Most annoying Question for me

This topic has expert replies
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 1261
Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2008 3:46 am
Thanked: 27 times
GMAT Score:570

Most annoying Question for me

by reply2spg » Sun Aug 08, 2010 1:59 pm
The southern half of a certain region of the earth was covered entirely by water during the Cretaceous period, the last 75 million years of the Mesozoic era, the era when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Dinosaurs lived only on land. Thus, Plesiosaurs-swimming reptile that lived during the Cretaceous period exclusively-were not dinosaurs. No single species of dinosaur lived throughout the entire Mesozoic era.

If the statements in the passage are true, each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

(A) Dinosaurs inhabited the northern half of the region throughout the entire Mesozoic era.
(B) Plesiosaurs did not inhabit the southern half of the region during the Cretaceous periods.
(C) Plesiosaurs did not inhabit the southern half of the region before the Cretaceous period.
(D) Dinosaurs did not inhabit the northern half of the region during the Cretaceous period.
(E) Dinosaurs inhabited the southern half of the region throughout the entire Mesozoic era.

OA E
Sudhanshu
(have lot of things to learn from all of you)
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 6:56 am
Thanked: 2 times

by seshadrivyas » Sun Aug 08, 2010 11:03 pm
I too think its E.

Legendary Member
Posts: 2326
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2008 3:54 am
Thanked: 173 times
Followed by:2 members
GMAT Score:710

by gmatmachoman » Mon Aug 09, 2010 12:09 am
Sudhanshu,

https://www.beatthegmat.com/cud-be-true- ... 55878.html

This is a old post of mine when i was peak of my prep...and u culd see how we discussed that CR heavily..even Dana pitched in right there..and Ron & Pheonix too..

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 32
Joined: Mon Jul 26, 2010 11:51 pm
Thanked: 2 times

by ssp » Mon Aug 09, 2010 12:18 am
I think the correct answer is E (the answer that cannot possibly be true given the premises stated in the stimulus)

Here is why:

Dinosaurs inhabited the southern half of the region throughout the entire Mesozoic era.

The Mesozoic era included the Cretaceous period which occurred during the last 75 million years of the Mesozoic era. During the Cretaceous period (or the last 75 million years of the Mesozoic era), the southern half of a certain region of earth was covered entirely by water. Since dinosaurs only live on land (and cannot live in the water), dinosaurs could not inhabit the southern half of the region throughout the entire Mesozoic era because for part of that era, the southern half of the region was covered in water.

Here is why the other statements could be true based on facts provided in the stimulus:

A -- The stimulus does not say way whether the northern half of the region was covered in water during the Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era. Therefore, it is possible that the dinosaurs lived in the northern half of the region for the entire era.

B/C/D -- Nothing jumps out at me in the stimulus that would directly contradict any of these answer choices. If it is not directly contradicted, it could be true.

Legendary Member
Posts: 1119
Joined: Fri May 07, 2010 8:50 am
Thanked: 29 times
Followed by:3 members

by diebeatsthegmat » Mon Aug 09, 2010 1:12 am
reply2spg wrote:The southern half of a certain region of the earth was covered entirely by water during the Cretaceous period, the last 75 million years of the Mesozoic era, the era when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Dinosaurs lived only on land. Thus, Plesiosaurs-swimming reptile that lived during the Cretaceous period exclusively-were not dinosaurs. No single species of dinosaur lived throughout the entire Mesozoic era.

If the statements in the passage are true, each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

(A) Dinosaurs inhabited the northern half of the region throughout the entire Mesozoic era.
(B) Plesiosaurs did not inhabit the southern half of the region during the Cretaceous periods.
(C) Plesiosaurs did not inhabit the southern half of the region before the Cretaceous period.
(D) Dinosaurs did not inhabit the northern half of the region during the Cretaceous period.
(E) Dinosaurs inhabited the southern half of the region throughout the entire Mesozoic era.

OA E
i chose E just because of the last sentence in the argument " No single species of dinosaur lived throughout the entire Mesozoic era. "