E-News Ads

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E-News Ads

by siddhu161 » Sat Dec 28, 2013 5:50 am
An advertisement for E-News, a subscription-only online newspaper with no ads accompanying its content, argued that individuals should subscribe to E-News so as to eliminate wasted time that results from seeing and ignoring advertisements while attempting to read newspapers that feature ads.
Which of the following, if true, most severely weakens E-News' argument?

A) Individuals who currently read only print newspapers are much less likely to enjoy a subscription news website without first learning about reading online news through a free news website.
B) Free ad-sponsored news websites and blogs offer more content than E-News.
C) E-News partners with other e-content providers, many of which always show numerous ads alongside their content.
D) For regions of the country that lack adequate internet coverage, switching to an online subscription website is not logical.
E) E-News recently announced it would sell some of its content to ad-supported websites and print newspapers.

Answer : C My answer B. Please help with the explanation.

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by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Sat Dec 28, 2013 8:29 am
siddhu161 wrote:An advertisement for E-News, a subscription-only online newspaper with no ads accompanying its content, argued that individuals should subscribe to E-News so as to eliminate wasted time that results from seeing and ignoring advertisements while attempting to read newspapers that feature ads.
Which of the following, if true, most severely weakens E-News' argument?

A) Individuals who currently read only print newspapers are much less likely to enjoy a subscription news website without first learning about reading online news through a free news website.
B) Free ad-sponsored news websites and blogs offer more content than E-News.
C) E-News partners with other e-content providers, many of which always show numerous ads alongside their content.
D) For regions of the country that lack adequate internet coverage, switching to an online subscription website is not logical.
E) E-News recently announced it would sell some of its content to ad-supported websites and print newspapers.

Answer : C My answer B. Please help with the explanation.
Hi Siddhu!

This is another Platinum GMAT question - I've only seen 2 and I'm already super-unimpressed.

There is no great weakener among the choices. For (C) to be relevant, we have to assume that "partners" means "people visiting one website will be faced with the same advertising as on its partners' websites", but there are many other forms of partnerships (e.g. maybe they just share advertising and subscription revenue, but E-News remains completely ad free). Accordingly, (C) cannot be the correct answer.

The other choices are equally irrelevant to this particular argument. Don't waste your time trying to justify one of them and, if you want more relevant GMAT practice, look to another source for questions.

Stuart
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Stuart Kovinsky | Kaplan GMAT Faculty | Toronto

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