Hell of a Commissioner :(

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loveusonu: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 278; Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2009 1:17 pm; Location: Bangalore,India; Thanked: 17 times

by loveusonu » Sun May 09, 2010 5:03 am

Springfield Fire Commissioner: the vast majority of false fire alarms are prank calls made anonymously from fire alarm boxes on street corners. Since virtually everyone has access to a private telephone, these alarm boxes have outlived their usefulness. Therefore, we propose to remove the boxes. Removing the boxes will reduce the number of prank calls without hampering people's ability to report a fire.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the claim that the proposal, if carried out, will have the announced effect?

A. The fire department traces all alarm calls made from private telephones and records where they came from.
B. Maintaining the fire alarm boxes costs Springfield approximately five million dollars annually.
C. A telephone call can provide the fire department with more information about the nature and size of a fire than can an alarm placed from an alarm box.
D. Responding to false alarms significantly reduces the fire department's capacity for responding to fires.
E. On any given day, a significant percentage of the public telephones in Springfield are out of service.

This is from GMAT Verbal Set 24. IMO A, but OA is C

Loosing my confidence, please help!!

Thanks in Advance!

Sonu
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When you want something desperately, the whole Universe conspires in helping to give it to you - The Alchemist

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Sun May 09, 2010 5:03 am

kstv: Legendary Member; Posts: 610; Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2010 12:33 amFollowed by: 2 members; Thanked: 47 times

by kstv » Sun May 09, 2010 7:20 am

This is a tough call.
Effects of the proposal is that, removing the boxes will reduce the number of prank calls. Option A will effectively do so as the calls can be traced. Mind u we are concerned only with calls from private telephones, only.

The second part of the proposal hopes that removing the boxes will not hamper the promptness with which people can report the fire. Concern is promptness of the people not increased effectiveness of fire fighters in tackling the fire. Options C talks how telephone calls helps the firefighter but that is not the announced effect.

Honestly, most of us will get it wrong trying to dissect the conclusion first time.

loveusonu: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 278; Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2009 1:17 pm; Location: Bangalore,India; Thanked: 17 times

by loveusonu » Sun May 09, 2010 9:52 am

My logic:

Its a plan based CR question.

Conclusion :Removing the boxes will reduce the number of prank calls without hampering people's ability to report a fire.

A. The fire department traces all alarm calls made from private telephones and records where they came from. -->This conveys that switching to private telephone will not have prank calls, which is the purpose of removing boxes.

I felt i crack this preety soon, but feels very down after this.. Is the concept correct?

Sonu
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When you want something desperately, the whole Universe conspires in helping to give it to you - The Alchemist

sk818020: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 214; Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 1:46 pm; Location: Houston, TX; Thanked: 37 times; GMAT Score:700

by sk818020 » Sun May 09, 2010 9:50 pm

The point to the stimulus is that;

People make alot of prank calls from alarm boxes.
People now have private phones to call fire department.
We prorpose removing boxes.
This will cause people to not make prank calls.

The unstated assumption is that people don't make prank phone calls from private lines but they do from box lines. You should ask yourself, "why?" The correct answer will address this why and will strongly support the proposal.

A is correct because it directly addresses this assumption. It says people won't make prank calls from private lines because we can track those.

C is wrong because it doesn't address why people would make prank phone calls from box lines and not private ones.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Jared

amitverma22: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 16; Joined: Wed May 05, 2010 11:32 pm; Thanked: 1 times

by amitverma22 » Sun May 09, 2010 11:06 pm

Announced Effect: Removing the boxes will reduce the number of prank calls without hampering people's ability to report a fire

According to the passage, prank calls are happening because people can anonymously use alarm boxes.
Since a call from telephone is able to provide more information(Answer C), the anonymity is not there and hence definitely the no of prank calls would come down.
Also since everybody has access to private telephone(according to passage), there would not be any reduction in reporting of fire incidents.

The point is prank calls are happening because of anonymity. So answer C looks good.

vineetbatra: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 355; Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:42 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 2 times

by vineetbatra » Wed May 12, 2010 4:22 pm

amitverma22 wrote:Announced Effect: Removing the boxes will reduce the number of prank calls without hampering people's ability to report a fire

According to the passage, prank calls are happening because people can anonymously use alarm boxes.
Since a call from telephone is able to provide more information(Answer C), the anonymity is not there and hence definitely the no of prank calls would come down.
Also since everybody has access to private telephone(according to passage), there would not be any reduction in reporting of fire incidents.

The point is prank calls are happening because of anonymity. So answer C looks good.

Amit but C is talking about nature and size of fire and not the person who is making the call. So the size of the fire does not have any relation with anonymity of the person. I also like A but OA is C. Not sure why?

vineetbatra: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 355; Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:42 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 2 times

by vineetbatra » Wed May 12, 2010 4:35 pm

I checked on other forums and answer there is A

jeffedwards: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 109; Joined: Mon Oct 12, 2009 4:58 amFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 12 times; GMAT Score:720

by jeffedwards » Wed May 12, 2010 7:12 pm

Will you check again and verify the OA? The other one on this site says it's A, but on another forum (https://bit.ly/bP95Vx) the stated OA is C....what is it?

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