When a district attorney (DA) leaves office in the middle of the term

Can anyone explain why A is wrong?

Posted from GMAT ToolKit

When a district attorney (DA) leaves office in the middle of the term for whatever reason, the political party to which the outgoing DA belonged when he or she took office is allowed to choose a replacement. Since our DA will leave in the middle of her term to become the state’s attorney general, her replacement will be a member of the Federal Party.

From the highlighted part, it can be seen that only the affiliation of the DA when she took office matters. So, it is immaterial whether she changed affiliation or not while in office.

1-The outgoing DA has not changed her party affiliation during her time in office.-Incorrect-Hardly matters.The new DA will be chosen by the party and he may be from any party.
2-The DA now leaving in the middle of her term was a member of the Federal Party when she took office.-Incorrect-the DA was a member of the federal party initially...now the current political party will chose the dA from any party
3-The party to which the outgoing DA belongs always chooses a member of the Federal Party when replacing elected officials.-Correct
4-When the state’s attorney general leaves in the middle of the term, the replacement is decided by the state senate.-IncorrectOpposes the argument.The argument clearly says that the political party of the leaving DA decides the new DA
5-The Federal Party plans to choose to replace the outgoing district attorney with a close associate of the former DA-Incorrect-This doesnt strengthen that the new member will be from federal party...it says that the new member should be a close associate of the former DA and its quite possible that the close associate is not the member of federal party.

Hope it helps

Hi,

Got wrong with this one.

after analysis, I think the main assumption made here is that the political party will chose someone from it's party.

The party could chose someone from another party or from a specific economic sector!

Therefore the link between the two is C!

Tricky question!

Excellent question. I think B option was a trap and I got caught.
Thanks

For C to be more precise, it should say "The party to which the outgoing DA [belonged when they took office] always chooses a member of the Federal Party when replacing elected officials."

"Belongs" in the present state doesn't necessarily mean that was the party to which the DA belonged when they originally took office, so in that case how the party the DA "belongs" to will vote would not strengthen the argument unless she never left the party the whole time.

C is still the best answer out of the options, though.

My issue with C is that it talks about the current affiliation of the DA, and in the question it clearly mentions that is the one to which it belonged when elected. With C we don't know what party was the DA part of when elected. With B, the issue is that the Federal Party doesn't need to necessarily elect another DA from the same party, but common sense tells me this is the most likely case, that is why I chose B.

Commenting on the the choice between B and C-

B makes reference to the party he DA was a member of when she took office, which from the text is the party that will choose the new DA. This strengthens the argument as the Federal Party is most likely to select a member from it's own ranks. CORRECT


C only makes reference to the party to which the DA presently belongs, this may or may not be the party that will choose the new DA- so it only strengthens the argument IF the DA has not changed party. (i.e it strengthens the argument if and only if the outgoing DA is very unlikely to have changed party affiliation)

Therefore answer is B

My problem with C here is that it mentions that the only Federal Party people will get appointed when replacing elected officials. As I am foreign I have no idea if DAs are elected or not, since C only applies to elected it required to much of an assumption to select it as the correct one. That's why I chose B.

I was about to pick C but then felt there's no information on what party the DA started with in that choice. So picked B.

Please help me understand how C covers that gap.

A. It is totally irrelevant. And we do not know anything about her party on a first place. Out.

B. If I had a little time left on GMAT I would choose this option. And would be wrong.
It really sounds good. Keep it.

C. But this is our winner. Why? Because this option is stronger than B.
The passage says that "When a district attorney leaves office in the middle of the term for whatever reason, the political party to which the outgoing DA belonged when he or she took office is allowed to choose a replacement"

B says that DA belonged to Federal party.
Conclusion says that " her replacement will be a member of the Federal Party."
So we have to make an assumption that Federal party will choose somebody from Federal party. It is good, but it is just an assumption.

C says that no matter what the party to wich DA belongs always chooses the member of Federal Party. It is not an assumption, it is a fact.
And because of it C is the Best.

D. It has nothing to do with our question. Out.

E. We know nothing about the close associate of current DA, maybe he belongs to another party. Out.

I disagree with your logic for B. In fact, B is completely irrelevant to the question.

The stem states that the group that the party official belongs to chooses the candidate. It does not say that they always choose the prior candidate's party when replacing the candidate; thus, B is a trap answer that is irrelevant. C is correct for the mere reason that it actually strengthens the conclusion.

It seems to me you did not understand my explanation or skipped a little bit or I was not clear enough or it is all together.
Actually you are now saying pretty much the same, i was saying before. (Of course if I understood you right).

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B says that DA belonged to Federal party.
Conclusion says that " her replacement will be a member of the Federal Party."
So we have to make an assumption that Federal party will choose somebody from Federal party. It is good, but it is just an assumption.
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We are making an assumption that F party will choose the candidate from F party. And maybe it is more likely than not.
But we do not know it. (Now I can copy ur part)
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It does not say that they always choose the prior candidate's party when replacing the candidate
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So, result is the same B is a trap, but it is the best among all options except C.

The argument says "our" da is leaving and replacement will of federal party. so we do know the affiliation of the DA

I just encountered this question in my mock and I went with B and discarded C, although I knew that option C should be the right answer.

As many others have pointed out - Option C says that:


But the argument states that:


Now, how can we assume that the DA did not change the party in between this timeline? That is a huge jump that is not addressed in option C.

This option is not a good option at all. We can not assume such a jump!

but by option C how will we get the idea about the initial party of the DA, end of all the decision will be of that initial party.

Guessing game!!!!!!!!!

In Option B) the Federal party CAN select a non-member!!!
In Option C) they ALWAYS select a Federal Party Member!!!

What an earthquake!