GMAT Integrated Reasoning

Hi there,

I'm having some difficulty answering IR questions that have to do with cause & effect. I manage to get the two responses correct but mix up the matching process (I choose the effect response to be the one that is really the cause, and vice versa). This question that I am attaching is quite confusing to me - the responses I've highlighted in the attachment are the responses I chose. The correct responses as per gmat.wiley.com were to have these switched for cause & effect. Could someone explain to me why their response is listed that way? I still think my response makes more sense. Please let me know. Thanks!

*Please see image below.

krithika1993 wrote:Hi there,

I'm having some difficulty answering IR questions that have to do with cause & effect. I manage to get the two responses correct but mix up the matching process (I choose the effect response to be the one that is really the cause, and vice versa). This question that I am attaching is quite confusing to me - the responses I've highlighted in the attachment are the responses I chose. The correct responses as per gmat.wiley.com were to have these switched for cause & effect. Could someone explain to me why their response is listed that way? I still think my response makes more sense. Please let me know. Thanks!

*Please see image below.

Kind of an odd question. The traditional argument was volcano eruptions ---> end of Triassic. Well, if the eruptions were actually an indirect cause of the end of the Triassic, then the eruptions must have caused 'x' and 'x' is what really caused the end of the Triassic.

So the real arrow diagram will look like this: volcano eruptions --> x --> end of Triassic

The passage then tells us that 'x' is the release of methane. volcano eruptions --> release of methane --> end of Triassic; So the volcano eruptions caused the release of methane, and the release of methane caused the end of the Triassic.