Seeking clarification on a Basic Concept

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RBBmba@2014: Legendary Member; Posts: 944; Joined: Wed May 30, 2012 8:21 amFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 8 times

by RBBmba@2014 » Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:28 am

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Hi Verbal Experts,
Let's consider the following two scenarios :

1. ARGUMENT: Mark has ranked 1st in the class. So, he's intelligent.

Possible STRENGTHENER: There are more than 1 student in Mark's class.

2. ARGUMENT: Don has ranked 1st in the class. So, he's the most intelligent student in the class.

Possible STRENGTHENER: (i) There are more than 1 student in Don's class.
(ii) There are more than 2 students in Don's class.

Could you please let me know whether I'm correct in getting the above STRENGTHENER(s) in these two scenarios ?

P.S: Mitch/Dave/Ceilidh/Brent - please share your feedback. And Other experts, also feel free to chime in...

Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Sat Jun 02, 2018 8:28 am

RBBmba@2014: Legendary Member; Posts: 944; Joined: Wed May 30, 2012 8:21 amFollowed by: 5 members; Thanked: 8 times

by RBBmba@2014 » Mon Jun 18, 2018 12:34 pm

Hi Experts,
Any update on this ?

Look forward to your feedback. Much thanks in advance!

GMAT/MBA Expert

Jake@ThePrincetonReview: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 23; Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2018 9:53 am

by Jake@ThePrincetonReview » Thu Jun 21, 2018 2:06 pm

I do not believe that either possible strengthener actually strengthens the argument. I would eliminate those answer choices almost immediately.

For #1, the fact there is more than one student in the class never connects in any way to the idea of being intelligent. Since the possible answer has nothing whatsoever to do with intelligence, I'd eliminate it. To strengthen this argument, you'd need something connecting class rank to intelligence.

For #2, same basic idea. The number of students is completely unrelated to the argument, which assumes that a higher class ranking implies more intelligence. No matter how many students are in the class, to strengthen this argument, you'd need something connecting class ranking to superior intelligence.

Just my two cents...

Jake Schiff
GMAT Instructor and Master Trainer

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