Researchers hope to find clues about the A'mk peoples who lived in the

Question

Researchers hope to find clues about the A'mk peoples who lived in the Kaumpta region about one thousand years ago but who left few obvious traces. The researchers plan to hire the few remaining shamans of the modern-day indigenous people in Kaumpta, who are believed to be descended from the A'mk, to lead them to ancestral sites that may be the remains of A'mk buildings or ceremonial spaces. The shamans were taught the location of such sites as part of their traditional training as youths, and their knowledge of traditional Kaumpta customs may help determine the nature of any sites the researchers find.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the success of the plan depends?

(A) The researchers have reliable evidence that the A'mk of one thousand years ago built important ceremonial spaces.
(B) The shamans have a reasonably accurate memory of A'mk sites they learned about as youths.
(C) Kaumpta shamans are generally held in high esteem for their traditional knowledge.
(D) Modern technologies available to the researchers are likely to be able to find some A'mk sites easily.
(E) Most or all A'mk sites are likely to be found within the Kaumpta region.

CR94231.01
OG2020 NEW QUESTION

GMATNinja · Accepted Answer

You’re right to note that the passage has no word, such as “therefore,” “thus,” or “hence,” that would indicate an obvious conclusion. In fact, the passage itself doesn’t seem to have a conclusion. Rather, it describes a plan formulated by researchers with a specific goal in mind. Let’s think about their plan:

The researchers want to find clues about the A’mk people. 
 To do this, they plant to use shamans  to locate “ancestral sites that may be the remains of A'mk buildings or ceremonial spaces.”   
 They believe this will be possible because the shamans learned the location of these sites as youths. 
 And shamans’ cultural customs “may help determine the nature of any sites the researchers find.”

There isn’t really an explicit conclusion found in that plan. We could argue that the researchers have implicitly concluded that their plan will be successful. But I’m not really sure that helps a whole lot. It’s more important that we answer the question being asked. And the question being asked is about an assumption on which  the success of a plan  depends, not an assumption on which a  conclusion  depends.

So, the researchers have formulated the plan because they believe that it will help them learn about the A’mk people. We’re asked to identify which of the answer choices is an assumption on which “ the success of the plan ” depends. In other words, for the plan to be successful, what must be true?

With that in mind, let’s consider the answer choices:

It does not HAVE to be true that the researchers have  reliable evidence  that the A’mk built  important ceremonial spaces . It’s possible that the researchers find regular A’mk buildings that give clues about the A’mk. It’s also possible that A’mk built important ceremonial spaces, but the researchers lack reliable evidence that they built those spaces. For those two reasons, (A) does not have to be true for the researchers’ plan to be successful. Eliminate (A).

The entirety of the researchers’ plan is predicated on their belief that the shamans will be able to help them find ancient A’mk sites that they learned the location of as youths. But this requires that the shamans accurately remember where those sites are. If not, the researchers plan will not be successful. So, it seems like (B) must be true for the researchers’ plan to be successful. Let’s keep (B).

It’s important to the researchers’ plan that the traditional knowledge of Kaumpta shamans is accurate. But it does not HAVE to be true that the shamans are  held in high esteem  for that knowledge. Eliminate (C).

The researchers plan involves using Kaumpta shamans to find A’mk sites. It does not require the use of modern technologies, and it definitely does not require that modern technologies find some A’mk sites EASILY. Eliminate (D).

(E) is tempting. Ideally, for the researchers plan to be  highly  successful, it would be great if most or all A’mk sites are likely to be found in the Kaumpta region. But that does not have to be true. It’s possible that only some A’mk sites are LIKELY to be found in the Kaumpta region. The researchers’ plan could be successful while finding only some of the A’mk sites. It’s also far more important whether the researchers ACTUALLY find sites than whether they are LIKELY to find sites. Eliminate (E).

(B) is the only answer choice remaining, and it is correct.

I hope that helps!

GMATNinja · Answer

The researchers' plan is to "find clues about the A'mk peoples" by hiring shamans to "lead them to ancestral sites that may be the remains of A'mk buildings or ceremonial spaces."

On which assumption does the success of this plan depend? Let's take a look at (A):
 
The researchers will be successful if they find the remains of "A'mk  buildings   or  ceremonial spaces." So, even if the A'mk did not build important ceremonial spaces, it is possible that they constructed other types of buildings (or less important ceremonial spaces, as pointed out by @prabsahi), and the plan will be successful.

Because the success of the plan does not REQUIRE the truth of the information in this answer choice, (A) is not an assumption on which the success of the plan depends.

I hope that helps!

DavidTutorexamPAL · Answer

The passage basically states that researchers want to rely on the shamans' knowledge of old customs and locations to help in understanding an extinct culture. For this argument to hold, the shamans need to have the correct knowledge and need to be willing to share it. We'll look for an answer which provides the correct logical links, a Logical approach.

Skimming through our options, (B) directly addresses this issue by confirming that the shamans do, in fact, have the knowledge required.

Archit3110 · Answer

conclusion ; the shamans were t aught the location of such sites as part of their traditional training as youths, and their knowledge of traditional Kaumpta customs may help determine the nature of any sites the researchers find.

weaken the conclusion ; The shamans  do not have  have a reasonably accurate memory of A'mk sites they learned about as youths.
IMO B

jawele · Answer

I believe to answer the question it is important to determine what we need:

The plan is: The researchers plan to hire the few remaining shamans of the modern-day indigenous people in Kaumpta <...> to lead them to ancestral sites <...> .
The support for the plan is: The shamans were taught the location of such sites as part of their traditional training as youths <...>

So clearly only B matters.

A would be helpful if we tried to establish that the plan helped to materialize the hope expressed by the researchers.

Hope this helps.

rebecca501 · Answer

My accuracy rate in CR has been improving. However, I do take a lot of time per question. I took about 2 mins 47 secs for this question. Some of the text such as "remaining shamans of modern-day indigenous people" etc really confused me. I think trying to summarize every sentence in my own words in CR may help improve my speed? Thoughts/advises -  GMATNinja ,  Bunuel ?

AkshdeepS · Answer

rebecca501

1. Read carefully but quick enough to track the conclusion as quickly as possible.

2. You must be able to eliminate Out of scope and Irrelevant answer choices quickly.

Both these steps will help you improving speed.

kornn · Answer

Dear  GMATNinja

I have some questions on choice A.
Negated choice A : The researchers do NOT have reliable evidence that the A'mk of one thousand years ago built important ceremonial spaces.

This completely destroys the hiring plan because if they do not know whehter A'mk built such sites that they were looking for, what is the point of hiring local people in the first place?

Thank you in advance!

prabsahi · Answer

Hello Varokorn, I recently tried this CR so I will just give an attempt to explain if at all that helps..Hope Mr . Ninja replies soon too

Crux of Argument: The premise is about Shamans ,who can locate those traditional sites because they have been been taught the location as youths. Conclusion is about ..their knowledge will help determine the nature of any site that the researchers find. Now we need to look for an option which fills this GAP..or the missing premise ...how their knowledge will help researchers ..what else must be true so that shamans knowledge will help the researchers ...With this in mind lets look at the options.. Option A:The researchers have reliable evidence that the A'mk of one thousand years ago built important ceremonial spaces. Negation1: The researchers DO NOT have reliable evidence that the A'mk of one thousand years ago built important ceremonial spaces. *So what if a researcher doesn't have a reliable evidence --- It doesnt mean the evidence is wrong or bad..It might be true..It might not.. *Now even if we consider that the evidence is bad and there is 0.001% chance .Still researchers can go ahead for the sites and findings Negation 2: The researchers have reliable evidence that the A'mk of one thousand years ago did not build important ceremonial spaces. It doesnt matter.Researchers still can be interested in those ceremonial spaces..important or not for archaeology purposes. So again it doesnt impact the conclusion. *Last point: The main purpose of assumption question is to touch this link between the premise and conclusion so that the conclusion always holds true. Something that touches the point between the shamans knowledge and the fact researchers will be able to go ahead with the findings would most likely be a contender I will be looking for. Hope it helps!!

gmexamtaker1 · Answer

Hello experts ,
I have an issue with this CR problem, so 
"The shamans were taught  the location of such sites as part of their traditional training as youths , and their  knowledge of traditional Kaumpta customs may help determine the nature of any sites the researchers find ."

In my opinion answer choise B covers the first part of the plan , so if we negate it we "break" the part that claims that these shamans know where exactly are the building and ceremonial placed, however I think that C covers both parts of the plan ,
if we nagate answer  choice C  we get that Kaumpta shamans are generally not held in high esteem for their traditional knowledge, so there is a high chance that they can't spot the exact locations and even if they do the shamans will not be able to explain the nature of any site that they find.

What is the flaw of my approach?

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  UNSTOPPABLE12 . You have to really go out on a limb to indirectly justify choice (C), and I like to say that you should  never  have to bend over backwards to try to connect the dots: this is not a game of Twister, after all (fun though that may be). Here, option (C) does not pass a basic  So what?  test. Consider your negation:

(C) Kaumpta shamans are generally  not  held in high esteem for their traditional knowledge.

By whom, exactly? The indigenous people of Kaumpta? The modern-day scientific community? And what are we to make of  generally ? Does this not mean that there could not be  some  expert shamans who possessed such traditional knowledge and  were  held in high esteem? What does it matter, either way?  A reputation is not the same as knowledge that may be possessed.  Thus, the plan of the researchers could remain perfectly intact with a negation of (C). Not to beat a dead horse, but if you consider the correct answer and negate it in the following manner, then the researchers are going to be in real trouble:

(B) The shamans  do not  have a reasonably accurate memory of A'mk sites they learned about as youths.

If the shaman-guides are being hired for their memories of  the location  of certain sites, but these guides cannot remember such matters with a reasonable accuracy, then the researchers might as well hire diviners or psychics instead.

I hope that helps. If you have further questions, feel free to ask.

- Andrew

Kratul412 · Answer

My accuracy is 50-50% in CR any suggestion how to improve accuracy in CR.

Posted from my mobile device

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  Kratul412 . I get it. CR used to be a personal weakness of mine. But what took me years of tutoring experience to discover on my own you can more or less glean in the  GMATNinja  article  Ultimate CR Guide for Beginners . Any shorter version I could give you here would not do you any favors.

Happy reading.

- Andrew

LIBERTYRodP · Answer

ASSUMPTIONS

This one is easy if we apply the REVERSE / NEGATION TECHNIQUE. Remember that, as part of this technique, we invert the answer choice, and whichever weakens the conclusion must be the ASSUMPTION.

(A) The researchers have reliable evidence that the A'mk of one thousand years ago built important ceremonial spaces.  ------ If we invert it, then we have that the researchers don't really have any reliable evidence. However, that's not enough to weaken the plan's success, since even without evidence, the shamans might actually help them find the old artifacts.

(B) The shamans have a reasonably accurate memory of A'mk sites they learned about as youths.   ------   CORRECT.  If we invert it we have that the shamans do not have a strong enough memory to remember what they learned as kids. Since the argument mentions that the shamans learned about this ceremonial places when young, then they would not be able to remember it.

(C) Kaumpta shamans are generally held in high esteem for their traditional knowledge.   --------- Out of scope. When inverted, this mentions that shamanas are not regarded in high esteem. However, this does not affect their ability to lead researchers to the ceremonial sites.

(D) Modern technologies available to the researchers are likely to be able to find some A'mk sites easily.  ----------- When negated, this mentions that modern technology is not going to make this search   easily  . However, whether is easy or hard, does not really matter. Additionally, it is not mentioned in the argument that the use of modern technology is necessary.

(E) Most or all A'mk sites are likely to be found within the Kaumpta region.   -------- Out of scope. The placement of these sites is irrelevant.

jaisonsunny77 · Answer

The objective/plan: The researchers plan to hire the few remaining shamans to lead them to ancestral sites that may be the remains of A'mk buildings or ceremonial spaces.

The reason to hire shamans :  The shamans were taught  the location of such sites as part of  their traditional training as youths , and  their knowledge of traditional Kaumpta customs  may help  determine the nature of any sites the researchers find.

So, the researches are dependent on the shamans to determine the nature of any site that the researches may come across. For the plan to be successful, the knowledge that shamans have must be accurate and those who are hired by the researches must remember what was taught to them.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the success of the plan depends?

(A)  The researchers have reliable evidence that the A'mk of one thousand years ago built important ceremonial spaces.  - Irrelevant. Hence,  eliminate (A)

(B)  The shamans have a reasonably accurate memory of A'mk sites they learned about as youths.  -

if this is true, then it provides supportive reasons to hire the shamans in the first place, since those that will be hired remember what was taught to them as a part of their youth training. Hence,  (B) is the right answer choice.

(C)  Kaumpta shamans are generally held in high esteem for their traditional knowledge.  - Irrelevant. Hence,  eliminate (C).

(D)  Modern technologies available to the researchers are likely to be able to find some A'mk sites easily.  - Does not support the reason why the researchers plan (to hire shamans). Hence,  eliminate (D)

(E)  Most or all A'mk sites are likely to be found within the Kaumpta region.  - Irrelevant. Hence,  eliminate (E)

debjyoti31 · Answer

There is no conclusion indicator in the passage. How to determine conclusion in such cases?

Sneha2021 · Answer

KarishmaB 
 AndrewN

I was confused between B & E? Please help me to reject E.

(E) Most or all A'mk sites are likely to be found within the Kaumpta region.
Negation - Not most (or few) sites are likely to be found within the Kaumpta region. If this condition is true, they are searching in a wrong place. So the chances of finding find clues about the A'mk peoples are very low. This might reduce the chances of this plan to succeed.

(B) The shamans have a reasonably accurate memory of A'mk sites they learned about as youths.
I was confused with word "reasonably accurate", What if memory is partially accurate, they could still help to find sites. B does not have to be true for the plan to succeed.
I couldn't judge whose (b vs c) impact was higher on the success of the plan.
b) impact of partially accurate memory or not a reasonably accurate memory
e) impact of few sites are likely to be found

Please help.
Thanks in advance.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  Sneha2021 . I think you have misinterpreted what  reasonably accurate  conveys. If we picture the treasure map of a pirate in which X marks the spot on some island (did any real pirates create such maps?), a fellow pirate who helped bury the treasure decades before might not be able to take someone directly to that X, but might recall certain features of the terrain that would help an expedition dig in the right area. This is what is meant by  reasonably accurate —not precise or perfect, but close enough to reality to be of use. If you choose to negate answer choice (B), you are left with  shamans  do not  have a reasonably accurate memory of A'mk sites they learned about as youths , and that would be highly problematic for the researchers relying upon them as guides. To draw from my earlier pirate example, it would be as if the old pirate said he could remember nothing more than a beach, when there might be miles of shoreline on the island in question.

To evaluate answer choice (E), you might want to take a closer look at the plan itself. The passage tells us that  {t}he researchers plan to hire the few remaining shamans of the modern-day indigenous people in Kaumpta... to lead them to ancestral sites that may be the remains of A'mk buildings or ceremonial spaces . For this plan to succeed, it is not necessary for  most or all A'mk sites  to lie within Kaumpta—the plan is not to locate most or all former A'mk sites. Rather,  if  the speculation on the ancestral ties of the shamans is accurate, the researchers are looking for a lead, any lead, that will help them  find clues about the A'mk peoples . Negating answer choice (E) does nothing to sever that connection. They really need to locate just a single A'mk site or shred of evidence to obtain the clues they seek.

Perhaps the question makes more sense now. (I think it is harder than the timer statistics would indicate.) Thank you for thinking to ask for clarification, and good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

Researchers hope to find clues about the A'mk peoples who lived in the

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Researchers hope to find clues about the A'mk peoples who lived in the

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