Perhaps an MGMAT expert with access to official explanations can comment, but I'd have never chosen A. A directly shows that the author's counter evidence is out of scope, thereby weakening the argument.
In my mind, C is the only possible answer. Let's discuss!
If you immediately classified C as a weakener because it points out that the sample group is narrow, that wasn't a bad first instinct and is usually great thinking - it just doesn't happen to work on this particular question.
Why are narrow sample sizes often weakeners? Because a narrow sample size often indicates unrepresentativeness.
However, let's look at the actual sample: rich old guys.
This particular sample size, if anything, strengthens the author's argument. We're not looking at random poor folk who don't have a choice about where to get treatment (i.e. they have to take the free stuff they can get), we're looking at people who actually have a choice about where to get help. Since the sample is a group that actually has a choice, that choice is useful in determining whether the US has good medical care.
So, there are two ways to think of C:
1) people who have a choice pick US medical care: strengthens the argument; or
2) people who have a choice pick US medical care, but what does that have to do with a vaccine lab's relationship to protection from infection diseases?: outside the scope.
Regardless of whether it strengthens or is outside the scope, it certainly doesn't weaken: pick C.
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Recently, some critics of the U.S. government have pointed
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Stuart@KaplanGMAT
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Last edited by Stuart@KaplanGMAT on Thu Nov 26, 2009 1:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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If the overall life span also includes other causes of death, then the US could have a really poor infectious disease rate and still promote long life spans.sanp_l wrote: Option D says that the oevrall life span also includes other causes of death other than infectious diseses. And as the official mentions that the life span is high, it certainly supports his argument. hence i go with Option D.
D is implying that how you handle infectious disease might not determine your death rate, breaking the link between the two. Since the author uses long life spans as evidence that the US does in fact have good control of infectious diseases, breaking the link weakens the argument.
Anytime the author says "We have X, therefore we have Y", if you can show that X and Y aren't connected you weaken the argument.
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Testluv
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I definitely agree with Stuart that the best answer here is choice C.
However, I still have issues with the design of this question. In a weaken question, the GMAT will tell you to treat the answer choices as facts, as "true". We are not told to do that here. So, how can we assume that the task is to eliminate facts that will weaken the argument?
Instead, if this question stem appeared on the GMAT, it would HAVE to be interpreted as a flaw question; a question that asks for "flaws" or "weaknesses" in the author's reasoning process. But, then, the answer choices would have to be descriptions of the author's reasoning process. Here, they are not.
So, if (contrary to the question stem) we interpret this as a weaken EXCEPT question, the correct answer should be choice C and not choice A. Or, if (according to the question stem) we treat this as a flaw EXCEPT question, then there is no correct answer because none of the answer choices are (putative) descriptions of the author's reasoning process.
However, I still have issues with the design of this question. In a weaken question, the GMAT will tell you to treat the answer choices as facts, as "true". We are not told to do that here. So, how can we assume that the task is to eliminate facts that will weaken the argument?
Instead, if this question stem appeared on the GMAT, it would HAVE to be interpreted as a flaw question; a question that asks for "flaws" or "weaknesses" in the author's reasoning process. But, then, the answer choices would have to be descriptions of the author's reasoning process. Here, they are not.
So, if (contrary to the question stem) we interpret this as a weaken EXCEPT question, the correct answer should be choice C and not choice A. Or, if (according to the question stem) we treat this as a flaw EXCEPT question, then there is no correct answer because none of the answer choices are (putative) descriptions of the author's reasoning process.
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heshamelaziry
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. This question took me 3 minutes to answer. YES -
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@stuart and testluv...pls correct me if i am wrong....
on second thoughts...even C shows a weakness in officials claim...undoubtedly the group mentioned in C is a special group that can avail the treatment at the place of choice....but the argument is not about the quality of treatment but about American population vulnerable to infections...even if US has world class medi aid facilities it does not in any manner shows that US citizens are not vulnerable to infections given the lack of national vaccine lab...
so i still feel that all 5 choices show a weakness in official's claim....
on second thoughts...even C shows a weakness in officials claim...undoubtedly the group mentioned in C is a special group that can avail the treatment at the place of choice....but the argument is not about the quality of treatment but about American population vulnerable to infections...even if US has world class medi aid facilities it does not in any manner shows that US citizens are not vulnerable to infections given the lack of national vaccine lab...
so i still feel that all 5 choices show a weakness in official's claim....
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Testluv
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No, it doesn't show that US citizens are not vulnerable to infections; but neither does it show that they are, and so does not weaken the argument. As you said, the argument is not about the quality of treatment but about America's vulnerability to infectious disease--then the choice is outside the scope, and so fails to weaken.2010gmat wrote:@stuart and testluv...pls correct me if i am wrong....
on second thoughts...even C shows a weakness in officials claim...undoubtedly the group mentioned in C is a special group that can avail the treatment at the place of choice....but the argument is not about the quality of treatment but about American population vulnerable to infections...even if US has world class medi aid facilities it does not in any manner shows that US citizens are not vulnerable to infections given the lack of national vaccine lab...
so i still feel that all 5 choices show a weakness in official's claim....
And if it is not outside the scope, as Stuart pointed out, it tends to strengthen the argument--rich old guys coming to America for medical treatment bolsters his argument about how medically safe America is.
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Testluv
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...exactly...(finally!)2010gmat wrote:but question stem asks us to find out a weakness in official's claim... now i am confused about the question stem itself...
whether its a weaken except or flaw except?
As I suggested in my first two posts on this thread--the question stem is designed to be flaw but the answer choices are designed for a weaken question!
The good news is this issue will NOT arise on the GMAT for the reasons I've already discussed in earlier posts on this thread, and for the reasons I discussed in the other CR thread you just posted: https://www.beatthegmat.com/tough-one-t48836.html
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This question is tricky because it is asking for an INCORRECT statement that is unsupported by the argument. Choices B,C,D & E all make valid points that serve to weaken the official's statements. D has been mentioned a lot as the correct answer. The reason D is incorrect is because the official assumes that vulnerability to infectious disease leads to death. It is plausible that numerous people are vulnerable to infectious and have since gotten treated. Additionally, he is attributing all deaths to infectious diseases.prashant_jak wrote:
Recently, some critics of the U.S. government have pointed out that this
country is the only advanced industrialized nation without a national vaccine
laboratory and suggested that this lack makes the American public more
vulnerable than other developed nations to infectious diseases, such as avian
flu. A government official said these critics were disloyal and thus wrong
about the public's vulnerability. To support his claim, the official cited the
generally long life span and low infant mortality of United States citizens,
relative to all United Nation member nations. Mentioning the high quality of
American hospitals, he added that all of the Europeans that he knew
preferred to undergo major medical treatments in the United States rather
than in the socialized medical systems in place in their home countries.
All of the following are weaknesses or potential weaknesses in the official's
argument EXCEPT:
"¢ The high quality of hospitals in the United States is not a factor affecting the
public's vulnerability to infectious disease.
"¢ Whether or not the critics are disloyal has no bearing on whether or not they
are wrong.
"¢ The Europeans that the official cited are a demographically narrow sample,
overwhelmingly composed of wealthy males over the age of fifty.
"¢ The average life span of United States citizens is determined not only by
deaths due to infectious diseases but also by deaths due to all other causes.
"¢ Comparing the United States to all United Nations member nations does not
address the concern that the U.S. is behind other advanced industrialized
nations in a particular way.
A is the credited answer because it bolsters the official's argument by providing an alternative explanation why the US is not as vulnerable to infectious disease as pointed out in the question stem. The high quality of a hospital (i.e., sanitation) does affect the public's vulnerability to infectious diseases.
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I found this thread online shortly after my post. The question has received some complaints and has been pulled by Manhattan for revision.
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/rec ... t1089.html
https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/rec ... t1089.html
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Guys,
even I chose D at first. But if you look deeply, statement D supports the official's point. D says, the average life span is determined by both infectious diseases and all other causes. So, we're not sure how does these infectious diseases alone affect the average life span.
Out of everything, A is kind of neutral.
Its a confusing, difficult question. I took more than 5 mins to answer this question. sigh!!
even I chose D at first. But if you look deeply, statement D supports the official's point. D says, the average life span is determined by both infectious diseases and all other causes. So, we're not sure how does these infectious diseases alone affect the average life span.
Out of everything, A is kind of neutral.
Its a confusing, difficult question. I took more than 5 mins to answer this question. sigh!!
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