Critical Reasoning

To be considered for inclusion in the Barbizon Film Festival, a film must belong either to the category of drama or of comedy. Dramas always receive more submissions but have a lower acceptance rate than comedy. All of the films are either foreign or domestic. This year, the overall acceptance rate for domestic films was significantly higher than that for foreign films. Within each category, drama and comedy, however, the acceptance rate for domestic films was the same as that for foreign films.

From the cited facts it can be properly concluded that

(A) significantly fewer foreign films than domestic films were accepted.
(B) a higher proportion of the foreign than of the domestic films submitted were submitted as dramas.
(C) the rate of acceptance of foreign films submitted was the same for drama as it was for comedies.
(D) the majority of the domestic films submitted were submitted as comedies.
(E) the majority of the foreign films submitted were submitted as dramas.

OA:B

What is best way to solve this question during exam?? How to spot the right answer within exam time limit?

Mo2men wrote:To be considered for inclusion in the Barbizon Film Festival, a film must belong either to the category of drama or of comedy. Dramas always receive more submissions but have a lower acceptance rate than comedy. All of the films are either foreign or domestic. This year, the overall acceptance rate for domestic films was significantly higher than that for foreign films. Within each category, drama and comedy, however, the acceptance rate for domestic films was the same as that for foreign films.

From the cited facts it can be properly concluded that

(A) significantly fewer foreign films than domestic films were accepted.
(B) a higher proportion of the foreign than of the domestic films submitted were submitted as dramas.
(C) the rate of acceptance of foreign films submitted was the same for drama as it was for comedies.
(D) the majority of the domestic films submitted were submitted as comedies.
(E) the majority of the foreign films submitted were submitted as dramas.

OA:B

What is best way to solve this question during exam?? How to spot the right answer within exam time limit?

I wrote a post about this question here: https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2016/0 ... -the-gmat/

As David mentions below, the CR as written has two viable answer choices. For only the OA to be correct, the red phrase below should be omitted. My posts that follow depend on the omission of this red phrase:

Mo2men wrote:To be considered for inclusion in the Barbizon Film Festival, a film must belong either to the category of drama or of comedy. Dramas always receive more submissions but have a lower acceptance rate than comedy. All of the films are either foreign or domestic. This year, the overall acceptance rate for domestic films was significantly higher than that for foreign films. Within each category, drama and comedy, however, the acceptance rate for domestic films was the same as that for foreign films.

From the cited facts it can be properly concluded that

(A) significantly fewer foreign films than domestic films were accepted.
(B) a higher proportion of the foreign than of the domestic films submitted were submitted as dramas.
(C) the rate of acceptance of foreign films submitted was the same for drama as it was for comedies.
(D) the majority of the domestic films submitted were submitted as comedies.
(E) the majority of the foreign films submitted were submitted as dramas.

Dramas have a lower acceptance rate than comedy.
The overall acceptance rate for domestic films was significantly higher than that for foreign films.

Given these constraints, try to DISPROVE the answer choices.

Case 1: 20% of domestic films are accepted, 10% of foreign films are accepted
In this case:
Option A does not have to be true, since Case 1 is possible even if there are more foreign films than domestic films.
D does not have to be not true, since the low acceptance rate for domestic films implies that most of the domestic films were dramas.
Eliminate A and D.

Case 2: 90% of domestic films are accepted, 80% of foreign films are accepted
In this case:
E does not have to be not true, since the high acceptance rate for foreign films implies that most of the foreign films were comedies.
Eliminate E.

Since C contradicts the constraint that dramas always...have a lower acceptance rate than comedies, eliminate C.

The correct answer is B.

GMATGuruNY wrote:

Mo2men wrote:To be considered for inclusion in the Barbizon Film Festival, a film must belong either to the category of drama or of comedy. Dramas always receive more submissions but have a lower acceptance rate than comedy. All of the films are either foreign or domestic. This year, the overall acceptance rate for domestic films was significantly higher than that for foreign films. Within each category, drama and comedy, however, the acceptance rate for domestic films was the same as that for foreign films.

From the cited facts it can be properly concluded that

(A) significantly fewer foreign films than domestic films were accepted.
(B) a higher proportion of the foreign than of the domestic films submitted were submitted as dramas.
(C) the rate of acceptance of foreign films submitted was the same for drama as it was for comedies.
(D) the majority of the domestic films submitted were submitted as comedies.
(E) the majority of the foreign films submitted were submitted as dramas.

Dramas have a lower acceptance rate than comedy.
The overall acceptance rate for domestic films was significantly higher than that for foreign films.

Given these constraints, try to DISPROVE the answer choices.

Case 1: 20% of domestic films are accepted, 10% of foreign films are accepted
In this case:
Option A does not have to be true, since Case 1 is possible even if there are more foreign films than domestic films.
D does not have to be not true, since the low acceptance rate for domestic films implies that most of the domestic films were dramas.
Eliminate A and D.

Case 2: 90% of domestic films are accepted, 80% of foreign films are accepted
In this case:
E does not have to be not true, since the high acceptance rate for foreign films implies that most of the foreign films were comedies.
Eliminate E.

Since C contradicts the constraint that dramas always...have a lower acceptance rate than comedies, eliminate C.

The correct answer is B.

Thanks Mitch for your help.

I have a question about choices A, D & E. All of them deals with numbers while in the whole prompt deal with proportions. Can I eliminate them based on this observation?

Mo2men wrote:Thanks Mitch for your help.

I have a question about choices A, D & E. All of them deals with numbers while in the whole prompt deal with proportions. Can I eliminate them based on this observation?

Option A can be eliminated for this reason.
Options D and E, however, do not refer to actual numbers.
the majority means MORE THAN HALF.
more than half is not an actual number but a proportion.

To those who find this CR especially challenging, an analogy:

Mixtures A and B are each composed of acid (which has an acidity level of 100%) and water (which has an acidity level of 0%).
Mixture A has a higher overall acidity level than Mixture B.
Question:
What must be true?
Answer:
The proportion of acid in A must be higher than the proportion of acid in B.
Put another way:
The proportion of water in B must be higher than the proportion of water in A.

The CR above uses the same line of reasoning:

The domestic category and the foreign category are each composed of comedies (which have a higher acceptance rate) and dramas (which have a lower acceptance rate).
The domestic category has a higher overall acceptance rate than the foreign category.
Question:
What must be true?
Answer:
The proportion of comedies in the domestic category must be higher than the proportion of comedies in the foreign category.
Put another way:
The proportion of dramas in the foreign category must be higher than the proportion of dramas in the domestic category.

The statement in blue = the OA to the CR above.

GMATGuruNY wrote:To those who find this CR especially challenging, an analogy:

Mixtures A and B are each composed of acid (which has an acidity level of 100%) and water (which has an acidity level of 0%).
Mixture A has a higher overall acidity level than Mixture B.
Question:
What must be true?
Answer:
The proportion of acid in A must be higher than the proportion of acid in B.
Put another way:
The proportion of water in B must be higher than the proportion of water in A.

The CR above uses the same line of reasoning:

The domestic category and the foreign category are each composed of comedies (which have a higher acceptance rate) and dramas (which have a lower acceptance rate).
The domestic category has a higher overall acceptance rate than the foreign category.
Question:
What must be true?
Answer:
The proportion of comedies in the domestic category must be higher than the proportion of comedies in the foreign category.
Put another way:
The proportion of dramas in the foreign category must be higher than the proportion of dramas in the domestic category.

The statement in blue = the OA to the CR above.

Thanks Mitch. it is much better with you your analogy.

Hi Verbal Expets,
Although I got the OA, curious to know why EXACTLY Option D & E are wrong ?

P.S: I eliminated BOTH D & E through PoE - as they seem to be saying the same thing differently.

Hi Verbal Experts,
Any thoughts on my above concern ?

@Dave/Mitch/Ceilidh/others: Could you please share your feedback on the above concern ?

Look forward to hear from you. Much thanks in advance!

RBBmba@2014 wrote:Hi Verbal Expets,
Although I got the OA, curious to know why EXACTLY Option D & E are wrong ?

P.S: I eliminated BOTH D & E through PoE - as they seem to be saying the same thing differently.

As noted in my post above:
Given the information in the passage, it must be true that the proportion of dramas in the foreign category was higher than the proportion of dramas in the domestic category.
Put another way:
The ratio of dramas to comedies in the foreign category must have been higher than the ratio of dramas to comedies in the domestic category.

D: The majority of the domestic films submitted were submitted as comedies.
The ratio of dramas to comedies in the domestic category can be ANY VALUE that is less than the ratio of dramas to comedies in the foreign category.
Thus, it does not have to be true that most of the domestic films were comedies.
Eliminate D.

E: The majority of the foreign films submitted were submitted as dramas
The ratio of dramas to comedies in the foreign category can be ANY VALUE that is greater than the ratio of dramas to comedies in the domestic category.
Thus, it does not have to be true that most of the foreign films were dramas.
Eliminate E.

RBBmba@2014 wrote:Hi Verbal Expets,
Although I got the OA, curious to know why EXACTLY Option D & E are wrong ?

P.S: I eliminated BOTH D & E through PoE - as they seem to be saying the same thing differently.

D and E are not communicating the same information.

D claims that a majority of domestic films were submitted as comedies. E claims that a majority of foreign films were submitted as dramas. We know that a higher percentage of foreign films were submitted as dramas than comedies, but in the scenario E describes, it's possible that a majority of both foreign and domestic films were submitted as dramas, so long as a greater majority of foreign films were submitted as dramas. (Imagine that 80% of foreign films were submitted as dramas and, say, 70% of domestic films were submitted as dramas. Clearly that's not the same as D, which posits that a majority of domestic films were submitted as comedies.)

RBBmba@2014 wrote:Hi Verbal Expets,
Although I got the OA, curious to know why EXACTLY Option D & E are wrong ?

P.S: I eliminated BOTH D & E through PoE - as they seem to be saying the same thing differently.

More interestingly, it turns out that E, in fact, isn't wrong at all. We're told that "Dramas always receive more submissions." If E weren't true, then no more than 50% of foreign films could have been submitted as dramas. But we know that an even smaller proportion of domestic films were submitted as dramas, so less than 50% of domestic films would have been submitted as dramas in this scenario. But if a maximum of 50% of the foreign films were submitted as dramas and less than half of the domestic films were submitted as dramas, it would contradict the premise that dramas always receive more submissions than comedies. If it's the case that if E weren't true, it would undermine a premise of the argument, then E, logically, must be true. In other words, there are two answer choices here that have to be true! This is a problem. (I've been in touch with GMAC about this.)

GMATGuruNY wrote:As noted in my post above:
Given the information in the passage, it must be true that the proportion of dramas in the foreign category was higher than the proportion of dramas in the domestic category.
Put another way:
The ratio of dramas to comedies in the foreign category must have been higher than the ratio of dramas to comedies in the domestic category.

D: The majority of the domestic films submitted were submitted as comedies.
The ratio of dramas to comedies in the domestic category can be ANY VALUE that is less than the ratio of dramas to comedies in the foreign category.
Thus, it does not have to be true that most of the domestic films were comedies.
Eliminate D.

E: The majority of the foreign films submitted were submitted as dramas
The ratio of dramas to comedies in the foreign category can be ANY VALUE that is greater than the ratio of dramas to comedies in the domestic category.
Thus, it does not have to be true that most of the foreign films were dramas.
Eliminate E.

Hi Mitch,
Let me see whether I got you properly -
Here, the issue is that the RELATIVE proportion/percentage of domestic films in two categories (dramas/comedies), with respect to the foreign films. And accordingly, the RELATIVE proportion/percentage of domestic films in comedies should be greater than the foreign films, so it doesn't really matter even if majority of domestic films are NOT in comedies (or even if majority of the foreign films are NOT in dramas) so long as the above underlined part is satisfied. Am I correct ?

I wouldn't expend any more energy dissecting the answer choices on this one. The good folks at GMAC have conceded that there are two viable answers to this question, and so are removing it from future editions of the GMATPrep software.

DavidG@VeritasPrep wrote:I wouldn't expend any more energy dissecting the answer choices on this one. The good folks at GMAC have conceded that there are two viable answers to this question, and so are removing it from future editions of the GMATPrep software.

Dear David,

I truly want to thank you for your response and keen follow up with GMAC.

When I approached this question, I always felt the sentence 'Dramas always receive more submissions' has something to do with answer choices but could not prove as it is really tough question.