I have analyzed the OG 11, 12 and the Verbal Review 1 and 2 as part of my duties for Veritas.
This is what I have found for Assumption questions. For OG 11th Ed. and Verbal Review 1st Ed. combined there are 206 C.R. questions. Of these 24 are assumption. So that is about 12%.
For OG 12th Ed. there are 124 questions and 13 are Assumption (about 10%) and for Verbal Review 2nd Ed. are 83 questions and 7 assumption (so less than 10%).
So if the OG is representative and if you get an even distribution of questions you could be looking at 10% assumption - meaning as few as 1 assumption question. I would say from 1 to 2 is likely and 3 rare.
Just remember that anything can happen though - 1 only had 10 CR questions on the verbal last time and 4 of my 10 were "Most Useful to Know" which is a lot rarer than Assumption. So I make no guarantees!
OG Bold Faced CR
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David@VeritasPrep
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atulmangal
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@David
Thanks a lot!!! your topic wise analysis of OG CR questions is really a cool stuff. I'm surprised to know that someone may get only 10 CR questions, i mean GMAT may change the no of questions generally assigned for a particular section. In that case it would be horrifying if i get more no of CR questions than what generally appear in GMAT.
Anyways, thanks again for sharing your experience with us!!!
Thanks a lot!!! your topic wise analysis of OG CR questions is really a cool stuff. I'm surprised to know that someone may get only 10 CR questions, i mean GMAT may change the no of questions generally assigned for a particular section. In that case it would be horrifying if i get more no of CR questions than what generally appear in GMAT.
Anyways, thanks again for sharing your experience with us!!!
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David@VeritasPrep
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cyrwr1 - That sounds about right. A "most useful to know" question is one where the answer supplies missing information. You can treat it as a weaken question as we do in the Veritas Critical Reasoning 2 book. If you do it that way you can take the stimulus and look for what is lacking.
A simplified example: If I conclude that you will never buy "Mountain Stream" bottled water and the evidence is that you do not buy products that have been shipped more than 100 miles, if there is an alternative and of course there are many alternative bottled waters as well as filtered water from the local water system.
What is the gap that needs to be filled - the "flaw" in this argument?
We do not know if "Mountain Stream bottled water is transported more than 100 miles to you." This would be the thing that links together the two sides of this argument. So that is one way to get to the answer you look for what is not supplied by the stimulus.
Now the other way to approach is what you mentioned. You take each of the likely answer choices and you try the extremes - one way should strengthen and one way should weaken. This is the best way if you do not see the gap first time.
You see that if the answer choice said, most useful to know is "How far Mountain Stream bottled water is transported" you can find the polar answers and you should get one that strengthens and one that weakens. If Mountain Stream is transported only 10 miles that certainly weakens the conclusion that "you will not buy Mountain Stream bottled water." If on the other hand it is transported 1000 miles this strengthens the conclusion that you will not buy.
I would recommend the first approach if you can anticipate the gap and you find that in an answer choice go with it! If you cannot anticipate, then you can work with the likely answer choices to find one that strengthens when you answer the question one way and then weakens when you answer the opposite way.
Hope that is helpful!
A simplified example: If I conclude that you will never buy "Mountain Stream" bottled water and the evidence is that you do not buy products that have been shipped more than 100 miles, if there is an alternative and of course there are many alternative bottled waters as well as filtered water from the local water system.
What is the gap that needs to be filled - the "flaw" in this argument?
We do not know if "Mountain Stream bottled water is transported more than 100 miles to you." This would be the thing that links together the two sides of this argument. So that is one way to get to the answer you look for what is not supplied by the stimulus.
Now the other way to approach is what you mentioned. You take each of the likely answer choices and you try the extremes - one way should strengthen and one way should weaken. This is the best way if you do not see the gap first time.
You see that if the answer choice said, most useful to know is "How far Mountain Stream bottled water is transported" you can find the polar answers and you should get one that strengthens and one that weakens. If Mountain Stream is transported only 10 miles that certainly weakens the conclusion that "you will not buy Mountain Stream bottled water." If on the other hand it is transported 1000 miles this strengthens the conclusion that you will not buy.
I would recommend the first approach if you can anticipate the gap and you find that in an answer choice go with it! If you cannot anticipate, then you can work with the likely answer choices to find one that strengthens when you answer the question one way and then weakens when you answer the opposite way.
Hope that is helpful!
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David@VeritasPrep
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atulmangal -
Standard wisdom from the collective knowledge of those who have taken the test and teach it is that critical reasoning is the least numerous of the question types. Sentence correction is likely to be more numerous - say 14 to 17 with an average of around 15. Reading Comp should be steady at or very near to 14. Critical reasoning should come in at anywhere from 10 to 14 with an average of about 12. So you should not end up with critical reasoning as the most numerous...
Standard wisdom from the collective knowledge of those who have taken the test and teach it is that critical reasoning is the least numerous of the question types. Sentence correction is likely to be more numerous - say 14 to 17 with an average of around 15. Reading Comp should be steady at or very near to 14. Critical reasoning should come in at anywhere from 10 to 14 with an average of about 12. So you should not end up with critical reasoning as the most numerous...
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GMATMadeEasy
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David: You are saying here that there will always be a gap for what is useful to evaluate the argument type of questions as we anticipate many times for assumption question ?David@VeritasPrep wrote:cyrwr1 - That sounds about right. A "most useful to know" question is one where the answer supplies missing information. You can treat it as a weaken question as we do in the Veritas Critical Reasoning 2 book. If you do it that way you can take the stimulus and look for what is lacking.
A simplified example: If I conclude that you will never buy "Mountain Stream" bottled water and the evidence is that you do not buy products that have been shipped more than 100 miles, if there is an alternative and of course there are many alternative bottled waters as well as filtered water from the local water system.
What is the gap that needs to be filled - the "flaw" in this argument?
We do not know if "Mountain Stream bottled water is transported more than 100 miles to you." This would be the thing that links together the two sides of this argument. So that is one way to get to the answer you look for what is not supplied by the stimulus.
I would recommend the first approach if you can anticipate the gap and you find that in an answer choice go with it! If you cannot anticipate, then you can work with the likely answer choices to find one that strengthens when you answer the question one way and then weakens when you answer the opposite way.
Hope that is helpful!
Whatever be the reason, this question type is the most difficult for me to handle and ,even after knowing second approach of using extremes, have never got consistent results on difficult questions. So i am very much open to try and follow any proven mantra from you for such questions if any.
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careers.asd
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David,David@VeritasPrep wrote:This question is trickier than I thought!
Why would you guys say that the second portion is not a strategy?
Is "charging the maximum possible price for such a product" not a strategy? In fact it is a strategy. It is a strategy that is rejected by the argument -- and it is not the strategy that the argument ultimately recommends - the argument recommends charging "less that the greatest possible price." But charging the most is still a strategy.
Choice C and E each have about the same description of the first bold portion - basically it is a consideration that explains why people adopt a strategy. But E is wrong because the second portion is not "the intended outcome of that strategy." Charging the maximum possible price is a choice and therefore a strategy, it is not an outcome. An outcome would be to "make big profits" or to "get rich" or to "drive competitors out of business." These are things that are more than choices companies make they are the results of choices.
Charging the maximum possible price is not a result it is a decision and it is a strategy.
OA is C.
With your explanation E can be ruled out. But see that C and B are quite close. What is the diffrence between them. B says 'support' and C says 'help to explain'. Can you please help?
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David@VeritasPrep
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As to answer choice B - one of the things that you really must do in evaluating a bold faced CR is to note how the portions in bold relate to the main point that the author supports in the argument - the main conclusion. In this case we could say - "the main strategy."
While it is true that the second portion is bold is a strategy as I explained above, it is not the strategy that the argument recommends. On the contrary, after the second bold portion offers the strategy of charging the highest possible price, you have the hard transition word "but" and then we get a reason why this strategy in bold is not the best and finally we are offered a different strategy. So the strategy in the second bold is not the one that the argument recommends as it is argued against after it is stated.
Choice B is incorrect because it indicates that the second bold faced portion is the strategy that the argument recommends.
While it is true that the second portion is bold is a strategy as I explained above, it is not the strategy that the argument recommends. On the contrary, after the second bold portion offers the strategy of charging the highest possible price, you have the hard transition word "but" and then we get a reason why this strategy in bold is not the best and finally we are offered a different strategy. So the strategy in the second bold is not the one that the argument recommends as it is argued against after it is stated.
Choice B is incorrect because it indicates that the second bold faced portion is the strategy that the argument recommends.
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voodoo_child
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David,
Could you please explain why choice A) is incorrect?
Here's my reasoning: the argument, as a whole, says that charging max price is bad. The first bold face is used as a premise. To me, it seems okay. Isn't it? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks
Could you please explain why choice A) is incorrect?
Here's my reasoning: the argument, as a whole, says that charging max price is bad. The first bold face is used as a premise. To me, it seems okay. Isn't it? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Thanks
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sahilchaudhary
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Thanks for this excellent explanation.David@VeritasPrep wrote:This question is trickier than I thought!
Why would you guys say that the second portion is not a strategy?
Is "charging the maximum possible price for such a product" not a strategy? In fact it is a strategy. It is a strategy that is rejected by the argument -- and it is not the strategy that the argument ultimately recommends - the argument recommends charging "less that the greatest possible price." But charging the most is still a strategy.
Choice C and E each have about the same description of the first bold portion - basically it is a consideration that explains why people adopt a strategy. But E is wrong because the second portion is not "the intended outcome of that strategy." Charging the maximum possible price is a choice and therefore a strategy, it is not an outcome. An outcome would be to "make big profits" or to "get rich" or to "drive competitors out of business." These are things that are more than choices companies make they are the results of choices.
Charging the maximum possible price is not a result it is a decision and it is a strategy.
OA is C.
I couldn't understand the Verbal Guide explanation, so checked here on BTG.
Sahil Chaudhary
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Can I eliminate (D) because an assumption is not stated in the argument? so any boldface part can't not be an assumption.David@VeritasPrep wrote:I am posting this question from the Official Guide Verbal Review, 2nd Edition (this question 74 out of 82) because there have been some really bad versions of the question around.
"A product that represents a clear technological advance over competing products can generally command a high price. Because technological advances tend to be quickly surpassed and companies want to make large profits while they still can, many companies charge the maximum possible price for such a product. But large profits on the new product will give competitors a strong incentive to quickly match the new product's capabilities. Consequently, the strategy to maximize overall profit from a new product is to charge less than the greatest possible price.
In the argument above, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
(A) The first is a consideration raised to argue that a certain strategy is counterproductive; the second presents that strategy.
(B) The first is a consideration raised to support the strategy that the argument recommends; the second presents that strategy.
(C) The first is a consideration raised to help explain the popularity of a certain strategy; the second presents that strategy.
(D) The first is an assumption, rejected by the argument, that has been used to justify a course of action; the second presents that course of action.
E) The first is a consideration that has been used to justify a certain strategy; the second presents the intended outcome of that strategy."
OA after some discussion.
