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OG RC #40 Firms and Guarantee Unconditional

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OG RC #40 Firms and Guarantee Unconditional

by mundasingh123 » Sat Jun 11, 2011 2:23 am
https://books.google.com/books?id=W5XOhZ ... &q&f=false
Kindly refer to Q40 Option D says "The adverse effect of poor performance by the firm are significant for the client " But the passage says
Particularly for the first time clients , an unconditional guarantee can be an effective marketing tool if the client is very cautious ,the firms fees are high , the negative consequences of bad service are grave or business is difficult to obtain through referrals and word-of-mouth "
It appears as if the negative consequences of bad service are grave for the firm offering the unconditional guarantee on service .This is also possible as is implied by the last Line
Isnt Every word in the answer choice supposed to be justified by the passage ?This makes D the OA for 40 .
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by Ilana@EconomistGMAT » Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:03 am
The correct answer choice for this question should be A, not D. Answer choice A mentions a point NOT addressed in the relevant part of the passage at all, and therefore provides a correct answer to this EXCEPT question.

Why did you go wrong? First - you didn't go wrong altogether: You are looking at the correct portion of the passage for the answer, but seem to have misunderstood the relevant part of the sentence. The statement that "the negative consequences of bad service are grave" refers to the negative consequences for the client - not for the firm. This portion of the sentence is parallel to all the other factors that make an unconditional guarantee an effective marketing tool. Effective marketing is all about what affects the client - not the firm.

Basically, answer choices B through E are fairly straightforward paraphrases of the information in the relevant sentence, so the process of choosing correctly involves (a) finding the relevant sentence (which you did successfully), and then (b) matching each answer choice with the corresponding bit of information in the relevant and eliminating all the answers choice that have correspondences in the passage. When you have eliminated B, C, D and E, - double check A to see that indeed nothing in the relevant sentence corresponds to the idea that such firms are having difficulty retaining clients.
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by mundasingh123 » Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:09 am
Ilana@MasterGMAT wrote:The correct answer choice for this question should be A, not D. Answer choice A mentions a point NOT addressed in the relevant part of the passage at all, and therefore provides a correct answer to this EXCEPT question.

Why did you go wrong? First - you didn't go wrong altogether: You are looking at the correct portion of the passage for the answer, but seem to have misunderstood the relevant part of the sentence. The statement that "the negative consequences of bad service are grave" refers to the negative consequences for the client - not for the firm. This portion of the sentence is parallel to all the other factors that make an unconditional guarantee an effective marketing tool. Effective marketing is all about what affects the client - not the firm.

Basically, answer choices B through E are fairly straightforward paraphrases of the information in the relevant sentence, so the process of choosing correctly involves (a) finding the relevant sentence (which you did successfully), and then (b) matching each answer choice with the corresponding bit of information in the relevant and eliminating all the answers choice that have correspondences in the passage. When you have eliminated B, C, D and E, - double check A to see that indeed nothing in the relevant sentence corresponds to the idea that such firms are having difficulty retaining clients.
Ilana You said check in the relevant sentence whether choice A is present or not . Cant information in choice A be mentioned somewhere else in the passage .

Ilana You said check in the relevant sentence whether choice A is present or not . Cant information in choice A be mentioned somewhere else in the passage .

You said
This portion of the sentence is parallel to all the other factors that make an unconditional guarantee an effective marketing tool.

But the factors namely "The firms fees are high " could mean implications for the service company as well.
The fees are high and this is why the firm finds it difficult to procure new clients

Also " Business is difficult to get through referrals and word - of - mouth " is an implication for The service firm .It says how difficult is procuring business for the service firms . This doesnt convey any difficulty for the client
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by Ilana@EconomistGMAT » Mon Jun 13, 2011 4:48 am
Regarding the location of the information - this is an issue that is very important to understand about Reading Comprehension questions. Questions fall into distinct types and formats, and if you correctly identify the question type, this can save you precious time in locating the information you need. The words "are mentioned" and the EXCEPT format are cues that tell you that this is a question focused on localized detail. The correct strategy is to use the "key word" in the question (in this case the "benefits of offering an unconditional guarantee"), and then to search only in the sentence that contains that information (and in harder passage perhaps 1-2 sentences before and after). In this case - a not very hard passage - the detail you need is clumped together in one sentence.
If you begin to travel all over the passage in search of additional information you are falling into precisely the time-wasting trap that the ACT writers are hoping you fall into.

As for the information in the sentence: this is a question of maintaining a consistent point of view when the language is non-explicit (you are right that "fees are high" does not explicitly refer to either client or firm). But ask yourself: Whose perspective is being advanced in this context by mentioning that the fees are high? This fact is mentioned because the high fees are a deterrent to potential clients. The impact of high fees on the firm is not relevant in this context. The unconditional guarantee is meant to compensate for the client's natural reluctance to pay high fees. Therefore, consistent with the perspective presented at the beginning of this sentence, the mention of this fact is oriented to the client's concerns.
As for the business's difficulty, mentioned later in the same sentence - you are right that this point oriented to the business's perspective, but the difference is that the language here is explicit and non-ambiguous. The words "business is difficult to obtain" explicitly shifts the perspective to the firm, as they cannot possibly or logically refer to the potential client.
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by mundasingh123 » Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:23 am
Ilana , You said depending on the question type all the information is actually just localized detail and will be found clumped in 1 place .
The second Para tells us about those firms who will not find this strategy of providing unconditional guarantee useful because they lack certain desired factors For example Lack of desire to appear sophisticated , services with guaranteed outcomes unlike Law/Health.
Cant we indirectly say that firms with these desired factors will find the strategy handy .
Then in that case the 2nd para could also contain information relevant to this question .
I hope i am clear else i could elaborate further on what exactly i am trying to ask You
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by Ilana@EconomistGMAT » Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:43 am
If you were expected to use that information (from para 2), the question stem would tip you off by phrasing the question as an INFERENCE question. Note that the mere inversion of the term ("Lack") is enough to show you that the answer can't just be read directly off the passage, but needs to be INFERRED. Inference questions can be recognized because they use the words "suggest" and "imply" in the question stem. Where the question stem uses the verb "mentioned" (as in the question that started off this thread), this indicates that you are face to face with a DETAIL question, in which the the information is out there for grabbing - (but just reworded and paraphrased in the answer choice).

I did not mean to imply that all questions can be answered from localized information. Only those question types that fall under a broader type (what we at Master GMAT call "Specific Questions") can be answered by narrowing down and localizing a section of the passage that should yield the answer. The other broad type is "General Question" -which require you to integrate information from different parts of the passage. Examples are "Main Idea" questions, or "structure and logic" questions.
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by mundasingh123 » Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:50 am
Ilana@MasterGMAT wrote:If you were expected to use that information (from para 2), the question stem would tip you off by phrasing the question as an INFERENCE question. Note that the mere inversion of the term ("Lack") is enough to show you that the answer can't just be read directly off the passage, but needs to be INFERRED. Inference questions can be recognized because they use the words "suggest" and "imply" in the question stem. Where the question stem uses the verb "mentioned" (as in the question that started off this thread), this indicates that you are face to face with a DETAIL question, in which the the information is out there for grabbing - (but just reworded and paraphrased in the answer choice).
Thanks Ilana , This was very valuable info . 1 Final question. Isnt the info that could be derived and used from Para 2 , paraphrased ?U said the question needed to be an inference question for the Info from Phase 2 to be applicable
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by Ilana@EconomistGMAT » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:14 am
No, an inference and a paraphrase are not the same thing. A paraphrase is just the use of synonymous phrasing, for example: The author supports the view that...can be paraphrased as "the scholar favors the opinion" - no inference involved. An inference must be "derived" - there is a logical operation involved, for example: inversion. If the passage says: "The author favors X" an inference would be "The author opposes NOT X".

The discrimination about which paragraph to use is very simple in the case of this passage. Only paragraph 1 directly discusses the benefits of unconditional guarantees. This corresponds to the requirement of the DETAIL question that asks about benefits. Para 2 talks about how unconditional guarantees can hinder marketing efforts. This does not correspond to the question that asks you about benefits "mentioned' (directly). This word "hinder" should immediately - send you on an about-turn to the first paragraph. The implementation of these strategies for cutting down time spent on Reading Comprehension question requires that you truly believe that this is the underlying "code" according to which the passages and questions are written. Try it out on a few passages, and watch it in action...
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by mundasingh123 » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:23 am
Ilana, What about the Logic that i wrote
The second Para tells us about those firms who will not find this strategy of providing unconditional guarantee useful because they lack certain desired factors For example Lack of desire to appear sophisticated , services with guaranteed outcomes unlike Law/Health.
Cant we indirectly say that firms with these desired factors will find the strategy handy .
Then in that case the 2nd para could also contain information relevant to this question .
I hope i am clear else i could elaborate further on what exactly i am trying to ask You
Wouldnt this have been correct had it been an inference question ?
Last edited by mundasingh123 on Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by Ilana@EconomistGMAT » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:26 am
The key to your question is in the way you phrased it: "indirectly". Since the information is "indirectly" derived - it is an inference. This question does not want an inference. It wants direct information.
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by mundasingh123 » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:29 am
Ilana@MasterGMAT wrote:The key to your question is in the way you phrased it: "indirectly". Since the information is "indirectly" derived - it is an inference. This question does not want an inference. It wants direct information.
Sorry Ilana I edited my question . Sorry for the mistake .I didnt want you to explain in loops. So Had this been an inference question , the info in Phase 2 could have been applicable .
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by Ilana@EconomistGMAT » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:35 am
If the question were phrased as an inference question (using "suggest/implies"), you would have been able to apply the information from para 2. Most likely, the question stem would also include some other clue - contained in the phrasing - directing you to para 2. However, we also know that all question types can vary in difficulty. A moderate difficulty question might give you clearer cues to narrow down where to look. A more difficult question might leave you guessing a bit about where precisely to look or require you to collect bits of information from different paragraph.
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by mundasingh123 » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:40 am
Ilana@MasterGMAT wrote:If the question were phrased as an inference question (using "suggest/implies"), you would have been able to apply the information from para 2. Most likely, the question stem would also include some other clue - contained in the phrasing - directing you to para 2. However, we also know that all question types can vary in difficulty. A moderate difficulty question might give you clearer cues to narrow down where to look. A more difficult question might leave you guessing a bit about where precisely to look or require you to collect bits of information from different paragraph.
Thanks Ilana You were a great help on this RC .Thanks
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