thousands of tons of materials out of our landfills, which mean we can use the same landfills longer. It's about conserving our resources, not about saving money on trash pickup."

Lauren's response to Sarah serves to

A Support Sarah’s contention that recycling is too expensive.

B Refute Sarah’s argument that recycling is more expensive than taking trash to the landfill.

C Suggest to Sarah that there is an alternate view of why recycling makes good sense for the people of their city.

D Points to a fundamental value difference between the two when it comes to conservation.

E Points out her ignorance of municipal finances. 
Testguide

Somnath31 · Answer

A. Incorrect : because he didn't support Sarah's contention
B.Incorrect : he didn't refute ..he agreed that it is not cost effective
C.Correct: This is what he did..provided alternative view.
D.Incorrect:Did'nt provide any fundamental value
E.Incorrect: didn't do any thinv like that

Posted from my mobile device

mrinal0308 · Answer

Between C and D, 
D : the argument does not provide any difference between the two but points advantage of recycling 
C: correct, the argument presents an alternate view why recycling is good.

Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum

AkshdeepS · Answer

A. Opposite : Lauren does not support

B. Not refuted - It's too strong

C. Correct - Point of view is different

D. Fundamental value is only showed by Lauren

E. Municipal finances were not dicussed

Hence (C)

egmat · Answer

The correct answer is C.

Lets understand the passage:

Sarah:
- Recycling program costs the city a huge amount (Recycling costly for the city/municipality)
- Trash disposal at the landfill costs only half as much per household as recycling (recycling is costly even for each individual household)
- Why recycle?

Lauren:
- Recycling - is not to save money. It is about conserving resources

Question:  Purpose of Lauren's response to Sarah.

A. Support Sarah’s contention that recycling is too expensive.
Incorrect. Lauren neither supports, nor denies Sarah's argument. She simply introduces a different point of view about recycling

B. Refute Sarah’s argument that recycling is more expensive than taking trash to the landfill.
Incorrect. Lauren does not refute the cost aspect of recycling which is the crux of Sarah's argument

C. Suggest to Sarah that there is an alternate view of why recycling makes good sense for the people of their city. 
Correct choice. Lauren introduces a different perspective of recycling (conservation of resources) rather than talk about Sarah's point about cost

D. Points to a fundamental value difference between the two when it comes to conservation.
Can be a tricky choice. But notice that we do not know Sarah's perspective on conservation - it has not been discussed here. Sarah did not bring up conservation does not imply that she has a different opinion about conservation as compared to Lauren.

For all we know, Sarah has the exact same views on conservation - that is very much possible. Hence, this option is incorrect.

E. Points out her ignorance of municipal finances.
Incorrect - Lauren does not even talk about finances, so this cannot be the purpose of her response.

Sarah: "I don't understand why you recycle so much. The recycling pr

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

GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Sarah: "I don't understand why you recycle so much. The recycling pr

Prep Toolkit

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