The proportion of women among students enrolled in higher education pr

Question

The proportion of women among students enrolled in higher education programs has increased over the past decades. This is partly shown by the fact that in 1959, only 11 percent of the women between twenty and twenty-one were enrolled in college, while in 1981, 30 percent of the women between twenty and twenty-one were enrolled in college.

To evaluate the argument above, it would be most useful to compare 1959 and 1981 with regard to which of the following characteristics?

(A) The percentage of women between twenty and twenty-one who were not enrolled in college

(B) The percentage of women between twenty and twenty-five who graduated from college

(C) The percentage of women who, after attending college, entered highly paid professions

(D) The percentage of men between twenty and twenty-one who were enrolled in college

(E) The percentage of men who graduated from high school

KarishmaB · Accepted Answer

in 1959, only 11 percent of the women between twenty and twenty-one were enrolled in college, while in 1981, 30 percent of the women between twenty and twenty-one were enrolled in college.

In 1959,
of every 100 women between ages 20 and 21, only 11 were enrolled in college. 
The rest 89 women between ages 20 and 21 were not enrolled in college.

In 1981,
of every 100 women between ages 20 and 21, 30 were enrolled in college. 
The rest 70 women between ages 20 and 21 were not enrolled in college.

These numbers are just women's numbers. Nothing to do with men.

The conclusion says: proportion of women among students enrolled in higher education programs has increased

students enrolled = men + women
We need to know whether proportion of women has increased. Then we need to know what happened to the number of men in that time frame.

We need to know how many men of that age group were enrolled in college at that time. 
If in 1959, only 11% of men in that age range were enrolled too, then proportion of women would be 50% (assuming equal men-women population in that age range)
If in 1981, 70% men in that age range were enrolled, then proportion of women in the enrolled would be 30% (assuming equal men-women population in that age range)

So proportion of women would have declined.

On the other hand, if in 1981, only 20% men in that age range were enrolled, then proportion of women in the enrolled would be 80%. So proportion of women would have increased.

Hence we need to know the percentage of men enrolled in that age range.

Answer (D)

shalva · Answer

Classic example of the "scope shift".

Conclusion argues that proportion of women  among the students enrolled  has increased. It means that there were more women  on campus  (women/all students)

Evidence used is that of proportion of women enrolled among 20-21 year old females. It's very different proportion: (women enrolled)/(all women between 20-21).

To reconcile the evidence with the desired conclusion we should also examine the same proportion for men - (D)

parameshwaran · Answer

Answer : Option D

Men in College + Women in College : 100 %

For the % enrolment of women to go up , % enrolment of men has to reduce.

mojorising800 · Answer

To compare the proportion of women among students enrolled in higher education programs it would be best to compare 1959 to 1981 wiht regard to the number of men among the students.
answer D.

tingle15 · Answer

I am not sure if my explanation would be any better than the ones given above...

An implicit assumption that I am making here is that the age group being referred to is 20-21

1) The argument states that the proportion of women among students enrolled in college has increased. This means that the ratio W/(W+M) has increased. 
2) 1959: Of the women between 20-21, only 11% were enrolled in college. Assuming the number of women between 20-21 to be 100, then W here comes out to be 11
3) 1981: Of the women between 20-21, only 30% were enrolled in college. W here comes out to be 30

30/(30+M) > 11/(11+M) -> To evaluate this, all we need to know is M. Hence D.

fluke · Answer

1959:
Total number of students enrolled=100
Women (20-21): 11 
Men: 0
Obviously then, Women NOT(20-21): 89

Thus, proportion of women enrolled in 1959=100%

1981:
Total number of students enrolled=100
Women (20-21): 30 
Men: 70
Obviously then, Women NOT(20-21): 0 
Thus, proportion of women enrolled in 1981=30%

Thus, the proportion of woman in total students decreased from 1959 to 1981.

1959:
Total number of students enrolled=100
Women (20-21): 11 
Men: 89
Obviously then, Women NOT(20-21): 0

Thus, proportion of women enrolled in 1959=11%

1981:
Total number of students enrolled=100
Women (20-21): 30 
Men: 0
Obviously then, Women NOT(20-21): 70 
Thus, proportion of women enrolled in 1981=100%

Thus, the proportion of woman in total students increased from 1959 to 1981.

Conclusion:
If we know what percent of men were enrolled in 1959 and 1981, we can exactly find the proportion of women among the students enrolled.

Ans: "D"

BigNasty · Answer

Hey Kotela,

IMO,

Choice 'A' - Doesn't add any additional information. The percentage of women between twenty and twenty-one who were not enrolled in college can be calculated from the Q stem. 
11% of women enrolled implies 89% of women were not enrolled
and 30% of women enrolled implies 70% of women were not enrolled.

Also, notice in the Q stem "The proportion of women among students enrolled", 'among students' suggests we need data pertaining to both the genders.

HTH,
Cheers!

mysterio · Answer

Info asked in A could be found out directly from stimulus. percent of women not enrolled in college in 1959 is 100-11 = 89 and in 1981 the figure is 100-30=70. so we already know this information from stimulus.

As far as D is concerned it helps in providing an information about proportion of women in college.

proportion of women in college = no of women / (no of women + no of men )

no of men enrolled in college could be determined if we know percentage of men enrolled in college. hence D provides this info.

uledssul · Answer

The proportion of women among students enrolled in higher education programs has increased over the
past decades. This is partly shown by the fact that in 1959, only 11 percent of the women between twenty and
twenty-one were enrolled in college, while in 1981, 30 percent of the women between twenty and twenty-one
were enrolled in college.

To evaluate the argument above, it would be most useful to compare 1959 and 1981 with regard to which of
the following characteristics?

(A) The percentage of women between twenty and twenty-one who were not enrolled in college
(B) The percentage of women between twenty and twenty-five who graduated from college
(C) The percentage of women who, after attending college, entered highly paid professions
(D) The percentage of men between twenty and twenty-one who were enrolled in college
(E) The percentage of men who graduated from high school

ok....

I initially thought about A.
Now I realize why answer should be D.

The conclusion is

The proportion of women among the total students who enrolled in colleges has increased. 
'Among the total students who enrolled in colleges' includes ONLY the enrolled students.

The total number doesn't include the one who didn't enroll in a college.

Thus, in order to see whether the proportion has increased, you only need to consider the ones who enrolled.

This rules out A.

ChrisLele · Answer

The key to this argument is: The proportion of women among students enrolled in higher education programs.

That is, we are comparing the proportion of women to men at colleges. The evidence used, however, is the percent of 20 -21 yrs. old females attending college over two time periods, 1959 and 1981. Even if more 20-21 yrs. old females are attending college in proportion to the overall population of females, that fact alone does not speak to the proportion of women to men in college. To illustrate: let's say in 1959, 20% of those attending college were women. In 1981 that number could fall to only 10%. This is not inconsistent with the increase in attendance amongst 20-21 yrs. old females. While their ranks may have swelled, perhaps there has been a drop off in the percentage of 18-19 or 25 and over.

Thus to evaluate the argument, we need to know how many men were enrolled in college. Therefore the answer is (D).

Hope that helps clear any confusion

.

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Christopher Lele
Magoosh Test Prep

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ivinayak · Answer

Thank you for your response, but I still dont get it. Let us use your illustration above, but this time let it be for men. in 1959, 80% of those attending college were men. in 1981 that number could have increased to 90% (as females reduced to 10%). That increase could be among men of ANY age group. It could still be possible that the NUMBER of men between 20 and 21 could well have reduced and the numbers in other age groups, say 25 above could have increased. (D) does not help us hence. Answer E is more general; it helps us evaluate the WHOLE pool of men as against one age group which could have either increased or decreased. Am i missing something here?

mallya12 · Answer

Well, option D is the best here.

But why does it mention the percentage of men "between 20 and 21 who were enrolled in college".
Isn't the part in quotes redundant? If we knew the percentage of men in college wouldn't it serve our purpose?

GMATNinja · Answer

shalva  wrote a great explanation in  this  post.

I'll just add one more note: the evidence in the passage compares the percent of women between 20 and 21 who were enrolled in college in 1959 and 1981, so the most relevant comparison is to the percent of men between 20 and 21 who were enrolled in college during those years. If you just find out the percentage of  all  men (from infants to octogenarians) who were enrolled in college, you are going to come up with a much smaller number that does not compare as cleanly to the data presented in the passage.

I hope that helps!

preetamsaha · Answer

VeritasKarishma   GMATNinja  "only 11 percent of the women between twenty and twenty-one were enrolled in college, while in 1981" from this what can I say about rest 89 % ? is it the group of women of different age , or the group or men ? and what's the relation between this premise and conclusion? i want a equation or mathematical relation between these twos.

preetamsaha · Answer

VeritasKarishma  
In 1981,of every 100 women between ages 20 and 21, 30 were enrolled in college. 
 and if in 1981, only 20% men in that age range were enrolled, then promotion of women in the enrolled would be 60
{30/(30+20)} =60 
ok, i got it, but my question is when we are determining this proportion (either in 1959 or in 1981) we are calculating the only a single age range . 
but, 
"proportion of women among students enrolled in higher education programs " (stated in argument ) nowhere mentions about certain age range. there may be different proportions of women of different age . so how can we say that just calculating the proportion of single age range ?

unraveled · Answer

preetamsaha

In the passage above the first line shows a general trend of increase in the proportion of women among students enrolled in HE. Author mentions that this trend is  party  shown by women aged 20-21 in the two period, 1959 and 1981.
For this to be true, we need to compare men from same age group and for that we need to know what proportion in students they have.

paulofortes · Answer

Hi all,
Thanks for your explanation.

But in this this case, we must assume that the absolute number of men and women are the same (and the general population is evenly divided between men and women). Otherwise, having only the % of men won't help to calculate the actual number of men enrolled in college and finally, the proportion mentioned in the exercise. Right?

Best

GMATNinja · Answer

Remember that the question does NOT ask us which choice would prove the argument.

The question asks us which choice  would be most useful to evaluate  the argument.

We don't need to know or calculate any absolute numbers in order to identify which choice would be most useful. Choice (D) gives us just enough information to feel  slightly  more inclined to agree or disagree with the conclusion, while every other answer choice is logically irrelevant to the argument we're trying to evaluate.

You could make the case that this is one of those questions where process of elimination gets you to the correct answer choice most quickly and confidently. However, to have that confidence you have to remember throughout the process that the question asks us which choice is  most useful to evaluate the argument  — otherwise, you'll end up eliminating (D) based on what it  doesn't  tell us.

I hope this helps!

Kritika2020 · Answer

The proportion of women  among  students enrolled in higher education programs has increased over the past decades.

Among is the key word here. Great question though!

The proportion of women among students enrolled in higher education pr

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The proportion of women among students enrolled in higher education pr

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