When a polygraph test is judged inconclusive,there is no reflection on

This reminds me of the pregnancy question in the PowerScore CR Bible in the Must Be True chapter. It seems that some of their questions are GMATPrep questions with some modifications.

Reasoning:

A: Not mentioned in stimulus.
B: Whether it should be used is not mentioned in stimulus.
C: Must be true, because an honest applicant with an inconclusive polygraph test will be denied hiring.
D: Untruthful polygraph tests are not part of the stimulus.
E: Employer refusal to consider results is not part of the stimulus.

D is especially tricky, because just one word (untruthful) makes it an out of scope answer.

I was down to B vs. C, but C seemed pretty obvious. The previous posts didn't quite bring this out, so I am adding my explanation.

B - Polygraph tests should not be used by employers in the consideration of job applicants.
This one is tempting, but you MUST keep in mind what the passage is talking about. Is it polygraph tests resuts? NO! It is inconclusive polygraph tests results.
I myself miss questions in strengthen/weaken when I lose sight of small details in the conclusion (polygraphs vs. inconclusive polygraphs). It's easy to miss that distinction, which is why you're being tested on it.
For this question, Catching that distinction is the key for eliminating B.

What if the polygraph tests are conclusive, and say that the applicant sucks or that he's telling the truth? The passage offers no thoughts on that. The author's focus is only on inconclusive tests

C - An inconclusive polygraph test result is sometimes unfairly held against the examinee.
C is tricky - it involves bringing in a very small assumption (the assumption being that inconclusive polygraph tests are unfair). Since inference questions are supposed to stick extremely close to the text, I get nervous when I require assumptions on inference questions. Still, this is a small assumption, and everything looked right, and I was down to B vs. C.

I felt like the unfairness aspect is a small leap given the author's tone in the passage. I felt like this leap is much smaller than the leap of riding off an entire polygraph test.
FYI - the author's tone is indicated by phrases like "this is no reflection on the examinee", and "nevertheless".

So, I chose C. Hope that makes sense.

Hi,

Your explanation for option B is awesome.

However, in option C, either you haven't stated what you want to state or you are slightly mistaken. We don't need the assumption "Inconclusive polygraph tests are unfair". The only thing we can say within the context is that we need to assume "The current use of inconclusive polygraph tests is sometimes unfair". However, this assumption, if I expand the meaning of current use, is close to no-assumption.

Currently, sometimes people whom we don't know anything about (since inconclusive polygraph tests don't tells us anything) are denied job just because the test failed to tell anything about them. Now, isn't this unfair, in common sense? Are you fair to that person by denying him the job even though you don't know anything about the person?

So, the only assumption you need in option C is "Denying a person job without knowing anything about the person is unfair". Now, one may choose to call it assumption or one use of the word "unfair".

AEL

When a polygraph test is judged inconclusive,there is no reflection on the examinee.Rather,such a judgement means that the test has failed to show whether the examinee was truthful or untruthful.Nevertheless,employers will sometimes refuse to hire a job applicant because of an inconclusive polygraph test result.

Which of the following conclusions can most properly be drawn from the information above?
1. Most examinees with inconclusive polygraph test results are infact untruthful.
Word usage : Infact, are showing us the definite answers. Whereas in the stem uses truthful or untruthful.

2. Polygraph tests should not be used by employers in the consideration of job applicants.
Word usage: "Should". What if polygraph test shows something else also rather than truthfulness or untruthfulness.

3. An inconclusive polygraph test result is sometimes unfairly held against the examinee.
Word usage: " unfairly" matching with the words " truthful or untruthful " and also sometimes.

4. A polygraph test indicating that an examinee is untruthful can sometimes be mistaken.
The stem talks about both truthful and untruthful.

5. Some employers have refused to consider the results of polygraph tests when evaluating job applicants.
It is the other way around. Employers have refused to consider job applicants on the results of polygraph tests.

VeritasKarishma GMATNinja
First of all, I should not make any creativity in official question because they are considered legit all the times, but i have a curiosity about the choice C.
Q1:
IF i remove the word sometimes from choice C, is there any chance to be the choice C legit?

Q1:
Could you take a look in the red part, please?
How do someone convinced that the "examinee" (in choice C) indicates "job applicant" in the argument?
Thanks__

The argument says "employers will sometimes refuse to hire a job applicant because of an inconclusive polygraph test result."
From choice (C), if you remove "sometimes", you are generalising it to mean "employers will always refuse..." It will be wrong.

"examinee" is the one taking the polygraph test. From context, it is obvious that the argument is talking about job applicants who undergo the polygraph test (they will have an inconclusive polygraph test only if they undergo the test).

hey experts ! took 1 mins 07 secs
it was quiet tough between C and D
Unfortunately end up marking D
can someone please explain why D is false.

Hello, Anshuman0902. I would be happy to help clarify the matter. If you look at the passage and answer choice again, perhaps a little closer to exactly what (D) says, you should be able to spot the problem.


Where does the passage talk about the results of a polygraph showing the examinee to be untruthful? Nowhere. That word only appears in the sentence that refers to a test that has failed to show whether the examinee was truthful or untruthful. Such a test would be deemed inconclusive, according to the first line of the passage. Thus, we cannot comment on what (D) is saying. There is simply no evidence to lean on in the passage for support.


Does the passage talk about this type of test result? It sure does, and the last sentence corroborates that such a test is, in fact, sometimes unfairly held against the examinee. There is nothing to argue against here, so it must be our answer.

I hope that helps. Be careful not to be led astray in CR. Make sure the words match up.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

Hi Experts,
GMATNinja GMATNinjaTwo ChiranjeevSingh VeritasKarishma AnishPassiTGC


(C) An inconclusive polygraph test result is sometimes unfairly held against the examinee.

Employers will sometimes refuse to hire a job applicant because of an inconclusive polygraph test result -
2 cases are possible when employers refuse to hire:
1)Job applicant is telling the truth but the result is inconclusive - It is unfair to reject a person in this case
2)Job applicant is telling a lie but the result is inconclusive - It is fair to reject a person in this case
So we cant be 100% sure that it is unfair if one case is possible i.e 2nd case (Inference means 100% true in all cases)
I usually get confused around "sometimes" cases - If I consider the 1st case then option c is 100% true but If I consider the 2nd case, then I am not 100% sure.
Can someone please explain what's incorrect in this thought process?
Is there any better way to understand or analyse situation when "some" is given?

But you have yourself shown why "sometimes" makes sense here.
Some times, it will be unfairly held against the examinee (when the examinee is telling the truth)
At other times, it will be fair (when the examinee is lying)

Option (C) says that some times it will be held unfairly against the examinee.
So option (C) does make sense.

Had the option said: An inconclusive polygraph test result is unfairly held against the examinee. (without sometimes) it may not have been true in every case. Sometimes it would have been unfair, sometimes fair.

AndrewN

Sir,
Please evaluate my reasoning.

(A) Most examinees with inconclusive polygraph test results are in fact untruthful.
This is an incorrect answer because whether the examinees are truthful or not is not mentioned in the argument. The argument above focuses on the results of the test. The argument does not mention anything about the people taking the tests. Hence, this is an incorrect answer.

(B) Polygraph tests should not be used by employers in the consideration of job applicants.
This is an incorrect answer because the passage above does not mention anything about tests being used by employers or not. On the contrary this answer choice contradicts the information in the passage because the final lines of the passage mentions that sometimes employers would hire a job applicant. Hence, we cannot infer this statement.

(C) An inconclusive polygraph test result is sometimes unfairly held against the examinee.
This is a correct answer choice because the passage mentions above that an inconclusive polygraph test is sometimes held unfairly against the candidates. So this means that an inconclusive polygraph test would sometimes fail to consider a good candidate because the results were inconclusive. Hence, we can infer the above statement that an inconclusive polygraph test is sometimes held unfairly against the candidate.

(D) A polygraph test indicating that an examinee is untruthful can sometimes be mistaken.
This is an incorrect answer because the passage above does not mention anything about what happens when the candidate is truthful or what happens when the candidate is truthful. The passage above is only concerned with the results of the polygraph tests.

(E) Some employers have refused to consider the results of polygraph tests when evaluating job applicants.
This is an incorrect answer choice because the passage does not mention anything about what results employers consider or not. We are given no information about how employers are evaluating job applicants based on the results. Hence, this is an incorrect answer

Hello, krndatta. You seem to be on the right track. There are a few finer points I would like to make.

• Most in answer choice (A) is problematic. How can we make an inference on most examinees when their actual truthfulness is not at issue? The passage focuses on the results of a polygraph, as you said, but only on inconclusive results.
• The information in the last line of the passage suggests that at least some employers use polygraph results to make hiring decisions; however, answer choice (B) misses the mark because it groups all polygraph test results together, and these are not discussed in the passage—only inconclusive results are mentioned.
• I think you meant truthful and untruthful, in some combination, in your analysis of answer choice (D).
• Answer choice (E) is related to (B) in that, once again, we can reasonably infer that some employers look at the results of a polygraph to make hiring decisions. But their refusal to do so is the opposite of the practice the passage criticizes. The passage makes it clear that employers should not unfairly hold inconclusive polygraph results against an examinee, nothing more.

Not a bad analysis on the whole. Keep it up. When you take the time to unravel these passages and answer choices, you get better at the task.

Thank you for thinking to ask for my input.

- Andrew

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