Critical Reasoning

When scouts look for gymnasts to join their gymnastics teams, they often base their recruiting criteria on a gymnast's work ethic instead of his or her athletic ability. After all, even the most athletic gymnasts might not have the dedication required to succeed. Such recruiting criteria can be adjusted to minimize instances in which athletically gifted gymnasts are overlooked. These adjustments, however, increase the likelihood of recruiting unmotivated gymnasts.

Which of the following conclusions is most strongly supported by the information above?


(A) If scouts base their recruiting criteria mainly on athletic ability, they will not recruit any gymnasts who are both athletic and motivated.

(B) If the recruitment of unmotivated gymnasts is reliably prevented, some athletically gifted gymnasts will be overlooked.

(C) Basing recruiting criteria on work ethic is only appropriate when recruitment of unmotivated gymnasts is less of a problem than is overlooking athletically gifted gymnasts.

(D) No criteria-based, for example, on flexibility-are less likely than those based on work ethic to result in the recruitment of unathletic gymnasts.

(E) Scouts should consider the ratio of less athletic but highly motivated to athletic but less-motivated gymnasts they desire when adjusting their recruiting criteria.