In my opinion it is B. Let's see all the choices

A. This choice reverses the causation. The reverse of this choice can only be properly inferred.
C. Says ".. already heavily involved in every activity..". Exaggeration. Further, it says already.
D. ".. become increasingly involved in any technological revolution..". Again its an exaggeration. Stimuli talks about only biotechnological and information technology. Eliminate D as well.
E. ".. involved in legal activities..". Stimuli does not talk whether its legal or illegal.

B is the best choice IMO. Please share the OA..!

IMO D

The correct answer is D.

In sufficient assumption questions, just plug in the choices and see which one will make the conclusion follow for sure. If choice D were assumed, then the conclusion undoubtedly follows.

But this is not the case for choice B. Even if they were aware of the revenue potential of tech, criminal organizations may not pursue tech because there may be other reasons for them not to--for example, they may have other ways of generating even more revenue. Accordingly, choice B is not something that would guarantee the argument. And, in sufficient assumption questions that is what you are looking for--something that guarantees the argument.

IMO C. This question asks for sufficient assumption.

A provides no new information; a repeat of the stem.
D says any organization. Does not relate to criminal organizations.
E implies that criminal organizations will conduct legal activities. If so, there is no need for a criminologist to comment.
B. criminal organizations realize the profitability of these fields; is not enough to infer that they will participate in these activities.

C says that criminal organizations are heavily active in all fields that generate profit, so gives no reason for them not to get involved in these fields.

No one chose C. why plugging C will not yield the conclusion? I find C more relevant to criminal organizations than D.

C says that criminal organizations are heavily active in all fields that generate profit, so gives no reason for them not to get involved in these fields.

C gives them no reason to get involved in the tech field. So C does the opposite of what we want. Instead of guaranteeing that the conclusion will follow, if we plug C in, it suggests that the conclusion won't follow.

In choice D, "any" organization includes criminal organizations.

D looks way too extreme.

Testluv wrote:

C says that criminal organizations are heavily active in all fields that generate profit, so gives no reason for them not to get involved in these fields.

C gives them no reason to get involved in the tech field. So C does the opposite of what we want. Instead of guaranteeing that the conclusion will follow, if we plug C in, it suggests that the conclusion won't follow.

In choice D, "any" organization includes criminal organizations.

mehravikas wrote:D looks way too extreme.

Testluv wrote:

C says that criminal organizations are heavily active in all fields that generate profit, so gives no reason for them not to get involved in these fields.

C gives them no reason to get involved in the tech field. So C does the opposite of what we want. Instead of guaranteeing that the conclusion will follow, if we plug C in, it suggests that the conclusion won't follow.

In choice D, "any" organization includes criminal organizations.

You should stay away from extreme choices in inference and necessary assumption questions.

But in strengthen/weaken and sufficient assumption questions, correct answers can easily be extreme.

Wow I never knew that

Testluv wrote:
You should stay away from extreme choices in inference and necessary assumption questions.

But in strengthen/weaken and sufficient assumption questions, correct answers can easily be extreme.

mehravikas wrote:Wow I never knew that

Testluv wrote:
You should stay away from extreme choices in inference and necessary assumption questions.

But in strengthen/weaken and sufficient assumption questions, correct answers can easily be extreme.

Hi Vikas,

Well, there are very good reasons for this. Let's think about the logical design of some CR question types. Then, maybe we will be able to understand on a deeper level why extreme choices should be avoided in the first place.

Why should we avoid extreme choices in inference questions? Well, the answer to this question has to do with the design of an inference question, and the nature of the process of inferring. In an inference question, all of the information in the passage is necessarily true. The correct answer is something that the passage proves must also be true. But the more extreme an answer choice becomes, the less likely it is that the passage was strong or relevant enough to prove the choice as being something that is necessarily true. The only time an extreme choice will be correct is when that part of the passage that might support the answer choice is equally as extreme--and that's fairly rare. Accordingly, in inference questions you should be partial to tentative choices over extreme ones.

And, why should we avoid extreme choices in necessary assumption questions? Again, this has to do with the design of a necessary assumption question, and the concept of necessary assumption. A necessary assumption is something that the arguer's reasoning depends on, relies on. A necessary assumption is something the author needs in order for the argument to work. But it is unlikely that the author's argument will be so bold as to depend on an extreme assumption. That's why we should generally avoid extreme choices in necessary assumption questions.

So, although it is good advice to avoid extreme choices in both of these question types, we actually avoid extreme choices in inference and necessary assumption questions for different reasons.

But neither of these reasons apply to sufficient assumption questions or strengthen/weaken questions. In fact, a sufficient assumption is quite likely to be extreme. This again has to do with the concept of sufficient assumption. A sufficient assumption is something which, if we plugged it into the argument, the argument would be guaranteed. And, the more extreme a choice is, the more likely it is something that will guarantee an argument. (However, on the GMAT, know that necessary assumption questions are waaaaay more common than sufficient assumption questions).

Also, the more extreme a choice is, the more likely it is something that will strengthen or weaken a particular argument. However, extreme choices show up fairly rarely in strengthen/weaken b/c it is usually obvious that that choice would do the job of strengthening or weakening. So, although extreme chioces rarely show up as answer choices in strengthen/weaken, when an extreme answer choice does show up in these question types, don't avoid it just because it is extreme--it might be the correct answer!

Hi TestLuv,

Sometime i get very confuse whether the Question asking for sufficient assumption or necessary assumption? Can you give some clue how to detect what kind of assumption we need to find out.

for ex:
Author conclusion depend upon following assumption? <- necessary assumption

Author conclusion is properly drawn, If following is assumed <-- I took it again as necessary assumption.



thanks
sunny

sunnyjohn wrote:Hi TestLuv,

Sometime i get very confuse whether the Question asking for sufficient assumption or necessary assumption? Can you give some clue how to detect what kind of assumption we need to find out.

for ex:
Author conclusion depend upon following assumption? <- necessary assumption

Author conclusion is properly drawn, If following is assumed <-- I took it again as necessary assumption.



thanks
sunny

Hi sunnyjohn,

sure. Necessary assumption questions ask for an assumption that the author's argument depends on or relies on, or for an assumption that is required for the argument. A necessary assumption is something without which the argument certainly fails.

A sufficient assumption question can be identified from the absence of necessary language. Also, they have distinctive phraseology, such as: "The conclusion follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?." So, a sufficient assumption is something with which the argument will be guaranteed (certainly passes).

Great explanation Testluv.

Thanks,
Vikas