Beat The GMAT

varunkh70 · Fri Sep 11, 2009 8:33 pm

Below is the RC passage, followed by the questions. I have pasted the two questions that I had got wrong. I really get troubled on seeing the questions that relate to the structure of the RC ( eg : Question 1) Can you explain the best way/thumb rules to answer such a question?

The Taft-Hartley Act, passed by the United States Congress in 1947, gave states the power to enact “right-to-work” legislation that prohibits union shop agreements. According to such an agreement, a labor union negotiates wages and working conditions for all workers in a business, and all workers are required to belong to the union. Since 1947, 20 states have adopted right-to-work laws. Much of the literature concerning right-to-work laws implies that such legislation has not actually had a significant impact. This point of view, however, has not gone uncriticized. Thomas V Carroll has proposed that the conclusions drawn by previous researchers are attributable to their myopic focus on the premise that, unless right-to-work laws significantly reduce union membership within a state, they have no effect. Carroll argues that the right-to-work laws “do matter” in that such laws generate differences in real wages across states. Specifically, Carroll indicates that while right-to-work laws may not “destroy” unions by reducing the absolute number of unionized workers, they do impede the spread of unions and thereby reduce wages within right-to-work states. Because the countervailing power of unions is weakened in right-to-work states, manufacturers and their suppliers can act cohesively in competitive labor markers, thus lowering wages in the affected industries.
Such a finding has important implications regarding the demographics of employment and wages in right-to-work states. Specifically, if right-to-work laws lower wages by weakening union power, minority workers can be expected to suffer a relatively greater economic disadvantage in right-to-work states than in union shop states. This is so because, contrary to what was once thought, union tend to have a significant positive impact on the economic position of minority workers, especially Black workers, relative to White workers. Most studies concerned with the impact of unionism on the Black worker’s economic position relative to the White worker’s have concentrated on the changes in Black wages due to union membership. That is, they have concentrated on union versus nonunion groups. In a pioneering study, however, Ashenfelter finds that these studies overlook an important fact: although craft unionism increase the differential between the wages of White workers and Black workers due to the traditional exclusion of minority workers from unions in the craft sectors of the labor market, strong positive wage gains are made by Black workers within industrial unions. In fact, Ashenfelter estimates that industrial unionism decreases the differential between the wages of Black workers and White workers by about 3 percent. If state right-to-work laws weaken the economic power of unions to raise wages, Black workers will experience a disproportionate decline in their relative wage positions. Black workers in right-to-work states would therefore experience a decline in their relative economic positions unless there is strong economic growth in right-to-work states, creating labor shortages and thereby driving up wages.

1) Which one of the following best describes the passage as a whole?
(A) an overview of a problem in research methodology and a recommended solution to that problem
(B) a comparison of two competing theories and a suggestion for reconciling them
(C) a critique of certain legislation and a proposal for modification of that legislation
(D) a review of research that challenges the conclusions of earlier researchers
(E) a presentation of a specific case that confirms the findings of an earlier study

2)The reasoning behind the “literature” (line 9), as that reasoning is presented in the passage, is most analogous to the reasoning behind which one of the following situations?
(A) A law is proposed that benefits many but disadvantages a few: those advocating passage of the law argue that the disadvantages to few are not so serious that the benefits should be denied to many.
(B) A new tax on certain categories of consumer items is proposed: those in favor of the tax argue that those affected by the tax are well able to pay it, since the items taxed are luxury items.
(C) A college sets strict course requirements that every student must complete before graduating; students already enrolled argue that it is unfair for the new requirements to apply to those enrolled before the change.
(D) The personnel office of a company designs a promotions become effective on January 1: the managers protest that such a policy means that they cannot respond fast enough to changes in staffing needs.
(E) A fare increase in a public transportation system does not significantly reduce the number of fares sold: the management of the public transportation system asserts, therefore, that the fare hike has had no negative effects.

OA later

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DanaJ · Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:29 am

1. My answer is D. The clearest pointer to this one is in lines 5-8: Much of the literature concerning right-to-work laws implies that such legislation has not actually had a significant impact. This point of view, however, has not gone uncriticized.

Main point questions usually focus on your ability to rephrase the whole paragraph into just one sentence. It's all about what the paragraph "is about". You'll usually find main points at the very beginning or at the very end of passages.

2. I always have a tough time with analogous reasoning... I would eliminate A from the get go, since it's about laws and if an option is about the topic discussed in the passage, that's usually a trap. I'm gonna go for E here:
- the literature argues that the law did not have any effects
- the management of public transportation argues that the increase in ticket prices did not have any effects either.