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Bored by History
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Stuart@KaplanGMAT
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Hi! It's been a long time since this thread was discussed, but I got a PM asking for my input, so here it is!italian7745 wrote:Most students are bored by history courses as they are usually taught, primarily because a large amount of time is spent teaching dates and statistic. The best way to teach history, therefore, is to spend most class time recounting the lives of historical figures and very little on dates and statistics.
Each of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends EXCEPT:
(A) One should avoid boring one's students when teaching a history course.
(B) It is not incompatible with the attainable goals of teaching history to spend very little class time on dates and statistics.
(C) It is possible to recount the lives of historical figures without referring to dates and statistics.
(D) It is compatible with the attainable goals of teaching history to spend most class time recounting the lives of historical figures.
(E) Students are more bored by history courses as they are usually taught than they would be by courses that spend most class time recounting the lives of historical figures.
An assumption is something that MUST be true in order for the argument to make sense. This is an assumption EXCEPT question, so the 4 wrong answers will all be valid assumptions and the correct answer will likely be outside the scope, hurt the argument or just be something that could be true, but isn't needed for the conclusion to hold.
The answer that's not a MUST BE TRUE is (C), because of the lack of qualification.
Remember, the conclusion says:
As you can see by the bolded part of the conclusion, the author isn't saying that you can't spend any time on dates and stats, just very little time on them. So, does it have to be true that it's possible to recount the lives of historical figures without referring to dates and stats at all? No, it just has to be true that you can do so by spending very little time referring to them.The best way to teach history, therefore, is to spend most class time recounting the lives of historical figures and very little on dates and statistics.
A, B, D and E are all necessary assumptions.
Stuart Kovinsky | Kaplan GMAT Faculty | Toronto
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Stuart,
very tricky problem and very good explanation.
but somehow I am not seeing the Kaplan's method (negation test) working fine with C.
Lets take negation of C :
It is NOT possible to recount the lives of historical figures without referring to dates and statistics.
Conclusion
The best way to teach history, therefore, is to spend most class time recounting the lives of historical figures and very little on dates and statistics.
So conclusion is still valid.
Can you please explain it with the negation test.
very tricky problem and very good explanation.
but somehow I am not seeing the Kaplan's method (negation test) working fine with C.
Lets take negation of C :
It is NOT possible to recount the lives of historical figures without referring to dates and statistics.
Conclusion
The best way to teach history, therefore, is to spend most class time recounting the lives of historical figures and very little on dates and statistics.
So conclusion is still valid.
Can you please explain it with the negation test.
paes,
In assumption question,if the argument is weakened by negating the answer,then the answer is correct.
Argument states that the teacher must recount the lives of historical figures and very little on dates and statistics(ie) with reference on dates and stats.
Now negate the answer.
It is NOT possible to recount the lives of historical figures without referring to dates and statistics.
This one strengthen the argument by stating the teacher must need reference on dates and stats.
So option C cannot be correct answer.
Hope this clarify
In assumption question,if the argument is weakened by negating the answer,then the answer is correct.
Argument states that the teacher must recount the lives of historical figures and very little on dates and statistics(ie) with reference on dates and stats.
Now negate the answer.
It is NOT possible to recount the lives of historical figures without referring to dates and statistics.
This one strengthen the argument by stating the teacher must need reference on dates and stats.
So option C cannot be correct answer.
Hope this clarify
--Anand--
-
Stuart@KaplanGMAT
- GMAT Instructor
- Posts: 3225
- Location: Toronto
- Thanked: 1710 times
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As Selango notes, the fact that the conclusion is still valid is exactly why C is the correct answer to this question.paes wrote:Stuart,
very tricky problem and very good explanation.
but somehow I am not seeing the Kaplan's method (negation test) working fine with C.
Lets take negation of C :
It is NOT possible to recount the lives of historical figures without referring to dates and statistics.
Conclusion
The best way to teach history, therefore, is to spend most class time recounting the lives of historical figures and very little on dates and statistics.
So conclusion is still valid.
Can you please explain it with the negation test.
Remember, this is an assumption EXCEPT question - so the correct answer is the one that is NOT required in order for the argument to hold true.
Stuart Kovinsky | Kaplan GMAT Faculty | Toronto
Kaplan Exclusive: The Official Test Day Experience | Ready to Take a Free Practice Test? | Kaplan/Beat the GMAT Member Discount
BTG100 for $100 off a full course
thanx Stuart got stumped on this one!
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