Critical Reasoning

Like a number of other articles, Ian Raghnall's article relied on a recent survey in which over half the couples applying for divorces listed "money" as a major problem in their marriages. Raghnall's conclusion from the survey data is that financial problems are the major problem in marriages and an important factor contributing to high divorce rate. Yet couples often express other types of marital frustrations in financial terms. Despite appearances, the survey data do not establish that financial problems are the major problem in contemporary marriages.

Which one of the following sentences best expresses the main point of the passage?

(A) Financial problems are not an important factor contributing to the divorce rate.
(B) Marital problems are more easily solved by marriage counselors than by married couples on their own.
(C) The conclusion drawn in Raghnall's article is inadequately justified.
(D) Over half the couples applying for divorces listed money as a major problem in their marriages.
(E) Many articles wrongly claim that financial problems are the major factor contributing to the divorce rate.


Any takers? Please post your explanations.

Cheers
Sid.

Hey Sid,

Here's a breakdown:

A - While the author does indeed question the idea that money is THE MAJOR problem in marriages, he/she never says that money is not an important factor at all. There's nothing in the passage that suggests the author thinks this.

B - Marriage counselors are never mentioned, nor is solving marital problems.

C - This is correct. The author's main point is that the Raghnall’ reached a false conclusion based on the evidence in the survey. The author then gives a possible reason why the conclusion is false.

D - While this is mentioned in the passage as the result of a survey, it is only one small part of the passage, and it is definitely not the author's main point. It is cited as evidence that the article uses to draw a conclusion the author questions.

E - "Many articles" are not discussed. We're only interested in one article.

Raz,

Thanks for your inputs. Those were exactly my initial thoughts but I was quite surprised to see that the answer is option A.

Probably option C was rejected based on the same criteria which you cited to reject option D??

Quite twisted this one!

It's definitely not A. What was the source of this question?

Because there are other versions of this questions lurking about the Internets, and they have different answer choices:

https://www.urch.com/forums/gmat-critica ... vorce.html

https://www.totalgadha.com/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=4483

Ans is C no matter wat....

@raz1024 :
I have a simple question

The reason you rejected B was :many articles are not discussed

The para begins with like anyother article-here the references are made to other articles too

based on that point I chose D pls explain and also the reason i rejected C was .it was not only this article but many article do the same mistake

subgeeth:

I assume you mean E and not B. Perhaps a more complete way to express why answer E is incorrect is this: We are interested in Raghnall's conclusion, because that is what the author addresses. While the author does mention other articles briefly at the beginning of the passage, the author does not end up addressing those other articles as the main point of his passage. The author's main point relates to Raghnall's conclusion.

D is incorrect, because even though it involves a fact (i.e. a piece of evidence) mentioned at the beginning of the passage, it is not the author's main point. Raghnall uses this evidence to reach a conclusion, and the author's main point is that this conclusion isn't justified.

In general, an answer choice is not necessarily correct just because its contents are mentioned in the passage. Always be sure to address EXACTLY what's being asked of you, in this case the author's main point.

And regarding answer choice C (the correct one), be careful, because you can't eliminate it based on the fact that it doesn't mention other studies. The reason is (as I said earlier): We're not interested in those other articles. The author is interested primarily in Raghnall's conclusion.

Hope that clears things up!

Rich,

I think you are correct, C is the right answer choice.

The question is not from an official source, so maybe the answer provided is not the most reliable.

Thanks for your help

Sid.