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A tough CR problem!

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A tough CR problem!

by lenacat » Sun Jun 07, 2009 1:05 am
Which of the following, if true, most logically completes the passage?

A recent poll found that over 80 percent of the residents of Nalmed Province favored a massive expansion of the commuter rail system as a means of significantly easing congestion on the province’s highways and were willing to help pay for the expansion through an increase in their taxes. Nevertheless, the poll results indicate that expansion of the rail system, if successfully completed, would be unlikely to achieve its goal of easing congestion, because _______.

A. most people in favor of expanding the rail system reported less congestion during their highway commute as the primary benefit they would experience
B. of the less than 20 percent of residents not counted as favoring the expansion, about half claimed to have no opinion one way or the other
C. the twice-daily periods of peak congestion caused by people commuting in cars have grown from about an hour each to almost two and a half hours each in the past 20 years
D. expanding the commuter rail system will require the construction of dozens of miles of new railbed
E. the proposed expansion to the commuter rail system will make it possible for some people who both live and work at suburban locations to commute by rail

Many thanks!
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by sanp_l » Sun Jun 07, 2009 2:09 am
I go with option E.
Thats the only one which hints towards a factor that might lead to congestion as it speaks of increased chances of travel.

Please correct me if i am wrong.
Sandy
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Re: A tough CR problem!

by dtweah » Sun Jun 07, 2009 2:41 am
lenacat wrote:Which of the following, if true, most logically completes the passage?

A recent poll found that over 80 percent of the residents of Nalmed Province favored a massive expansion of the commuter rail system as a means of significantly easing congestion on the province’s highways and were willing to help pay for the expansion through an increase in their taxes. Nevertheless, the poll results indicate that expansion of the rail system, if successfully completed, would be unlikely to achieve its goal of easing congestion, because _______.

A. most people in favor of expanding the rail system reported less congestion during their highway commute as the primary benefit they would experience
B. of the less than 20 percent of residents not counted as favoring the expansion, about half claimed to have no opinion one way or the other
C. the twice-daily periods of peak congestion caused by people commuting in cars have grown from about an hour each to almost two and a half hours each in the past 20 years
D. expanding the commuter rail system will require the construction of dozens of miles of new railbed
E. the proposed expansion to the commuter rail system will make it possible for some people who both live and work at suburban locations to commute by rail

Many thanks!

A. Has all the key ideas in the passage, Not OOS and talks about benefit when we are looking for reason why something might not benefit, or why a goal could not be met. When GMAT patently does this contradiction there us usually more than meets the eye. Leave it.

B. Since they would be the minority, the conclusion can't be based on them. Eliminate.

C.1). Because peak congestion has increased doesn't mean the expansion cannot ease congestion. If anything the expansion is happening b/c of the increase. 2. Peak congestion could be caused by "non-resident commutes". In this scenario, expansion would not ease congestion among residents, whose taxes would be used to finance the expansion. 2 appears to a reason we are looking for but since 1 is a possiblity we cannot use this answer choice. Eliminate.

D. Irrelevant

E. Irrelevant and/or OOS

That leaves A. If most of the 80% who favor expansion expect less congestion, that could be a reason why there could be more congestion. Maybe b/c of congestion fears, some people are not commuting or more people may be carpooling etc. The Expection of less congeston could bring more people on the road after expansion such that there is no net benefit of expansion. Expansion merely brings more people on the road who were not previously communting and we are back to square one.
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by btg760 » Sun Jun 07, 2009 2:48 am
I will go with (A) too.
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by dtweah » Sun Jun 07, 2009 3:04 am
sanp_l wrote:I go with option E.
Thats the only one which hints towards a factor that might lead to congestion as it speaks of increased chances of travel.

Please correct me if i am wrong.
Sanp,

Be careful. Try to keep the argument within a tight bound. Surburban is a word that is not even used in the passage and it can lead to many different conclusions. First try to eliminate such answer choices that are out of scope and narrow down to 2. Usually there are 2 choices that are serious candidates. One will prevail over the other in a subtle way. Always look for these 2. Choices that do not mention any of the key phrases or words in the passage are usually candidates for elimination. E is one such elimination. candidate.
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by ghacker » Sun Jun 07, 2009 6:21 am
Which of the following, if true, most logically completes the passage?

A recent poll found that over 80 percent of the residents of Nalmed Province favored a massive expansion of the commuter rail system as a means of significantly easing congestion on the province’s highways and were willing to help pay for the expansion through an increase in their taxes. Nevertheless, the poll results indicate that expansion of the rail system, if successfully completed, would be unlikely to achieve its goal of easing congestion, because _______.


The Q stem says that the opinion polls show that the proposal will not work
The poll says 80% of the responded people say that they want the rail system because it will reduce congestion

Then how can we say that the poll show that it will fail ?????

People want to reduce congestion why ? because they want to use the roads more , so if they think by building the rail system the congestion will decrease then when the system is built they will start using it more
ultimately what happens is that it will become more congested than it is


So the Answer is A
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by viju9162 » Sun Jun 07, 2009 9:48 pm
Answer is A. Through POE none of the mentioned choices talk about the commuter rail system. A suits the requirement!
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by Arsene Lupin » Sun Jun 07, 2009 11:01 pm
Also notice a key phrase here:

"Nevertheless, the poll results indicate "

You know that the reason must be some information from the poll. That leaves only A and B; They are the only options talking about poll results.
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by theprof » Mon Jun 08, 2009 7:05 am
HI, here's a more concise reason why I think it should be A.

A. most people in favor of expanding the rail system reported less congestion during their highway commute as the primary benefit they would experience

Imagine you face the following question: "Do you support the expansion of a new railway system and why?"

If your answer is, "Yes I do, so that other people (not me) will start taking the train and there will be less congestion for myself.". If the majority response is similar to this, it shows the poll respondents have no intention whatsoever of taking the train, they still want to commute by car.
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by xcusemeplz2009 » Mon Jun 08, 2009 7:51 am
I agree with theprof ......

i will also go with A for the same reason
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by Domnu » Tue Jun 23, 2009 7:09 am
I agree; the answer should be A.
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by mehravikas » Tue Jun 23, 2009 8:17 pm
IMO - A
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by ketkoag » Sun Jun 28, 2009 12:24 pm
A it is.. Please post OA..
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Re: A tough CR problem!

by GMATaddict » Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:17 pm
lenacat wrote:Which of the following, if true, most logically completes the passage?

A recent poll found that over 80 percent of the residents of Nalmed Province favored a massive expansion of the commuter rail system as a means of significantly easing congestion on the province’s highways and were willing to help pay for the expansion through an increase in their taxes. Nevertheless, the poll results indicate that expansion of the rail system, if successfully completed, would be unlikely to achieve its goal of easing congestion, because _______.

A. most people in favor of expanding the rail system reported less congestion during their highway commute as the primary benefit they would experience
B. of the less than 20 percent of residents not counted as favoring the expansion, about half claimed to have no opinion one way or the other
C. the twice-daily periods of peak congestion caused by people commuting in cars have grown from about an hour each to almost two and a half hours each in the past 20 years
D. expanding the commuter rail system will require the construction of dozens of miles of new railbed
E. the proposed expansion to the commuter rail system will make it possible for some people who both live and work at suburban locations to commute by rail
I would go with (A). Those who favor building the railways appear to be drivers, who intend to continue driving on highways, while expecting other commuters to take the train. If most people continue to drive to work even after the completion of the railway, commuter traffic congestion would be unlikely to ease up.

(B) is a largely irrelevant factoid.
(C) just illustrates a need for the railway.
(D) does not articulate how the need for railbed construction would cause the plan to fail.
(E) is a bad answer for the same reason as D, it does not clearly articulate why a certain fact would cause the plan to fail.
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by ranell » Sun Jun 28, 2009 3:03 pm
A. most people in favor of expanding the rail system reported less congestion during their highway commute as the primary benefit they would experience – CORRECT as if people, who support expanding the rail system, set easing congestion as a primary benefit of rail system construction, then these people will continue using their cars and thus congestion will not become easy

B. of the less than 20 percent of residents not counted as favoring the expansion, about half claimed to have no opinion one way or the other – it is out f scope in the argument

C. the twice-daily periods of peak congestion caused by people commuting in cars have grown from about an hour each to almost two and a half hours each in the past 20 years – it is out f scope in the argument
D. expanding the commuter rail system will require the construction of dozens of miles of new railbed – it doesn’t matter whether we need any construction of railbed

E. the proposed expansion to the commuter rail system will make it possible for some people who both live and work at suburban locations to commute by rail - it is out f scope in the argument
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