Critical Reasoning

One of the limiting factors in human physical performance is the amount of oxygen that is absorbed by the muscles from the bloodstream. Accordingly, entrepreneurs have begun selling at gymnasiums and health clubs bottles of drinking water, labeled "SuperOXY," that has extra oxygen dissolved in the water. Such water would be useless in improving physical performance, however, since the only way to get oxygen into the bloodstream so that it can be absorbed bye the muscles is through the lungs.

Which of the following, if true, would serve the same function in the argument as the statement in boldface?

A. the water lost in exercising can be replaced with ordinary tap water
B. the amount of oxygen in the blood of people who are exercising is already more than the muscle can absorb
C. world-class athletes turn in record performance without such water
D. frequent physical exercise increases the body's ability to take in and use oxygen
E. lack of oxygen is not the only factor limiting human physical performance


[spoiler]The OA is A. Lots of posts say the OA is B. Now I am not sure which is the right answer.

I chose OA as B,.choice A states that water lost in exercising can be replaced with ordinary tap water, but we don't know if the ordinary tap water has enough oxygen to replenish the lost oxygen even though water might be replaced. So thereby we can say that tap water may or may not replace the bottled water for oxygen content.

Also B states that since the amount of oxygen in the blood of people who are exercising is already more than the muscle can absord, it means that there is enough oxygen and that the people exercising have necessary oxygen content in their blood, so the bottled water is useless.
[/spoiler]
Please explain the OA?

What's wrong with E either

There are some debates. I pick B. Can you cite the source?

One of the limiting factors in human physical performance is the amount of oxygen that is absorbed by the muscles from the bloodstream. Accordingly, entrepreneurs have begun selling at gymnasiums and health clubs bottles of drinking water, labeled "SuperOXY," that has extra oxygen dissolved in the water. Such water would be useless in improving physical performance, however, since the only way to get oxygen into the bloodstream so that it can be absorbed bye the muscles is through the lungs.

Which of the following, if true, would serve the same function in the argument as the statement in boldface?

A. the water lost in exercising can be replaced with ordinary tap water
B. the amount of oxygen in the blood of people who are exercising is already more than the muscle can absorb
C. world-class athletes turn in record performance without such water
D. frequent physical exercise increases the body's ability to take in and use oxygen
E. lack of oxygen is not the only factor limiting human physical performance

For me
Answer Should be E,
In the first line it's said that "One of the limiting factors in human physical performance is the amount of oxygen"

In the last line it says that "Such water would be useless in improving physical performance, however, since"


I would like to read the options in a this way

A) Such water would be useless in improving physical performance, however, since the water lost in exercising can be replaced with ordinary tap water. I don't think it follows pretty well with the first part,
Firstly it says water is useless then it says however which means something different will follow, like we say counter premise.

B. the amount of oxygen in the blood of people who are exercising is already more than the muscle can absorb
C. world-class athletes turn in record performance without such water
D. frequent physical exercise increases the body's ability to take in and use oxygen
E. lack of oxygen is not the only factor limiting human physical performance


I did this way and found that only option E fits best in all,
Experts please put your comments on this. one....

OA is D.

This is a question from GMAT Prep Test II.

I don't agree with D as the answer choice. The sentence marked in bold in the question stem actually weakens the need for the oxyrich water, so we need to find a sentence that weakens. D here actually strengthens.

gmatrant wrote:I don't agree with D as the answer choice. The sentence marked in bold in the question stem actually weakens the need for the oxyrich water, so we need to find a sentence that weakens. D here actually strengthens.

How does D strengthen the argument?
The argument says that "SuperOXY" will help people while exercising.... since it'll help dissolve oxygen and so on..
Boldface - contradicts that saying "SuperOXY" will not help in the process.
D - says that "frequent physical exercise increases the body's ability to take in and use oxygen".. Clearly contradicts the argument that "SuperOXY" is not needed while exercising, since the body's ability to take in and use Oxygen is now increased so any outside source to help the process is not needed.

beatthegmatinsept wrote:

gmatrant wrote:I don't agree with D as the answer choice. The sentence marked in bold in the question stem actually weakens the need for the oxyrich water, so we need to find a sentence that weakens. D here actually strengthens.

How does D strengthen the argument?
The argument says that "SuperOXY" will help people while exercising.... since it'll help dissolve oxygen and so on..
Boldface - contradicts that saying "SuperOXY" will not help in the process.
D - says that "frequent physical exercise increases the body's ability to take in and use oxygen".. Clearly contradicts the argument that "SuperOXY" is not needed while exercising, since the body's ability to take in and use Oxygen is now increased so any outside source to help the process is not needed.

Well..we're talking about the oxygen that is absorbed by the muscles from the blood...body's ability to take in and use oxygen doesn't guarantee that oxygen will be absorbed by the muscles..

And really is it GMATPrepII?? :O

g000fy wrote:

beatthegmatinsept wrote:

gmatrant wrote:I don't agree with D as the answer choice. The sentence marked in bold in the question stem actually weakens the need for the oxyrich water, so we need to find a sentence that weakens. D here actually strengthens.

How does D strengthen the argument?
The argument says that "SuperOXY" will help people while exercising.... since it'll help dissolve oxygen and so on..
Boldface - contradicts that saying "SuperOXY" will not help in the process.
D - says that "frequent physical exercise increases the body's ability to take in and use oxygen".. Clearly contradicts the argument that "SuperOXY" is not needed while exercising, since the body's ability to take in and use Oxygen is now increased so any outside source to help the process is not needed.

Well..we're talking about the oxygen that is absorbed by the muscles from the blood...body's ability to take in and use oxygen doesn't guarantee that oxygen will be absorbed by the muscles..

And really is it GMATPrepII?? :O

Yes, I just took the practice test yday, and got this question wrong. Unfortunately, all that the software tells you is the correct answer, with no explanation. I have been breaking my head trying to com e up with reasoning on why D would be the correct answer. Also, I am pretty sure this question is one of the hard ones.

FYI - My initial response was B.

Wow! Another mystery based on different versions of the question floating around with different "official answers."

Here is a post from one month ago on Beat the GMAT - the post is by ashish2104. Here is the link https://www.beatthegmat.com/super-oxy-t30277-15.html


"One fascinating point here is that I got this question today in my gmatprep. The question was just a little bit modfied.
One of the limiting factors in human physical performance is the amount of oxygen that is absorbed by the muscles from the bloodstream. Accordingly, entrepreneurs have begun selling at gymnasiums and health clubs bottles of drinking water, labeled �SuperOXY,� that has extra oxygen dissolved in the water. Such water would be useless in improving physical performance, however, since the the amount of oxygen in the blood of people who are exercising is already more than the muscle can absorb

Which of the following, if true, would serve the same function in the argument as the statement in boldface?

A. world-class athletes turn in record performance without such water
B. frequent physical exercise increases the body�s ability to take in and use oxygen
C. the only way to get oxygen into the bloodstream so that it can be absorbed bye the muscles is through the lungs
D. lack of oxygen is not the only factor limiting human physical performance
E. the water lost in exercising can be replaced with ordinary tap water

OA given was C"

Thanks ashish2104!

However, as you can see, the answer choice C in this question above is the same as the portion included in the stimulus of the original question in this post and the portion that is in bold above is choice B in the original question.

As you can see, the official answer if definitely B since that is the portion that is included in the stimulus in the actual GMATPrep Test question quoted above. So why does the originator of this thread say the answer is A and another post claim the OA is D? This is because there are several versions of this question going around and perhaps A is the answer to one of those and D is the answer to another.

So why, is B the correct answer to the question that began this thread? It is because we are focused on the FUNCTION played by the boldfaced portion. The function is to explain why super-oxygenated water is useless and the bold-faced portion does this. Answer choice B also gives a reason why the super-oxygenated water is not needed - too much oxygen already! Focus on the oxygen...that is the key.

OA is B!!!

Hope this resolves it...

Thanks David! I've seen those versions floating around.

Thanks David, your response really helps.