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Shepherd's Gate Protection System

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Shepherd's Gate Protection System

by gmatrix » Wed Sep 08, 2010 9:28 pm
Salesman: "The revolutionary new Shepherd's Gate Protection System represents the latest in sheep-tending technology! The built-in sensors recognize the scent of predators from miles around. When your flock is in danger of attack, the electronic gates surrounding the flock will quickly slam shut, keeping any unwanted animals away, and your flock safer than ever! Sure, the system is prone to false alarms, but you know what they say: Better safe than sorry!"

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the salesman's argument?

A. Sheep cannot be injured by the electronic gates when they quickly slam shut.

B. Similar electronic protection systems are currently used to protect cattle from attack by predators.

C. Roughly half the time, when the gates close automatically, it's because of a false alarm.

D. Some sheep predators have been hunted almost to extinction.

E. Flocks of sheep are rarely attacked by predators.

[spoiler]OA:not given[/spoiler]
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by debmalya_dutta » Wed Sep 08, 2010 9:47 pm
gmatrix wrote:Salesman: "The revolutionary new Shepherd's Gate Protection System represents the latest in sheep-tending technology! The built-in sensors recognize the scent of predators from miles around. When your flock is in danger of attack, the electronic gates surrounding the flock will quickly slam shut, keeping any unwanted animals away, and your flock safer than ever! Sure, the system is prone to false alarms, but you know what they say: Better safe than sorry!"

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the salesman's argument?

A. Sheep cannot be injured by the electronic gates when they quickly slam shut.

B. Similar electronic protection systems are currently used to protect cattle from attack by predators.

C. Roughly half the time, when the gates close automatically, it's because of a false alarm.

D. Some sheep predators have been hunted almost to extinction.

E. Flocks of sheep are rarely attacked by predators.

[spoiler]OA:not given[/spoiler]
i think i will go for b
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by Maciek » Thu Sep 09, 2010 8:21 am
Hi all!

IMO A
Answer A introduces information that strengthens the salesman's argument
Answer B is irrelevant
Answer C weakens the salesman's argument
Answer D introduces information without impact on the salesman's argument. It is because of word 'some'
Answer E weakens the salesman's argument

If you don't agree with my reasoning, post here. Thanks!

Hope it helps!
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by Arcane66 » Thu Sep 09, 2010 12:42 pm
I agree with Maciek. I don't think B can be correct because it simply states that similar technology is being used on a different animal. How can this strengthen the saleman's argument? Obviously C-E are irrelevant. A is my answer but it's not a great question in my view.
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by kvcpk » Thu Sep 09, 2010 12:54 pm
A Cannot be the answer. Answer should be B.

A doesnt provide any info that is strengthening the premises or conclusion. It is just additional information.

A would be a better choice if the question said Which of the following questions will help evaluate the sheep safety.

and A is "will the Sheep be injured by the electronic gates when they quickly slam shut. "

On the other hand, B strenghtens the argument by stating that the similar systems already exist.
B is definitely not a great answer. But is best among the lot.
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by vishalj » Thu Sep 09, 2010 1:16 pm
Clearly C, D, and E are out.

A and B are close. However, we have to strenthen the conclusion of the argument, which is about the electronic protection system and how it keeps sheep out of danger from predator.

B clearly strengthens the conclusion. hence B. A is simply strengthened the fact taht the electronic gate is safe to use. It is not saying anything about the prefator.
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by reply2spg » Thu Sep 09, 2010 8:48 pm
Let's think that whatever mentioned in passage is correct, then gates will save sheep from predators. Now here we will have 2 cases.

1. Sheep is in danger because of predators. - this is ruled out because we say whatever mentioned in passage is correct.
2. Sheep is in danger because of gates, which close quickly. - What if these gates hurts sheep. What if sheep gets in between the gates and die?

If we show that gates do not cause any harm to sheep, then we know for sure that sheep is safe from outside and from inside.

A talks about the same thing and gives support to passage and A is the answer

Now, let's see B. B says 'Similar electronic protection systems are currently used to protect cattle from attack by predators.' Do we know how many cattle safe using this process? How successful this exercise is? how long this system is in place? Currently does not give any specific answer. What if currently means just one or two days? This does not give any information about how the system is?

So B is not correct.
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by kvcpk » Thu Sep 09, 2010 9:58 pm
A. Sheep cannot be injured by the electronic gates when they quickly slam shut.

(A) is incorrect even though it probably helps the salesman's pitch; it is not as good an answer as (B). Although this might be a selling point, the sales pitch as stated in the stimulus suggests that the customer's main concern is protecting his sheep from predators, and that the customer might hesitate to buy the system because it might not work properly, that the gates might close when the shepherd doesn't want them to, not because his sheep might be injured by the gates when they close. If such danger exists, it exists whether the alarm is false or not, but the salesman never mentions it; he only mentions false alarms as a cause for concern. The customer is not likely to leave his sheep unprotected because of a risk that they might be injured by a security system.

B. Similar electronic protection systems are currently used to protect cattle from attack by predators.

(B) is the best answer. The sales pitch in the stimulus suggests that the salesman, after describing how the system works, wants to assuage customers' concerns that it may not always work properly because it is prone to false alarms. The fact that similar systems are currently being used in similar applications suggests that the system works well enough and is suitable for its purpose, which bears out the "better safe than sorry" cliché at the end. Unlike (A), this claim addresses the specific risk that the customer is concerned about, and the specific decision he needs to make: whether the system will protect his flock from predators.


hope this helps!!
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by gmatmachoman » Fri Sep 10, 2010 4:01 am
gmatrix wrote:Salesman: " When your flock is in danger of attack, the electronic gates surrounding the flock will quickly slam shut, keeping any unwanted animals away, and your flock safer than ever! Sure, the system is prone to false alarms, but you know what they say: Better safe than sorry!"

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the salesman's argument?

A. Sheep cannot be injured by the electronic gates when they quickly slam shut.

B. Similar electronic protection systems are currently used to protect cattle from attack by predators.



[spoiler]OA:not given[/spoiler]
While strengthening an argument, its always good to prephrase a plausible assumption.

Assumption over here is the the electronic system "WON'T" injure the flock.

So Affirming the assumption is option A.

Ok let's think this way, the main point of buying the System is to protect he Flock from any danger and to keep them safer.

So wat's the benefit if flock is gonna get hurt for every "alarm( FAlse/ real)". So that makes the concl;usion weak if the System is gonna injure the flock when it closes".

A is the right option.

B says Similar electronic protection systems are currently used to protect cattle from attack by predators.

But it is still given to the condition what if the exisisting system is gonna "harm/injure" the flock when it closes??
So B can't be strengthner..

LOL..If he is a Smart sales guy, let him pick A!!
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by reply2spg » Fri Sep 10, 2010 4:53 am
Is this OA and OE, or it is your reasoning?
kvcpk wrote:A. Sheep cannot be injured by the electronic gates when they quickly slam shut.

(A) is incorrect even though it probably helps the salesman's pitch; it is not as good an answer as (B). Although this might be a selling point, the sales pitch as stated in the stimulus suggests that the customer's main concern is protecting his sheep from predators, and that the customer might hesitate to buy the system because it might not work properly, that the gates might close when the shepherd doesn't want them to, not because his sheep might be injured by the gates when they close. If such danger exists, it exists whether the alarm is false or not, but the salesman never mentions it; he only mentions false alarms as a cause for concern. The customer is not likely to leave his sheep unprotected because of a risk that they might be injured by a security system.

B. Similar electronic protection systems are currently used to protect cattle from attack by predators.

(B) is the best answer. The sales pitch in the stimulus suggests that the salesman, after describing how the system works, wants to assuage customers' concerns that it may not always work properly because it is prone to false alarms. The fact that similar systems are currently being used in similar applications suggests that the system works well enough and is suitable for its purpose, which bears out the "better safe than sorry" cliché at the end. Unlike (A), this claim addresses the specific risk that the customer is concerned about, and the specific decision he needs to make: whether the system will protect his flock from predators.


hope this helps!!
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by kvcpk » Fri Sep 10, 2010 5:06 am
reply2spg wrote:Is this OA and OE, or it is your reasoning?
Not sure if its OA and OE. But I was searching for this qn in the night and found only one unattended blog with this qn. I just copied the content here. Didnt want to spam with the link.

I posted my explanation already above that.
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by paddle_sweep » Sun Sep 12, 2010 6:42 pm
Dear Members, I will go with '
A
'. Please quote the source.
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by goyalsau » Mon Sep 13, 2010 3:19 am
I think B should be the Answer.

Lets think this way, according to option A ( sheep cannot be injured by electronic gates when they quickly close the door ) is this option we are cover one possibility, Which is by no means less important but consider a practical scenario when we want to install a security system in our house we will go to all the pin point details but in the end still try to avoid experiments.... so will give call salesman to give the details to those who all ready purchased it, because its good that we are covering one possibility but there may be one what we can't imagine, that's why by talking to those people who all ready use the system, its always better for salesman to promote new products.
As it is said its good that your product is the best but in starting you will find it difficult to convince new costumers.

option B is doing the same thing. it says the system is safe because cattle are being protected by it and its also considering the option A in it self because by no means any salesman will give the address of irate costumers. so i think option B will help salesman in selling more security systems than option A.

Its my reasoning please correct me if i am wrong.
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by navami » Mon Sep 13, 2010 10:43 am
A is a strong contender because:

B says that similar technology used for other cattle, but
1. what is the guarantee that other cattle are behavior wise or anatomically similar to sheep
2. currently the technology is being used, but it does not guarantees that, the technology is safe.
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