Mouth cancer; Help needed to identify the OA

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Vishnu88: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 35; Joined: Thu Feb 03, 2011 11:07 amFollowed by: 1 member; Location: Chennai, India; Thanked: 1 times

by Vishnu88 » Mon May 23, 2011 1:42 pm

Mouth cancer is a danger for people who rarely brush their teeth. In order to achieve early detection ofmouth cancer in these individuals, a town's public health officials sent pamphlet to all town residents,describing how to perform weekly self-examinations of the mouth for lumps.

Which of the following, if true, is the best criticism of the pamphlet as a method of achieving the public health officials' goal?

A) Many dental diseases produce symptoms that cannot be detected in a weekly self-examination
(B) Once mouth cancer has been detected, the effectiveness of treatment can vary from person to person.
(C) The pamphlet was sent to all town residents, including those individuals who brush their teeth regularly.
(D) Mouth cancer is much more common in adults than in children.
(E) People who rarely brush their teeth are unlikely to perform a weekly examination of their mouth.

I dont have the OA nor do I have the source. Picked it up from a friend, who said it was a paper test.

Experts please be kind enough to share your thoughts.

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Mon May 23, 2011 1:42 pm

David@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2193; Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pmFollowed by: 512 members; Location: Vermont and Boston, MA; Thanked: 1186 times; GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Mon May 23, 2011 5:19 pm

I have certainly seen this question before. I believe it is an official question, perhaps from OG 10th ed.

I will disclose the official answer tomorrow and I will also not analyze this until then, so that we can get some discussion as to why it is true.

I will just say that as you can see this is a plan question so please use a strategy appropriate for a "plan" type of question.

Let's see some good explanations!

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sourabh33: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 135; Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:01 pmFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 21 times; GMAT Score:720

by sourabh33 » Mon May 23, 2011 7:34 pm

IMO E

Question Type: Weaken the conclusion/argument

Conclusion: Sending info pamphlets to all residents (Including who don't brush) will help in early detection of mouth cancer.

Now, by guessing we can think of an obvious reason: people who don not brush will never perform the examination

Going through the options

a. Discussion is about mouth cancer - change of scope - not applicable
b. Conclusion is about detection and not treatment - change of scope - not applicable
c. Sending pamphlets to ppl, who brush their teeth regularly does not stop ppl, who do not brush, to perform oral examination
d. Change of scope - discussion is about ppl who do or don't brush regularly, and not about adults and children
e. As preempted ---> this is a weakener and therefore should be the answer

Last edited by sourabh33 on Mon May 23, 2011 7:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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AnkitK: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 6; Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:53 am

by AnkitK » Mon May 23, 2011 7:52 pm

Definitely E is the answer.

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Jayanth2689: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 69; Joined: Sat Jul 31, 2010 9:27 pmFollowed by: 4 members; Thanked: 2 times; GMAT Score:640

by Jayanth2689 » Tue May 24, 2011 11:17 am

Vishnu88 wrote:Mouth cancer is a danger for people who rarely brush their teeth. In order to achieve early detection ofmouth cancer in these individuals, a town's public health officials sent pamphlet to all town residents,describing how to perform weekly self-examinations of the mouth for lumps.

Which of the following, if true, is the best criticism of the pamphlet as a method of achieving the public health officials' goal?

A) Many dental diseases produce symptoms that cannot be detected in a weekly self-examination
(B) Once mouth cancer has been detected, the effectiveness of treatment can vary from person to person.
(C) The pamphlet was sent to all town residents, including those individuals who brush their teeth regularly.
(D) Mouth cancer is much more common in adults than in children.
(E) People who rarely brush their teeth are unlikely to perform a weekly examination of their mouth.

I dont have the OA nor do I have the source. Picked it up from a friend, who said it was a paper test.

Experts please be kind enough to share your thoughts.

I'm no expert but still -

A - Loser. Misleading. Self-Examination period is not for just 1 week.
B - Loser. Out of Scope. Stimulus talks about detection of cancer. Not about effectiveness of treatment.
C - Loser. Irrelevant wrt individuals who actually brush their teeth.
D - Loser. No question of adults/children. Does not affect the argument in anyway.
E - Contender and Correct Answer. As stimulus mentions "n order to achieve early detection ofmouth cancer in these individuals"

If THESE individuals themselves do not perform the weekly self-examinations, then the goal of the public health officials is defeated.

So, E should be the answer.

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David@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2193; Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pmFollowed by: 512 members; Location: Vermont and Boston, MA; Thanked: 1186 times; GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Tue May 24, 2011 11:41 am

OA is E.

All these guys have the right answer and great logic!

Jayanth2689 and sourabh33 well done.

As a plan question I focus on the plan and the goal. And state that the plan WILL NOT achieve the goal.

In this case the plan is to send pamphlets describing the way to check for cancer.

The Goal is to "achieve early detection of mouth cancer in those individuals who rarely brush."

So we want to say that the plan does not achieve the goal. As discussed in the above posts choice E shows how the goal will not be achieved.

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champmag: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 234; Joined: Tue Feb 22, 2011 5:02 amFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 5 times

by champmag » Thu May 26, 2011 8:55 pm

+1 for E.

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