Tough CR

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Tough CR

by Soumita » Sun Jan 20, 2013 6:52 pm
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that all public buildings be made free of barriers to persons with disabilities by providing "a continuous unobstructed path connecting all accessible elements and spaces in a building or facility." Clearly, the Lever Building is in violation of the standards of the ADA since it has a grand stairway as its only means of public entrance.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn above?

A.The Lever building's managers have plans to install an entry elevator.

B.The building was constructed in 1973, more than a decade before the ADA became law in this country.

C.The main entryway is not completely impassable to people with disabilities as long as that person has assistance.

D.The Lever building holds the city's largest public library.

E.Several advocate groups have held rallies protesting the lack of ramps leading to the building's main entrance.

I got stuck. I am not able to attack this CR questions. Can anyone help me to eliminate wrong answer choices and pick the right one here by explaining each answer choices elaborately.

I found A correct as per the choices "The Lever building's managers have plans to install an entry elevator "that means the building doesnot have a continuous unobstructed path connecting all accessible elements and spaces in a building or facility. The building only has a grand stairway as its only means of public entrance. So it supports the conclusion that the Lever Building is in violation of the standards of the ADA since it has a grand stairway as its only means of public entrance.

I found B correct as per the "The building was constructed in 1973, more than a decade before the ADA became law in this country." As the building was built before ADA law was passed so the building not require to adhere to the law passed by ADA.This means that the building doesnot have a continuous unobstructed path connecting all accessible elements and spaces in a building or facility. The building only has a grand stairwayas its only means of public entrance. So it supports the conclusion that the Lever Building is in violation of the standards of the ADA since it has a grand stairway as its only means of public entrance.

OA D

Please help me !!
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by David@VeritasPrep » Sun Jan 20, 2013 7:23 pm
I had to respond to this one because, through pure chance I happened to be in the Rose Garden of the White House when President George H.W. Bush signed the American with Disabilities Act. And I have always felt a sort of a kinship to this remarkable legislation.

So with that said, let's first find the main conclusion of this argument: "Clearly, the Lever Building is in violation of the standards of the ADA"

One piece of evidence is "since it has a grand stairway as its only means of public entrance." A second piece of evidence is "The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that all public buildings be made free of barriers to persons with disabilities"

Notice the emphasis that I put on "public buildings." We do not know from the premises that the Lever Building is public! If it is not public then the ADA does not apply - at least as it is described here.

So that is the Gap... we need the Lever Building to be public. Choice D tells us this. So it is the correct answer.

Choice A is not correct because we already know the grand staircase is the only means of entrance. So we do not need an answer that emphasizes this.

Choice B does not support the conclusion it is actually beside the point. It does not matter when the building was built, it matters whether the building needs to comply with the law and weather it, in fact, does so.

Hope it helps!
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by charu_mahajan » Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:55 am
Hi David,

How did you eliminate E?

Clearly, the Lever Building is in violation of the standards of the ADA since it has a grand stairway as its only means of public entrance.

E. Several advocate groups have held rallies protesting the lack of ramps leading to the building's main entrance.

The stairway leads to only entrance and that 'only entrance' does not has ramps. Isn't this a strengthener?

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by David@VeritasPrep » Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:08 am
Why would it matter that the groups are protesting? Does protesting mean that group is actually breaking the law? Would the lack of protests mean that the law was not broken?

I could come to your building and start a protest today but that does not mean that you are doing anything wrong. And there are plenty of businesses breaking the law in the most shocking ways but either no one knows or no one bothers to protest.

On the GMAT you have to be very careful of making assumptions! You cannot assume that a protest means that the law is actually broken...

Does that help?
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by charu_mahajan » Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:26 am
Sure it does. I was concentrating more on 'Ramps' aspect and not on protests.
Thanks for the explanation.