Critical Reasoning

gmatplayer wrote:"Must" in (B) is too extreme

Statement never says or implies "Only significant factor" so (D) cannot be inferred

(C) on the other hand may imply:
When there was significant drop in interest last year" prices did not increase at all", so price might have decreased a little (possible). So they tend to rise & fall together can be the inferrence.
I would have selected (C)

This isn't true though... it doesn't agree with what Mark stated; choice C) implies that if interest values rises, so do house value prices, and if interest values fall, so do house value prices. This was not what Mark deduced from Ron's argument.

It was not explicitely stated but if you add following sentense after his deduction it could make sense
"It actually dropped little"

Ronald: According to my analysis of the national economy, housing prices should not increase during the next six months unless interest rates drop significantly.
Mark: I disagree. One year ago, when interest rates last fell significantly, housing prices did not increase at all.
It can be inferred from the conversation above that Mark has interpreted Ronald’s statement to mean that

Ronald says that if the interst rates didnot rise ,then there wont be a housing price increase

Mark disagree with R , because he misinterprits what marks says (misreads the sufficient and necessary conditions).M gives the example(counter example) because he thinks that interest rate drop will cause the housing prices to increase .............which is not what R wants to say


So ans = B

17. Ronald: According to my analysis of the national economy, housing prices should not increase during the next six months unless interest rates drop significantly.
Mark: I disagree. One year ago, when interest rates last fell significantly, housing prices did not increase at all.
It can be inferred from the conversation above that Mark has interpreted Ronald’s statement to mean that
(A) housing prices will rise only if interest rates fall
(B) if interest rates fall, housing prices must rise
(C) interest rates and housing prices tend to rise and fall together
(D) interest rates are the only significant economic factor affecting housing prices
(E) interest rates are likely to fall significantly in the next six months

IMO C...

By POE
Golden rule .. avoid extrem word in CR (only, most, all.. etc)
This Elliminate options A, D,
B: support to Ronal's arg not Mark's
E: Hypothetical ...

Hence C and it also support Mark's arg.

INFERENCE QUESTIONS: TIPS

In infer questions, the common answer traps are:

a. False contrapositive statements
eg. A implies B (If A then B)
The contrapositive of this statement is always true. False contrapositives are not
necessarily true.

Contrapositive of the above example is Not B implies Not A. (If not B Then not A)
Any other statement is not necessarily true

Tip: For contrapositive, reverse the equation and signs both. Contrapositive of a statement is always true


b. If Universal Information is given. We can only infer (some) from it that will be true

c. If some/particular info is given, we cannot infer ALL and NOT SOME


Very imp: We need to avoid not necessarily true/could be true statements. Infer qs are always of the nature that must be true


Correct Answer choice: B


A:Incorrect because it is the false contrapositive of Mark's logic

B:Correct (Here the Answer can be derived directly from Mark's logic and no contrapositive are required. However it helps to understand this concept for solving more complicated twisted language questions )
Ronald logic= If no fall in interest Then no increase in house price
contrapositive that must be true: If increase in house price then fall in interest

Mark logic= If fall in interest Then increase in prices.
It is a false contrapositive. Hence this logic cannot be inferred from Ronald's statement.
This tells us that Mark has interpreted Ronald's statement incorrectly


C:Incorrect because Ronald's logic and Mark's logic gives an indirect relationship whereas Answer C gives a direct relationship.

D:Incorrect because out of scope of stimulus (significant economic factor)

E:Incorrect because out of scope of stimulus ( next 6 months is not talked about by Mark. He is basing his logic on last one year)

Cheers
Turbo Jet

Looking at it now, C makes sense

I feel the answer will be B