In 1992, only 12 percent of the women between 18 and 24

Question

In 1992, only 12 percent of the women between 18 and 24 years of age were adhering to a low-carb diet, while in 2003, 26 percent of women between 18 and 24 years of age were adhering to a low-carb diet. This points to the inevitable conclusion that the proportion of women among people adhering to a low-carb diet has increased over the past decade.
 
To evaluate the argument above, it would be most useful to compare which of the following characteristics?
 
 
(A) The percentage of women between 18 and 24 years of age who were not following a low-carb diet in 1992 and 2003
(B) The percentage of women between 18 and 24 years of age who switched to another after 6 months in each year from 1992 to 2003
(C) The percentage of men between 18 and 24 years of age who followed a low-carb diet in 1992 and 2003
(D) The percentage of women, between 1992 and 2003, who were not following a low-carb diet
(E) The percentage of men in each year from 1992 to 2003 who followed a low-carb diet

HIMALAYA · Answer

(A) The percentage of women between 18 and 24 years of age who were not following a low-carb diet in 1992 and 2003

ywilfred · Answer

A is the best choice. It's the only one that allows us to tell how the percentage has varied over the years.

gsr · Answer

I am not sure.

Conclusion says "conclusion that the proportion of women among people" -
'among people' includes both men and women of all age groups.
The percentage figures given are 'of women' and that too only of a particular age group.

Am I missing something?

cdaat · Answer

C..

qpoo · Answer

i guess that is why D makes sense ?

It bridged the gap between 'women' and 'women between 18 and 24'.

GMATT73 · Answer

Another very tricky 40+ level CR. 

OE:

Explanation: 
ID Question Type and Task
The task in an evaluate questions is to find the assumptions in order to either weaken or strengthen one of them. 

Read the Argument and Extract Necessary Information: 
The argument points to the change in percent as proof that a greater proportion of women are adhering to a low-carb diet .  Ths makes the assumption that the total number of women has not decreased and that the proportion of men has not decreased. 

Formulate an Answer to the Question
To evaluate this argument it would help to have information about either the total women or the percent of men.

Eliminate Answer Choices:
(A) Unhelpful. This percentage is already know since there can only be women adhering to a low-carb diet or not. Thus telling you about one percent tells you about the other.

(B) Unhelpful. This does not confirm or disprove the statistics given. It does not support any assumptions.

(C) Keep. This choice addresses the assumptions we've identified in the choices. If we know the percentage of men has not gone down then it is valid that the proportion of women increased.

(D) Unhelpful. This choice much like (A) does not provide any information that is useful, this choice acutally would provide less useful information than does (A) since it gives information about all women not following the diet.

(E) Irrelevant. This choice does not contributed to understanding of the statistics provided about women who followed a low-carb diet.

(If you are still confused, compare this problem to OG10 #155)

Antmavel · Answer

Actually I don't like too much this questions because 1) I didnt find the answer (ok, forget this reason :lol:

) 2) the problem is not clear. Even with C it doesn't mean anything : The argument points to the change in percent as proof that a greater proportion of women are adhering to a low-carb diet : This points to the inevitable conclusion that the proportion of women among people adhering to a low-carb diet has increased over the past decade . but with C you get : The percentage of men between 18 and 24 years of age who followed a low-carb diet in 1992 and 2003 it said that this choice addresses the assumptions we've identified in the choices. If we know the percentage of men has not gone down then it is valid that the proportion of women increased. First, it is wrong. If you take both percentage you can not find the percentage of women AMONG PEOPLE out of it. for example : 30% of men and 50% of women. We don't know the real values, how come you can get any idea. Maybe number are same but the population decrease, or maybe the number of women decrease so the % is up but it doesn't mean they represent less or more than before AMONG PEOPLE Moreover, even if you know that both men and women, in %, who adher to low carb diet went UP, the trend may be in reality decreasing : --- 1992-------2003 W 20/100 26/100 M 40/100 401/1000 20/200=10% of women among people 26/1100=2.6% of women among people both rates were higher but it can't prove anything. I understand that in CR you have to find the best answer among several, and that it doesn't mean this is the best possible answer at all, but I hope I will avoid this kind of problem because it is weird to answer something you know it is incorrect But my Verbal is quite bad so maybe i am the only to react like this and maybe people here find the OA ok, if it's the case i will try to understand it more but please tell me if this answer is so logical thanks

ranga41 · Answer

C is the best answer but not the correct answer, because the conclusion depends upon the number of men and women and not just on percentage.

In 1992, only 12 percent of the women between 18 and 24

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