gmat set 4 cr II

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gmat set 4 cr II

by clammiestqasar » Mon Aug 23, 2010 9:53 am
Newspaper editorial:

In an attempt to reduce the crime rate, the governor is getting tough on criminals and making prison conditions harsher. Part of this effort has been to deny inmates the access they formerly had to college-level courses. However, this action is clearly counter to the governor's ultimate goal, since after being released form prison, inmates who had taken such courses committed far fewer crimes overall than other inmates.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. Not being able to take college-level courses while in prison is unlikely to deter anyone from a crime that he or she might otherwise have committed.
B. Former inmates are no more likely to commit crimes than are members of the general population.
C. The group of inmates who chose to take college-level courses were not already less likely than other inmates to commit crimes after being released.
D. Taking high school level courses in prison has less effect on an inmate's subsequent behavior than taking college-level courses does.
E. The governor's ultimate goal actually is to gain popularity by convincing people that something effective is being done about crime.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by goyalsau » Mon Aug 23, 2010 10:13 am
I will go with e,

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by crack_attack_gmat » Mon Aug 23, 2010 10:45 am
(A) is a restatement of the stimulus - using the information provided in ( "since after being ..................than other inmates")

(B) out of context - unrelated to the passage

(C) The comparison makes sense when all inmates are equally likely to commit crimes and equally likely to NOT commit crimes when having taken a college course. So this sounds like a valid assumption to base the stimulus upon. Correct Answer

(D) high school courses - out of context comparison.

(E) No mention is made of popularity etc in the stimulus.

Ans is (C) IMHO. Whats the OA plz.
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by clammiestqasar » Mon Aug 23, 2010 6:19 pm
OA is A but even i think it should be C

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by paes » Mon Aug 23, 2010 8:29 pm
IMO A

very good question.
Even I initially selected C.


If the conclusion had been as:
this action is clearly help to the governor’s ultimate goal :

then C would have been an assumption.


but the conclusiob is :

this action is clearly counter to the governor’s ultimate goal. -> so C is not an assumption

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by FightWithGMAT » Tue Aug 24, 2010 4:35 am
clammiestqasar wrote:Newspaper editorial:

In an attempt to reduce the crime rate, the governor is getting tough on criminals and making prison conditions harsher. Part of this effort has been to deny inmates the access they formerly had to college-level courses. However, this action is clearly counter to the governor's ultimate goal, since after being released form prison, inmates who had taken such courses committed far fewer crimes overall than other inmates.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. Not being able to take college-level courses while in prison is unlikely to deter anyone from a crime that he or she might otherwise have committed.
B. Former inmates are no more likely to commit crimes than are members of the general population.
C. The group of inmates who chose to take college-level courses were not already less likely than other inmates to commit crimes after being released.
D. Taking high school level courses in prison has less effect on an inmate's subsequent behavior than taking college-level courses does.
E. The governor's ultimate goal actually is to gain popularity by convincing people that something effective is being done about crime.
So the conclusion is:

Denying CLC does not reduce crime.

What author assumes while concluding this.
CLC are likely to contribute to reducing crime.

C indicates that CLC do contribute to reducing crime.

A says that absence of CLC is unlikely to reduce crime.

This does not mean that
Presence of CLC is likely to reduce crime


I will go with C.

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by FightWithGMAT » Tue Aug 24, 2010 4:36 am
FightWithGMAT wrote:
clammiestqasar wrote:Newspaper editorial:

In an attempt to reduce the crime rate, the governor is getting tough on criminals and making prison conditions harsher. Part of this effort has been to deny inmates the access they formerly had to college-level courses. However, this action is clearly counter to the governor's ultimate goal, since after being released form prison, inmates who had taken such courses committed far fewer crimes overall than other inmates.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. Not being able to take college-level courses while in prison is unlikely to deter anyone from a crime that he or she might otherwise have committed.
B. Former inmates are no more likely to commit crimes than are members of the general population.
C. The group of inmates who chose to take college-level courses were not already less likely than other inmates to commit crimes after being released.
D. Taking high school level courses in prison has less effect on an inmate's subsequent behavior than taking college-level courses does.
E. The governor's ultimate goal actually is to gain popularity by convincing people that something effective is being done about crime.
So the conclusion is:

Denying CLC does not reduce crime.

What author assumes while concluding this.
CLC are likely to contribute to reducing crime.

C indicates that CLC do contribute to reducing crime.

A says that absence of CLC is unlikely to reduce crime.

This does not mean that
Presence of CLC is likely to reduce crime


I will go with C.
After posting this answer, I searched the question.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/governor-and ... 14221.html
https://gmatclub.com/forum/cr-newspaper- ... 11320.html