Nursing schools cannot attract a greater number of able applicants tha

Question

Nursing schools cannot attract a greater number of able applicants than they currently do unless the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions in the nursing profession are solved. If the pool of able applicants to nursing school does not increase beyond the current level, either the profession will have to lower its entrance standards, or there will soon be an acute shortage of nurses. It is not certain, however, that lowering entrance standards will avert a shortage. It is clear that with either a shortage of nurses or lowered entrance standards of the profession, the current high quality of health care cannot be maintained.

Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

(A) If the nursing profession solves the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions, it will attract able applicants in greater numbers than it currently does.

(B) The nursing profession will have to lower its entrance standards if the pool of able applicants to nursing school does not increase beyond the current level.

(C) If the nursing profession solves the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions, high quality health care will be maintained.

(D) If the nursing profession fails to solve the problems of low wages and high stress working conditions, there will soon be an acute shortage of nurses.

(E) The current high quality of health care will not be maintained if the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions in the nursing profession are no solved.

AmoyV · Accepted Answer

Nursing schools cannot attract a greater number of able applicants than they currently do unless the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions in the nursing profession are solved. If the pool of able applicants to nursing school does not increase beyond the current level, either the profession will have to lower its entrance standards, or there will soon be an acute shortage of nurses. It is not certain, however, that lowering entrance standards will avert a shortage. It is clear that with either a shortage of nurses or lowered entrance standards of the profession, the current high quality of health care cannot be maintained.

Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

(A) If the nursing profession solves the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions, it will attract able applicants in greater numbers than it currently does. "will be able to" too strong

(B) The nursing profession will have to lower its entrance standards if the pool of able applicants to nursing school does not increase beyond the current level.

(C) If the nursing profession solves the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions, high quality health care will be maintained. A big jump in conclusion.

(D) If the nursing profession fails to solve the problems of low wages and high stress working conditions, there will soon be an acute shortage of nurses. "will soon"-too strong

(E) The current high quality of health care will not be maintained if the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions in the nursing profession are no solved. What we do know from the strong wording of the argument that there will be atleast some lowering of quality of healthcare if these issues are not solved.

adityadon · Answer

Inference is basically something which is not directly stated in pargraph . You should derive it with help of premises. 
so any option which directly states something which is already present in paragraph would be incorrect.

(A) If the nursing profession solves the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions, it will attract able applicants in greater numbers than it currently does. - Restates what its there in premises - so incorrect

(B) The nursing profession will have to lower its entrance standards if the pool of able applicants to nursing school does not increase beyond the current level.

(C) If the nursing profession solves the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions, high quality health care will be maintained - Fine keep this on hold

(D) If the nursing profession fails to solve the problems of low wages and high stress working conditions, there will soon be an acute shortage of nurses - incorrect , they can lower standards and increase greater number of admits

(E) The current high quality of health care will not be maintained if the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions in the nursing profession are no solved. - Fine keep this on hold

Now between C and E ,

C states , if X happnes Y will happen
E States , Y will happen is X does not happen

Read last statement in premises , It clearly supports Option E and hence E is correct answer

aj13783 · Answer

Inference aka Conclusion is the outcome of the passage. I chose Option E.

karant · Answer

Hello,

Why the option D is incorrect ?

Is it because option D has strong phrasing  acute shortage  ?

If the wording were only  shortage , would the choice have been correct ?

Please help!

Thanks

deep14 · Answer

Hi Karant,

The argument states that the nursing school has an option of lowering its standard of entrance exam. This could help it avoid the 'acute shortage' as mentioned. So even if the problems of low wages and high-stress environments are not addressed, it will not necessarily mean that there will shortage in labor (although there might be shortage in high-quality nurses, but option D is not that much specific)

kartiknsit · Answer

IMO : E
   Explanation

(A) If the nursing profession solves the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions, it will attract able applicants in greater numbers than it currently does. -------  greater number of applicants than current (Incorrect)

(B) The nursing profession will have to lower its entrance standards if the pool of able applicants to nursing school does not increase beyond the current level.--------  it is one of the possibility, will have to is not correct (Incorrect)

(C) If the nursing profession solves the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions, high quality health care will be maintained. ------- high quality health care will be maintained cannot be justified, other reasons might deteriorate the quality (Incorrect)

(D) If the nursing profession fails to solve the problems of low wages and high stress working conditions, there will soon be an acute shortage of nurses. -------  too strong to say acute shortage of nurses as quality of health care is talked about (Incorrect)

(E) The current high quality of health care will not be maintained if the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions in the nursing profession are no solved. ------ Can be inferred (Correct)

gargisback · Answer

Hi karant let me explain in the simplest mannner.
argument says 
1) nursing not able to attact many due to LW & HS.
2) However this shortage lead to lowering entrance stds.
3) but it is clear that shortage or lower std would lead to difficutly in maintaining standards.
What does this imply?

Easy : LW & HS lead to low standard.

And what con be concluded?

This can be avoided by improving wages and removing stress as stated in option "E"

kudos if helped

Skywalker18 · Answer

GNA ---> SP
~GNA ---> LS or AS
LS or AS ---> ~MHQ

Notation Key: GNA = greater number of nurses, SP = solve the problems of low wages and high stress, LS = lower standards, AS = acute shortage of nurses, MHQ = maintain high quality

We can take the contrapositive of the first conditional and then link them all through so

~SP --> ~MHQ
perfectly expressed in answer choice (E)

Let's look at the incorrect answers.

(A) SP --> GNA ... represents a reversal of the first premise
(B) ~GNA --> LS ... does not have to be true because there could be an acute shortage of nurses instead
(C) SP ---> MHQ ... represents a negation of what could be inferred from the three premises
(D) ~SP ---> AS ... does not have to be true because they could just lower their standards

(A) and (C) represent either reversals or negations and (B) and (D) play off the fact that an "or" statement does not guarantee that either one will actually occur, but rather that at least one will occur.

aarti0312 · Answer

nightblade354 GMATNinja

Someone please guide how to solve this question. Not able to understand the solution given.

similar question is this .
https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-only-way ... 50030.html

How to solve these questions.

nightblade354 · Answer

aarti0312 , you use sufficient and necessary conditions. The arrows used in some explanations indicate these conditions. Knowing these items can help improve your CR skills (it is what lsat takers need to know).

Posted from my mobile device

kittle · Answer

KarishmaB  - is my below thought process correct?

Nursing schools cannot attract a greater number of able applicants than they currently do unless the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions in the nursing profession are solved.

That means if we are able to solve problems of i) low wages and ii) high stress working conditions - they may STILL not able to attract a greater number of able applicants. 
 It only says that UNLESS x and y is done A will not happen (x and y are necessary conditions - correct?
It doesn't mean that if x and y is done, A will happen (x and y are not sufficient conditions)

KarishmaB · Answer

Given: 'Solving low wages problem' is necessary for 'attracting more applicants to nursing school' (Note that 'Unless A, B' is equivalent to 'Only if A, then not B') If no. of applicants doesn't increase, one of 2 things will certainly happen - either 'lower entrance standards' or 'shortage of nurses' Even lowering entrance standards may not avert shortage (or it may avert shortages) If either of these two things happens, current high quality will fall. Look at the options now. (A) If the nursing profession solves the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions, it will attract able applicants in greater numbers than it currently does. 'Solving low wages problem' is NECESSARY for 'attracting more applicants to nursing school', not SUFFICIENT. (B) The nursing profession will have to lower its entrance standards if the pool of able applicants to nursing school does not increase beyond the current level. If no. of applicants doesn't increase, one of 2 things will certainly happen. So it is not necessary that the profession will have to lower its entrance standards. It could suffer shortage too instead. (C) If the nursing profession solves the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions, high quality health care will be maintained. Again, 'Solving low wages problem' is NECESSARY for 'attracting more applicants to nursing school', not SUFFICIENT. So we don't even know whether more applicants will be attracted, let alone whether high quality care will be maintained. (D) If the nursing profession fails to solve the problems of low wages and high stress working conditions, there will soon be an acute shortage of nurses. If the 'low wages' problem is not solved, number of candidates applying will not increase. Then one possibility is shortage but the other is lowering entrance standards. Lowering entrance standards may not avert shortages, but it may. Hence we cannot say that there WILL BE shortage. (E) The current high quality of health care will not be maintained if the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions in the nursing profession are no solved. Correct. Resolving low wages is necessary to increase applicants. If we do not resolve low wages, number of applicants will not increase. Then either there will be shortage or lower entrance standards. In both these cases, high quality will be lost. Hence current high quality will not be maintained if the low wages issue is not sorted. Answer (E) Check the video on necessary and sufficient conditions here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmlwcTlHZz8

KarishmaB · Answer

Yes, 'Unless A, B' means A is necessary for 'NOT B'

kittle · Answer

KarishmaB  - did not understand it-

Unless 'I go shopping on Monday', the stock would be out'
A = I go shopping on Monday
B = Stock would be out
So if A is true, not B is also true (i.e. stock would not be out) - is it correct?

KarishmaB · Answer

No. My going shopping is NECESSARY for 'stock not going out.'

If I don't go shopping, stock will certainly be out. But if I do go shopping, stock may still go out (perhaps if guests come over etc).

Pratyaksh1907 · Answer

Hello there, I strongly believe that the question stem should be to find a MAIN POINT of the argument or what possible CONCLUSION can be drawn from he argument. As more than one option is correct if we are to provide an inference based on the argument. 
Please make the necessary adjustments if I am correct.
Thanks

miag · Answer

Hi,

Think of inference this way: What must be true if everything in the passage is true?
An inference must be something that  must be true  if the passage is true - not merely plausible. While multiple options might "seem" correct, its not necessary that they can be validly inferred. 
 > If wages and stress problems are not solved, the pool of able applicants won’t increase.
 > If the pool doesn’t increase, then either entrance standards are lowered or there is a nurse shortage.
 > Either lowered standards or a shortage means high-quality health care cannot be maintained.

Hope this helps!

Nursing schools cannot attract a greater number of able applicants tha

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