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PR-3 CAT question - LEAST weaken

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by crackitpal » Sat Aug 02, 2008 11:26 pm
Hello Everybody,

I'm confused by the following question. What is it exactly asking ? What am I supposed to look ? Actually strengthen or NA ?

The newly renovated housing development in city X is cleaner, bigger, and less expensive than other local housing developments. The development, therefore, should attract thousands of people and become the most popular residential area in city X.

Which of the following, if true, would LEAST weaken the argument above?


a. The housing development is located near many local stores and highways.

b. A cleaner and less expensive housing development has recently been built in city X.

c. The housing development provides no convenient access to secondary schools.

d. Most of those planning to move to city X are reluctant to move into renovated buildings.

e. Although rents are lower in the renovated development than they are at other comparable housing projects, when utility bills are included, the cost of living is higher in the new development

The correct answer is:
a


I'm confused between reference to "housing development" and "renovated housing development". Is this the true difference that is made in this reasoning ? Please explain, thank you.

crackitpal
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |

by amitk7771 » Sun Aug 03, 2008 7:03 am
Least Weaken means NOT weaken.

Note that NOT Weaken does not mean Strengthen, although it seems so in this question.

In such question all other choices will be WEAKEN.
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by crackitpal » Sun Aug 03, 2008 8:35 am
Thank you for your reply. So in this case, how choice be is weakening and choice a is strengthening ? Housing development not equal to the renovated housing development ? In that case I see even choice b is alos strenthening. Please advise, thank you!

a. The housing development is located near many local stores and highways.

b. A cleaner and less expensive housing development has recently been built in city X.
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by youcan » Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:00 am
I guess the option A is correct because it is irrelevant to the topic. that is why it is least weakens

Correct me if iam wrong :)
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by sumithshah » Mon Aug 18, 2008 10:01 am
HI

This is a typical question I've seen in PR - dont remember seeing it in OG ( maybe my memory fails me)

Here's what I think of it - to least weaken, pick something that

a) starts talking about a totally different topic
b) Actually strengthens it ( However, if Gmat wants to be brutal on you, it might give you two strengthen - but that very unlikely)
c) something that has no effect or is very moderate ( in the question you asked, maybe something like, people are as likely to move into the new apps as into old ones)

Just my two cents - correct me if I'm wrong
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by banker1 » Wed Aug 27, 2008 6:18 am
As someone else said, LEAST weaken means not weaken. Through process of elimination I came up with A.

The passage speaks to a new housing development which is cleaner, bigger, and less expensive than other housing developments. As a result, more people should be interested in the new housing development and the resident population should go up.

(B) states a cleaner and less expensive housing development has recently been built, weakening the argument for the popularity of the new housing development.

(C) weakens the argument and has strong negative language.

(D) weakens the argument and has strong negative language.

(E) weakens the argument in stating that the cost of living is HIGHER when factoring in utility bills.

(A) is neutral to the argument, it does not necessarily strengthen the argument but it certainly does not weaken the argument.
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by jeffxujian » Wed Aug 27, 2008 3:06 pm
I second/third/fourth answer A :D
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Re: PR-3 CAT question - LEAST weaken

by California4jx » Thu Aug 28, 2008 1:10 pm
crackitpal wrote:Hello Everybody,

I'm confused by the following question. What is it exactly asking ? What am I supposed to look ? Actually strengthen or NA ?

The newly renovated housing development in city X is cleaner, bigger, and less expensive than other local housing developments. The development, therefore, should attract thousands of people and become the most popular residential area in city X.

Which of the following, if true, would LEAST weaken the argument above?


a. The housing development is located near many local stores and highways.

b. A cleaner and less expensive housing development has recently been built in city X.

c. The housing development provides no convenient access to secondary schools.

d. Most of those planning to move to city X are reluctant to move into renovated buildings.

e. Although rents are lower in the renovated development than they are at other comparable housing projects, when utility bills are included, the cost of living is higher in the new development

The correct answer is:
a


I'm confused between reference to "housing development" and "renovated housing development". Is this the true difference that is made in this reasoning ? Please explain, thank you.

crackitpal
The Least Weaken means sort of which one is strenghtening ... all others are weakening except A
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by ankur_arora » Fri Aug 29, 2008 2:58 am
actually in such questions a general pattern is that all except one of the choices will be weakening the argument.
That one chhoice might be strengthening the argument or it may be taking a neutral stance on the argument.

here option B is not the same development as is being talked about in the premise but a new one so it weakens.

option A is the correct answer as it is the only one that strenghtens the argument, and if true will definitely attract people and have a great impact on making the development a popular one.

Anks :)
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by peter.p.81 » Wed May 11, 2016 2:34 am
In my opinion B is the most logical one.
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