Critical Reasoning

There are far fewer children available for adoption than there are people who want to adopt. Two million couples are currently waiting to adopt, but in 1982, the last year for which figures exist, there were only some 50,000 adoptions.
Which of the following statements, if true, most strengthens the author's claim that there are far fewer children available for adoption than there are people who want to adopt?
(A) The number of couples waiting to adopt has increased significantly in the last decade.
(B) The number of adoptions in the current year is greater than the number of adoptions in any preceding year.
(C) The number of adoptions in a year is approximately equal to the number of children available for adoption in that period.
(D) People who seek to adopt children often go through a long process of interviews and investigation by adoption agencies.
(E) People who seek to adopt children generally make very good parents.

I choose A, my logic is, if the no. of waiting parents is increasing significantly. then definitely fewer children are available for adoption, but A is not correct.

OA later.

is the answer C

premise : Two million couples are currently waiting to adopt, but in 1982, the last year for which figures exist, there were only some 50,000 adoptions.

conclusion: There are far fewer children available for adoption than there are people who want to adopt

strengthens: answer which creates the link between adoption and children available for adoption

C does

c) The number of adoptions in a year is approximately equal to the number of children available for adoption in that period.

tetura84 wrote:There are far fewer children available for adoption than there are people who want to adopt. Two million couples are currently waiting to adopt, but in 1982, the last year for which figures exist, there were only some 50,000 adoptions.
Which of the following statements, if true, most strengthens the author's claim that there are far fewer children available for adoption than there are people who want to adopt?
(A) The number of couples waiting to adopt has increased significantly in the last decade.
(B) The number of adoptions in the current year is greater than the number of adoptions in any preceding year.
(C) The number of adoptions in a year is approximately equal to the number of children available for adoption in that period.
(D) People who seek to adopt children often go through a long process of interviews and investigation by adoption agencies.
(E) People who seek to adopt children generally make very good parents.

I choose A, my logic is, if the no. of waiting parents is increasing significantly. then definitely fewer children are available for adoption, but A is not correct.

OA later.

OA is C

I think I got the logic.
First I thought it is A, but A says, couple waiting for adoption has increased -- but still it does not say why.
I took the assumption here that, as the no has increased, meaning definitely fewer children available.
But it is wrong.

choice C says, no of adoption == no of children available
It clearly says, no of adoption cannot be more than no of children available and it is clear now why the couple waiting for adoption has increased.

Any expert comment for A and B would be good. i dot get why A can't be an answer.

GMATMadeEasy wrote:Any expert comment for A and B would be good. i dot get why A can't be an answer.

The claim here is that there are more people looking to adopt than there are kids to adopt
The evidence for it is that 2 million people are waiting to adopt but the last recorded year of adoptions saw only 50K adoptions

A. Here we know the number of couples that want to adopt has increased but it tells us nothing of the amount of kids up for adoption. Maybe the number of kids has grown from 50K to 2.5 million. If that is the case that would weaken the claim.

B. They dont tell us anything of the number of people waiting for adoption. There could still be millions waiting to be adopted and perhaps people just are not adopting them.

This problem is an example of why you want to make sure that you understand the evidence and the Most Important Premise before you move to the answer choices.

(If you are wondering what the Most Important Premise is check out this link to my article https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/02/ ... duncan-way)

Answer Choice A would be a nice answer if all you had was the conclusion. If you are simply saying that there are fewer children to adopt than couples wanting to adopt then A would be a good choice. If the number of couples waiting to adopt has increased significantly that helps. BUT not when you take into account the evidence. The evidence is 50,000 adoptions, but adoptions is not the same as children up for adoption. Maybe there is paperwork of something. As Prac said Choice C makes that evidence goo evidence by having the 50K adoptions represent the number of kids up for adoption.

Takeaway: the conclusion alone can often lead you to several strengthen answers. But the conclusion and the evidence will point you in the proper direction.