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Train service suffers!

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by gmat_perfect » Fri Jul 09, 2010 8:00 pm
Train service suffers when a railroad combines commuter and freight service. By dividing its attention between its freight and commuter customers, a railroad serves neither particularly well. Therefore, if a railroad is going to be a successful business, then it must concentrate exclusively on one of these two markets.

For the argument to be logically correct, it must make which one of the following assumptions?

(A) Commuter and freight service have little in common with each other.
(B) The first priority of a railroad is to be a successful business.
(C) Unless a railroad serves its customers well, it will not be a successful business.
(D) If a railroad concentrates on commuter service, it will be a successful business.
(E) Railroad commuters rarely want freight service as well.

My question:

Why A is not the answer?

Thanks.
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by pradeepkaushal9518 » Fri Jul 09, 2010 9:16 pm
argument's logic

1. rail road when combines both commuter and freight service the train service sufers.
2. it divides it attention between freight and commuter customers hence it serve neither well
3.hence it has to concentrate on only one.

option A :- commuter and freight service have little common with each other.


what is the effect of this on the above logics? i think nothing. even if they have more common in between then also rail road has to serve one exclusively then they can be successful.

imo E may be correct.

whats the oa?
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by hardik.jadeja » Fri Jul 09, 2010 9:17 pm
Pick C.

Fact: Railroad is not able to serve its customer well.

Conclusion- If a railroad is going to be a successful business, then it must concentrate exclusively on one of these two markets in order to serve its customers well.

Option A says that commuter and freight service have little in common with each other. If we negate A, it doesn't weaken the conclusion. Even if both the services have a lot in common, but it's given as a fact that railroad is not able to serve its customers well. We can't deny this fact.

The argument here is that the railroad is not going to be successful in future, since the railroad is not able to serve its customer well. If we negate C, then C says that railroad can be successfully even without serving its customers well. This argument weakens the conclusion without denying the fact that railroad is serving its customers well. So pick C.

Hope that helps..
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by pradeepkaushal9518 » Fri Jul 09, 2010 9:31 pm
i also thought of C but here my point is that

why train service is not successful when it combines both commuter and freight service.
what is the problem in combining commuter and freight service?

The answer may be railroad commuters rarely want freight service as well.

hence the argument says that if the train service has to be successful it has to concentrate only on one of the services. when they combine they wont get desired output.

hence i thought this may be the assumption for the argument to be logically correct
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by apex231 » Fri Jul 09, 2010 9:31 pm
C looks good -> Railroad business doesn't do well because after merging both the services it is not able to serve both commuter and freight customers well. So for a business to be successful it should service customers well.

A -> commuter and freight service may have little in common with each other but that doesn't mean this the only reason why railroad is not able to offer good commuter and freight service.
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by reply2spg » Thu Jul 22, 2010 11:41 am
IMO B

what is OA?
gmat_perfect wrote:Train service suffers when a railroad combines commuter and freight service. By dividing its attention between its freight and commuter customers, a railroad serves neither particularly well. Therefore, if a railroad is going to be a successful business, then it must concentrate exclusively on one of these two markets.

For the argument to be logically correct, it must make which one of the following assumptions?

(A) Commuter and freight service have little in common with each other.
(B) The first priority of a railroad is to be a successful business.
(C) Unless a railroad serves its customers well, it will not be a successful business.
(D) If a railroad concentrates on commuter service, it will be a successful business.
(E) Railroad commuters rarely want freight service as well.

My question:

Why A is not the answer?

Thanks.
Sudhanshu
(have lot of things to learn from all of you)
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by ansumania » Thu Jul 22, 2010 7:25 pm
Here the new element is 'successful business' , so we need to link this new element to the premise in order to bridge the gap
P= by dividing attention, it doesn't serve any of its customers well
C= to be successful, it must serve one of its customers well.
Assumption: to be successful , it must serve its customers well. It must serve its customers well in order to be successful.
Option C states: Unless a railroad serves its customers well, it will not be a successful business.
If we remove the double negatives: If a railroad serves its customers well, it will be a successful business.
It matches with our assumption.
Again if we negate C: If a railroad doesn't serve its customers well , it will be a successful business.
In this case the argument will fall apart.
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by FightWithGMAT » Thu Jul 22, 2010 11:23 pm
gmat_perfect wrote:Train service suffers when a railroad combines commuter and freight service. By dividing its attention between its freight and commuter customers, a railroad serves neither particularly well. Therefore, if a railroad is going to be a successful business, then it must concentrate exclusively on one of these two markets.

For the argument to be logically correct, it must make which one of the following assumptions?

(A) Commuter and freight service have little in common with each other.
(B) The first priority of a railroad is to be a successful business.
(C) Unless a railroad serves its customers well, it will not be a successful business.
(D) If a railroad concentrates on commuter service, it will be a successful business.
(E) Railroad commuters rarely want freight service as well.

My question:

Why A is not the answer?

Thanks.

IMO C.........I was between C and B

But first priority is too extreme to consider.

what is OA?
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by outreach » Fri Jul 23, 2010 12:58 am
i choose A first but it failed in negation test
hence chose C
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by diebeatsthegmat » Tue Aug 03, 2010 10:44 am
gmat_perfect wrote:Train service suffers when a railroad combines commuter and freight service. By dividing its attention between its freight and commuter customers, a railroad serves neither particularly well. Therefore, if a railroad is going to be a successful business, then it must concentrate exclusively on one of these two markets.

For the argument to be logically correct, it must make which one of the following assumptions?

(A) Commuter and freight service have little in common with each other.
(B) The first priority of a railroad is to be a successful business.
(C) Unless a railroad serves its customers well, it will not be a successful business.
(D) If a railroad concentrates on commuter service, it will be a successful business.
(E) Railroad commuters rarely want freight service as well.

My question:

Why A is not the answer?

Thanks.[/quot
whats the answer?
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by paddle_sweep » Tue Aug 03, 2010 7:40 pm
I will go with 'E'. Pls post OA.
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