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CR question

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by jamesk486 » Sat Jun 02, 2007 9:29 am

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Answers

A

B

C

D

E

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Difficulty

Trancorp currently transports all its goods to Burland
Island by truck. The only bridge over the channel separating Burland from the mainland is congested, and trucks typically spend hours in traffic. Trains can reach the channel more quickly than trucks, and freight cars can be transported to Burland by barges that typically cross the channel in an hour. Therefore, to reduce shipping time, Trancorp plans to switch to trains and barges to transport goods to Burland.

Which of the following would be most important to know in determining whether Trancorp�s plan, if implemented, is likely to achieve its goal?
A: Whether transportation by train and barge would be substantially less expensive than transportation by truck.
B: Whether there are boats that can make the trip between the mainland and Burland faster than barges can
C: Whether loading the freight cars onto barges is very time consuming.
D: Whether the average number of vehicles traveling over the bridge into Burland has been relatively constant in recent years?
E: Whether most trucks transporting goods into Burland return to the mainland empty?
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |

by jayhawk2001 » Sat Jun 02, 2007 3:11 pm
Main concern is time. C seems to fit the bill.

OA please
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by f2001290 » Sun Jun 03, 2007 8:11 am
Jay - C deals only with barges and not with trains.

I am struck between C and D
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by jayhawk2001 » Sun Jun 03, 2007 8:18 am
f2001290 wrote:Jay - C deals only with barges and not with trains.

I am struck between C and D
I had the same dilemma myself :-).

In D, the answer to the question can be a simple "yes" or "no". If the
answer is "no" -- we still need to know whether the traffic volume is
lesser than what it is currently or greater. So, answer to this question
doesn't really help -- or so I thought :wink:
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by aashworth » Sun Feb 26, 2012 12:10 pm
D doesn't wouldn't help you determine if they will reduce shipping time as it directly states "the only bridge over the channel separating Burland from the mainland is congested, and trucks typically spends hours in traffic". So whether the average numbers of vehicles is constant in recent years doesn't matter since they typically spend hours in traffic.

C would be the most important to know as we are strictly concerned with shipping time. As the proposed plan is to switch to trains and barges what would be the most important thing to know to see if the plan would work? Well if the transportation time is much quicker using trains and barges but the loading time takes hours, then you won't reduce shipping time. If loading the the freight cars is quick then the plan will reduce shipping time.

I'm not a GMAT master, this is just the way I evaluated the problem. Also, my first post so any feedback is appreciated.
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by [email protected] » Sun Feb 26, 2012 7:36 pm
We need to determine whether Transcorp will achieve its goal of reducing shipping time.
A.This might lower costs-but it is not directly relevant to the Transcorp's goal.
B Tt has nothing to do with whether the current plan will reduce shipping time.
C This statement properly identifies something that would be important in determining whether Trancorp's plan will achieve its goal.
D According to the information provided in the passage, the bridge is congested and typically causes trucking delays. Given this information, the degree of variation is not helpful in evaluating Transcorp's plan.
E Irrelavent.

IMO C
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by hideyoshi_mba » Mon Feb 27, 2012 7:54 am
IMO C
~hideyoshi
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