The qwerty keyboard became the standard keyboard with the invention

Question

The qwerty keyboard became the standard keyboard with the invention of the typewriter and remains the standard for typing devices today. If an alternative known as the Dvorak keyboard were today’s standard, typists would type significantly faster. Nevertheless, it is not practical to switch to the Dvorak keyboard because the cost to society of switching, in terms of time, money, and frustration, would be greater than the benefits that would be ultimately gained from faster typing.

The example above best illustrates which one of the following propositions?

(A) Often it is not worthwhile to move to a process that improves speed if it comes at the expense of accuracy.

(B) People usually settle on a standard because that standard is more efficient than any alternatives.

(C) People often remain with an entrenched standard rather than move to a more efficient alternative simply because they dislike change.

(D) The emotional cost associated with change is a factor that sometimes outweighs financial considerations.

(E) The fact that a standard is already in wide use can be a crucial factor in making it a more practical choice than an alternative.

ArtVandaley · Answer

Has to be E.

How I eliminated other choices
A:- nowhere in the stem it is mentioned about the cost of accuracy

B:-it's not about efficiency. It's about the inconvenience of changing keyboard

C:-they don't want to change not because they dislike it
 
D:-Not just emotional cost but also economic cost matters

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kunaldutt15 · Answer

The qwerty keyboard became the standard keyboard with the invention of the typewriter and remains the standard for typing devices today. If an alternative known as the Dvorak keyboard were today’s standard, typists would type significantly faster. Nevertheless, it is not practical to switch to the Dvorak keyboard because the cost to society of switching, in terms of time, money, and frustration, would be greater than the benefits that would be ultimately gained from faster typing.

The example above best illustrates which one of the following propositions?

(A) Often it is not worthwhile to move to a process that improves speed if it comes at the expense of accuracy.
  "expense of accuracy" is not mentioned in the passage. Instead, it is the cost to society in terms of time, money and frustration that is not worthwhile.  - Incorrect

(B) People usually settle on a standard because that standard is more efficient than any alternatives.
  The standard is not more efficient. In fact, the alternative (Dvorak keyboard) is more efficient as its faster.  - Incorrect

(C) People often remain with an entrenched standard rather than move to a more efficient alternative simply because they dislike change.
  The passage does not mention anything about users' dislike towards the change.  - Incorrect

(D) The emotional cost associated with change is a factor that sometimes outweighs financial considerations.
  Makes no sense.  - Incorrect

(E) The fact that a standard is already in wide use can be a crucial factor in making it a more practical choice than an alternative.
    - Correct

NHUANH · Answer

Context: more common = hard to switch = more practical, less waste
A. More speed = less Accuracy => Incorrect
B. Standard = more practical => Incorrect
C. Standard = less practical => Incorrect
D. Emotion factor => Incorrect
E. Common = more practical => Correct

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sharathnair14 · Answer

The OE from Powerscore

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (E)

This stimulus provides an accurate discussion of an interesting fact—the standard keyboard could have been much more efficient.

When the typewriter was invented, the qwerty keyboard was used as the standard keyboard, and even today keyboards still have that same standard layout. Another layout called the Dvorak keyboard that would enable typists to type much faster, but the implementation of such a switch, the author explains, would be impractical; the societal costs of switching from a qwerty keyboard to a Dvorak (not just in financial terms, but also in time and frustration) would outweigh the benefits gained from the faster typing.

The question that follows asks for the proposition illustrated by the author’s example of the qwerty keyboard. It can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to precisely prephrase the answer to such a question, but as a rough approximation, the example of the qwerty keyboard was provided to show that sometimes it’s better to stick with a well-entrenched standard than to pay the costs associated with change.

Answer choice (A):   The author does not even mention the issue of accuracy, so there is no basis for the presumption that the Dvorak’s increase in speed would be accompanied by a decrease in accuracy. Since the passage is not about gaining speed at the expense of accuracy, this choice can be eliminated.

Answer choice (B):   The passage is not about settling on the most efficient standard; instead, the author is discussing a situation in which the standard is not the most efficient option available. Although the Dvorak is a more efficient alternative to the qwerty keyboard, the costs outweigh the benefits of making the change.

Answer choice (C):   The first part of this answer choice takes the right direction, but then it goes completely off track. The passage is about people sticking with an entrenched standard rather than moving on to a more efficient alternative. According to the passage, however, the standard remains not because people dislike change but because the total costs of making the change outweigh the benefits.

Answer choice (D):   Although the author does mention frustration among the costs associated with changing to a Dvorak keyboard standard, there is no comparison of the importance of financial versus emotional considerations. While it could be true that emotional considerations are sometimes more important than financial considerations, this is not the principle reflected by this stimulus, so it cannot be the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (E):   This is the correct answer choice. What the qwerty keyboard has going for it is the fact that it is the standard, already well in place. Based on the excessive costs associated with a switch to the Dvorak keyboard, choosing to stick with the qwerty keyboard becomes the more
practical choice. Even though the Dvorak keyboard would add efficiency once the switch was made, those gains in efficiency would be outweighed by the various costs associated with the implementation of the change.

arushi118 · Answer

qwerty keyboard is not the most ideal keyboard to use in terms of speed of typing but the fact that it is a standard keyboard already in use, makes it more practical to use compared to some other keyboard which, is used, would result in greater speed of typists.
Hence, E is correct.

The qwerty keyboard became the standard keyboard with the invention

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