Smithtown University’s fund-raisers succeeded in getting donations from 80 percent of the potential donors they contacted. This success rate, exceptionally high for university fund-raisers, does not indicate that they were doing a good job. On the contrary, since the people most likely to donate are those who have donated in the past, good fund-raisers constantly try less-likely prospects in an effort to expand the donor base. The high success rate shows insufficient canvassing effort.
Which of the following, if true, provides more support for the argument?
A. Smithtown University’s fund-raisers were successful in their contacts with potential donors who had never given before about as frequently as were fund-raisers for other universities in their contacts with such people.
B. This year the average size of the donations to Smithtown University from new donors when the university’s fund-raisers had contacted was larger than the average size of donations from donors who had given to the university before.
C. This year most of the donations that came to Smithtown University from people who had previously donated to it were made without the university’s fund-raisers having made any contact with the donors.
D. The majority of the donations that fund-raisers succeeded in getting for Smithtown University this year were from donors who had never given to the university before.
E. More than half of the money raised by Smithtown University’s fund-raisers came from donors who had never previously donated to the university
CR: Smithtown Uni.
This topic has expert replies
-
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
- Posts: 438
- Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:44 am
- Thanked: 26 times
C is my pick as well.
C says that people gave money with out being contacted.
So the 80% number entirely is not due to the fund raisers efficiency.
strengthens it more
C says that people gave money with out being contacted.
So the 80% number entirely is not due to the fund raisers efficiency.
strengthens it more
Please do not post answer along with the Question you post/ask
Let people discuss the Questions with out seeing answers.
Let people discuss the Questions with out seeing answers.
GMAT/MBA Expert
- Ian Stewart
- GMAT Instructor
- Posts: 2621
- Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 3:17 am
- Location: Montreal
- Thanked: 1090 times
- Followed by:355 members
- GMAT Score:780
But the question says that "fund-raisers succeeded in getting donations from 80 percent of the potential donors they contacted." The 80% only includes the donations the fundraisers acquired themselves; the donations mentioned in C are not, as I understand the question, included in the 80%.chidcguy wrote:C is my pick as well.
C says that people gave money with out being contacted.
So the 80% number entirely is not due to the fund raisers efficiency.
strengthens it more
The 80% is 'unusually high', according to the question. The argument is that the fundraisers concentrated more heavily on past donors, who are much more likely to donate, than they should have. A says that the fundraisers had only average success when they sought contributions from people who had never donated. Already this suggests that the fundraisers are unexceptional. But, more importantly, if they only had average success with those who had never donated, how could they possibly have achieved their 'unusually high' 80%? This only seems possible if they focused mostly on past donors, as the argument contends.
For online GMAT math tutoring, or to buy my higher-level Quant books and problem sets, contact me at ianstewartgmat at gmail.com
ianstewartgmat.com
ianstewartgmat.com
-
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
- Posts: 167
- Joined: Tue Apr 22, 2008 12:48 am
- Thanked: 15 times
Another example of badly worded CR problem....
I bet you'll never see the original source for this question..... It has been taken from "internet" or “Chinese JJ sites”..... I've seen discussions on other sites ... with a fight between A and C.... sometimes the OA is A and sometimes Its C.....
If we remove "they contacted" from the first line, then the answer should be C. otherwise its am ambiguous CR problem.....
I bet you'll never see the original source for this question..... It has been taken from "internet" or “Chinese JJ sites”..... I've seen discussions on other sites ... with a fight between A and C.... sometimes the OA is A and sometimes Its C.....
If we remove "they contacted" from the first line, then the answer should be C. otherwise its am ambiguous CR problem.....
-
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
- Posts: 300
- Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2014 7:58 am