Last visit was: 26 Apr 2026, 00:31 It is currently 26 Apr 2026, 00:31
Home
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Close
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

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
User avatar
akela
User avatar
Joined: 30 Jan 2016
Last visit: 23 May 2023
Posts: 1,227
Own Kudos:
6,350
 [27]
Given Kudos: 128
Products:
My Reviews
Posts: 1,227
Kudos: 6,350
 [27]
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage an 19 Mar 2018, 10:23
3
Kudos
Add Kudos
23
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
00:00
Start Timer
Pause Timer
Resume Timer
Show Answer
Hide
Show
History
E
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!

Difficulty:

85% (hard)

Question Stats:

53% (02:11) correct 47% (02:08) wrong based on 856 sessions

History

Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage and fertility. The best compost is 40 to 60 percent organic matter and is dark brown in color. However, compost that emits a strong ammonia smell should not be used for drainage and fertility, for that smell means that the organic matter has not sufficiently decomposed.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?

(A) Compost that is 80 percent organic matter has probably not decomposed sufficiently.
(B) If compost is less than 40 percent organic matter and is not dark brown in color, then it will make soil Jess fertile and will worsen soil drainage.
(C) If compost is 50 percent organic matter and that organic matter is sufficiently decomposed, then the compost is good.
(D) In the best garden compost, the organic matter is completely decomposed.
(E) Compost that is dark brown in color and emits a strong ammonia smell is not good garden compost.

Source: LSAT
ShowHide Answer
Official Answer
E
Most Helpful Reply
User avatar
Gladiator59
User avatar
Joined: 16 Sep 2016
Last visit: 18 Mar 2026
Posts: 840
Own Kudos:
2,719
 [8]
Given Kudos: 271
Status:It always seems impossible until it's done.
GMAT 1: 740 Q50 V40
GMAT 2: 770 Q51 V42
Products:
My Reviews
GMAT 2: 770 Q51 V42
Posts: 840
Kudos: 2,719
 [8]
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage an 19 Mar 2018, 10:33
8
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Akela
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage and fertility. The best compost is 40 to 60 percent organic matter and is dark brown in color. However, compost that emits a strong ammonia smell should not be used for drainage and fertility, for that smell means that the organic matter has not sufficiently decomposed.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?

(A) Compost that is 80 percent organic matter has probably not decomposed sufficiently.
(B) If compost is less than 40 percent organic matter and is not dark brown in color, then it will make soil Jess fertile and will worsen soil drainage.
(C) If compost is 50 percent organic matter and that organic matter is sufficiently decomposed, then the compost is good.
(D) In the best garden compost, the organic matter is completely decomposed.
(E) Compost that is dark brown in color and emits a strong ammonia smell is not good garden compost.

Source: LSAT
Show more

We are given facts about garden compost.
- Good garden compost is useful for soil purposes..
- The best compost is 40 to 60 percent organic matter and is dark brown in color.
- However, and irrespective of it's colorcompost that emits a strong ammonia smell should not be used for drainage and fertility, for that smell means that the organic matter has not sufficiently decomposed.

Hence we need to avoid ammonia content in compost is what we need to look for in answer choices if possible

What could be a conclusion or statement that is strongly supported by above info?

(A) Compost that is 80 percent organic matter has probably not decomposed sufficiently. We have no info regarding organic matter content %
and how much it is decomposed. Hence incorrect.
(B) If compost is less than 40 percent organic matter and is not dark brown in color, then it will make soil Jess fertile and will worsen soil drainage. Question gives no info about compost with < 40% organic matter. This may be true but not strongly supported by info.
(C) If compost is 50 percent organic matter and that organic matter is sufficiently decomposed, then the compost is good. This may be true but not strongly supported by info. We are informed how to identify bad compost and not good compost by info.
(D) In the best garden compost, the organic matter is completely decomposed. Completely. THe question stem talks about "sufficiently decomposed. Hence incorrect.
(E) Compost that is dark brown in color and emits a strong ammonia smell is not good garden compost. Perfect! This is explicitly mentioned in the info. Hence correct.

Please give kudos if you liked the explanation!

Best,
Gladi
General Discussion
User avatar
Adi93
User avatar
Joined: 28 Sep 2016
Last visit: 24 Jun 2018
Posts: 103
Own Kudos:
249
Given Kudos: 143
Status:EAT SLEEP GMAT REPEAT!
Location: India
Products:
My Reviews
Posts: 103
Kudos: 249
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage an 28 Apr 2018, 04:23
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
E is the best option here as it has negative view related to Ammonia.


Akela
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage and fertility. The best compost is 40 to 60 percent organic matter and is dark brown in color. However, compost that emits a strong ammonia smell should not be used for drainage and fertility, for that smell means that the organic matter has not sufficiently decomposed.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?

(A) Compost that is 80 percent organic matter has probably not decomposed sufficiently.
(B) If compost is less than 40 percent organic matter and is not dark brown in color, then it will make soil Jess fertile and will worsen soil drainage.
(C) If compost is 50 percent organic matter and that organic matter is sufficiently decomposed, then the compost is good.
(D) In the best garden compost, the organic matter is completely decomposed.
(E) Compost that is dark brown in color and emits a strong ammonia smell is not good garden compost.

Source: LSAT
Show more
User avatar
push12345
User avatar
Joined: 02 Oct 2017
Last visit: 10 Feb 2019
Posts: 534
Own Kudos:
549
 [1]
Given Kudos: 14
Posts: 534
Kudos: 549
 [1]
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage an 28 Apr 2018, 04:42
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
C and E are probable candidates for right answer

C is wrong as it does not discuss about compost being dark Brown in color.so it is not completely true so OUT

E -Although it does not talk about organic matter but it smells which makes the compost not good whether organic matter present or not the compost is not good.
So E is correct answer

Posted from my mobile device
User avatar
sam3423
User avatar
Joined: 31 Jan 2022
Last visit: 11 Oct 2025
Posts: 6
Given Kudos: 23
Posts: 6
Kudos: 0
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage an 05 Nov 2024, 07:19
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
akela
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage and fertility. The best compost is 40 to 60 percent organic matter and is dark brown in color. However, compost that emits a strong ammonia smell should not be used for drainage and fertility, for that smell means that the organic matter has not sufficiently decomposed.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the information above?

(A) Compost that is 80 percent organic matter has probably not decomposed sufficiently.
(B) If compost is less than 40 percent organic matter and is not dark brown in color, then it will make soil Jess fertile and will worsen soil drainage.
(C) If compost is 50 percent organic matter and that organic matter is sufficiently decomposed, then the compost is good.
(D) In the best garden compost, the organic matter is completely decomposed.
(E) Compost that is dark brown in color and emits a strong ammonia smell is not good garden compost.

Source: LSAT
Show more
Can someone explain why E is the correct answer since it mentions that a dark brown compost emitting string amonia smell is not a good garden compost. Although the passage no where mentions about the dark brown colour for a bad compost.
User avatar
sam3423
User avatar
Joined: 31 Jan 2022
Last visit: 11 Oct 2025
Posts: 6
Given Kudos: 23
Posts: 6
Kudos: 0
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage an 05 Nov 2024, 07:20
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Not satisfied with the answer. for this reason. - It mentions that a dark brown compost emitting string amonia smell is not a good garden compost. Although the passage no where mentions about the dark brown colour for a bad compost.
User avatar
MartyMurray
User avatar
Joined: 11 Aug 2023
Last visit: 25 Apr 2026
Posts: 1,850
Own Kudos:
7,119
 [2]
Given Kudos: 213
GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V51
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V51
Posts: 1,850
Kudos: 7,119
 [2]
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage an 06 Nov 2024, 15:47
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
sam3423
Can someone explain why E is the correct answer since it mentions that a dark brown compost emitting string amonia smell is not a good garden compost. Although the passage no where mentions about the dark brown colour for a bad compost.
Show more
This is an LSAT Logical Reasoning question, and it can be helpful to be aware that LSAT Logical Reasoning questions tend to be written to be tricky in unexpected ways.

In this case, the correct answer is tricky because it mentions "dark brown in color" in the context of compost that is "not good" when the passage says that "the best compost" is "dark brown in color."

So, what's going on?

What's going on is that the "dark brown" characteristic of the compost mentioned in (E) is meant to hide the fact that the choice is correct. The truth is that, in a way, the fact that the compost is dark brown doesn't matter.

Given what the passage says, any compost that "emits a strong ammonia smell" is not good garden compost.

So, given what the passage says, it must be true that compost that is "dark brown" and "emits a strong ammonia smell" is not good garden compost. It doesn't have to be dark brown to be "not good," but if it both is "dark brown" and "emits a strong ammonia smell," it's "not good" because of what the smell indicates.

So, (E) is supported by the passage.
User avatar
Udniez
User avatar
Joined: 19 Aug 2023
Last visit: 14 Dec 2025
Posts: 8
Given Kudos: 103
Posts: 8
Kudos: 0
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage an 09 Nov 2024, 16:14
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
I got tricked by this because in my head I thought ok C has 2/2 correct informations and E only 1/2 because brown doesn't mean bad. I didn't think that the fact that the compost smell is specifically mentioned in the paragraph means that it is more related to the information above than the other option.
MartyMurray
sam3423
Can someone explain why E is the correct answer since it mentions that a dark brown compost emitting string amonia smell is not a good garden compost. Although the passage no where mentions about the dark brown colour for a bad compost.
This is an LSAT Logical Reasoning question, and it can be helpful to be aware that LSAT Logical Reasoning questions tend to be written to be tricky in unexpected ways.

In this case, the correct answer is tricky because it mentions "dark brown in color" in the context of compost that is "not good" when the passage says that "the best compost" is "dark brown in color."

So, what's going on?

What's going on is that the "dark brown" characteristic of the compost mentioned in (E) is meant to hide the fact that the choice is correct. The truth is that, in a way, the fact that the compost is dark brown doesn't matter.

Given what the passage says, any compost that "emits a strong ammonia smell" is not good garden compost.

So, given what the passage says, it must be true that compost that is "dark brown" and "emits a strong ammonia smell" is not good garden compost. It doesn't have to be dark brown to be "not good," but if it both is "dark brown" and "emits a strong ammonia smell," it's "not good" because of what the smell indicates.

So, (E) is supported by the passage.
Show more
User avatar
raych
User avatar
Joined: 14 Jun 2024
Last visit: 24 Jan 2025
Posts: 4
Own Kudos:
1
Given Kudos: 25
Location: India
Schools: ESSEC MiM "27
GMAT Focus 1: 515 Q73 V80 DI73
Schools: ESSEC MiM "27
GMAT Focus 1: 515 Q73 V80 DI73
Posts: 4
Kudos: 1
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage an 12 Nov 2024, 03:40
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
(A) Compost that is 80 percent organic matter has probably not decomposed sufficiently. – Could be true, but that is not what the passage is aiming to conclude. Eliminate

(B) If compost is less than 40 percent organic matter and is not dark brown in color, then it will make soil Jess fertile and will worsen soil drainage. – We don’t know if that being true will worsen and damage the soil. It could be, but we mustn’t assume. Eliminate

(C) If compost is 50 percent organic matter and that organic matter is sufficiently decomposed, then the compost is good. – We do not have evidence of it being sufficiently decomposed. The only indicator the passage gives us, is the odour and this answer choice gives us no telling of that. So, Eliminate

(D) In the best garden compost, the organic matter is completely decomposed. – Nothing about completely decomposed being the best for soil. Eliminate

(E) Compost that is dark brown in color and emits a strong ammonia smell is not good garden compost. – Do not discard this right away because of the brown color. It also says, it has a strong ammonia smell, which means we must completely discard this according to the passage. Therefore, this answer is Correct
User avatar
agrasan
User avatar
Joined: 18 Jan 2024
Last visit: 26 Apr 2026
Posts: 677
Own Kudos:
174
Given Kudos: 6,488
Location: India
Posts: 677
Kudos: 174
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage an 12 Feb 2026, 06:07
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi MartyMurray

(C) If compost is 50 percent organic matter and that organic matter is sufficiently decomposed, then the compost is good.

Is (C) wrong because apart from 50% organic matter, we don't know whether sufficient decomposition is a condition for good compost? On the other hand, (E) can be concluded because we know what all can cause a bad compost?


MartyMurray

This is an LSAT Logical Reasoning question, and it can be helpful to be aware that LSAT Logical Reasoning questions tend to be written to be tricky in unexpected ways.

In this case, the correct answer is tricky because it mentions "dark brown in color" in the context of compost that is "not good" when the passage says that "the best compost" is "dark brown in color."

So, what's going on?

What's going on is that the "dark brown" characteristic of the compost mentioned in (E) is meant to hide the fact that the choice is correct. The truth is that, in a way, the fact that the compost is dark brown doesn't matter.

Given what the passage says, any compost that "emits a strong ammonia smell" is not good garden compost.

So, given what the passage says, it must be true that compost that is "dark brown" and "emits a strong ammonia smell" is not good garden compost. It doesn't have to be dark brown to be "not good," but if it both is "dark brown" and "emits a strong ammonia smell," it's "not good" because of what the smell indicates.

So, (E) is supported by the passage.
Show more
User avatar
ParamjitDasGMAT
User avatar
Joined: 01 Jan 2016
Last visit: 21 Apr 2026
Posts: 108
Own Kudos:
133
 [2]
Given Kudos: 30
Status:GMAT Private Tutor
Affiliations: Co-founder at a GMAT Prep Company
Location: India
GMAT Focus 1: 715 Q86 V89 DI82
GMAT Focus 2: 695 Q84 V90 DI80
GMAT 1: 710 Q50 V35
GMAT 2: 720 Q49 V40
GMAT 3: 770 Q50 V44
GMAT 4: 750 Q50 V41
GPA: 3.66
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT Focus 2: 695 Q84 V90 DI80
GMAT 4: 750 Q50 V41
Posts: 108
Kudos: 133
 [2]
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage an 12 Feb 2026, 06:36
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Correct, agrasan.

We know that if it’s *not sufficiently decomposed*, it’s not adequate for drainage and fertility. This doesn’t imply that if it’s sufficiently decomposed, the compost will be good.

If X, then Y doesn’t imply If ~X, then ~Y.

Hope this helps.
agrasan
Hi MartyMurray

(C) If compost is 50 percent organic matter and that organic matter is sufficiently decomposed, then the compost is good.

Is (C) wrong because apart from 50% organic matter, we don't know whether sufficient decomposition is a condition for good compost? On the other hand, (E) can be concluded because we know what all can cause a bad compost?


Show more
User avatar
agrasan
User avatar
Joined: 18 Jan 2024
Last visit: 26 Apr 2026
Posts: 677
Own Kudos:
174
Given Kudos: 6,488
Location: India
Posts: 677
Kudos: 174
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage an 12 Feb 2026, 06:40
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Thanks ParamjitDasGMAT
I think I missed to apply the sufficient condition logic here and got it wrong.

ParamjitDasGMAT
Correct, agrasan.

We know that if it’s *not sufficiently decomposed*, it’s not adequate for drainage and fertility. This doesn’t imply that if it’s sufficiently decomposed, the compost will be good.

If X, then Y doesn’t imply If ~X, then ~Y.

Hope this helps.

Show more
User avatar
MartyMurray
User avatar
Joined: 11 Aug 2023
Last visit: 25 Apr 2026
Posts: 1,850
Own Kudos:
7,119
 [2]
Given Kudos: 213
GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V51
Expert
Expert reply
Active GMAT Club Expert! Tag them with @ followed by their username for a faster response.
GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V51
Posts: 1,850
Kudos: 7,119
 [2]
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used for soil drainage an 12 Feb 2026, 17:29
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
agrasan
Hi MartyMurray

(C) If compost is 50 percent organic matter and that organic matter is sufficiently decomposed, then the compost is good.

Is (C) wrong because apart from 50% organic matter, we don't know whether sufficient decomposition is a condition for good compost? On the other hand, (E) can be concluded because we know what all can cause a bad compost?
Show more
Yes, that's basically what's going on.

If you want to be very clear about how to handle the information, consider what conditions are necessary and what conditions are sufficient for different types of compost.

In those terms, the passage indicates the following:

- The conditions "40 to 60 percent organic matter" and "dark brown in color" are necessary for "the best compost."

- Sufficiently decomposed and does not emit a strong ammonia smell are necessary for compost that should be used for drainage and fertility.

None of the conditions mentioned are presented as sufficient for good compost.

So, the passage does not support what (C) says, which is basically that "50 percent organic matter" and "sufficiently decomposed" are sufficient for good compost.
Moderators:
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7391 posts
AbhishekP220108
506 posts
bhanu29
361 posts