Critical Reasoning

Conclusion: Commuting plan saved money

Evidence: Volunteers who commuted had higher sales

Assumption: This high sales isn't temporary

Question: What would HURT this plan?

Prediction: If the assumption was false. That is: high sales = a fluke.

A - shows it's a fluke b/c it's all the employees who work hard anyway

Because of the word "these", it's clear 1) is implied. The sales of THESE bankers were higher than their sales previously.

For CR, it always comes down to the crux of the argument. Even though the workers are naturally hard-working, the fact that they are "most loyal" also proves the assumption false, since if they were "loyal" they would likely want to help the company save $$.

You're welcome! No prob!

I still don't get it. The passage explicitly states that "these bankers' sales" were higher than their previous sales. If they were already working hard, they would already have high sales so the new sales shouldn't be extraordinarily high. Although I can still side with the argument that "they were the most loyal" and hence weren't a good sample to begin with because they didn't represent the "average" employee. However, why were their sales higher than previous months?, I do not see a reason for that connected to this.

The question is quite dodgy. Wonder if this question is a good representation of GMAT CR questions.

Best answer still remains "A". I don't think the sales has anything to do with it though. These employees were "hard working" so they were willing to commute daily in any case. And they wanted the company to succeed since they were loyal and hence wanted to save costs for the company. And since they don't represent the "average" employee, a decision that will affect the average should not be based on such findings. I think the original (hidden) response is correct.

A really weaken the conclusion by saying that the volunteer does not represent overall productivity in the bank.