1000CR Test D Question 7

Expert replies

jrbrown2: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 103; Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2007 7:10 pm; Location: Brooklyn, NY; Thanked: 2 times

by jrbrown2 » Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:28 am

The postal service is badly mismanaged. Forty years ago, first-class letter delivery cost only three cents. Since then, the price has increased nearly tenfold, with an actual decrease in the speed and reliability of service.

Each of the following statements, if true, would tend to weaken the argument above EXCEPT:

(A) The volume of mail handled by the postal service has increased dramatically over the last forty years.
(B) Unprecedented increases in the cost of fuel for trucks and planes have put severe upward pressures on postal delivery costs.
(C) Private delivery services usually charge more than does the postal service for comparable delivery charges.
(D) The average delivery time for a first-class letter four decades ago was actually slightly longer than it is today.
(E) The average level of consumer prices overall has increased more than 300 percent over the last forty years.

OA will come after a few explanations

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:28 am

jrbrown2: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 103; Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2007 7:10 pm; Location: Brooklyn, NY; Thanked: 2 times

by jrbrown2 » Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:49 am

A) The volume of mail handled by the postal service has increased dramatically over the last forty years- Strengths, since there are more letters the speed is slower now
(B) Unprecedented increases in the cost of fuel for trucks and planes have put severe upward pressures on postal delivery costs- Strengths
(C) Private delivery services usually charge more than does the postal service for comparable delivery charges. – out of scope, we don’t care about private delivery services
(D) The average delivery time for a first-class letter four decades ago was actually slightly longer than it is today. – This will weaken the argument, before the delivery of the mail was slower than now
(E) The average level of consumer prices overall has increased more than 300 percent over the last forty years.- Too general and again, this justified why the postal service rates have increased

Anwser is D

This is a "weaken except" question not a "weaken the argument" question

jayhawk2001: Community Manager; Posts: 789; Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 3:51 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Location: Silicon valley, California; Thanked: 30 times

by jayhawk2001 » Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:19 pm

A, B and D clearly weaken the argument.

In E, average consumer prices have gone up 3 fold while postal prices
have gone up 10 fold. So, it doesn't weaken the argument.

In C, there's no correlation between price and reliability of the current
postal service. So, it is rather orthogonal to the main argument.

Between C and E, E seems to be more pertinent.

hopefully: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 75; Joined: Tue Jun 12, 2007 5:35 am; Thanked: 2 times

by hopefully » Fri Jul 13, 2007 1:52 am

The argument says POST OFFICE is doing poorly...
Only D says that it is actually doing better ....

A - They work more hence more errors
B- Cost increased due to other factors
C- Private delivery - Out of scope
E- Same as B..

OA Plz....

jrbrown2: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 103; Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2007 7:10 pm; Location: Brooklyn, NY; Thanked: 2 times

by jrbrown2 » Fri Jul 13, 2007 6:12 pm

OA is E

gsc: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 9; Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2007 4:54 pm; Location: USA

Explaination of CR

by gsc » Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:25 pm

jrbrown2 wrote:OA is E

It should Be E because that choice is straw man to weaken the argumet which is not considered good hence not able to weaken.

Ozlemg: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 407; Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2011 9:19 amFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 25 times

by Ozlemg » Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:46 am

jrbrown2 wrote:The postal service is badly mismanaged. Forty years ago, first-class letter delivery cost only three cents. Since then, the price has increased nearly tenfold, with an actual decrease in the speed and reliability of service.

Each of the following statements, if true, would tend to weaken the argument above EXCEPT:

(A) The volume of mail handled by the postal service has increased dramatically over the last forty years.
(B) Unprecedented increases in the cost of fuel for trucks and planes have put severe upward pressures on postal delivery costs.
(C) Private delivery services usually charge more than does the postal service for comparable delivery charges.
(D) The average delivery time for a first-class letter four decades ago was actually slightly longer than it is today.
(E) The average level of consumer prices overall has increased more than 300 percent over the last forty years.

OA will come after a few explanations

I think both A and E strenghtrn (not weaken) argument. Why A is not true?

The more you suffer before the test, the less you will do so in the test!

Ozlemg: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 407; Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2011 9:19 amFollowed by: 7 members; Thanked: 25 times

by Ozlemg » Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:47 am

jrbrown2 wrote:The postal service is badly mismanaged. Forty years ago, first-class letter delivery cost only three cents. Since then, the price has increased nearly tenfold, with an actual decrease in the speed and reliability of service.

Each of the following statements, if true, would tend to weaken the argument above EXCEPT:

(A) The volume of mail handled by the postal service has increased dramatically over the last forty years.
(B) Unprecedented increases in the cost of fuel for trucks and planes have put severe upward pressures on postal delivery costs.
(C) Private delivery services usually charge more than does the postal service for comparable delivery charges.
(D) The average delivery time for a first-class letter four decades ago was actually slightly longer than it is today.
(E) The average level of consumer prices overall has increased more than 300 percent over the last forty years.

OA will come after a few explanations

I think both A and E strenghtrn (not weaken) argument. Why A is not true?

The more you suffer before the test, the less you will do so in the test!

GmatKiss: Legendary Member; Posts: 2789; Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:19 amFollowed by: 43 members; Location: Chennai, India; Thanked: 206 times; GMAT Score:640

by GmatKiss » Tue Jul 26, 2011 10:44 am

IMO:E

A is also a candidate, but is negated by the price factor in E.

The argument has price as the primary concern, the price has increased nearly tenfold
Hence E wins over A

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