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Samuel's Fishing Dilemma - Platinum GMAT Practice Q

Expert replies
by shenoydevika » Thu Feb 07, 2013 11:50 pm
Samuel is obviously a bad fisherman. During the past season, in which he and the five members of his team spent four months on a boat together off Dutch Harbor, AK, he caught fewer fish than any of his teammates.

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument above?

A) Two seasons ago, Samuel fished on another boat off Dutch Harbor and caught more fish than any other member of that boat.
B) Before becoming a fisherman, Samuel piloted a fishing boat whose members regularly caught record numbers of fish.
C) While fishing this past season, Samuel fell sick for a week and did not catch any fish during this time.
D) Unlike the other fishermen on his boat, at the order of the captain, Samuel fished this past season with experimental bait.
E) Amongst the fishing community in Dutch Harbor, Samuel has a reputation for being an especially bad fisherman.

This has been categorized as a 'Hard' question. Let's see how many of us get it.

OA a little later..
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |

by Sam_hellboy » Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:16 am
IMO C
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by GMATGuruNY » Fri Feb 08, 2013 8:45 am
shenoydevika wrote:Samuel is obviously a bad fisherman. During the past season, in which he and the five members of his team spent four months on a boat together off Dutch Harbor, AK, he caught fewer fish than any of his teammates.

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument above?

A) Two seasons ago, Samuel fished on another boat off Dutch Harbor and caught more fish than any other member of that boat.
B) Before becoming a fisherman, Samuel piloted a fishing boat whose members regularly caught record numbers of fish.
C) While fishing this past season, Samuel fell sick for a week and did not catch any fish during this time.
D) Unlike the other fishermen on his boat, at the order of the captain, Samuel fished this past season with experimental bait.
E) Amongst the fishing community in Dutch Harbor, Samuel has a reputation for being an especially bad fisherman.

This has been categorized as a 'Hard' question. Let's see how many of us get it.

OA a little later..
This CR makes an ANALOGY: it compares SAMUEL to THE OTHER FISHERMEN.
The assumption is that Samuel and the other fishermen are THE SAME.
To weaken the analogy, the correct answer must BREAK THE LINK between Samuel and the other fishermen by showing a KEY DIFFERENCE between them.

Only D offers a key difference between Samuel and the other fishermen:
Unlike the other fishermen on his boat, Samuel fished this past season with experimental bait.

The correct answer is D.

In C, we know that Samuel fell ill, but the health history of the other fishermen is unknown.
Thus, C doesn't necessarily invalidate the analogy between Samuel and the other fishermen: quite possibly the other fishermen also fell ill, with the result that the analogy between Samuel and the other fishermen would be STRENGTHENED.
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by tanviet » Sat Feb 09, 2013 8:21 am
Thank you expert Mint Huntch.

I understand your explanation fully and I also choose D not C.

this question is not easy, so I want to see a similar og or gmatprep question. Can anyone show the similar question? pls share.
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by shenoydevika » Sat Feb 09, 2013 9:55 am
Yup! D is the OA
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by aditya8062 » Wed Feb 20, 2013 6:32 am
even my take is D .C is trap and as Mitch rightly said knowing the health of Samuel does not tell us anything abt the health of rest of the people
regards
aditya
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