Monster of a question!!

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Monster of a question!!

by 2010gmat » Tue Oct 27, 2009 7:06 am
One reason why European music has had such a strong influence throughout the world, and why it is a sophisticated achievement, is that over time the original function of the music-whether ritual, dance, or worship-gradually became an aspect of its style, not its defining force. Dance music could stand independent of dance, for example, and sacred music independent of religious worship, because each composition has so much internal coherence that the music ultimately depends on nothing but itself.
The claims made above are compatible with each of the following EXCEPT:
(A) African music has had a more powerful impact on the world than European music has had.
(B) European military and economic expansionism partially explains the global influence of European music.
(C) The original functions of many types of Chinese music are no longer their defining forces.
(D) Music that is unintelligible when it is presented independently of its original function tends to be the most sophisticated music.
(E) Some works of art lose their appeal when they are presented to serve a function other than their original one.

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by Testluv » Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:39 am
Hi 2010gmat,

Thx for the kind words on the other post. I will post answer to your question about approach when I get home from work tonight.

As for this question, the OA should be D.

The question stem is a bit tricky but it indicates that 4 of the 5 choices are compatible with the stimulus; in other words, they could be true. Therefore, the right answer is something that the stimulus proved must be false.

Choice D must be false b/c we know from the stimulus that music can be made even more sophisticated if it is rendered independently intelligible (of its original function).
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by nervesofsteel » Wed Oct 28, 2009 12:28 am
ImO E

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by Testluv » Wed Oct 28, 2009 1:19 am
Hi all,


The author of the passage is explaining a phenomenon or, more technically, advancing an explanation for a phenomenon. (Phenomenon=set of observed facts that demand an explanation or a reconciliation.)

The phenomenon is "...why European music has had such a strong influence throughout the world, and why it is a sophisticated achievement..."

The explanation is that the various reasons for each musical form's original existence (European dance music, European religious music, etc) ceased to be factors informing the music's "defining force"; instead, they were relegated to being mere "...aspect(s)...of style..".

In other words, the general reason European music became such a sophisticated achievement is that it (presumably, gradually) became intelligible indepdently from its original function.

As such, choice D is incompatible with the passage, and must be the correct answer.

Because I use the Kaplan method for critical reasoning, the first thing I did was read the question stem, and then characterize the choices. The question tells us that the right answer is an exception among things that are compatible with the passage. So, the four wrong answers are things that are compatible, and the right answer something incompatible, with the passage.

But what does "compatible" mean?
Well, "incompatible"means "contradict",so "compatible" must mean "anything that does not contradict". So, the four wrong answers could be true, and the right answer is something the passage will have proven false.

The more outside the scope of the passage an answer choice is, the less likely the passage will have proven it necessarily false, and the more likely it becomes something that is possibly true. Choices B and C are very much outside the scope of the passage, so they very easily could be true (=compatible), and can be eliminated immediately.

Choice E discusses "works of art" but a) we don't know whether music qualifies as a work of art and b) the author has treated music in the passage as something much more than a mere "work of art".

Choice A is a bit trickier but it could still be true (compatible): European music having "a strong influence" clearly allows for African (and other kinds of) music having a stronger influence.
Last edited by Testluv on Wed Oct 28, 2009 8:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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by bln123 » Wed Oct 28, 2009 1:24 am
Damn, I just wanted to write something similar, but very good description Testluv ;)

I personally would reword the questions into "what is an impossible assumption" and then proceed to exclude options as follows
B and C seem reasonable, E is mentioned in the text, which leaves A and D.
A, even though it would be a big claim and is nowhere mentioned in the text, is no necessarily wrong, while D is contradicted in the text directly

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by Testluv » Wed Oct 28, 2009 1:37 am
Hi!

well, we would it actually reword it to "what is impossible?"...I'm afraid using the word "assumption" here isn't very helpful. But that is a technical point...your overall approach was fantastic for such a difficult problem and would have gotten you to the correct answer.

A better word than "assumption" is "deduction". We could have also reworded it to "what IS a valid deduction?" A deduction is something that must be true. Then the four wrong answers are things that could be false, and the right answer is something that must be true. This will also work: choices A, B, C, and E are all things that could be false (or could be true)...while it must be true that choice D must be false, or incompatible!

Anyways, this is sooooo an LSAT question. The GMAT has been known to throw tough question stems but it would be unusual to get such a tough stem and abstract stimulus at the same time.
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by 2010gmat » Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:05 am
perfecttt!!! OA D

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by anirudhbhalotia » Mon Apr 04, 2011 3:00 am
This was tough!

Even choice A, B and choice C has no link with the passage per-se. There is no mention of African, Chinese or Military in the passage.
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by badpoem » Tue Apr 12, 2011 7:08 am
Answered D.

However irrelevance of A, B and C was confusing. "Some" in E made its elimination easier. What grabbed my attention for choice D is the fact that the statement is a polar opposite.

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by ganesh prasath » Sat May 28, 2011 10:08 am
I am still not clear with this can some one give a better explanation??

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by MM_Ed » Thu Oct 20, 2011 5:20 pm
ganesh prasath wrote:I am still not clear with this can some one give a better explanation??
Let me give it a shot.

We're looking for the option that does not contradict the passage. That doesn't mean it has to explicitly support the passage - it can be a neutral statement too, as long as it doesn't contradict.

D is saying that music removed from its original context is sophisticated if it is unintelligible/gibberish/incoherent. Yet the passage says that the sophistication lies in the 'internal coherence' of music removed from its original context, i.e., that the music still made sense. This is the opposite of what D is saying, so the answer is D.

PS. Sacred music independent of religious worship that is beautiful: https://youtu.be/d97zkAanaZY
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by Sharma_Gaurav » Tue Apr 03, 2012 3:21 am
tricky question.
not compatible means contradict and hence answer id only D
as D says unintelligible music which has its original features removed -> is the most sophisticated
and passage says otherwise
all other choices could be true.

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by chris@magoosh » Tue Apr 03, 2012 3:06 pm
Let me see if I can help clear things up :).

So let's dissect this monster by asking: What is the core of the argument?

European music is sophisticated because it can stand on its own. That is European music can be divorced from its context (rituals, social functions, etc.) and still make sense.

An answer that would be incompatible with the argument would suggest that

1) European music cannot stand on its own but must be understood in the context of its function
2) A certain kind of music can stand on it's own but is not sophisticated.
3) Music that is sophisticated cannot stand on its own - i.e., it is unintelligible.

1) is too direct and obvious (at least for a 700+ question), and doesn't touch on sophistication. A possible answer choice would be something like:

(F) Most people who are exposed to western music for the first time find it unintelligible

2) mentions sophistication and would more likely be a GMAT answer choice. However, none of the answer choices (A - E) fall into this category. A hypothetical answer that fits into this category is:

(G) African griot music, understood by those who have no idea of the social function of the music, is a simple and unadorned.

3) This is the most subtle of the three. Essentially, we are saying that A = B (sophisticated music is intelligible) and are challenging this with an answer choice that says A does not equal B (sophisticated music is unintelligible). The answer choice that clearly speak to this is answer (D):

(D) Music that is unintelligible when it is presented independently of its original function tends to be the most sophisticated music. ANSWER


(A) African music has had a more powerful impact on the world than European music has had.

The argument says that European music has had a powerful impact. That African music has had the most impact does not undermine the previous statement.

(B) European military and economic expansionism partially explains the global influence of European music.

The prompt begins with the words, one reason why... Thus, it is not saying that European music's global influence has only one cause.

(C) The original functions of many types of Chinese music are no longer their defining forces.

This answer choice doesn't speak to sophistication, intelligibility or even global influence. It simply states that Chinese music is defined by something different than its original function.

(D) The Answer


(E) Some works of art lose their appeal when they are presented to serve a function other than their original one.

This answer choice would be much stronger if it replaced, Some works with Most European music. In fact, think back to 1) at the beginning of the post. Remember how I said that answer choice is the most obvious one. Well, (E) baits us into thinking that it is the same as 1). But by dropping in 'some works of art' it becomes too broad. Indeed 'some works of art' does not, by definition, include European music. So this answer choice can be said to be out of scope.

Hope that helps :)

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by [email protected] » Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:33 pm
Guyzzzz!!! a very good question on the GMAT and very interesting as well... A long time back, I had posted a similar post on the weaken, strengthen, weaken Except and Strengthen Except question...

This question is nothing but simple game of playing with the options. People who did not understand the above game, I would take this privilege to make it simple for them and make them understand...

In the above sentence, I will illustrate each and every option differently and in detail...

Remember guyzzz what we are looking for in the above argument. (in this case we need a strengthen except question) means something that is not compatible or the answers that do not affect the argument can also be the potential answers as they are not compatible.



option A: Simply does not affect the argument.

Option B: Simply does not affect the argument.

Option C: Simply does not affect the argument.

Option E: Could also have been a polar opposite but since the word 'some' changes the meaning of the sentence, option E gets canceled out. option E was a wrong answer choice and so now it does not affect the argument as well...\


Option D: Makes sense and a polar opposite of what is given in the stimulus. Since it is opposite it is weakening the argument.


Now we have 5 options where 4 are not affecting the argument and 1 is weakening the argument. We are asked strengthen except question. This is tricky and this question will help you guyzzz for the future questions


This question actually forms the basis or benchmark for the following theory:

Whenever, in a strengthen Except question out of the 5 answer choices, 4 do not affect the argument and 1 weakens the argument, the one that weakens the argument is the correct answer...

This same thing goes for the weaken except question...


Some might also point this out as finding the odd man out, out of the 5 answer choices...

Yes can be said but in CR staying alert is always a better option...

I really hope this post would have made life easier for the Except question...

CR is a game, keep playing it.

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by karthikpandian19 » Thu Jun 14, 2012 5:37 pm
Nice question

IMO it is D
Reasoning - Only D is incompatible with the argument
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