Weaken

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Weaken

by beater » Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:28 am
It is better for the environment if as much of all packaging as possible is made from materials that are biodegradable in landfills. Therefore, it is always a change for the worse to replace packaging made from paper or cardboard with packaging made from plastics that are not biodegradable in landfills.
Which of the following, if true, constitutes the strongest objection to the argument above?
(A) The paper and cardboard used in packaging are usually not biodegradable in landfills.
(B) Some plastic used in packaging is biodegradable in landfills.
(C) In many landfills, a significant proportion of space is taken up by materials other than discarded packaging materials.
(D) It is impossible to avoid entirely the use of packaging materials that are not biodegradable in landfills.
(E) Sometimes, in packaging an item, plastics that are not biodegradable in landfills are combined with cardboard.

OA - A
Last edited by beater on Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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by S0laris » Tue Mar 10, 2009 11:48 am
IMO it's E
A-contradicts to the premise
B-same reason as A
C-rather supports
D- too extreme
E- may be is not perfect, though conclusion claims that - "It is always a change.....". Introduced by "Sometimes .... package isn't made of solid plastic.....", E slightly questions extremal "Always".
maybe I'm wrong, what is OA ?
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by dendude » Tue Mar 10, 2009 1:52 pm
IMO A.

A constitutes the strongest objection between A & B.
The argument assumes that cardboard and paper used in packaging are bio-degradable.
What is they are actually not? Then it would not be a change for the worse (meaning it would still be bad, but not worse) to switch.

I did not choose B because of the word "Some"

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by manoj0609 » Tue Mar 10, 2009 4:21 pm
Agreed totally . the answer should be A .
It is only points which opposes the argument by saying cardboard and paper used in packaging are non bio-degradable.

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by S0laris » Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:16 am
It seems like A is the right one indeed, I didn't notice stuff about packaging (
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by beater » Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:31 am
I was stuck between A/B and wasn't able to determine the best option - selected B finally!.

The way I look at it, A uses the adverb 'usually' which is quite dangerous. Meaning, usually could also mean very rarely in this instance. What say?

I had the same issue with B. B uses Some plastic, , which includes the possiblity of NONE to ALL plastic.

I probably over thinking, but let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

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IMO B

by alto34 » Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:03 am
Hi,

Same as you I hesitated between A and B, but in the end I choosed B.

Answer A says that "Paper and Cardboard are not biodegradable. But it doesn't give us any clue if Paper and Cardboard are a worse or a better choice than plastic.

Answer B tells us that some plastic are biodegradable. Therefore we can conclude that Plastic can be sometimes a good choice regarding the first premise.

What is OA?
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by dgr8onerip » Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:23 am
IMO-a

IT RAISES THE STRONGEST OBJECTION
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by beater » Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:27 am
What is your definition of a strong objection. Can you elaborate?

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Re: Weaken

by dgr8onerip » Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:09 am
beater wrote:It is better for the environment if as much of all packaging as possible is made from materials that are biodegradable in landfills. Therefore, it is always a change for the worse to replace packaging made from paper or cardboard with packaging made from plastics that are not biodegradable in landfills.
Which of the following, if true, constitutes the strongest objection to the argument above?
(A) The paper and cardboard used in packaging are usually not biodegradable in landfills.
(B) Some plastic used in packaging is biodegradable in landfills.
(C) In many landfills, a significant proportion of space is taken up by materials other than discarded packaging materials.
(D) It is impossible to avoid entirely the use of packaging materials that are not biodegradable in landfills.
(E) Sometimes, in packaging an item, plastics that are not biodegradable in landfills are combined with cardboard.
the question states-
it is better to put biodegradable stuff in landfills
it says hence it will be bad for the environment if we put plastics which are non-biodegradable instead of cardboard
the question never states that cardboard is biodegradable or not..

the option A says that most cardboard and paper are non-biodegradable
hence it opposes the point that changing from paper to plastic is bad
the situation is already bad. According to A, plastics will almost equal problems as paper
target score- anything above 700
preferably above 750
gmat prep 1- 710
powerprep 1- 730
barrons test 1- 760
kaplan test 1- 620 (lol)
kaplan test 2- 680
score 800 1-720
score 800 2- 730
score 800 3-750
score 800 4-720
score 800 5- 710
gmat prep 1 (retake)- 710
gmat prep 2- 730
gmat prep 2 (retake)- 720
actual gmat - 770 :)

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by tanviet » Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:25 pm
B contradict the evidence because the argurment said mention the plastics which is not biodegradable.

A or E is correct? pls, help

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by tanviet » Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:33 pm
E is also contradict evidence because argument cover only packings which is from plastics only not from combination

B, E contradict evidence

A is correct

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A

by gmat740 » Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:59 pm

I will go with A



The two strong contenders for this answer is Option A and B.
The reason behind my choice is that nothing is said about the Paper and cardboard used in Landfills.They might not necessarily be biodegradable.
This is the trick which most of GMAT questions of this type have.

We should not assume anything until it has been clearly stated :o

As for answer B.

In the conclusion itself plastics that are not biodegradable in landfills. so this option gets naturally out as the author has clearly stated about the kind of plastics he is talking about

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by vanessa.m » Sat May 14, 2016 2:28 am
Answer A seems to be logical one out of other answer choices