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confusing!!

by Cheese12 » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:17 am
For the last five years, the XYZ Courier Company has made regular delivery trips between Town A and Town B. The average time taken by the company's drivers to drive the round trip between the two towns, excluding the time taken for loading, unloading, and delivery, over that period has been 80 minutes. John, a driver for XYZ, needs to make a personal trip between the two towns; he figures that he should allow approximately 80 minutes for the round trip.

Which of the following, if true, does not call John's conclusion into question?

A)The route between Town A and Town B has been plagued by increasing congestion over the last five years, as the area's population has doubled during that time.

B) Most of XYZ's courier vehicles are heavy trucks, for which speed limits are lower than for passenger vehicles.

C) Many of the packages carried by XYZ between Town A and Town B are large, high-security packages, for which the processes of loading, unloading, and delivery can take up to half the length of the trip itself.

D) John will make his personal trip at an hour when XYZ does not make delivery trips.

E) Before a freeway was built between Town A and Town B two years ago, the only routes between the two towns were state highways with multiple traffic lights and reduced-speed downtown zones.


OA: C


Hi guys, could someone please explain to me, what does this question exactly mean ? I understood it as .. which of the following does not weaken the conclusion.... and if thats the case then i do not understand why the answer is C...somebody pls explain it to me...

thanks!
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by rohit_gmat » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:25 am
Hi cheese,

the Q is askin u to cancel out those answers which suggest that it might take lesser/more time for John to travel between the 2 cities.

A) suggests that it can take longer time (due to traffic) --> CANCEL
B) suggests that the usual 80 min is with the low speed limit.. so his personal trip shud be faster --> CANCEL
C) talks about packages and loading/unloading/delv time (which the passage says are not included in the 80 mins) --> KEEP
D) John will travel at 'unusual' hours - maybe peak time or off peak time - slower or faster --> CANCEL
E) 5 yrs avg time - 80 mins .. but in that 5 yrs, 3 yrs were without freeway and 2 yrs with freeway... meaning that the avg during the first 3 yrs was maybe like 100 mins.. and the avg in the remaining 2 yrs was like 70 mins.. leading to an overal avg of 80 mins .. so when John makes his trip, it shud be lesser than 80 mins (faster) --> CANCEL

So... C ;)
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by Cheese12 » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:28 am
rohit_gmat wrote:Hi cheese,

the Q is askin u to cancel out those answers which suggest that it might take lesser/more time for John to travel between the 2 cities.

A) suggests that it can take longer time (due to traffic) --> CANCEL
B) suggests that the usual 80 min is with the low speed limit.. so his personal trip shud be faster --> CANCEL
C) talks about packages and loading/unloading/delv time (which the passage says are not included in the 80 mins) --> KEEP
D) John will travel at 'unusual' hours - maybe peak time or off peak time - slower or faster --> CANCEL
E) 5 yrs avg time - 80 mins .. but in that 5 yrs, 3 yrs were without freeway and 2 yrs with freeway... meaning that the avg during the first 3 yrs was maybe like 100 mins.. and the avg in the remaining 2 yrs was like 70 mins.. leading to an overal avg of 80 mins .. so when John makes his trip, it shud be lesser than 80 mins (faster) --> CANCEL

So... C ;)
But Answer choice C weakens the conclusion....
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by rohit_gmat » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:29 am
Cheese12 wrote:I understood it as .. which of the following does not weaken the conclusion....
thats right... C has no effect on (does not weaken) the conclusion
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by rohangupta83 » Wed Oct 19, 2011 7:54 am
Conclusion: he figures that he should allow approximately 80 minutes for the round trip.

C actually neither strengthens nor weakens the conclusion.

It talks about loading time and delivery time. It does not talk about traveling time so in essence, it neither weakens nor strengthens.
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by ranjeet75 » Thu Oct 20, 2011 3:51 am
Really confusing answer choices.

C says about loading, unloading and delivery time but the premise says that excluding these things the time taken is 80 min. Hence it contradicts the premise.

D tells nothing about time.

Why D should not be the answer?

Source of the question?
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by krishnakumar.ks » Thu Oct 20, 2011 5:26 am
The question not only asks you to find an option that doesn't weaken the conclusion but the one that doesn't strengthen it either. In other words, the option were true, it should have no impact on John's conclusion : it takes 80 hrs for the round trip.

A) If 'A' were true, it will surely affect John's conclusion since, the value given is the average time. The traffic could have severely increased in the last year and hence could take John more than 80hrs today.

B) If B were true, then John will finish his trip in less than 80hrs. Hence it will again have an impact on John's conclusion

D) Well, a close one. But look at the ambiguity it offers. If this statement were true, then
a) If the XYZ makes trips during peak hours, then John's trip will be less than 80hrs
b) If the XYZ makes trips during non-peak hours, then John's trip will be more than 80hrs
In either way, it will have an impact on John's decision.

E) If E were true, then the travel time must have been reduced drastically in the past three years
and hence would be less than the average time of 80hrs.

C) This is my fav option for the reason that it speaks only about the time it takes other than traveling (which might also tempt you to consider it irrelevant). But it really doesn't tell us that it will increase or decrease John's travel time. Hence, if this option were true, it will not have any impact on John's traveling time. Or, a more plausible reason after arriving till here is that the other options are really not helpful :)

Hope this helps and let us know if you have a more stubborn reason to pick C as the answer.
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by indi » Thu Oct 20, 2011 7:21 am
C is correct
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