under my umbrella

This topic has expert replies
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 468
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2011 10:20 pm
Thanked: 29 times
Followed by:4 members

under my umbrella

by vipulgoyal » Mon Feb 02, 2015 5:52 pm
Singing in the Rain Umbrella Corp. plans to institute a marketing campaign in
which it sells umbrellas at the exits of subway stations during rainy weather. The
umbrellas will be sold at a price that is slightly higher than normal. The company
thinks the sales of these higher - priced umbrellas will be greater than normal
sales of umbrellas, because the purchasers of these umbrellas will be forced to
buy them if they do not want to get wet.

The author assumes which of the following about the purchasers of the umbrellas
in predicting the sales of the umbrellas?

A. Customers who do not feel immediate pressure to purchase will
not do so.
B. Normally priced umbrellas are not profitable for singing in the
Rain Umbrellas Corp.
C. Very few people buy Singing in the Rain's normally priced
umbrellas.
D. Singing in the Rain Umbrellas Corp. will have to stop selling
normally priced umbrellas when it starts selling higher priced
umbrellas.
E. Most potential customers of Singing in the Rain's higher priced
umbrellas will not have acquired an umbrella previously.


I m confused B/w a nd E


my query is if the stem has two "do not" whhich one has to take for negation test

for example in stem A



A. Customers who do not feel immediate pressure to purchase will
not do so.

negate A: Customers who do feel immediate pressure to purchase will
not do so.
for sure conclusion falls and wins to be OA

Negate A: Customers who do not feel immediate pressure to purchase will
do so.
rather sales increasing , may not be even contender for OA

how would negation test work with this stem while either way of negation giving different notions

[/spoiler]OA A[spoiler][/spoiler]
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 2135
Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 9:26 am
Location: https://martymurraycoaching.com/
Thanked: 955 times
Followed by:140 members
GMAT Score:800

by MartyMurray » Mon Feb 02, 2015 8:04 pm
As far as I am concerned this question is flawed.

The official answer is not what they are assuming. What they are assuming is that people who do have pressure will buy more often than will people who do not feel pressure..

The OA choice is similar to that but not the same as that. In fact people could regularly purchase umbrellas without immediate pressure and Singing in the Rain's plan could still work fine.

The OA choice would have been more valid if it were more like this.

People's tendencies to purchase umbrellas are affected by immediate pressure to purchase.

I suggest sending a message to whomever you got this question from to tell them this question needs work.
Marty Murray
Perfect Scoring Tutor With Over a Decade of Experience
MartyMurrayCoaching.com
Contact me at [email protected] for a free consultation.

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 15539
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 12:04 pm
Location: New York, NY
Thanked: 13060 times
Followed by:1906 members
GMAT Score:790

by GMATGuruNY » Tue Feb 03, 2015 8:24 am
vipulgoyal wrote:
my query is if the stem has two "do not" whhich one has to take for negation test

for example in stem A
Conclusion: Sales of these higher-priced umbrellas will be greater than normal sales of umbrellas.

The assumption is WHAT MUST BE TRUE for the conclusion to be valid.
One way to check whether an answer choice must be true is to apply the NEGATION TEST.
When the correct answer choice is negated, the conclusion will be invalidated.

To negate an answer choice, we generally reverse not the modifier but only the MAIN VERB.
Answer choice A, negated:
Customers who do not feel immediate pressure to purchase WILL DO SO.
Here, even a customer who feels no pressure will still purchase an umbrella, SUPPORTING the conclusion that umbrella sales will increase.
Since the negation of A does NOT invalidate the conclusion, eliminate A.

I would ignore this CR.
Private tutor exclusively for the GMAT and GRE, with over 20 years of experience.
Followed here and elsewhere by over 1900 test-takers.
I have worked with students based in the US, Australia, Taiwan, China, Tajikistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia -- a long list of countries.
My students have been admitted to HBS, CBS, Tuck, Yale, Stern, Fuqua -- a long list of top programs.

As a tutor, I don't simply teach you how I would approach problems.
I unlock the best way for YOU to solve problems.

For more information, please email me (Mitch Hunt) at [email protected].
Student Review #1
Student Review #2
Student Review #3