Bold Faced -- Energy Usage

[David@VeritasPrep]

The amount of energy used by a typical household in the northeastern United States is more than twice that used by a comparable household in the southeast, southwest, and west coast regions of the country. The difference is explained by the heating requirements of homes in the northeast. In general air conditioners used to cool homes are much cheaper to operate than heating systems. Up to 65% of the total energy usage of a household in the northeastern U.S. is required to heat the home through the winter: only 5% is needed for air conditioning throughout the whole summer. However, global warming is changing the equation. Winters in the northeast are getting warmer, requiring less heat per day and shortening the heating season. Temperatures across the U.S. are getting hotter so that the cost of cooling homes is rising. In years to come the energy requirements across the country will be far more uniform.

A) The first is a subsidiary conclusion of the argument that is used as a premise to support the main conclusion; the second is a fact that directly contradicts the first.

B) The first is a paradox that must be resolved later in the argument; the second is the key evidence used to resolve that paradox.

C) The first is a fact that is directly contradicted later in the argument; the second is the evidence used for that contradiction.

D) The first is a fact that the argument explains and then predicts will not hold true over time; the second is used as evidence that the first fact will change.

E) The first is a phenomenon that contributes to the explanation of another phenomenon discussed later in the argument; the second is the phenomenon that the argument explains.

[kvcpk]

IMO D.

My boldface hit ratio is bad. So keeping my fingers crossed

[beatthegmatinsept]

Im confused between B and D. D seems too straight forward to be the answer though, but makes the most sense.
So D.

[uwhusky]

B cannot be a paradox because it only presented the scenario, but without any apparent conflict that would qualify it as a paradox. Had the sentence included more information like southwest is expected to have higher amount of energy usage than northeastern for whatever reason, then there is a paradox.

[debmalya_dutta]

my pick is D

The amount of energy used by a typical household in the northeastern United States is more than twice that used by a comparable household in the southeast, southwest, and west coast regions of the country. The difference is explained by the heating requirements of homes in the northeast. In general air conditioners used to cool homes are much cheaper to operate than heating systems. Up to 65% of the total energy usage of a household in the northeastern U.S. is required to heat the home through the winter: only 5% is needed for air conditioning throughout the whole summer. However, global warming is changing the equation. Winters in the northeast are getting warmer, requiring less heat per day and shortening the heating season. Temperatures in the across the U.S. are getting hotter so that the cost of cooling homes is rising. In years to come the energy requirements across the country will be far more uniform.

A) The first is a subsidiary conclusion of the argument that is used as a premise to support the main conclusion; the second is a fact that directly contradicts the first.

Let us look at the over-all structure of the question stem .
Bold face 1 : A fact or observation is stated - Northeast uses more energy than the rest of the country
Then few stats and reasons are provided to explain why that is the case..i.e presents a couple of reasons
Then launches a different theme which starts talking about global warming ..
Boldface 2 : this is an evidence / support statement provided to explain why the author thinks global warming is changing the equation ...
And then finally makes the conclusion that energy requirements equation is going to change in the near future

the first bold face is not really a conclusion . It is an fact ... the second boldface does not really contradict the fact the current energy consumption in the North East of the country is more than the rest of the country.

B) The first is a paradox that must be resolved later in the argument; the second is the key evidence used to resolve that paradox. Boldface 1 is not really a paradox ..It is a fact / observation based on facts

C) The first is a fact that is directly contradicted later in the argument; the second is the evidence used for that contradiction. The first fact is not really contradicted in the later half.. contradiction would have happened if I could have shown facts that oppose the first statement .. No facts are stated directly questioning the first boldface statement .. The author just brings into light another phenomenon which is coming into light , its possible effects and its manifestations in terms of energy consumption in the years to come...

D) The first is a fact that the argument explains and then predicts will not hold true over time; the second is used as evidence that the first fact will change. Look at the over-all structure of the argument explained above

E) The first is a phenomenon that contributes to the explanation of another phenomenon discussed later in the argument; the second is the phenomenon that the argument explains.
The first phenomenon does not explain the second phenomenon... Not really.Actually this seemed totally out of consideration.. Nothing is right about this ..

[reply2spg]

Why not A?

[uwhusky]

Because the first bold faced portion is a statement of facts, not argument nor sub-conclusion.

[David@VeritasPrep]

OA is D.

The above explanations are excellent. This was a longer prompt with long and complicated answer choices. It is true that only one answer described the roles properly so in that sense it was like any good question. If you found this one straightforward -- it means that you really understood it! Congrats.

Any questions about this one?

[uwhusky]

It's a very good question, David! I really would like to see more bold faced question! I think even though bold faced questions are considered to be more advanced questions, they're actually great practice for understanding CR in general.

[Brian@VeritasPrep]

Great question, David!

For the board - David emailed me this question earlier this week to give it a look before he posted here, and then made fun of me a little bit for sending him my answer with a caveat (I told him "great question...provided the answer is, indeed, D").

I think that transaction can teach you something about Boldfaced questions...knowing that David wrote it, I, too, was looking for something tricky and overly clever, and D almost seemed too straightforward.

But that's the game with Boldfaced questions - the authors can't get too convoluted...the correct answer MUST accurately describe the boldfaced portions and the incorrect answers MUST have fatal flaws. Even though I suspected that David might be trying to pull a fast one one me with a trick question, as a GMAT question author he can't. The rules are 4 definitely wrong answers and 1 definitely right answer. I know that it's easy to paint the authors of the GMAT as evil and manipulative, trying like the Wicked Witch of the West to ruin your score...but they're bound by the rules of the test, so your counterweapon is logic.

[Target2009]

IMO - D

[manojks]

my pick is "D".
please keep on sending Bold faced questions. this will be a great help. thank you.

[David@VeritasPrep]

D is correct.

Thanks...I will get some more of these going.

[jduarte5]

I used to hate bold-faced questions but now I like them.

Thanks David for all the good tips on the Veritas Prep Online class!

[artistocrat]

D. You can use P.O.E. or simply answer the question (positively). I thought about the function of the two portions BEFORE I even looked at the answer choices. May seem obvious, but could be overlooked when under pressure. In this question, and others, I found even a couple key words steered me away from traps.

Nice question Dave! I look forward to more from you...