Improved technology and equipment often result in fewer inju

This topic has expert replies
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 185
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 3:06 am
Thanked: 6 times
Improved technology and equipment often result in fewer injuries during high-risk activities such as rock climbing and scuba diving. But participant education also plays a large role in reducing the number of injuries sustained during these activities. People who are poorly trained in these activities run a much higher risk of injury even if provided with the latest and best equipment.

Which of the following can be properly inferred from the information above?


Training is a more important safety factor than equipment in high-risk activities.


People who are properly trained in their activities do not sustain injuries.


The safety benefits of the latest equipment can be offset by inadequate preparation.


Rock climbing and scuba diving are more risky than any other activities.


People with the latest equipment often neglect proper training.

User avatar
MBA Student
Posts: 403
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2009 7:32 pm
Thanked: 98 times
Followed by:22 members

by fibbonnaci » Sat Feb 20, 2010 4:22 am
my approach to inference question deals with scope based approach. I have discussed this explicitly in my earlier posts.

Training is a more important safety factor than equipment in high-risk activities. [comparison error. what is more important is not dealt in the stimulus. such a comparison does not exist. Eliminated!]


People who are properly trained in their activities do not sustain injuries. [when did the author tell this? he said would sustain fewer injuries. Eliminated!]


The safety benefits of the latest equipment can be offset by inadequate preparation. [ Correct!correctly implied in the stimulus.My answer]


Rock climbing and scuba diving are more risky than any other activities. [again comparison error. Eliminated!]

People with the latest equipment often neglect proper training.[ new topic error! Eliminated!]

didnt i tell you this scope based approach can eliminate all options and give you the correct one in a palate? more than 3 options are filled with scope based errors in Must be true type of questions. Knowing the errors intricately will enhance not only ur speed but also ur accuracy.

Hope this helps!

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1560
Joined: Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:38 am
Thanked: 137 times
Followed by:5 members

by thephoenix » Sat Feb 20, 2010 7:08 am
gmatnmein2010 wrote:Improved technology and equipment often result in fewer injuries during high-risk activities such as rock climbing and scuba diving. But participant education also plays a large role in reducing the number of injuries sustained during these activities. People who are poorly trained in these activities run a much higher risk of injury even if provided with the latest and best equipment.

Which of the following can be properly inferred from the information above?


Training is a more important safety factor than equipment in high-risk activities.
the argument does not compare their relative importance as safety factors.


People who are properly trained in their activities do not sustain injuries.
the argument does not states that people who are properly trained in their activities do not sustain injuries.

The safety benefits of the latest equipment can be offset by inadequate preparation.



Rock climbing and scuba diving are more risky than any other activities.
Rock climbing and scuba diving are simply cited as examples of high-risk activities. The argument does not provide any information about how they compare to any other activities.

People with the latest equipment often neglect proper training.
The argument states that "people who are poorly trained in these activities run a much higher risk of injury even if provided with the latest and best equipment," but this does not mean that people with the latest equipment often neglect proper training.
IMO C

User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 777
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:02 am
Location: Mumbai, India
Thanked: 117 times
Followed by:47 members

by komal » Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:45 am
gmatnmein2010 wrote:Improved technology and equipment often result in fewer injuries during high-risk activities such as rock climbing and scuba diving. But participant education also plays a large role in reducing the number of injuries sustained during these activities. People who are poorly trained in these activities run a much higher risk of injury even if provided with the latest and best equipment.

Which of the following can be properly inferred from the information above?

Training is a more important safety factor than equipment in high-risk activities.
Incorrect : Stimulus says... Equipment is important and training is ALSO imp. ... It does not say training is MORE imp.

People who are properly trained in their activities do not sustain injuries.
Incorrect : Stimulus says.. Ppl who are poorly trained RUN A MUCH HIGHER RISK OF INJURIES. It does not say they DONT SUSTAIN INJURIES.

The safety benefits of the latest equipment can be offset by inadequate preparation.
Correct : This can be correctly inferred from the stimulus above. It paraphrases what is stated in the passage.

Rock climbing and scuba diving are more risky than any other activities.
Incorrect : Issue is not only about rock climbing or scuba diving .... it is about HIGH-RISK ACTIVITIES in general.

People with the latest equipment often neglect proper training.
Incorrect : This is not discussed in the passage at all.

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2010 7:35 pm

by rahul.chowdhury » Tue Mar 08, 2011 6:45 pm
Hi,

Me wrting for the first time..... Had a small query on this question...

In the last line of the question they do mention "People who are poorly trained in these activities run a much higher risk of injury even if provided with the latest and best equipment.", which somehow implies that training is more important.

Adding to that the Option "c", talks about preparation and not about education. Preparation could mean anything beyond education...So found it to be beyond the scope.

Would like somebody to help me out.

Thanks

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 1035
Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2010 11:13 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Thanked: 474 times
Followed by:365 members

by VivianKerr » Thu Mar 10, 2011 11:24 am
Here's how I took the argument apart.

Conclusion: Poor training = higher risk of injury EVEN with equipment

Evidence: Participant education plays a "large role"

Assumption: The equipment resulting in "fewer injuries" only applies when people have been trained

Question Rephrase: What is BASED on the conclusion/evidence?

Prediction: Correct answer must connect the fewer injuries with the participant education training.

The closest choices are (A) and (C). If the conclusion says that there is high risk even WITH the equipment, then this best supports (C) since it is obvious the equipment itself it not preventing injuries.

The relative "importance" of the safety factors is not a part of the argument. The RISK is higher w/o training, even with equipment, but as the others have mentioned no comparison between training and equipment is made.

The answer is (C).
Vivian Kerr
GMAT Rockstar, Tutor
https://www.GMATrockstar.com
https://www.yelp.com/biz/gmat-rockstar-los-angeles

Former Kaplan and Grockit instructor, freelance GMAT content creator, now offering affordable, effective, Skype-tutoring for the GMAT at $150/hr. Contact: [email protected]

Thank you for all the "thanks" and "follows"! :-)

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:27 pm
Thanked: 13 times
Followed by:1 members
GMAT Score:710

by buzzdeepak » Mon Jan 28, 2013 3:53 pm
Took the test yesterday and got this question wrong. I marked A as the answer but debated between that and C before deciding on my answer.

I saw the explanation above and get the point that there is no DIRECT comparison between training and best equipment, but I thought C was more general "inadequate preparation"

Reason being the last sentence: People who are poorly trained in these activities run a much higher risk of injury even if provided with the latest and best equipment.

This implies that w/o training, even the latest and best equipment can't guarantee safety
Which implies training is important and without it, there is a good chance that a person could be injured.

I think I am still missing something...any explanation will be greatly appreciated...
Thanks

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 451
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2010 11:58 am
Location: New York City
Thanked: 188 times
Followed by:120 members
GMAT Score:770

by Tommy Wallach » Mon Jan 28, 2013 4:17 pm
Hey Buzz,

In order to distinguish between A and C, you need to compare two sentences in the stimulus:

1) Improved technology and equipment often result in fewer injuries during high-risk activities such as rock climbing and scuba diving.

2) People who are poorly trained in these activities run a much higher risk of injury even if provided with the latest and best equipment.

Notice in the first one, we get "often result in fewer injuries." Not bad. But let's compare that to the second one:

"a much higher risk of injury even if provided with the latest and best equipment."

There are two main differences here:

The benefit of good equipment is said to result "often" in fewer injuries. Not all the time, just often. And how many injuries is "fewer"? There's no way to know.

For better education, the higher risk is definitive (not "often"). And it's "much higher," which is more significant than "fewer injuries".

Hope that helps!

-t
Tommy Wallach, Company Expert
ManhattanGMAT

If you found this posting mega-helpful, feel free to thank and/or follow me!

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:27 pm
Thanked: 13 times
Followed by:1 members
GMAT Score:710

by buzzdeepak » Mon Jan 28, 2013 5:13 pm
Thanks T...

Please let me know if I am summarizing / generalizing it right for such problems in the future:

If there is no explicit comparison in the argument, abstain from choosing that as an answer (it would be the last choice). Select a statement even though it is more general (as the first option).

To be specific: In this case, got stuck between A and C...so, choose more general option than a specific comparison which isn't explicitly stated in the argument.

Thanks again

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2012 8:42 am

by [email protected] » Thu Nov 14, 2013 7:31 am
Hi everybody,

I selected A for 2 reasons.
1. Participant education also plays a large role in reducing the no. of injuries; this statement supports idea that training/education is also as important as technology & equipment, if not lesser.
2. People who are poorly trained, even provided with best of the equipment, run a higher risk; this statement, provides the comparison which supports choice A that training plays a relatively more important role.

However, C also has some weightage because, inadequate preparation for high risk activities may also include poor training & faulty equipment.


Somehow, I feel Manhattan Critical reasoning answer choices can be justified based on the answers Manhattan selects as a right choice. Especially in this case, I do not see any reason why anybody should choose C over A.

Please correct me if I am missing something here.

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2193
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 6:30 pm
Location: Vermont and Boston, MA
Thanked: 1186 times
Followed by:512 members
GMAT Score:770

by David@VeritasPrep » Thu Nov 14, 2013 2:12 pm
Let me see what I can do.

Well I think that we can eliminate choice A because what is says is not "must be true." This question says "properly inferred" and so it must be true, not just supported.

So you should ask yourself, "Does this argument make it 100% true that "Training is a more important safety factor than equipment in high-risk activities." ? I mean that is a BIG statement right?

The stimulus talks about the "latest and best" equipment and maybe that is what is in your mind when looking at these choices, but the answer just says "equipment." So for choice A to be true you would have to tell me that in activities such as skydiving and scuba diving (high risk activities!) that equipment is not more important. I say forget the training, if I have to jump from a plane give me a working parachute and I will figure it out on the way down!!!

As for choice C, it is far more limited and far easier to infer. It does not talk about "equipment" but instead says "The safety benefits of the latest equipment." So maybe there is a fancy new parachute that is safer but only if I know how to use it. Otherwise I would be better off with the old kind. You see what I mean?

Also choice C is less absolute. While A says, "IS a more important factor" Choice C is a softer easier to prove phrase, "can be offset by inadequate preparation."

So basically for choice A to be true you have to think that so long as you are well trained you can jump from a plane without a parachute. While with Choice C you are saying, that if someone is not properly trained for the newest craziest equipment they are better off sticking to the simpler stuff.

Does that help?
Veritas Prep | GMAT Instructor

Veritas Prep Reviews
Save $100 off any live Veritas Prep GMAT Course