Manhattan CAT CR Question

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Manhattan CAT CR Question

by siddus » Mon Jul 26, 2010 4:28 am
Analyst: Creative professionals, such as clothing designers, graphic designers, and decorators, often have very poor managerial skills and do not succeed when they try to run their own businesses. In fact, most of these creative types are less skilled in business than is the average white-collar professional who does not work in a creative field. Generally, creative talent and business acumen rarely go hand in hand.

If the analyst's argument is taken as true, which of the following statements can properly be concluded?
A) No successful businesspeople are creative.
B) Some creative types are not less skilled at business than is the average white-collar worker who is not creative.
C) Creativity precludes success in business.
D) Any white-collar worker who is not creative is more successful in business than any creative professional.
E) Business is not a creative endeavor


OA is B

I think this question is bad for two reasons

1) The question asks for the conclusion and the answer provides an inference

2) The argument states that "most of these creative types are less skilled in business than is the average white-collar professional who does not work in a creative field"

However, as per common logic, MOST means ">=50%" or in other words - "Definitely some, possibly ALL"

So from the argument we cannot infer B. It could be possible that "All of these creative types are less skilled in business"

your thoughts on this?
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by FightWithGMAT » Mon Jul 26, 2010 4:55 am
siddus wrote:Analyst: Creative professionals, such as clothing designers, graphic designers, and decorators, often have very poor managerial skills and do not succeed when they try to run their own businesses. In fact, most of these creative types are less skilled in business than is the average white-collar professional who does not work in a creative field. Generally, creative talent and business acumen rarely go hand in hand.

If the analyst's argument is taken as true, which of the following statements can properly be concluded?
A) No successful businesspeople are creative.
B) Some creative types are not less skilled at business than is the average white-collar worker who is not creative.
C) Creativity precludes success in business.
D) Any white-collar worker who is not creative is more successful in business than any creative professional.
E) Business is not a creative endeavor


OA is B

I think this question is bad for two reasons

1) The question asks for the conclusion and the answer provides an inference

2) The argument states that "most of these creative types are less skilled in business than is the average white-collar professional who does not work in a creative field"

However, as per common logic, MOST means ">=50%" or in other words - "Definitely some, possibly ALL"

So from the argument we cannot infer B. It could be possible that "All of these creative types are less skilled in business"

your thoughts on this?
I think MOST is not ALL

MOST = 51-99
ALL= 100
Some= Not ALL= 0-50

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by YellowSapphire » Mon Jul 26, 2010 5:24 am
FightWithGMAT wrote: I think MOST is not ALL

MOST = 51-99
ALL= 100
Some= Not ALL= 0-50

SOME = MANY = AT LEAST ONE
SOME ≠ MOST ≠ ALL

SOME: 1 - 99
ALL = 100
Yellow Sapphire

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by siddus » Mon Jul 26, 2010 5:41 am
@YellowSapphire - I think you missed my point here.

You are correct in your assessment that MOST does not mean ALL but it includes the possibility of ALL (as per logic).
Based on this statement we cannot infer that B is definitely true. Because there is a possibility that all creative types are less skilled in business.

As per my view, a more acceptable answer would be -

Possibly some creative types are not less skilled at business than is the average white-collar worker who is not creative.

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by sdotcruz » Thu Aug 12, 2010 10:06 am
Siddius:

First the problem is definitely an inference question. The question stem says "If the analyst's argument is taken as true, which of the following statements can properly be concluded" The analyst provided his conclusion, which is "Generally, creative talent and business acumen rarely go hand in hand." The question stem asks you to identify other conclusions that could be supported/concluded from the statement.

Second you are missing the key word in D that differentiates it from B. "D" includes Any. D suggests that one could take any random white collar worker who is not creative and he will be more successful than a creative person. This is a very extreme statement. The GMAT inference answers are rarely extreme. Also Generally is the key word in the conclusion that leaves room for "Some creative types to be skilled at business". I thought D was correct until i notice ANY in the context of the sentence meant 100% and did not match Generally.

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by debmalya_dutta » Thu Aug 12, 2010 1:33 pm
This was quick..
Question Stimulus ...."often have very poor managerial skills " meaning no option can assume extreme stance
A) No successful businesspeople are creative. (extreme - out of scope)
B) Some creative types are not less skilled at business than is the average white-collar worker who is not creative.
Let's come back since not extreme
C) Creativity precludes success in business.
(extreme - out of scope)
D) Any white-collar worker who is not creative is more successful in business than any creative professional.
(extreme - out of scope)
E) Business is not a creative endeavor
(extreme - out of scope)

Coming back to B to re-evaluate
Some creative types are not less skilled at business than is the average white-collar worker who is not creative
The stimulus says that often creative people are not skilled at business. So , there are few/some who are skilled at business. So these "few" can be compared to average white collar professional who does not work in a creative field
siddus wrote:Analyst: Creative professionals, such as clothing designers, graphic designers, and decorators, often have very poor managerial skills and do not succeed when they try to run their own businesses. In fact, most of these creative types are less skilled in business than is the average white-collar professional who does not work in a creative field. Generally, creative talent and business acumen rarely go hand in hand.

If the analyst's argument is taken as true, which of the following statements can properly be concluded?
A) No successful businesspeople are creative.
B) Some creative types are not less skilled at business than is the average white-collar worker who is not creative.
C) Creativity precludes success in business.
D) Any white-collar worker who is not creative is more successful in business than any creative professional.
E) Business is not a creative endeavor


OA is B

I think this question is bad for two reasons

1) The question asks for the conclusion and the answer provides an inference

2) The argument states that "most of these creative types are less skilled in business than is the average white-collar professional who does not work in a creative field"

However, as per common logic, MOST means ">=50%" or in other words - "Definitely some, possibly ALL"

So from the argument we cannot infer B. It could be possible that "All of these creative types are less skilled in business"

your thoughts on this?
@Deb