BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

Target Test Prep · GMAT

Choose how you want to prepare

Learn live with an expert or move at your own pace. Every option includes the complete TTP study system.

★★★★★5.0559 reviews
Vote for Target Test Prep, Newsweek Readers’ Choice Awards 2026
NEWSWEEK READERS’ CHOICE 2026

BIG NEWS! Target Test Prep has been nominated, and they’d love your vote!

TTP has worked incredibly hard to build the best test prep experience possible, and winning Newsweek’s 2026 Readers’ Choice Award for Best Test Prep would mean a lot to them. If TTP has helped you, they’d be incredibly grateful for your vote. You can vote once each day through September 9.

Vote for TTP
GMATLiveTeach 7 seats left
Chris Peckover
NEXT LIVE COHORT

Oct 13 to Jan 7, 2027

with Chris Peckover

Schedule
Tue, Thu · 8:00 to 10:00 PM ET
Included
40 live hours + 6 months of GMAT OnDemand
  • Live instruction and real-time questions
  • Class recordings and assigned practice
View class & enroll
Limited cohort · enrollment openTarget Test Prep
EALiveTeach 5 seats left
Logan Thompson
EXECUTIVE ASSESSMENT

Sep 6 to Dec 6, 2026

with Logan Thompson

Schedule
Sun · 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM ET
Included
40 hours of live online classes plus six months of access to the complete TTP EA OnDemand course.
  • 165+ EA Score Guarantee
  • 4,100+ Quant, Verbal, and Integrated Reasoning practice questions
  • 400+ hours of in-depth video lessons
  • 3,000+ step-by-step video solutions
View EA class & enroll
Limited cohort · enrollment openTarget Test Prep
GMATOnDemand Start anytime
SELF-PACED MASTERCLASS

Target Test Prep GMAT OnDemand

Complete access from day one. Study on your schedule.

715+ score guarantee
$0to start then $127/mo
  • Personalized study plan and analytics
  • Thousands of lessons and practice questions

Compare the format, schedule, and included access before enrolling. Prices and seat counts shown reflect the supplied offer details.

Male bowerbirds construct elaborately decorated nests, or

Expert replies
by BTGmoderatorDC » Sun Aug 26, 2018 1:22 am

Timer

00:00

Answers

A

B

C

D

E

Stats

Difficulty

Male bowerbirds construct elaborately decorated nests, or bowers. Basing their judgment on the fact that different local populations of bowerbirds of the same species build bowers that exhibit different building and decorative styles, researchers have concluded that the bowerbirds’ building styles are a culturally acquired, rather than a genetically transmitted, trait.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn by the researchers?

A. There are more common characteristics than there are differences among the bowerbuilding styles of the local bowerbird population that has been studied most extensively.
B. Young male bowerbirds are inept at bowerbuilding and apparently spend years watching their elders before becoming accomplished in the local bower style.
C. The bowers of one species of bowerbird lack the towers and ornamentation characteristic of the bowers of most other species of bowerbird.
D. Bowerbirds are found only in New Guinea and Australia, where local populations of the birds apparently seldom have contact with one another.
E. It is well known that the song dialects of some songbirds are learned rather than transmitted genetically.

OA B

Source: GMAT Prep
Join the discussion
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

by ceilidh.erickson » Mon Aug 27, 2018 11:39 am
This question is testing CORRELATION v. CAUSATION logic.

Given:
The building styles of bowerbirds of the same species are different in different locations.

Conclusion:
Building styles are culturally acquired, not genetic.

Logical Gap:
- are these birds in different locations genetically similar? Couldn't they have differences in genetic traits specific to certain locations that might account for these differences?

To strengthen:
We need further information to suggest that building information is not inherited but rather learned.

A. There are more common characteristics than there are differences among the bowerbuilding styles of the local bowerbird population that has been studied most extensively.
This doesn't strengthen. We're given that there ARE differences, and we want to strengthen the explanation for why. Knowing that there are also similarities is not helpful.

B. Young male bowerbirds are inept at bowerbuilding and apparently spend years watching their elders before becoming accomplished in the local bower style.
If young ones are inept, that suggests that they don't have the knowledge innately, and that they must learn it. Correct!

C. The bowers of one species of bowerbird lack the towers and ornamentation characteristic of the bowers of most other species of bowerbird.
This merely explains what one of the differences is. We don't care about the particulars of the differences; we just care WHY there are differences.

D. Bowerbirds are found only in New Guinea and Australia, where local populations of the birds apparently seldom have contact with one another.
If different populations don't interact with each other, they might have more distinct genetic traits as well as distinct cultural knowledge. This does not help to explain that differences are caused by nurture and NOT by nature.

E. It is well known that the song dialects of some songbirds are learned rather than transmitted genetically.
This argument is not concerned with songs. It's possible for some traits to be learned and others to be genetic, so this is irrelevant to building styles.

The answer is B.
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Join the discussion