MGMAT hard inference Q

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MGMAT hard inference Q

by briology » Sun Oct 16, 2011 9:20 am
I got this difficult reading comp question yesterday on a MGMAT test. Even after reading mgmat's explanations I still feel that two of the answer choices are correct. Would love to hear what others think. OA after some responses.

Measuring more than five feet tall and ten feet long, the Javan rhinoceros is often called the rarest large mammal on earth. Though the habitat of the Javan rhino once extended across southern Asia, now there are fewer than one hundred of the animals in Indonesia and fewer than a dozen in Vietnam. The decline of the species may have progressed too far to be reversed. For centuries, farmers who wished to cultivate the rhino's habitat viewed the animals as crop-eating pests and shot them on sight; during the colonial period, hunters slaughtered thousands for their horns, as poachers still do today. The surviving Vietnamese herd has diminished to the point that it can no longer maintain the genetic variation necessary for long-term survival. The Indonesian herd cannot be used to supplement the Vietnamese population because, in the millions of years since Indonesia separated from the mainland, the two groups have evolved into separate sub-species. The Indonesian rhinos are protected on the Ujung Kulon peninsula, which is unsettled by humans, and still thought to have sufficient genetic diversity to survive. The lack of human disturbance, however, allows mature forests to replace the shrubby vegetation preferred by the animals. Human benevolence may prove little better for these rhinos than past human maltreatment.

For what purpose does the author include the last sentence of the passage?

A. To demonstrate that the Indonesian herd has better odds of surviving than the Vietnamese herd.
B. To support the contention that the Javan rhino species may not be able to recover from its current state.
C. To establish that farmers and hunters are no longer killing Javan rhinos.
D. To reinforce the idea that the Indonesian herd of the Javan rhino species will not survive.
E. To illustrate that human benevolence can be just as detrimental to the survival of a species as can human maltreatment.

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by vsagalchik » Sun Oct 16, 2011 8:18 pm
Is the answer B?

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by briology » Mon Oct 17, 2011 6:31 am
I'm more interested in why you think it's B than what the answer is :). Why do you think it's B?

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by amir.kabir » Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:08 am
I thin its E.
Human benevolence may prove little better for these rhinos than past human maltreatment.
Prove little better means that it will not help.

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by saketk » Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:29 am
briology wrote:The lack of human disturbance, however, allows mature forests to replace the shrubby vegetation preferred by the animals. Human benevolence may prove little better for these rhinos than past human maltreatment.

For what purpose does the author include the last sentence of the passage?

A. To demonstrate that the Indonesian herd has better odds of surviving than the Vietnamese herd.
B. To support the contention that the Javan rhino species may not be able to recover from its current state.
C. To establish that farmers and hunters are no longer killing Javan rhinos.
D. To reinforce the idea that the Indonesian herd of the Javan rhino species will not survive.
E. To illustrate that human benevolence can be just as detrimental to the survival of a species as can human maltreatment.
Good question I must say. I was able to get down to 2 options -- A and B. Chose option B at the end ..

Reason -- [see the dark blue part I've highlighted ] Although the author has mentioned that Indonesians rhinos are protected on the Ujung Kulon Peninsula and still thought to have sufficient genetic diversity to survive, but the damage is already done by PAST HUMAN MALTREATMENT. (see the last few words)

I took some 1.5 mins to answer this question and feel this to be a 750 level question.

What's the OA?

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by briology » Wed Oct 19, 2011 4:14 pm
OA is B. How did you guys eliminate answer choice E?

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by saketk » Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:17 pm
briology wrote:OA is B. How did you guys eliminate answer choice E?
Nowhere the author has mentioned such things.

The dictionary meaning of detrimental is -- "Tending to cause harm"

Author simply says that human benevolence is of little help.

Author never said that it can be just as detrimental to the survival of a species as can human maltreatment.

Hope this is clear.

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by lunarpower » Sun Oct 23, 2011 11:44 pm
i received a private message about this thread.

saketk wrote:
briology wrote:OA is B. How did you guys eliminate answer choice E?
Nowhere the author has mentioned such things.

The dictionary meaning of detrimental is -- "Tending to cause harm"

Author simply says that human benevolence is of little help.

Author never said that it can be just as detrimental to the survival of a species as can human maltreatment.

Hope this is clear.
i think quite a few of you guys are missing the point when it comes to choice (e). that choice is wrong -- not because of some single word, or because of some nitpicky aspect of some definition, but because it's totally wrong.
the question asks for the PURPOSE of this statement. basically, choice (e) is just a literal recap of what the statement says -- but that's not the purpose for which it is included.

--

ANALOGY:
JOE: Sarah, you're inconsiderate.
SARAH: I am not!
JOE: You just bought the plane tickets, without asking me about my schedule on that day.

--> What is the PURPOSE of Joe's statement that Sarah just bought the plane tickets without consulting him?
(a) to demonstrate that Sarah didn't consult Joe before buying the plane tickets
(b) to demonstrate that Sarah is inconsiderate

in this example, (a) is obviously wrong, even though it corresponds perfectly to the literal content of joe's statement. by contrast, it should be quite clear that (b) is correct.

--

the material in this passage is much more sophisticated than the conversation in the analogy above, but the reason why (e) is incorrect in this question is the same as the reason why (a) is incorrect in the joe/sarah example.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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by briology » Tue Oct 25, 2011 6:11 pm
Thanks, Ron. That was incredibly, incredibly helpful. I got so caught up in "must be true" thought that I didn't really consider what the question was asking.

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by lunarpower » Wed Oct 26, 2011 1:17 am
briology wrote:Thanks, Ron. That was incredibly, incredibly helpful. I got so caught up in "must be true" thought that I didn't really consider what the question was asking.
this is a a powerful illustration of the negative effects of too much studying in rc/cr.

almost 100 percent of what you need to solve problems in those two sections of the test comes from a combination of three things: (1) a basic understanding of how the prompts work, (2) a decently thorough mastery of professionally written english, and (3) normal human intuition, a.k.a. "common sense".
the problem with over-studying is that #3 tends to go away when people study too much! if someone has spent 50 or (heaven forbid) 100 hours studying specifically for rc or cr, it is VERY hard for that person to retain a decent amount of common sense in approaching the problems, because his or her head will be swimming with faux "rules". for that reason, most people who study way too many hours for these two sections of the test will ultimately wind up with lower scores.

specifically, in this case:
if you had never seen GMAT RC in your entire life, there is no way you would have made the mistake that you made here. you would have seen the problem and thought to yourself, "ok, what's the purpose?"
the poison here is that you've probably internalized so many "rules" that you are starting to use less and less common sense to solve the problems. that is not a good thing.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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by briology » Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:46 am
This is definitely something I struggle with. I can't seem to get my Verbal score over the 40 hump. According to my MGMAT test scores, RC/CR are my weakest verbal sections. I'm pretty much perfect up until 700-->800 lvl questions, then my accuracy falls dramatically to ~40% (possibly lower--I can't remember). In an effort to improve my accuracy here, and hopefully get my Verbal to around 44, I've admittedly tried to improve my logic/critical thinking by going through Powerscore CR bible. Is there a better way for me to improve my score? I'd really hate to wave the white flag and settle for a 39/40 verbal score because I don't feel confident that my Quant score will get me over a 700, a necessity for me to get into one of my target schools.

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by mokura » Sun May 19, 2013 1:10 pm
lunarpower wrote:i received a private message about this thread.

saketk wrote:
briology wrote:OA is B. How did you guys eliminate answer choice E?
Nowhere the author has mentioned such things.

The dictionary meaning of detrimental is -- "Tending to cause harm"

Author simply says that human benevolence is of little help.

Author never said that it can be just as detrimental to the survival of a species as can human maltreatment.

Hope this is clear.
i think quite a few of you guys are missing the point when it comes to choice (e). that choice is wrong -- not because of some single word, or because of some nitpicky aspect of some definition, but because it's totally wrong.
the question asks for the PURPOSE of this statement. basically, choice (e) is just a literal recap of what the statement says -- but that's not the purpose for which it is included.

--

ANALOGY:
JOE: Sarah, you're inconsiderate.
SARAH: I am not!
JOE: You just bought the plane tickets, without asking me about my schedule on that day.

--> What is the PURPOSE of Joe's statement that Sarah just bought the plane tickets without consulting him?
(a) to demonstrate that Sarah didn't consult Joe before buying the plane tickets
(b) to demonstrate that Sarah is inconsiderate

in this example, (a) is obviously wrong, even though it corresponds perfectly to the literal content of joe's statement. by contrast, it should be quite clear that (b) is correct.

--

the material in this passage is much more sophisticated than the conversation in the analogy above, but the reason why (e) is incorrect in this question is the same as the reason why (a) is incorrect in the joe/sarah example.

Ron, I was searching the web for answers to why E is wrong and you have given the only logical explanation! You're a star (as mentioned on the last Thursdays With Ron) haha :) thank you sir!

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by lunarpower » Sun May 19, 2013 9:30 pm
mokura wrote:Ron, I was searching the web for answers to why E is wrong and you have given the only logical explanation! You're a star (as mentioned on the last Thursdays With Ron) haha :) thank you sir!
thanks.

i generally tend to think about things with the simplicity of a ten-year-old. maybe a decently smart ten-year-old, but a ten-year-old nonetheless.

the advantage of this, of course, is that i am often very good at putting things into simpler terms -- precisely because i need them in simpler terms in order to understand them myself! no, but really.
(the disadvantage is that i am completely incapable of discussing things that ten-year-olds can't understand, like metaphysics.)
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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by ngalinh » Mon May 20, 2013 6:23 am
lunarpower wrote: this is a a powerful illustration of the negative effects of too much studying in rc/cr.

almost 100 percent of what you need to solve problems in those two sections of the test comes from a combination of three things: (1) a basic understanding of how the prompts work, (2) a decently thorough mastery of professionally written english, and (3) normal human intuition, a.k.a. "common sense".
the problem with over-studying is that #3 tends to go away when people study too much! if someone has spent 50 or (heaven forbid) 100 hours studying specifically for rc or cr, it is VERY hard for that person to retain a decent amount of common sense in approaching the problems, because his or her head will be swimming with faux "rules". for that reason, most people who study way too many hours for these two sections of the test will ultimately wind up with lower scores.
--> this is very true to me.
When I started studying the gmat, I naturally loved CR (and DS). The results of Kaplan CATs often showed me that CR was in my top 3 strengths. But I didn't feel satisfied because sometimes I was not sure about the answers I picked. (My studying method was I combined some rules in books and lessons I've drawn for myself through practice.)
So, a couple of months ago, I decided to gain accuracy of CR. I carefully "researched" the wrong answers I got and learned new techniques. The result was incredibly bad: sometimes I got 7 out of 10 questions wrong. I tried to go back to my old method, but it also didn't work as before.

How could I "go back" to my previous CR, but with a higher level of certainty?
Last edited by ngalinh on Mon May 20, 2013 6:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

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by AdvenofTintin » Mon May 20, 2013 6:35 am
:)
lunarpower wrote:
mokura wrote:Ron, I was searching the web for answers to why E is wrong and you have given the only logical explanation! You're a star (as mentioned on the last Thursdays With Ron) haha :) thank you sir!
thanks.

i generally tend to think about things with the simplicity of a ten-year-old. maybe a decently smart ten-year-old, but a ten-year-old nonetheless.

the advantage of this, of course, is that i am often very good at putting things into simpler terms -- precisely because i need them in simpler terms in order to understand them myself! no, but really.
(the disadvantage is that i am completely incapable of discussing things that ten-year-olds can't understand, like metaphysics.)