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An annually conducted, nationwide survey

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An annually conducted, nationwide survey

by spider » Sat Apr 14, 2012 4:32 am
An annually conducted, nationwide survey shows a continuing marked decline in the use of illegal drugs by high school seniors over the last three years.

Which of the following, if true, would provide most support for concluding from the survey results described above that the use of illegal drugs by people below the age of 20 is declining?
(A) Changes in the level of drug use by high school seniors are seldom matched by changes in the level of drug use by other people below the age of 20.
(B) In the past, high school seniors were consistently the population group most likely to use illegal drugs and most likely to use them heavily.
(C) The percentage of high school seniors who use illegal drugs is consistently very similar to the percentage of all people below the age of 20 who use illegal drugs.
(D) The decline revealed by the surveys is the result of drug education programs specifically targeted at those below the age of 20.
(E) The number of those surveyed who admit to having sold illegal drugs has declined even faster than has the number who have used drugs.

Can anyone help me understand this?
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by bittu.0807 » Sun Apr 15, 2012 3:45 am
IMO C

Premise: survey shows there is a decline in the use of illegal drugs among high school seniors.
Conclusion: Use of illegal drugs by people below 20 yrs is declining.

I tried to find the answer where these two groups are well connected.
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by GmatKiss » Sun Apr 15, 2012 4:01 am
IMO: D, please post OA and OE
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by GMAT Kolaveri » Sun Apr 15, 2012 4:15 am
I narrowed it down to B and C.
Between B and C, B is the correct OA.

Please post the OA and OE.
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by bittu.0807 » Sun Apr 15, 2012 4:43 am
A. Changes in the level of drug is not relevant.
B. Why we are concerned about what happened in the past? Also, does not say anything about why the usage of illegal drugs is declining among people below the age 20.
C. It provided an explanation, if the percentage is same, it is most likely, use of illegal drugs by people below the age of 20 will decline.
D. Don't care about the program - there is not link between decline in the usage of illegal drugs in high school seniors and the usage of the illegal drugs below the age of 20 years.
E. No link as explained above.
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by dipzzz » Mon Apr 16, 2012 1:08 am
IMO C

illegal drug usage by high school seniors is declining

we need to conclude that use of illegal drugs by people below the age of 20 is declining


therefore if we can find a link between high school seniors and people below the age of 20, we can safely derive the required conclusion

Option C provides that link...
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by [email protected] » Mon Apr 16, 2012 8:57 am
An annually conducted, nationwide survey shows a continuing marked decline in the use of illegal drugs by high school seniors over the last three years.

Which of the following, if true, would provide most support for concluding from the survey results described above that the use of illegal drugs by people below the age of 20 is declining?
(A) Changes in the level of drug use by high school seniors are seldom matched by changes in the level of drug use by other people below the age of 20.
(B) In the past, high school seniors were consistently the population group most likely to use illegal drugs and most likely to use them heavily.
(C) The percentage of high school seniors who use illegal drugs is consistently very similar to the percentage of all people below the age of 20 who use illegal drugs.
(D) The decline revealed by the surveys is the result of drug education programs specifically targeted at those below the age of 20.
(E) The number of those surveyed who admit to having sold illegal drugs has declined even faster than has the number who have used drugs.


This is a strengthen question or you could also say a Supporter Assumption question...

Here in this stimulus you are given data about one sub-group and asked to prove for some other sub-group...

We are given the declining use of illegal drugs data for the high school seniors. But we are asked the data for the decline in the use of illegal drugs for the age group below 20 years.

So logically there should be a relationship between the two sub-groups. Only option C does it..

Anyways we will discuss each and every option in detail.

Option A: Weakens the argument or goes against the relationship that is to be formed between the two sub-groups.

Option B: Does not affect the argument at all as it is just a repitation of the premise given in the stimulus. The stimulus specifically says that in the past 3 years the use of illegal drugs has gone down. So its just a different way of saying that initially the use of illegal drugs was very high...

Option C: Forms a strong relationship between the two sub-groups.

Option D: This explains the cause mentioned in the premise of the argument.

Option E: Simply an out of scope argument after reading the stimulus of the argument.

Hence C.

In this question, the stimulus was more like an assumption question.

eg: All people living in Goa drink Fenie.

Hence Mona drinks Fenie.

Basic assumption is that : Mona lives in France.

SO that bridges the gap between the two sub-groups or the two categories...

Hope this helps.
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