Political Candidate: The average apartment in nearby Saratoga Springs

Question

Political Candidate: The average apartment in nearby Saratoga Springs rents for $1,400 per month, while the average apartment here in Trenchard Falls rents for over $1,600. It is unacceptable that the average renter in Trenchard Falls pays more for housing than her neighbors in Saratoga Springs do!

Which of the following, if true, would expose a flaw in the candidate's reasoning?

A. The housing commission in Saratoga Springs has instituted rent-increase limits in an attempt to control the rising housing costs for its residents.

B. In both regional and national magazines, Trenchard Falls consistently ranks as one of the most desirable places to live in the area.

C. Residents of Trenchard Falls are more than twice as likely to live with roommates than are residents of Saratoga Springs.

D. Because rents have increased in Trenchard Falls, several new apartment complexes are under construction in an attempt to meet demand.

E. Rent is increasing at a faster rate in Saratoga Springs than in Trenchard Falls.​

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bv8562 · Answer

C IMO: Residents of Trenchard Falls are more than twice as likely to live with roommates than are residents of Saratoga Springs. If this is true then the average renter in Trenchard Falls might not be paying more for housing than her neighbors in Saratoga Springs do.

pudu · Answer

C

because the average rent get decreased if number of people paying it increases.The number of people paying rent for a room in Trenchard Falls is higher and hence its average rent is lower than the other place. Hence candidate comparison is a faulty one.

DrAnkita91 · Answer

Hi can please someone tell me why option B cannot be the answer. This options also seems right.
How to choose between option C and B?

Hoozan · Answer

TF is one of the most desirable places to live in the area.

But what about SS? Is SS too one of the most desirable places? No idea

Is being a desirable place = justification for high rent? Probably. I mean, if New City is a desirable place, the rent out there is going to be higher as compared to a not-so-desirable place.

With (B) we aren't sure how the political candidate is not justified in his claim.

Now, if we look at (C) we have a clear winner. Pay attention to what the candidate is saying " It is unacceptable that the average renter in Trenchard Falls pays more for housing ". But if we consider (C) we see that the average renter will be paying way less than $1600. Since there a roommate s  (notice the plurality) we can reasonably conclude that the $1600 will be split amongst 2 or more people. Thus making TF renters, on average, pay lesser rant than renters of SS

Bunuel · Answer

VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL SOLUTION:

This problem exemplifies a common Strengthen/Weaken structure when prompts involve data: the data given (the average rental cost of an apartment) is very related to but just slightly different from the data in the conclusion (that the average renter pays more). Note that these are two different metrics: what the average apartment costs vs. what the average renter pays.

Correct choice (C) shows why this is a gap: what if almost everyone in Trenchard Falls has a roommate (or several), but very few people in Saratoga Springs does? That would mean that the average $1600 rent in Trenchard Falls gets split between multiple people, whereas the average $1400 rent in Saratoga Springs is paid by only one person. At that point renters in Trenchard Falls would pay much less than their neighbors the next town over. Choice (C) attacks that gap between "average apartment" and "average renter" and is therefore correct.

Among the other choices:

If anything, (A) strengthens the conclusion by showing that Saratoga Springs has taken an active (limiting rent increases) step toward keeping rent down.

(B) does have some merit as it shows a potential reason why Trenchard Falls rent may be expensive, but note that you don't have a comparison to Saratoga Springs which could also rank high on those lists. Since the conclusion is a direct comparison between the two cities, merely knowing that there is demand for housing in one doesn't help you better understand that comparison.

(D) suggests a reason that someday rent might come down in Trenchard Falls (more supply), but note that the politician's conclusion is about the current state of affairs, for one, and that just adding more supply doesn't mean it will be more affordable supply.

And (E) similarly talks about the future, suggesting that rent in Saratoga Springs may soon catch up, but again the conclusion is about the present.

Ankit__7182 · Answer

Which of the following, if true, would expose a flaw in the candidate's reasoning?
IMO, B is correct and not C

B. In both regional and national magazines, Trenchard Falls consistently ranks as one of the most desirable places to live in the area.
-> Most desirable places to live justify higher apartment rent.

C. Residents of Trenchard Falls are more than twice as likely to live with roommates than are residents of Saratoga Springs.
-> Argument is talking about Apartment rent and not individual's rent. It should not matter weather people share their apartments or not.

Can anyone help dissect my reasoning?  GMATNinja   IanStewart   Bunuel   nightblade354

nightblade354 · Answer

My advice is to stick to only official questions (GMAT and LSAT). Not only because they are good quality and we have thousands, but because most experts don’t like answering non-official questions. They can be error-filled and cause you to learn bad habits.

Posted from my mobile device

Pranavsawant · Answer

Option C is quite open ended

Residents of Trenchard Falls are more than twice as likely to live with roommates than are residents of Saratoga Springs.
  
Okay lets say 0.5% of residents of SS share rooms. So about 1% or more of TF residents share rooms. This still means that a vast majority of TF residents pay more than SS residents. How do we know that the percentage of room sharing folks is high enough for it to be not unacceptable? I don't think having roommates decries the argument about unacceptability.

B is also not hanging in the balance as it tells us nothing about SS and it's living standards.

Funny question lol

Political Candidate: The average apartment in nearby Saratoga Springs

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Political Candidate: The average apartment in nearby Saratoga Springs

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

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