Nest

This topic has expert replies
Legendary Member
Posts: 2326
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:54 am
Thanked: 173 times
Followed by:2 members
GMAT Score:710

Nest

by gmatmachoman » Wed Feb 10, 2010 8:41 am
Besides laying eggs in her own nest, any female wood duck will lay an egg in the nest of another female wood duck if she sees the other duck leaving her nest. Under natural nesting conditions, this parasitic behavior is relatively rare because the ducks' nests are well hidden.However, when people put up nesting boxes to help the ducks breed, they actually undercut the ducks'reproductive efforts. These nesting boxes become so crowded with extra eggs that few, if any, of the eggs in those boxes hatch.

The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following?

(A) Female wood ducks will establish nests in nest
boxes only when natural nesting sites are not
available.

(B) Nesting female wood ducks who often see other
female wood ducks are the most successful in
their breeding efforts.

(C) The nesting boxes for wood ducks have less space
for eggs than do natural nesting sites.

(D) The nesting boxes would be more effective in
helping wood ducks breed if they were less
visible to other wood ducks than they currently
are.

(E) Nesting boxes are needed to supplement the
natural nesting sites of wood ducks because of
the destruction of much of the ducks' habitat.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1578
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 8:02 am
Thanked: 128 times
Followed by:34 members
GMAT Score:760

by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Wed Feb 10, 2010 8:46 am
I would choose D

A- The passage does not support this. It doesn't state that the ducks only use the boxes when natural nests aren't available.

B- This is not supported by the passage. The passage only states that female ducks that see other female ducks leave will put their eggs in those ducks nests.

C- The two nests are never compared

D- Correct

E- This is beyond the scope of the passage.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/the-retake-o ... 51414.html

Brandon Dorsey
GMAT Instructor
Veritas Prep

Buy any Veritas Prep book(s) and receive access to 5 Practice Cats for free! Learn More.

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1560
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:38 am
Thanked: 137 times
Followed by:5 members

by thephoenix » Wed Feb 10, 2010 8:52 am
gmatmachoman wrote:
well for this i could not solve it in a st. way , i had to use POE


(A) Female wood ducks will establish nests in nest
boxes only when natural nesting sites are not
available.
the word only makes it extreme case hence eliminated

(B) Nesting female wood ducks who often see other
female wood ducks are the most successful in
their breeding efforts.
the word most makes it wrng as its not mention in stimulus


(C) The nesting boxes for wood ducks have less space
for eggs than do natural nesting sites.
fine

(D) The nesting boxes would be more effective in
helping wood ducks breed if they were less
visible to other wood ducks than they currently
are.
effectiveness of breeding oos


(E) Nesting boxes are needed to supplement the
natural nesting sites of wood ducks because of
the destruction of much of the ducks' habitat.
destruction of much of the ducks' habitat not mention

Legendary Member
Posts: 2326
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:54 am
Thanked: 173 times
Followed by:2 members
GMAT Score:710

by gmatmachoman » Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:20 am
@Pheonix,

How do u rate this one on a scale of 1-5?? This is a LSAT prep Cr

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1560
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:38 am
Thanked: 137 times
Followed by:5 members

by thephoenix » Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:28 am
gmatmachoman wrote:@Pheonix,

How do u rate this one on a scale of 1-5?? This is a LSAT prep Cr
truely speaking Must be true is an area where i always find myself struggling , surprisingly as per the Gmat guru's and many official books this is the easiest of all in CR section.
but for me this has been the toughest type In CR specially if it's from LSAT or KAPLAN

on a scale of 1-5 for me this sud be 5 or rather 10 :wink:

so wats the OA

Legendary Member
Posts: 941
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2009 12:28 am
Thanked: 20 times
Followed by:1 members

by bhumika.k.shah » Wed Feb 10, 2010 10:07 am
Hi ,
i Am not sure if my answer is the correct one
But i'd go with C

A - besides being too extreme is using the opposite idea then wht is explained in the text . Its talking about establishing nests in nest boxes. We are talking about wood duck laying eggs. ELIMINATE

B - most successful in their breeding efforts ? where is this even mentioned in the stimulus ? Besides it uses most . ELIMINATE

D - Since we did we start talking about the effectiveness in helping blah breed eggs :P ELIMINATE

E - where is this even mentioned in the stimulus ? One stimulus at a time people ! this itself is soo difficult to crack :P - ELIMINATE

I'd go with C - it directly follows from the conclusion .

Hope this is correct :-(

Just started with Powerscore! :)

Legendary Member
Posts: 941
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 2009 12:28 am
Thanked: 20 times
Followed by:1 members

by bhumika.k.shah » Wed Feb 10, 2010 10:11 am
Also there is a counter premise in this stimulus with the counter premise indicator being HOWEVER
bhumika.k.shah wrote:Hi ,
i Am not sure if my answer is the correct one
But i'd go with C

A - besides being too extreme is using the opposite idea then wht is explained in the text . Its talking about establishing nests in nest boxes. We are talking about wood duck laying eggs. ELIMINATE

B - most successful in their breeding efforts ? where is this even mentioned in the stimulus ? Besides it uses most . ELIMINATE

D - Since we did we start talking about the effectiveness in helping blah breed eggs :P ELIMINATE

E - where is this even mentioned in the stimulus ? One stimulus at a time people ! this itself is soo difficult to crack :P - ELIMINATE

I'd go with C - it directly follows from the conclusion .

Hope this is correct :-(

Just started with Powerscore! :)

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 758
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 9:32 pm
Location: Bangalore,India
Thanked: 67 times
Followed by:2 members

by sumanr84 » Wed Feb 10, 2010 10:14 am
IMO : C

For D, there is no proper conclusion present in the argument which says how hidden nests affect the breeding behavior. Hidden nest is linked only with the display of parasitic behavior of laying eggs.

Whats the OA ?

Legendary Member
Posts: 2326
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:54 am
Thanked: 173 times
Followed by:2 members
GMAT Score:710

by gmatmachoman » Wed Feb 10, 2010 10:52 pm