CR: "Last August the XT..."

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CR: "Last August the XT..."

by me_1234 » Sat Dec 13, 2014 6:34 pm
This is from an official practice exam and answer is A - having a tough time understanding why?

Last August the XT chain of gasoline stations had a temporary sales promotion in effect. In the promotion, any customer who made a purchase of ten or more gallons of gasoline was entitled to a free car wash. For the month of August, XT experienced a ten percent increase in gasoline sales as compared to sales in August the previous year. So evidently the promotion was successful as a means of boosting sales.

In evaluating the argument, it would be most helpful to answer which of the following?

a/ In the areas in which XT's gasoline stations operate, how did total combined gasoline sales for all gasoline stations last August compare with sales for the previous August?

b/ Was the money that XT earned from the increase in gasoline sales enough to offset the cost of providing free car washes during the promotion?

c/ Were there any customers who bought ten or more gallons at an XT gasoline station during the promotion who would have bought gasoline at the same station in lower quantities, but more frequently, if the promotion had not been in effect?

d/ Did XT or any of its gasoline stations have to pay other businesses to provide the car washes that customers were offered in the promotion?

e/ Are XT's gasoline sales in August usually significantly higher than one-twelfth of XT's annual gasoline sales?
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by MartyMurray » Sat Dec 13, 2014 8:41 pm
melanie.espeland wrote:This is from an official practice exam and answer is A - having a tough time understanding why?

Last August the XT chain of gasoline stations had a temporary sales promotion in effect. In the promotion, any customer who made a purchase of ten or more gallons of gasoline was entitled to a free car wash. For the month of August, XT experienced a ten percent increase in gasoline sales as compared to sales in August the previous year. So evidently the promotion was successful as a means of boosting sales.

In evaluating the argument, it would be most helpful to answer which of the following?

a/ In the areas in which XT's gasoline stations operate, how did total combined gasoline sales for all gasoline stations last August compare with sales for the previous August?

b/ Was the money that XT earned from the increase in gasoline sales enough to offset the cost of providing free car washes during the promotion?

c/ Were there any customers who bought ten or more gallons at an XT gasoline station during the promotion who would have bought gasoline at the same station in lower quantities, but more frequently, if the promotion had not been in effect?

d/ Did XT or any of its gasoline stations have to pay other businesses to provide the car washes that customers were offered in the promotion?

e/ Are XT's gasoline sales in August usually significantly higher than one-twelfth of XT's annual gasoline sales?
So gasoline sales at XT stations were higher this August than they were last August.

What do we need in order to evaluate the argument that this resulted from the use of a car wash promotion?

One thing that would help is a way to rule out other reasons for the increase. So let's look at the choices and see if one gives us a way to rule out some other reason, or if none do, see if one gives something else that we can somehow use to evaluate the argument.

Before you look at the rest of this explanation, you could again look at the choices with this in mind and see if you get it now.

A) If we knew the answer to this we would know whether the increase was a result of generally increased demand or the increase was the result of some change specific to XT stations. This is just the type of information we are looking for.

B) While this would help evaluate the financial success of the promotion, it does not help us evaluate whether or not the promotion increased sales.

C) This is interesting, but sales did really increase and the real question is not answered by this.

D) This is obviously irrelevant.

E) This is barely connected to what we are assessing.

Only one choice really helps with evaluating the argument. Choose A.

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by me_1234 » Sun Dec 14, 2014 6:45 am
Thank you for the explanation.