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Tigers

by schumi_gmat » Thu Oct 16, 2008 12:38 pm
In a nature reserve in India, people are
sometimes attacked by tigers. It is believed that
the tigers will only attack people from behind. So
for the past few years many workers in the
reserve have started wearing masks depicting a
human face on the back of their heads. While
many area residents remain skeptical, no worker
wearing one of these masks has yet been
attacked by a tiger.
Which of the statements below, if true, would
best support the argument of those who
advocate the use of the mask?
(A) Many workers in the nature reserve who do not wear the masks have been attacked recently by tigers.
(B) Workers in other nature reserves who wear similar masks have not been attacked recently by tigers.
(C) No tigers have been spotted on the nature
reserve in recent years.
(D) Many of the workers who wear the masks
also sing while they work in order to
frighten away any tigers in the area.
(E) The tigers have often been observed
attacking small deer from in front rather
than from behind.

OA A

I was confused between OA and B but chose B.
can anyone explain how to apply the CR bible strategy to this question?
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Re: Tigers

by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Thu Oct 16, 2008 1:42 pm
schumi_gmat wrote:In a nature reserve in India, people are
sometimes attacked by tigers. It is believed that
the tigers will only attack people from behind. So
for the past few years many workers in the
reserve have started wearing masks depicting a
human face on the back of their heads. While
many area residents remain skeptical, no worker
wearing one of these masks has yet been
attacked by a tiger.
Which of the statements below, if true, would
best support the argument of those who
advocate the use of the mask?
(A) Many workers in the nature reserve who do not wear the masks have been attacked recently by tigers.
(B) Workers in other nature reserves who wear similar masks have not been attacked recently by tigers.
(C) No tigers have been spotted on the nature
reserve in recent years.
(D) Many of the workers who wear the masks
also sing while they work in order to
frighten away any tigers in the area.
(E) The tigers have often been observed
attacking small deer from in front rather
than from behind.

I was confused between OA and B but chose B.
can anyone explain how to apply the CR bible strategy to this question?
It's extremely useful to be able to recognize common argument types on the GMAT. One of the most common (perhaps THE most common) is causation. We can summarize this entire argument as:

"The reason why tigers aren't attacking the workers is due to the masks."

or

"The masks are preventing tiger attacks."

To support a causation argument, we generally do one of two things:

(1) remove an alternative explanation; or
(2) provide additional evidence linking the purported cause and effect.

Choice (A) removes an alternative explanation. It's possible that the reason for reduced attacks is because the tigers aren't attacking anyone at all. However, if the tigers are still attacking non-mask wearing workers, then we don't have to worry about that possibility.

Actually, (A) reminds me of an old joke:

Two kids, Bobby and Freddy, are sitting in a classroom and Bobby is confused because Freddy is wearing a purple bag on his head. When Bobby asked Freddy why, Freddy replied "it keeps the elephants away". Bobby asked how Freddy knows that and Freddy says "well, you don't see any elephants around, do you?"

(Hey, I didn't say it was a particularly funny old joke.)

Relating (A) to our joke, it's the equivalent of "kids in other classrooms who aren't wearing purple bags on their heads are getting trampled by elephants".

Choice (B) doesn't strengthen because it doesn't help us determine if the masks themselves are making any difference. For all we know, tigers everywhere are on strike and are just lying on the couch watching football and talk shows.

Relating (B) to our joke, it's the equivalent of "No elephants are bothering other kids wearing purple bags on their heads."
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by raunekk » Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:28 pm
hey Stuart,,

amazing explanation,,,

and btw tat joke.... was funny!!!...:)
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by Jatinder » Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:30 pm
Completely agreed with A but still lil problem in eliminating B

i thought that if the tiger attacking is not happening in other nature reserves also then it also removes the alternate explanation: There is not something peculiar to the 1st nature reserve which is causing tigers not to attack.

Pls explain what is wrong in my thought process
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by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:53 pm
Jatinder wrote:Completely agreed with A but still lil problem in eliminating B

i thought that if the tiger attacking is not happening in other nature reserves also then it also removes the alternate explanation: There is not something peculiar to the 1st nature reserve which is causing tigers not to attack.

Pls explain what is wrong in my thought process
The other reserve has the same conditions, at least as far as we know - the people there wearing masks aren't getting attacked.

However, we still don't know if it's because of the masks. We still don't know if anyone is getting attacked by tigers. Just like all those kids wearing purple bags on their heads don't make us think that the purple bags are actually keeping away the elephants, we have no clue if it's the masks that are keeping away the tigers.
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by mbaapplicant2008 » Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:00 pm
Thank you, Stuart
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by nervesofsteel » Thu Oct 30, 2008 11:12 pm
yes it shuld be A

in B it is never said that tigers were attacking in other reserves also..
they may not be doing so in other reserves.. so we cannot apply condition of one scenario to other...
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OG question but problematic

by tanviet » Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:24 am
according to CR bible, we can strengthen the casation by

a, show that if there is no cause, no effect exists

b, show that if there is the cause, effect exists.

A is a,

B is b

this question is wrong, I think so. pls, help
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SOLUTION TO CR,Pls, contribute.

by tanviet » Wed Oct 21, 2009 7:19 am
A is correct

B is wrong because B repeat evidence. this is very attractive but wrong.

the strengthener is

1, new information
2,increase belief or doubt in conclusion(see Kaplan book)
3,in context of evidence(see "critical reasoning 101")
4, do not repeat evidence or contradict evidence

answer increase belief or doubt but out of context of evidence is attractive but wrong

anwer repeat evidence or contradict evidence is attractive but wrong

I wish all of you contribute to SOLUTION TO CR
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