Critical Reasoning

A newspaper recently reported the story of a group of hunters who found a heavily damaged mobile home suspended in the treetops in a forest. Although mobile homes in many towns in the surrounding area had recently been swept away by tornados, officials suspect that this particular mobile home came from nearby New City, which had been almost completely destroyed by a tornado three months earlier, on March 10th.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the officials' hypothesis about the origin of the mobile home?

-Many residents of New City and the surrounding areas live in trailer homes.
-A calendar found inside the mobile home was turned to March 10th.
-Weather stations widely reported the tornado of March 10th.
-Sales of this particular brand of mobile home have been very strong in New City and other surrounding towns for the past six months.
-Decals supporting the nearby State University football team were found on the mobile home.

[spoiler]interested in the answer choice D. any explanation?[/spoiler]

We are asked to support the hypothesis about the origin of the mobile home, so D seems fine.

D is definitely not the answer...matter of fact, I am not sure if any of those choices are correct.
what is the source of the problem? One might be able to make a case for B, but it requires some assumptions.

This is indeed a tough question.

Got stuck with two options B & D.

If I consider option D, it throws some information about the mobile home, whereas it also creates confusion as the home could be from surrounding areas rather than from New City.

Whereas Option B gives an edge over Option D as the calendar date was March 10th.

My take is Option B.

LalaB wrote:A newspaper recently reported the story of a group of hunters who found a heavily damaged mobile home suspended in the treetops in a forest. Although mobile homes in many towns in the surrounding area had recently been swept away by tornados, officials suspect that this particular mobile home came from nearby New City, which had been almost completely destroyed by a tornado three months earlier, on March 10th.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the officials' hypothesis about the origin of the mobile home?

-Many residents of New City and the surrounding areas live in trailer homes.
-A calendar found inside the mobile home was turned to March 10th.
-Weather stations widely reported the tornado of March 10th.
-Sales of this particular brand of mobile home have been very strong in New City and other surrounding towns for the past six months.
-Decals supporting the nearby State University football team were found on the mobile home.

[spoiler]interested in the answer choice D. any explanation?[/spoiler]

Conclusion: Mobile home came from near by city

B - supporting the premises that this mobile home is completely dstroyed by 10th March tornedo. BUT, It does not support the above conclusion

IMO D

This definitely is an odd question, I question the original source. Nonetheless, there are a few things I can definitely say:

(D) is not the answer. Sure mobile home sales have been strong for the last six months. But notice it says that sales have been strong in New City AND surrounding areas. Therefore, the mobile home could have come from the surrounding areas. Even if mobile home sales had been strong only in New City that doesn't mean that the mobile home came from there. Mobile homes have been sold for years, and could have came from any of the other cities. Or, since it is a mobile home, it could have been purchased in New City and then driven somewhere else. You can see that this answer choice has more holes than Swiss cheese.

(B) A calendar found inside the mobile was turned to March 10th

This is the best answer, but requires the sort of stretch you wouldn't want to make on the GMAT. That's why I always say bad questions are only hurting you. Use them at your peril.

Hope that helps .

chris@magoosh wrote:I question the original source.

the image is attached. kaplan is a source.

Nonetheless, there are a few things I can definitely say:
(D) is not the answer. Sure mobile home sales have been strong for the last six months. But notice it says that sales have been strong in New City AND surrounding areas.

yep, I didnt pay attention to the words "surrounding areas" ((

the OA is B, but I dont like this answer choice. I didnt choose it,since I thought that the calendar could be turned during that tornado. So, it is not a fact, that if the calendar showed March 10th, it was really March, 10th.

the OE is the following -

Identify the Question Type:

The phrase "most strongly supports the officials' hypothesis" indicates this is a Strengthen question. To strengthen the argument the answer choice will confirm that the home originated from New City.

Untangle the Stimulus:

The stem states that hunters found a damaged mobile home in the treetops. Mobile homes in the area had been damaged by tornadoes. The hypothesis is that this one came from New City and was damaged in the March 10th tornado.

Predict the Answer:

The correct answer will confirm that the home originated from New City.

Evaluate the Choices:

The correct answer is Answer Choice (B) because it provides a specific fact connecting this mobile home with a tornado that hit New City on March 10th.

Although choices (A) and (E) suggest the mobile home came from the general area, they do not specifically point to the March 10 tornado.

Choice (C) is incorrect because it simply restates that the tornado occurred on March 10th, but provides no link between this mobile home and that date.

Choice (D) is incorrect because it is too vague; it suggests that the mobile home may have been purchased locally within the last six months, but it does not confirm that the trailer was purchased before March 10th.

chris@magoosh wrote:This definitely is an odd question, I question the original source. Nonetheless, there are a few things I can definitely say:

(D) is not the answer. Sure mobile home sales have been strong for the last six months. But notice it says that sales have been strong in New City AND surrounding areas. Therefore, the mobile home could have come from the surrounding areas. Even if mobile home sales had been strong only in New City that doesn't mean that the mobile home came from there. Mobile homes have been sold for years, and could have came from any of the other cities. Or, since it is a mobile home, it could have been purchased in New City and then driven somewhere else. You can see that this answer choice has more holes than Swiss cheese.

(B) A calendar found inside the mobile was turned to March 10th

This is the best answer, but requires the sort of stretch you wouldn't want to make on the GMAT. That's why I always say bad questions are only hurting you. Use them at your peril.

Hope that helps .

Thank you for expert comment. pls, help
One way to strengthen an argument is to confirm the assumption-type 1. another way to strengthen an argument is to support the conclusion directly-type 2. In this problem, I see B strengthen the conclusion directly and is correct answer.
B is a strengthener type 2. is my thinking correct? experts, members, pls, confirm.

We needd how a strengthener work before fint it. It is clear there are 2 types of strengtheners. Is my thinking correct. pls, help /comment.

What do we want to strengthen
Mobile came from nearby New City OR Mobile came on 10th March.
I guess its former as evident from "officials suspect that this particular mobile home came from nearby New City"
B supports Mobile came on 10th March &
E supports Mobile came from nearby New City

So i choose E... what's wrong in this analysis

LalaB wrote:A newspaper recently reported the story of a group of hunters who found a heavily damaged mobile home suspended in the treetops in a forest. Although mobile homes in many towns in the surrounding area had recently been swept away by tornados, officials suspect that this particular mobile home came from nearby New City, which had been almost completely destroyed by a tornado three months earlier, on March 10th.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the officials' hypothesis about the origin of the mobile home?

-Many residents of New City and the surrounding areas live in trailer homes.
-A calendar found inside the mobile home was turned to March 10th.
-Weather stations widely reported the tornado of March 10th.
-Sales of this particular brand of mobile home have been very strong in New City and other surrounding towns for the past six months.
-Decals supporting the nearby State University football team were found on the mobile home.

[spoiler]interested in the answer choice D. any explanation?[/spoiler]

B is the correct option.
Conclusion: Mobile home came from New city.

D: Sales of this particular brand of mobile home have been very strong in New City and other surrounding towns for the past six months It gives us the possibility that the home could ve come from other cities as well. This will be the answer option in weaken type. not in strengthen case

B is correct because it confirm that home was destroyed on March 10. We have evidence in the argument that New City was destroyed on March 10. Hence B is the correct option.

As Ron from MGMAT says for CR one has to think logically not just follow a set of rules.
Primary skill: thinking logically.
Secondary: knowing the rules to identify incorrect and correct option (for using POE)
Most students follow the wrong order (they swap the primary and secondary skill order

What do you think of my response above your post

vikram4689 wrote:What do you think of my response above your post

I have written in my post why D is incorrect.

We have strengthen that the mobile home came from New City (not any other city)
AO E tells us that it could ve come from New City or any other city

GMAT Kolaveri wrote:I have written in my post why D is incorrect.
We have strengthen that the mobile home came from New City (not any other city)

I am not concerned about D.

I mistook State in E for New City. If following were the option then E would have been correct what say
Decals supporting the nearby New City University football team were found on the mobile home

Nice question, teaches us the benefits of careful reading.