graduating medical students

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real2008: Legendary Member; Posts: 527; Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 12:06 am; Thanked: 7 times

by real2008 » Tue Jun 02, 2009 11:00 am

42. According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges, minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas.
(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice
(B) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates who plan on practicing
(C) minority graduates are nearly four times as likely as other graduates to plan on practicing
(D) it is nearly four times more likely that minority graduates rather than other graduates will plan to practice
(E) it is nearly four times as likely for minority graduates than other graduates to plan to practice

Why answer is C? Somebody may please explain why choice A is wrong?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Tue Jun 02, 2009 11:00 am

kc_raj: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 117; Joined: Wed May 13, 2009 7:41 am; Thanked: 5 times

by kc_raj » Tue Jun 02, 2009 12:13 pm

in more x than y, x and y needs to be parallel, A, B do not have it correctly,

D uses more.. that wrongly,
E uses as likely... than.... wrongly

C has as likely as idiom correctly

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axat: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 70; Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2008 8:33 pm; Thanked: 3 times

by axat » Tue Jun 02, 2009 12:14 pm

A is wrong because "likely than" is not correct, "likely to" is the correct idiomatic usage.

State the source of the question please.

I ask for the source because the answer was between C or D for me, and I picked C because I believe "plan on" is an incorrect uage, and "plan to" is better.

Can anyone tell me what's wrong with D, and why is C preferred over D, if at all it is?

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mbadrew: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 198; Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:16 am; Location: San Francisco; Thanked: 14 times

by mbadrew » Tue Jun 02, 2009 12:37 pm

axat wrote:A is wrong because "likely than" is not correct, "likely to" is the correct idiomatic usage.

State the source of the question please.

I ask for the source because the answer was between C or D for me, and I picked C because I believe "plan on" is an incorrect uage, and "plan to" is better.

Can anyone tell me what's wrong with D, and why is C preferred over D, if at all it is?

There's no idiom used in choice D. So, it's a bit confusing when the comparison is made between minority students and other grad students.

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axat: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 70; Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2008 8:33 pm; Thanked: 3 times

by axat » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:08 pm

Thanks mbadrew, but I am still not entirely satisfied. Could you please explain a little more?

Also what are your comments on 'plan on' and 'plan to'.

mbadrew wrote:
axat wrote:A is wrong because "likely than" is not correct, "likely to" is the correct idiomatic usage.

State the source of the question please.

I ask for the source because the answer was between C or D for me, and I picked C because I believe "plan on" is an incorrect uage, and "plan to" is better.

Can anyone tell me what's wrong with D, and why is C preferred over D, if at all it is?
There's no idiom used in choice D. So, it's a bit confusing when the comparison is made between minority students and other grad students.

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vaishalijain7: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 102; Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2009 7:21 pm; Location: toronto; Thanked: 5 times

by vaishalijain7 » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:35 pm

According to MGMAT SC guide whenever you see 'times' which indicates multiplication, you should use 'as...as' construction. Only 'C' uses it correctly.

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mbadrew: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 198; Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:16 am; Location: San Francisco; Thanked: 14 times

by mbadrew » Tue Jun 02, 2009 3:11 pm

vaishalijain7 wrote:According to MGMAT SC guide whenever you see 'times' which indicates multiplication, you should use 'as...as' construction. Only 'C' uses it correctly.

Yes, that's absolutely correct. Also, the idiom for plan is "to" and not "on".

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real2008: Legendary Member; Posts: 527; Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 12:06 am; Thanked: 7 times

by real2008 » Wed Jun 03, 2009 9:20 am

kc_raj wrote:in more x than y, x and y needs to be parallel, A, B do not have it correctly,

D uses more.. that wrongly,
E uses as likely... than.... wrongly

C has as likely as idiom correctly

in choice a : minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice

what is the wrong in idiom?

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kc_raj: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 117; Joined: Wed May 13, 2009 7:41 am; Thanked: 5 times

IMO

by kc_raj » Tue Jun 16, 2009 8:13 am

four times more likely than are, is not the correct idiom

four times as like as, is the correct idiom. I cannot explain idioms.

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gmat740: MBA Student; Posts: 1194; Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:42 pmFollowed by: 17 members; Location: Paris, France; Thanked: 71 times; GMAT Score:710

Re: IMO

by gmat740 » Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:08 am

kc_raj wrote:four times more likely than are, is not the correct idiom

four times as like as, is the correct idiom. I cannot explain idioms.

Hi,
I am again opening this thread.

I want to understand that in the original question, we were given "more likely" and the OA says " as likely"

Let me paraphrase both the statements in numerical terms

X is 4 times more likely than Y = > so if y=4 then X will be more than 16 and not 16. Am I right?

X is 4 times as likely as Y => so if y = 4, then X will be exactly 16 and not more than 16.

This is the difference which is making me so confused that I can't go ahead with this sentence.

Please express your views friends.

Thanks

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kamalsinghy: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 41; Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:09 am; Thanked: 2 times

by kamalsinghy » Sat Jul 25, 2009 7:26 am

@gmat740,

Don't get confused with the mathematical aspect of the Verbal question. Whether the intent of sentence is more likely than or it is as likely as, you should take care of only correct answer.

A. Minority graduates are four times more likely " to do what"; and the whatever minority graduates want to do is going with the compared clause. So incorrect

B. It seems other graduates plan on practicing ...Incorrect.

C. correct- maintains parallelism and correct idiomatic usage.

D. awkward rhetorical construction and wrong Idiomatic usage: more X rather than Y-incorrect.

E. Incorrect comparison and wrong idiomatic usage: "as likely than" -incorrect.

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uptowngirl92: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 447; Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2009 9:08 pm; Location: Kolkata,India; Thanked: 7 times; GMAT Score:670

by uptowngirl92 » Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:16 pm

mbadrew wrote:
vaishalijain7 wrote:According to MGMAT SC guide whenever you see 'times' which indicates multiplication, you should use 'as...as' construction. Only 'C' uses it correctly.
Yes, that's absolutely correct. Also, the idiom for plan is "to" and not "on".

Please clarify what the correct idiom for plan is.C the correct answer uses plan "on".

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hamxa: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 45; Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 2:17 am; Location: lahore, pakistan

by hamxa » Sat Mar 06, 2010 11:55 am

Hi all,
OA is C.
But I am confused by the use of on in this choice.
Is it correct to say "to plan on practicing"

please clarify.

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Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pmFollowed by: 694 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Tue Mar 09, 2010 1:11 pm

Hi, received a PM asking me to respond. I would be happy to, but first someone needs to cite the source (author) of this problem. Thanks!

Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

Stacey Koprince
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hamxa: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 45; Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 2:17 am; Location: lahore, pakistan

by hamxa » Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:48 am

Hi,
I collided with it on GMATPREP.
head on, knocked out...

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