Critical Reasoning

The Civil Service Act of 1883, also known as the Pendleton Act, which created a professional corps of administrators, was passed after a disappointed office-seeker assassinated President James A. Garfield. For a hundred years, this system has anchored American government service to competence rather than corruption. The best way to preserve this state in the new millennium is to maintain the Pendleton Act as it is.

Which of the following would be most useful to evaluate the argument’s conclusion?
A. The methods that the Swiss and British governments have used to prevent corruption in government service for the past one hundred years
B. The current level of job satisfaction among government office-seekers and office-holders
C. The levels of competence and corruption in American government service between 1950 and the present
D. The number of Presidents assassinated since the passage of the Pendleton Act
E. The percentage of office-holders fired or convicted on charges stemming from corruption during the first hundred years of the Pendleton Act


explanations please!!

OA C

it was a hard choice between C and D.

why would C be true since that specific 1950 date is mentioned? a 100 years from 1883 is 1983 (present).

this date mess made me choose D. i would choose C any day over D if that 1950 date mess wasn't in there.

thanks, still looking for explanations on why C is the right answer. THe explanations provided didn't make complete sense to me, and so I am seeking expert advice here.

I will go for (E) as the right choice.

My Explanation:

Question - Which of the following would be most useful to evaluate the argument’s conclusion?

Conclusion from the paragraph is - The best way to preserve this state in the new millennium is to maintain the Pendleton Act as it is since it has helped in keeping corruption in American services system at bay.


The underlying assumption here is that Pendleton act HAS helped in keeping corruption at Bay. So if any of the statements can prove that this assumption is correct, it should be our correct answer.

In my opinion, answer to the option (e) will help determine if Pendleton has, in fact, had any impact on corruption in American civil services by convicting the culprits. If the number of convictions were in fact insignificant, we can safely say that Pendleton Act did not have any impact on underlying corruption and there was some other factor which helped eradicating corruption (which we shouldn't be concerned about as we know there was some other factor at work during that time)

crak.gmat wrote:The Civil Service Act of 1883, also known as the Pendleton Act, which created a professional corps of administrators, was passed after a disappointed office-seeker assassinated President James A. Garfield. For a hundred years, this system has anchored American government service to competence rather than corruption. The best way to preserve this state in the new millennium is to maintain the Pendleton Act as it is.

Which of the following would be most useful to evaluate the argument’s conclusion?
A. The methods that the Swiss and British governments have used to prevent corruption in government service for the past one hundred years
B. The current level of job satisfaction among government office-seekers and office-holders
C. The levels of competence and corruption in American government service between 1950 and the present
D. The number of Presidents assassinated since the passage of the Pendleton Act
E. The percentage of office-holders fired or convicted on charges stemming from corruption during the first hundred years of the Pendleton Act


explanations please!!

crack.gmat,

this is an evaluate and argument question. this means, that how important is the anser choice in effecting the conclusion.
Choice C -: The levels of competence and corruption in American government service between 1950 and the present

Now, we are given that for a hundred yrs this has had good effects till 1983, but only if the level of competance is high and that of corruption is low TILL PRESENT, only then it can be declared that it is the best way.

If, on the other hand, from 1983 till present (let it be just around 25 yrs), if the level of competance is not good and corruption has gone up (inspite of the ACT being present) then it is NOT the best way to preserve the state. right?

Now let us see the other considered choices -:

D The number of Presidents assassinated since the passage of the Pendleton Act
It is possible that anyone other than office seekers / govt employees are involved in assasinations of presidents. So even if no president has been assasinated or 10 have been assasinated since tha passage of the ACT, it should not effect our discussion. What am trying to say here is that thsi ACT was passed when a disappointed office-seeker assassinated the President. Maybe there are other ppl who have assasinated the presidents, which cannot be effected by this ACT. (i just hope am clear!!)

E is not close I would say. This statement will not effect our conclusion. @rogue_rohit, we do not have to find assumptions for the evaluate questions.

I do not know what is right answer, but if its (c) I want to understand why?

I am saying this because the corruption level can be affected by any of the external factors other the Pendleton act and in my opinion this is exactly what questions asks us to evaluate - "whether Pendleton Act has any bearing on the corruption levels" and I dont think (C) answers this question.

An explanation on this would be really helpful!

rogue_rohit wrote:I do not know what is right answer, but if its (c) I want to understand why?

I am saying this because the corruption level can be affected by any of the external factors other the Pendleton act and in my opinion this is exactly what questions asks us to evaluate - "whether Pendleton Act has any bearing on the corruption levels" and I dont think (C) answers this question.

An explanation on this would be really helpful!

@rogue_rohit,
i get your question. but the argument clearly states that "For a hundred years, this system has anchored American government service to competence rather than corruption" . So even if there are other factors effecting corruption, THIS system is able to maintain a good level of competance right?

Also, in E, the answer choice refers to first hundred years of the Pendleton Act, which does not help us!

wonder wrote:

rogue_rohit wrote:I do not know what is right answer, but if its (c) I want to understand why?

I am saying this because the corruption level can be affected by any of the external factors other the Pendleton act and in my opinion this is exactly what questions asks us to evaluate - "whether Pendleton Act has any bearing on the corruption levels" and I dont think (C) answers this question.

An explanation on this would be really helpful!

@rogue_rohit,
i get your question. but the argument clearly states that "For a hundred years, this system has anchored American government service to competence rather than corruption" . So even if there are other factors effecting corruption, THIS system is able to maintain a good level of competence right?

Also, in E, the answer choice refers to first hundred years of the Pendleton Act, which does not help us!

I get it now, Thanks. I didn't think the argument was valid because I didn't see any underlying facts to prove it.

So do we always have to take argument as the fact? if not, how can we distinguish?

rogue_rohit wrote:

wonder wrote:

rogue_rohit wrote:I do not know what is right answer, but if its (c) I want to understand why?

I am saying this because the corruption level can be affected by any of the external factors other the Pendleton act and in my opinion this is exactly what questions asks us to evaluate - "whether Pendleton Act has any bearing on the corruption levels" and I dont think (C) answers this question.

An explanation on this would be really helpful!

@rogue_rohit,
i get your question. but the argument clearly states that "For a hundred years, this system has anchored American government service to competence rather than corruption" . So even if there are other factors effecting corruption, THIS system is able to maintain a good level of competence right?

Also, in E, the answer choice refers to first hundred years of the Pendleton Act, which does not help us!

I get it now, Thanks. I didn't think the argument was valid because I didn't see any underlying facts to prove it.

So do we always have to take argument as the fact? if not, how can we distinguish?

hmm, you know this could very well be a weaken question too, as you are saying this has lots of gaps.. but always remember that whenever you get an evaluate question, you need to find only that answer which will effect the conclusion if true AND also if false.

will Go with option C in this case