The advent of online education in the first decade of the 21st century

Question

The advent of online education in the first decade of the 21st century was the result of and response to a number of factors that were both internal and external to the field of higher education. Traditional tertiary institutions, especially those that were privately endowed, raised tuition rates far in excess of the rate of inflation. This, in concert with a larger demand for postsecondary education for working adults, helped facilitate the introduction of online learning. However, it should be acknowledged that the relative simplicity of using the Internet as a platform, as well as its cost-effectiveness, was  seized upon  by entrepreneurs in the private sector. Online education is largely in the hands of for-profit companies. The question now becomes whether the  democratization of higher education  is worth the price of removing it from nonprofit, research-based universities.    1 
 1. The passage is concerned primarily with

A. the advent of online education.
B. adult-oriented educational systems.
C. the usefulness of the Internet in postsecondary education.
D. trends in online education.
E. the advantages and disadvantages of online education.

2 
 2. The highlighted section refers to

A. the cost of online education.
B. the popularity of online courses.
C. the opening of online education to the free market.
D. the role of voting in class selection.
E. whether or not a democratic society should have online education.

3  
 3. The author’s use of the term “seized upon” evokes an image of _________ on the part of the entrepreneurs.

A. accidental realization
B. opportunistic tactics
C. violent appropriation
D. collusive behavior
E. market manipulation

Vissamsetty · Answer

Need explanation on question 1: My answer is A

why A: Passage is concerned with online education and it's awakening kinda 
why not D: There are no trends.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

OE

1. The passage is concerned primarily with

You must be careful here. Just because  (A)  is a direct quotation of the opening of the passage does not make it the correct answer, and, indeed, the passage moves away from the origins of online education and into other facets of its expansion.  (B)  is not discussed in the passage, even though the author makes note that the demand for adult-oriented education was one of the contributing factors to the rise of online learning. Neither  (C)  nor  (E)  properly describes the entire scope of the passage. Only answer  choice (D)  can be said to encompass the entirety of the passage. 
 
  Answer: D

Sajjad1994 · Answer

OE

2. The highlighted section refers to

This type of question asks you to define the highlighted phrase based on the context. The key word here is  “democratization.”  While the costeffectiveness of online education is mentioned earlier in the passage, it is unlikely that  (A)  the cost of online education is the correct answer because the sense of the final sentence is that it remains to be seen whether making higher education more widely available through online institutions  “is worth the price of removing it from nonprofit, research-based universities.”

Based on this, you can also discount  (B)   the popularity of online courses and   (D)   the role of voting in class selection  because while they may be linked conceptually to the term  “democracy,”  the context tells us this is not what the phrase here concerns.

Answer  choice (C)  making education available to a wider range of students matches our prediction and properly clarifies the usage of the highlighted phrase in the passage. You can discount  (E)  because it goes well beyond the scope of the passage.

Answer: C

Sajjad1994 · Answer

OE

3. The author’s use of the term “seized upon” evokes an image of _________ on the part of the entrepreneurs.

Here you are called to define a phrase based on its context. What you are looking for is an answer that accurately reflects what is described in the passage: the entrepreneurs saw an untapped potential for profit in the unanswered demand for online learning and  “seized upon”  it.

(A)  is a poor choice because it implies that their success in capitalizing on the demand was unintentional.

(B)  is a much better solution because it evokes the image of the entrepreneurs taking the opportunity available.

(C)  is highly unlikely because no mention of violence is made in the passage (and, indeed, in reference to online education this would be an unlikely choice to begin with).

(D)  can be eliminated as there is no mention of collusion on the part of for-profit education companies; similarly,  (E)  can be eliminated because those companies are never said to have manipulated the market in order to gain control of the online education market. Answer  choice (B)  is the only possible answer. 
 
  Answer: B

The advent of online education in the first decade of the 21st century

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

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

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards