Critical Reasoning

It can be hard to predict the sales of low-cost knockoffs of brand-name items. On one hand, one would assume that the cheaper the knockoff, the more people will want to buy it. But this fails to account for the fact that the quality of the product might suffer for it to be produced at such a low cost.

The flaw in the assumption discussed in the argument can be encapsulated by doubts about the accuracy of which of the following claims?
A Potential sales should be predicted on the basis of average sales, rather than by examining the individual sales potential of each specific product.

B Sales of knockoff versions of designer products depend on price, not on quality.

C Knockoff products sell better than the designer products on which they are based.

D The quality of the knockoff product is an important factor in determining its sales.

E The most important factor in determining sales of knockoff products is the similarity the cheap product bears to the expensive original.

OA: B. Explanation says that B is the assumption in the argument and D is the assumption in the conclusion. How different are these two.

IMO: B

E is out of scope (cheap products is no where in picture)

Hey GMATKiss,

It was a typo from my end. I actually had doubt about D not E. Can you explain how you eliminated D.

I have a self made trick to do this ....

>> The flaw in the assumption discussed in the argument can be encapsulated by doubts about the accuracy of which of the following claims
This means that doubt on the "accuracy of the following claims" (i.e. answer choices) will lead to the flaw in last line.


Negate B -> Sales depend on quality and not on price. Does this match with what is said in the last line. YES. It certainly fails to take quality. Hence "But this fails to account for the fact that the quality of the product might suffer for it to be produced at such a low cost. ".


Negate D -> Quality is not a factor for sales. Does this match with what is said in last line. NO. If this is true, then we will have better sales even when price is low.

IMO E
THE FLAW IN THE ASSUMPTION IS THAT SALE OF KNOCKOUTS DEPENDS ONLY ON QUALITY ,
E SHOWS THERE IS ANOTHER FACTOR WHICH AFFECTS THE SALES AND THAT IS IMITATION
[spoiler][/spoiler]

swetamurthy wrote:IMO E
THE FLAW IN THE ASSUMPTION IS THAT SALE OF KNOCKOUTS DEPENDS ONLY ON QUALITY ,
E SHOWS THERE IS ANOTHER FACTOR WHICH AFFECTS THE SALES AND THAT IS IMITATION
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Yes. But what is asked to find is the choice which encapsulates (=shadows) the flaw. In other words, the answer should justify the assumption in-spite of the flaw it has.

B is the answer because, it says that the sales is totally dependent on price and not on quality, and hence, making the assumption acceptable in-spite of the flaw it has .

ASSUMPTION: CHEAP PRODUCTS = LOW QUALITY