Jay: We have too many people working on each

Question

Jay: We have too many people working on each of our computers in the office. The high frequency of breakdowns is due to too many people handling the same hardware.

Ada: We have just as many people working in our office, yet we hardly need any repairs to our systems. Our systems must be more robust than yours.

Jay apparently believes that

A. he has the best available hardware 
B. the frequency of breakdowns in his office is above average 
C. software specifications are not important in his office 
D. no other office has a similar ratio of computers to users 
E. he does not need more people working in his office

GMATNinja · Accepted Answer

My usual disclaimer: the GMAT spends between $1500 and $3000 developing each official question, and even the best test-prep companies can't compete. This particular question, unfortunately, is especially flawed -- so please don't waste your energy on it, friends.

kannu44 · Answer

We have too many people working on each of our computers in the office.
Why D can not be the answer . I am confused here.
Could anybody explain . Thanks

VyshakhR1995 · Answer

"Jay apparently believes that"---This is an assumption question
One way to deal with will be to negate the answer choices.

Negating D
 Some other office has a similar ratio of computers to users
 This does not weaken the argument.
Negating Option B
 the frequency of breakdowns in his office is NOT above average
 This clearly weakens the argument.
 Hence B is the Answer

nks2611 · Answer

not convinced with your answer , you just negated the options ,could you please address specifically and also how does B relate to the stimulus as above average does not make sense here >

please explain .

VyshakhR1995 · Answer

In an assumption question after eliminating obvious wrong choices you can negate the options.
The one that weakens the argument will be the answer
"no other office has a similar ratio of computers to users "--->Even if this is not true the argument will hold

the frequency of breakdowns in his office is above average----> If this isn't true,how can "The high frequency of breakdowns is due to too many people handling the same hardware." be true

If your doubt persists can you be more specific

nks2611 · Answer

In an assumption question after eliminating obvious wrong choices you can negate the options.
The one that weakens the argument will be the answer
"no other office has a similar ratio of computers to users "--->Even if this is not true the argument will hold

the frequency of breakdowns in his office is above average----> If this isn't true,how can "The high frequency of breakdowns is due to too many people handling the same hardware." be true

If your persists can you be more specific 
Ty, actually i missed that part " high frequency " my bad   , 
Anyway thanks for clarifying.

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Nightmare007 · Answer

Isn't The B option already given in the question stating - High frequency of breakdowns. - Hence, I don't think B will fit in the Assumption question. Waiting for Experts advice.

Dsgshanky · Answer

I am confused with a also. Because if lets say that his hardware is bad, than, high frequency of failures could be because of that rather than too many people. 
But option B makes sense to because his argument relies of the his point that failure frequency in his ofc is high

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sriamlan · Answer

Can you please be more elaborate, as what is the point of your confusion, the answer is B here

Hatakekakashi · Answer

only if the frequency is above average , then it is high

The latter part of Jay's argument says the high frequency
hence B

techiesam · Answer

Two possible aassumptions can be made over this question stem.

1.The hardware could be defected already and thatswhy breakdown occures and Jay confuses that with too much handling ------>  This is option A 
 or
2.What Jay believes as high freqency breakdown is actually below average and happens in all the other companies.--------> This is option B

Now my vote goes for option A because Ada did not respond on the number of breakdown.Instead,he responded on robustness. So I go for Option A.

Lucy Phuong · Answer

Dear expert GMATNinja , can you please guide me on this. I chose option (B) but the funny thing is that I think this is an Inference question :oops:

. (And I was really confused to read all the comments mentioning about this "assumption" question). If you treat this question as an Inference one, then thing will become pretty easy. "high frequency of breakdowns" must mean the frequency is above average, right? The reason why I think this is not an assumption question is that, according to stimulus, "the high frequency of breakdowns" is a premise that we must not argue over. The conclusion is about the reason for high frequency of breakdown, which is the claim "too many people handling the same hardware". Therefore, if we consider this question an assumption one, then we must find option pointing out why the large number of people working on same hardware should be blamed for high frequency of breakdown. And the guys above, while they saw this question as assumption type, did not treat it the same way as I mentioned.. That confused me..

Please let me know your opinion and correct me if I'm wrong, expert. Thank you.

Lucy Phuong · Answer

An "Aha!" moment :idea:

Thanks, expert!

Jay: We have too many people working on each

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Jay: We have too many people working on each

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