Critical Reasoning

Numismatist: In medieval Spain, most gold coins were minted from gold mined in West Africa, in the area that is now Senegal. The gold mined in this region was the purest known. Its gold content of 92 percent allowed coins to be minted without refining the gold, and indeed coins minted from this source of gold can be recognized because they have that gold content. The mints could refine gold and produced other kinds of coins that had much purer gold content, but the Senegalese gold was never refined.
13. Which one of the following inferences about gold coins minted in medieval Spain is most strongly supported by the information the numismatist gives?
(A) Coins minted from Senegalese gold all contained the same weight, as well as the same proportion of gold.
(B) The source of some refined gold from which coins were minted was unrefined gold with a gold content of less than 92 percent.
(C) Two coins could have the same monetary value even though they differed from each other in the percentage of gold they contained.
(D) No gold coins were minted that had a gold content of less than 92 percent.
(E) The only unrefined gold from which coins could be minted was Senegalese gold.

armaan700+ wrote:Numismatist: In medieval Spain, most gold coins were minted from gold mined in West Africa, in the area that is now Senegal. The gold mined in this region was the purest known. Its gold content of 92 percent allowed coins to be minted without refining the gold, and indeed coins minted from this source of gold can be recognized because they have that gold content. The mints could refine gold and produced other kinds of coins that had much purer gold content, but the Senegalese gold was never refined.
13. Which one of the following inferences about gold coins minted in medieval Spain is most strongly supported by the information the numismatist gives?
(A) Coins minted from Senegalese gold all contained the same weight, as well as the same proportion of gold.
(B) The source of some refined gold from which coins were minted was unrefined gold with a gold content of less than 92 percent.
(C) Two coins could have the same monetary value even though they differed from each other in the percentage of gold they contained.
(D) No gold coins were minted that had a gold content of less than 92 percent.
(E) The only unrefined gold from which coins could be minted was Senegalese gold.

my pick is (c)

When answering inference question firstly, we need to pick the answer choice that can be framed from the information given in the stimulus. Secondly avoid extreme words.

I would go with OA) C.

(A) Coins minted from Senegalese gold all contained the same weight, as well as the same proportion of gold.
- No information about weight is mentioned anywhere so ignore this choice.

(B) The source of some refined gold from which coins were minted was unrefined gold with a gold content of less than 92 percent.
- Only info about refining gold is given with 92% gold content.

(C) Two coins could have the same monetary value even though they differed from each other in the percentage of gold they contained.
- Since the mint could refine gold and produce other kinds of coins that had much purer gold content we can infer this probably.

(D) No gold coins were minted that had a gold content of less than 92 percent.
- Too strong

(E) The only unrefined gold from which coins could be minted was Senegalese gold.
-- Too extreme and strong

-Deepak

I would choose B

A- It never mentions weight

B- My pick

C- The stimilus never discusses the value of the coinage

D- We don't know what the content of the refined gold was. It never discusses the standard to which refined gold coins were held to

E- We know that no other gold was purer than Senegalese gold, but we don't know if any other gold could match their gold's purity.

Choose B

armaan700+ wrote:Numismatist: In medieval Spain, most gold coins were minted from gold mined in West Africa, in the area that is now Senegal. The gold mined in this region was the purest known. Its gold content of 92 percent allowed coins to be minted without refining the gold, and indeed coins minted from this source of gold can be recognized because they have that gold content. The mints could refine gold and produced other kinds of coins that had much purer gold content, but the Senegalese gold was never refined.
13. Which one of the following inferences about gold coins minted in medieval Spain is most strongly supported by the information the numismatist gives?
(A) Coins minted from Senegalese gold all contained the same weight, as well as the same proportion of gold.
(B) The source of some refined gold from which coins were minted was unrefined gold with a gold content of less than 92 percent.
(C) Two coins could have the same monetary value even though they differed from each other in the percentage of gold they contained.
(D) No gold coins were minted that had a gold content of less than 92 percent.
(E) The only unrefined gold from which coins could be minted was Senegalese gold.

B for me

A - No constraint on weight is mentioned in the passage
C - Not Mentioned, neither can be inferred
D - Not mentioned
E - Cannot be inferred from data given

I'm stuck between B and C?

Experts: what is the trap/key to unlocking the right answer between these two?? Thanks.

I would go with B. What is the OA?

C is wrong because it talks about "Monetary value". The original question does not mention anything about "Monetary Value".

I would go B.

I thought C for a second because the passage says "indeed coins minted from this source of gold can be recognized because they have that gold content." However, coins minted from this source of gold implies that Senegal gold can be recognized. In other words, the author isn't comparing two different types of coins but rather two of the same. therefore, we know nothing about the monetary values of two similar but different coins.

Also, monetary value is never discussed in the passage as someone mentioned.

Official answer?

Easy question if u read carefully.
B

The gold was the PUREST known. Its content was 92. Other coins could be minted but they have to be refined. Thus their original content must have been less than 92 because 92 is the max.

From other source:


B or D.
Most coins were minted from gold in Sengal. So some coins weren't.

If from Sengal, then gold content is 92% and was the purest known. nothing higher than 92%.

If gold content is 92%, coins could be minted w/o refining. Gold can be refined to jack up the gold %, but stimulus says that the Senegalese Gold was never refined. It is feasible that gold w/ < 92% was used in the refining process to create a "purer gold content" coin.


I would go w/ B. - all it says is that the source of some refined gold from which coins were minted was unrefined gold with a gold content of less than 92 percent.

It's less restrictive than D and fits all of the restrictions in the argument.

Thanks dmitriyaleyev, good explanation.

I am leaning more towards B, but I'm not sure about it.