Beat The GMAT a GMAT & MBA community

A/A/E

A,C,E.

I had originally put A, B, E,
However, with regard to 2) after re-reading the passage I picked up on something that I missed the first time around; namely, that the final sentence of the last passage does refer directly to the view held by lawyers and how it differs to that of cognitive psychologists.

In hindsight I think 2) should be A

OA please

Excellent explanation. Thanks a lot!

IMO AAE
I admit that for 2 i was not sure but i found it later. Answer to this is not stated directly. Following line states the reason why A in 2 is correct:
cognitive psychologists can describe the kinds of inferential errors a person or a group is likely to make.

_________________
Premise: If you like my post
Conclusion : Press the Thanks Button

Dear Vivian,

I want to hear and see the CORRECT ANSWERS. I and we all know the way we need to look at during searching the answers. Can you tell me OPENLY what the correct choices for these questions.

Regards,

Tuba

1 - (A)
2 - (A)
3 - (E)

_________________
Follow your passion, Success as perceived by others shall follow you

[quote="VivianKerr"]What were your notes for this passage? Try to break it down first, filling in the following Passage Map:

Topic: _______
Scope:_______
Overall Purpose:________

Function of 1st P: to_________
Function of 2nd P: to_________
Function of 3rd P: to__________

Author's POV:__________

Then for each question:

Rephrase:__________
Prediction:___________

This will help for every long passage: http://grockit.com/blog/gre/2010/12/16/note-taking-for-gre-long-passages/

I think your confusion comes from a lack of notes - let me know if you have anymore questions![/quote]

Thanks Vivan! That helps..

I got the answers for 1st and last question as (A) and (E) but I could not infer anything about lawyers as only one line is devoted to them in the entire passage. Can somebody please explain how do you arrive at the inference given in (A).

_________________
Follow your passion, Success as perceived by others shall follow you

IMO
1.A
2.A
3.E

Possible explainaton for qn2. could be as below.

Que2 : “It can be inferred from the passage that the author would be most likely to agree with which of the following generalizations about lawyers?”

(A) They have a less sophisticated understanding of human cognition than do psychologists.
If we focus on the last sentence of the pasaage, it says that "...because it ignores the research and conclusions of psychologists in favor of notions about human cognition held by lawyers." This means that pschologists are doing a reseach and study on human cognitive notions held by lawyers indictaing that they have a greater understanding of human cognition as compared to lawyers. Hence Option (A) looks to be correct, lets park this.

(B) They often present complex or voluminous information merely in order to confuse a jury.
Focus on the phrase "merely in order to". Nowhere does the passage indicate that the lawyers present the evidence merely to confuse the jury.Hence this cannot be correct.

(C) They are no better at making logical inferences from the testimony at a trial than are most judges.
Nowhere does the passage suggest a comparison between lawyers and judges in making inferences at a trial. Hence option C is also out.

(D) They have worked to help judges minimize jury inferential error.
Lawyers have worked to provide evidence that help jury to make correct judgements but not explicitely helping judge in minimizing inferrential errors. Sometimes, the evidence provided by lawyers further confuses the judge. Hence the option D seems to be out.

(E) They are unrealistic about the ability of jurors to ascertain the truth.
This is out of scope. Not discussed in passage. So option (E) is out as well.

Based on above logic, option (A) should be the correct answer.

GMAT instructors, please guide us with the final answers.

Regards
Nitin

Que3. “The author would be most likely to agree with which one of the following generalizations about a jury’s decisionmaking process?”

(A) The more evidence a jury has, the more likely it is that the jury will reach a reliable verdict.
This point is actually opposite to what was discussed in the passage. The passage talks about the inferential errors jury makes when considering the evidence. In para 2, it is mentioned that "Finally, complex or voluminous evidence might be so confusing to a jury that its members would draw totally unwarranted conclusions or even ignore the evidence entirely." This can be eliminated.

(B) Juries usually overestimate the value of visual evidence such as photographs.

Although there is some line regarding visual evidence in para 2 "a jury may give more probative weight than objective analysis would allow to vivid photographic evidence" , the option is an extreme case of this statement.

(C) Jurors have preconceptions about the behavior of defendants that prevent them from making an objective analysis of the evidence in a criminal trial.

same as B

(D) Most of the jurors who make inferential errors during a trial do so because they are unaccustomed to having to make difficult decisions based on inferences.

In para 1, "By applying the same cognitive tools they have developed and used over a lifetime, jurors engage in the inferential exercise that lawyers call fact-finding".. This makes it clear that the jurors are clearly accustomed to make decisions.

(E) The manner in which evidence is presented to a jury may influence the jury either to overestimate or to underestimate the value of that evidence.

This is the correct answer. This is the point that is referred to in para2 . "Finally, complex or voluminous evidence might be so confusing to a jury that its members would draw totally unwarranted conclusions or even ignore the evidence entirely."

Topic - Inferential Errors committed by juries in decision making.
Scope - Causes of above errors namely over valued or undervalued the actual evidence.
Overall Purpose - Discussing the cause, concern and situation in which inferential error is committed.


Function of 1st P: to
Distracting evidence and long applied fact finding process obscure rather than reveal the truth.

Function of 2nd P: to
Decision made by jurors is based more on probability than on objective analysis. Voluminous data distract jury and force them to take wrong decision.

Function of 3rd P: to
Cognitive psychology helps to identify the sets of error a person can make in given situation. This can help court to check jurors reliability.
Function of 4th P: to
Judges today employ limited (to certain boundaries) and primitive (discard cognitive method) concept of inferential error.

Author's POV: Inferential errors are caused due to applying misleading, voluminous and probability evidence rather than specific, cognitive and objective evaluation.


Then for each question:

Q1: A

Rephrase: Main idea of passage
Prediction: Inferential errors caused by jurors in bounded situation (Situation created by judges by presenting distracted, misleading and over/under valued evidence)

Q2 : E
Rephrase: authors view point
Prediction: Author may agree with “Lawyers mislead the jurors and force them to take wrong decision by presenting voluminous and distracting evidence”

Q3: E
Rephrase - authors comment on decision making
Prediction - decision making is generally lean towards presentation of evidence in court. Lawyers present it in such a manner that they force jurors to either over value or under value the actual importance of evidence.
Hope this helps!!!

_________________
If you cant explain it simply you dont understand it well enough!!!
- Genius

AAE. Delighted, I got it right the first time!

I think for Q1, none of the choices present the main idea. each of the answer choice points to a certain para of the passage.

I could not understand why A for Q1. thanks