Critical Reasoning

In 1980, 13 percent of the Arbican population moved from urban areas to suburban areas. This percentage steadily declined, until, in 1990, it reached 3%.

If the statements above are all true, all of the following statements concerning Arbicans between 1980 and 1990 could also be true EXCEPT:

A. The number of Arbicans moving from suburban areas to urban areas also decreased

B. The Arbican population increased, and so did the number of Arbicans moving from urban to suburban areas

C. the arbican population decreased and so did the number of Arbicans moving from urban to suburban areas.

d. The arbican population decreased, and the number of Arbicans moving from urban to suburban areas remained the same.

E. The Arbican population increased, and the number of Arbicans moving from urban to suburban areas remained the same.

OA later

My pick is D..OA please...

could also be true EXCEPT

Ans:D
from 1980 to 1990 population decreased.....not a true assumption so c & d
number of Arbicans moving from urban to suburban areas remained the same....not true decreased from 13% to 3%

here C... loses because....so did the number of Arbicans moving from urban to suburban area is correct.

reply2spg wrote:In 1980, 13 percent of the Arbican population moved from urban areas to suburban areas. This percentage steadily declined, until, in 1990, it reached 3%.

If the statements above are all true, all of the following statements concerning Arbicans between 1980 and 1990 could also be true EXCEPT:

A. The number of Arbicans moving from suburban areas to urban areas also decreased

B. The Arbican population increased, and so did the number of Arbicans moving from urban to suburban areas

C. the arbican population decreased and so did the number of Arbicans moving from urban to suburban areas.

d. The arbican population decreased, and the number of Arbicans moving from urban to suburban areas remained the same.

E. The Arbican population increased, and the number of Arbicans moving from urban to suburban areas remained the same.

OA later

argee that the answer is D what about A?

diebeatsthegmat wrote:

reply2spg wrote:In 1980, 13 percent of the Arbican population moved from urban areas to suburban areas. This percentage steadily declined, until, in 1990, it reached 3%.

If the statements above are all true, all of the following statements concerning Arbicans between 1980 and 1990 could also be true EXCEPT:

A. The number of Arbicans moving from suburban areas to urban areas also decreased

B. The Arbican population increased, and so did the number of Arbicans moving from urban to suburban areas

C. the arbican population decreased and so did the number of Arbicans moving from urban to suburban areas.

d. The arbican population decreased, and the number of Arbicans moving from urban to suburban areas remained the same.

E. The Arbican population increased, and the number of Arbicans moving from urban to suburban areas remained the same.

OA later

argee that the answer is D what about A?

A could be true. Remember the word could. Whereas D would never be true.

Sorry guys, let me find out the OA and I will post it, but A is definitely not the correct answer and it is confirmed. I got this question from BTG forum and original poster has not posted OA

https://www.beatthegmat.com/percentage-c ... 11737.html

Great posts guys!

Guarantee that D is the answer,

I found this question posted elsewhere and D is the official answer.

Here is a question that is in effect asking "which of the following must be false?"

This is a question type that would be very rare on the GMAT - but no worries, just treat it exactly the same way that you would a "must be true?" question.

For a "must be true?" you want to eliminate any answer choice that could be false. This means that if something is outside the scope it could be false- but it also could be true! So eliminate it. If the paragraph is talking about the way that pencils are made and one of the answer choices says that the Sharpie marker was invented by aliens - this certainly could be false as it is beyond the scope, but guess what, it could be true as well! So you would also eliminate this for a "must be false" question. "Must be false" and "must be true" are nearly identical for each you would want to eliminate choices that are beyond the scope.

So for this question, you need something that is NOT beyond the scope and in fact is so within the scope that you can say that it must be false.

All we have for facts is "In 1980, 13 percent of the Arbican population moved from urban areas to suburban areas. This percentage steadily declined, until, in 1990, it reached 3%"

A) This could be true, because all we know is the flow from urban to suburban and we know nothing of the reverse direction. If you don't know about it from the stimulus it could be true or false and it is eliminated from both types of questions. This is not talking about the "net" migration only those that move from urban to suburban. Just as many people could be moving the other direction.

B) Certainly the Arbican population could increase as we are not told about it. And we do not know the numbers moving only the declining percentage of the population is moving. If the population increased, the number moving could still be increasing

C) Same as B.

D) This is the one that must be false. This is a little numbers game. If the percentage of the people moving from urban to suburban decreased and SO DID THE OVERALL POPULATION, then you have a smaller portion of a smaller pie. So that means that the actual number of people moving has to have declined.

E) Same as B and C. If the population increased, which is possible, then it also possible that the percentage of people moving from urban to suburban declined as exactly the same rate that the overall population increased and so the real number of people moving from urban to suburban could have stayed the same.

it should be D.

its D as the arabic population decreased the number of Arabic moving from urban to suburban areas remained the same but

if this true then the percentage will increase not decline so its false