Critical Reasoning

According to a recent study on financial roles, one-third of high school seniors say that they have "significant financial responsibilities." These responsibilities include, but are not limited to, contributing to food, shelter, or clothing for themselves or their families. At the same time, a second study demonstrates that a crisis in money management exists for high school students. According to this study, 80% of high school seniors have never taken a personal finance class even though the same percentage of seniors has opened bank accounts and one-third of these account holders has bounced a check.

Which of the following conclusions can be properly drawn from the statements above?
a)High schools would be wise to incorporate personal finance classes into their core curricula.
b)At least one-third of high school seniors work part-time jobs after school.
C)The number of high school seniors with significant financial responsibilities is greater than the number of seniors who have bounced a check.
d)Any high school seniors who contribute to food, shelter, or clothing for themselves or their families have significant financial responsibilities.
e)The majority of high school students have no financial responsibilities to their families.

@ Pheonix, I could see this as a " inference question" rather a conclusion one.

IMO C infers data from the argument stated.

Let us assume total number of high school seniors = 100

Recent study results (one-third of high school seniors say that they have “significant financial responsibilities): 33 high school seniors


a second study:
80% of high school seniors have never taken a personal finance class even though the same percentage of seniors has opened bank accounts and one-third of these account holders has bounced a check.

---80 % of 100= 80 students have never taken PF course.

and the same 80 students have opened bank accounts.

one-third of these account holders has bounced a check.

(1/3) of 80 =27.

So from the above data, 33 > 27 ; the number of high school seniors with significant financial responsibilities is greater than the number of seniors who have bounced a check.


But I don't agree this as a conclusion based CR.

IMO C

gmatmachoman wrote:@ Pheonix, I could see this as a " inference question" rather a conclusion one.

IMO C infers data from the argument stated.

Let us assume total number of high school seniors = 100

Recent study results (one-third of high school seniors say that they have “significant financial responsibilities): 33 high school seniors


a second study:
80% of high school seniors have never taken a personal finance class even though the same percentage of seniors has opened bank accounts and one-third of these account holders has bounced a check.

---80 % of 100= 80 students have never taken PF course.

and the same 80 students have opened bank accounts.

one-third of these account holders has bounced a check.

(1/3) of 80 =27.

So from the above data, 33 > 27 ; the number of high school seniors with significant financial responsibilities is greater than the number of seniors who have bounced a check.


But I don't agree this as a conclusion based CR.

IMO C

_____________
I found your explanation a bit vague......maybe it is just me.....but can you please elaborate the thinking process for these questions??

I am finding both b and c as the correct answer....thephoenix can u post the answer and the explanation toh the question please...............(c) as already explained by gmatmachoman...but i also find (b) as the correct answer choice......also gmatmachoman can u throw some light as to how it helps knowing whether it's a conclusion or inference based CR..

IMO C should be the answer

a)High schools would be wise to incorporate personal finance classes into their core curricula.
Arg doesnt say what is wise

b)At least one-third of high school seniors work part-time jobs after school.
Not evident from arg

C)The number of high school seniors with significant financial responsibilities is greater than the number of seniors who have bounced a check.
1/3 of high sch seniors is greater than 1/3 of 80 percent of high sch seniors..looks good

d)Any high school seniors who contribute to food, shelter, or clothing for themselves or their families have significant financial responsibilities.
Not correct from first sentence of the argument

e)The majority of high school students have no financial responsibilities to their families.
Nope ,arg talks abt high school seniors specifically

IMO, you cannot use any results-after-calculation to arrive at some conclusion about High School seniors from both these surveys, reason being we do not know what was the sample space in each one of them. Was it same? May be / may be not!

If you assume 100 seniors were questioned, can you be sure if the same 100 were questioned in the second survey?
Case might be, there were only 50 seniors in the second one and 80 % said blah blah blah.....

got my point?

First survey :

one-third of high school seniors say

we do not know whether the survey questioned same students which were questioned in the second one.

Second survey:

80% of high school seniors

: Again, it might be the case that High school students were just a part of it and out of all the high school students questioned, 80% said something. Though an observation about high school students from the survey is presented here, we cannot compare them with those who were questioned in the first survey.


Hence, IMO [spoiler]D
[/spoiler]

Reason :

"significant financial responsibilities." ........include, but are not limited to, contributing to food, shelter, or clothing for themselves or their families

Which means, contributing to one these 3 factors = having significant financial responsibility. IMO D paraphrases it.

OA and source please !

harshavardhanc wrote: OA and source please !

OA is C
source mgmat forum
D) can not be the ans
Any high school seniors who contribute to food, shelter, or clothing for themselves or their families have significant financial responsibilities.
the passage never said any high school seniors

This one is tough but I agree with harshavardhanc's logic about sample size. The passage never says that both surveys are comprised of the same number of people. You could have 100 in the first survey and 1000 in the second, which would destroy c.

However, the only way C holds is if we assume that both surveys have the same number of people. Kinda bogus but what can you do?

harshavardhanc wrote:IMO, you cannot use any results-after-calculation to arrive at some conclusion about High School seniors from both these surveys, reason being we do not know what was the sample space in each one of them. Was it same? May be / may be not!

If you assume 100 seniors were questioned, can you be sure if the same 100 were questioned in the second survey?
Case might be, there were only 50 seniors in the second one and 80 % said blah blah blah.....

got my point?

@Harsha,

I got your point. When i was giving a shot to this answer, the same line of thought occured to me. I just quickly went back to the argument. I look the term " At the same time, a second study "..


Hope this solves ur query!!

pkw209 wrote:This one is tough but I agree with harshavardhanc's logic about sample size. The passage never says that both surveys are comprised of the same number of people. You could have 100 in the first survey and 1000 in the second, which would destroy c.

However, the only way C holds is if we assume that both surveys have the same number of people. Kinda bogus but what can you do?

Dude, Once again I agree with ur point...

Actually Critical reading is all about reading between the lies. If u quickly go back to the argument, u can see a phrase stating.. "At the same time, a second study ...."

Now this should resolve ur cobwebs..Wat say dude???


Lesson Learnt :: Be extremely Knit Picky while reading & answering CR!!Be ruthless and be diligent....CR is all about reading between the lines...

"At the same time" to me doesn't imply that they have the same sample size. I think the phrase serves the purpose of switcing gears and emphasizing a different set of results.

oh well.

pkw209 wrote:"At the same time" to me doesn't imply that they have the same sample size. I think the phrase serves the purpose of switcing gears and emphasizing a different set of results.

oh well.

Based on the structure of the argument, I think that it is fair enough to make the assumption that the sample size is indeed the same.

thephoenix wrote:According to a recent study on financial roles, one-third of high school seniors say that they have "significant financial responsibilities." These responsibilities include, but are not limited to, contributing to food, shelter, or clothing for themselves or their families. At the same time, a second study demonstrates that a crisis in money management exists for high school students. According to this study, 80% of high school seniors have never taken a personal finance class even though the same percentage of seniors has opened bank accounts and one-third of these account holders has bounced a check.

Which of the following conclusions can be properly drawn from the statements above?
a)High schools would be wise to incorporate personal finance classes into their core curricula.
b)At least one-third of high school seniors work part-time jobs after school.
C)The number of high school seniors with significant financial responsibilities is greater than the number of seniors who have bounced a check.
d)Any high school seniors who contribute to food, shelter, or clothing for themselves or their families have significant financial responsibilities.
e)The majority of high school students have no financial responsibilities to their families.

choice (C) compares the number of seniors who do one thing to the number of seniors who do another. Both types of seniors can be related to that unknown total number. Mathematically, choice (C) says 0.33x > 0.27x, which is always true no matter the value of x.