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Bakers at town X & Y

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Bakers at town X & Y

by prachich1987 » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:32 pm
A bakery in a neighborhood X sells cakes that are very intricately created using a rare method that a bakery in nearby town Y used in previous years.Because of its complexity,the baking method is unlikely to have developed independently in both bakeries.One food critic theorized that the bakers at neighborhood X's bakery mush have learned the method from the bakers at town Y's bakery.

The answer to which of the following questions would be most useful in evaluating the critic's theory?

A) Do bakers ever leave their own bakeries in order to socialize with other bakeries.

B) Are baked goods ever bought from bakery to bakery?

C) Do bakers in town Y's bakery still employ the same method to create cakes?

D) Do food critics personally travel to local bakeries to sample their baked goods?

E) Does the bakery in neighborhood X sell any other types of baked goods?

Source : Princeton 1012 Question Book

OA : After some time
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by Target2009 » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:48 pm
prachich1987 wrote:A bakery in a neighborhood X sells cakes that are very intricately created using a rare method that a bakery in nearby town Y used in previous years.Because of its complexity,the baking method is unlikely to have developed independently in both bakeries.One food critic theorized that the bakers at neighborhood X's bakery mush have learned the method from the bakers at town Y's bakery.

The answer to which of the following questions would be most useful in evaluating the critic's theory?

A) Do bakers ever leave their own bakeries in order to socialize with other bakeries.

B) Are baked goods ever bought from bakery to bakery?

C) Do bakers in town Y's bakery still employ the same method to create cakes?

D) Do food critics personally travel to local bakeries to sample their baked goods?

E) Does the bakery in neighborhood X sell any other types of baked goods?

Source : Princeton 1012 Question Book

OA : After some time
IMO [spoiler]C: Do bakers in town Y's bakery still employ the same method to create cakes? If not then Critic theory "that the bakers at neighborhood X's bakery mush have learned the method from the bakers at town Y's bakery" will fail.[/spoiler]
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by mundasingh123 » Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:58 pm
Can u pls tell the source
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by prachich1987 » Sat Jan 15, 2011 4:20 am
mundasingh123 wrote:Can u pls tell the source
It's written in my first post
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by prachich1987 » Sat Jan 15, 2011 4:21 am
mundasingh123 wrote:Can u pls tell the source
It's written in my first post
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by prachich1987 » Sat Jan 15, 2011 4:30 am
Target2009 wrote:
prachich1987 wrote:A bakery in a neighborhood X sells cakes that are very intricately created using a rare method that a bakery in nearby town Y used in previous years.Because of its complexity,the baking method is unlikely to have developed independently in both bakeries.One food critic theorized that the bakers at neighborhood X's bakery mush have learned the method from the bakers at town Y's bakery.

The answer to which of the following questions would be most useful in evaluating the critic's theory?

A) Do bakers ever leave their own bakeries in order to socialize with other bakeries.

B) Are baked goods ever bought from bakery to bakery?

C) Do bakers in town Y's bakery still employ the same method to create cakes?

D) Do food critics personally travel to local bakeries to sample their baked goods?

E) Does the bakery in neighborhood X sell any other types of baked goods?

Source : Princeton 1012 Question Book

OA : After some time
IMO [spoiler]C: Do bakers in town Y's bakery still employ the same method to create cakes? If not then Critic theory "that the bakers at neighborhood X's bakery mush have learned the method from the bakers at town Y's bakery" will fail.[/spoiler]
It's mentioned in the stimulus that "A bakery in a neighborhood X sells cakes that are very intricately created using a rare method that a bakery in nearby town Y used in previous years".
So it is written that they don't use the method now.
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by mundasingh123 » Sat Jan 15, 2011 4:31 am
Hi
A is the Answer
Ron Purewall:An evaluate the argument quest is essentially a Strengthen / Weaken Question
The argument will be weakened if we consider that bakers did not socialize with Each other, and if they dont socialize they will not be able to teach others

B could have been a good answer but its mentioned that Bakery in Town Y used the methods much earlier. So there is no question of goods being brought over from Y to X
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by prachich1987 » Sat Jan 15, 2011 4:36 am
mundasingh123 wrote:Hi
A is the Answer
Ron Purewall:An evaluate the argument quest is essentially a Strengthen / Weaken Question
The argument will be weakened if we consider that bakers did not socialize with Each other, and if they dont socialize they will not be able to teach others

B could have been a good answer but its mentioned that Bakery in Town Y used the methods much earlier. So there is no question of goods being brought over from Y to X
Even I marked A .Unfortunately that's not the OA
OA is B :(
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by mundasingh123 » Sat Jan 15, 2011 4:42 am
prachich1987 wrote:
mundasingh123 wrote:Hi
A is the Answer
Ron Purewall:An evaluate the argument quest is essentially a Strengthen / Weaken Question
The argument will be weakened if we consider that bakers did not socialize with Each other, and if they dont socialize they will not be able to teach others

B could have been a good answer but its mentioned that Bakery in Town Y used the methods much earlier. So there is no question of goods being brought over from Y to X
Even I marked A .Unfortunately that's not the OA
OA is B :(
Its clearly mentioned that the method was used in previous years . then how can the possiblity of goods bought from bakery to bakery can weken the conc or stregthen the conc
Even the possibility is 0
PM an Expert to Confirm .U can also ask a Princeton Review Expert .Any will do
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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Jan 15, 2011 5:49 am
prachich1987 wrote:A bakery in a neighborhood X sells cakes that are very intricately created using a rare method that a bakery in nearby town Y used in previous years.Because of its complexity,the baking method is unlikely to have developed independently in both bakeries.One food critic theorized that the bakers at neighborhood X's bakery mush have learned the method from the bakers at town Y's bakery.

The answer to which of the following questions would be most useful in evaluating the critic's theory?

A) Do bakers ever leave their own bakeries in order to socialize with other bakeries.

B) Are baked goods ever bought from bakery to bakery?

C) Do bakers in town Y's bakery still employ the same method to create cakes?

D) Do food critics personally travel to local bakeries to sample their baked goods?

E) Does the bakery in neighborhood X sell any other types of baked goods?

Source : Princeton 1012 Question Book

OA : After some time
I received a PM asking me to comment.

We need an answer choice that shows whether the bakery in X might have been exposed to the intricately created cakes that used to be found at the bakery in Y. The debate is between A and B, both of which could connect bakery X to bakery Y. I'm skeptical of answer choice A because of the word socialize. Socializing doesn't necessarily involve the process of baking, nor does it guarantee exposure to the cakes themselves. Since B connects the baked goods at X with the baked goods at Y -- and the argument is about the baking of these intricately created cakes -- I'd choose B over A.
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by mundasingh123 » Sat Jan 15, 2011 6:54 am
A bakery in a neighborhood X sells cakes that are very intricately created using a rare method that a bakery in nearby town Y used in previous years

So If Baked goods had been bought from Y to X,it must have been done years ago.And the Bakers must have observed the cakes that were intricately created and learnt from it.
But Mitch , How can someone make out the Mamufacturing Technique for a Dish by observing it and even if the Bakers had been able to make out the Creation Technique,Arent They still Learning from the Bakers at Y in however indirect a manner it may seem.
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by gtr02 » Sat Jan 15, 2011 11:50 am
prachich1987 wrote:A bakery in a neighborhood X sells cakes that are very intricately created using a rare method that a bakery in nearby town Y used in previous years.Because of its complexity,the baking method is unlikely to have developed independently in both bakeries.One food critic theorized that the bakers at neighborhood X's bakery mush have learned the method from the bakers at town Y's bakery.

The answer to which of the following questions would be most useful in evaluating the critic's theory?

A) Do bakers ever leave their own bakeries in order to socialize with other bakeries.

B) Are baked goods ever bought from bakery to bakery?

C) Do bakers in town Y's bakery still employ the same method to create cakes?

D) Do food critics personally travel to local bakeries to sample their baked goods?

E) Does the bakery in neighborhood X sell any other types of baked goods?
ugh not so fond of Princeton review questions, IMO i'd stick to kaplan, og, or lsat... i was drawn to choice A also, it just seemed difficult for me to believe that a bakery can reverse engineer a 'baked good', esp the complexity of its baking method? i was thinking in choice B, after socializing with other bakeries, baking secrets are exchanged in the process. :-)

then again, if choice A had been re-written to: "Do bakers of town X ever leave their own bakeries in order to socialize with bakeries in town Y.", choice A would be stronger...?
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by GMATGuruNY » Sun Jan 16, 2011 7:24 am
gtr02 wrote:
prachich1987 wrote:A bakery in a neighborhood X sells cakes that are very intricately created using a rare method that a bakery in nearby town Y used in previous years.Because of its complexity,the baking method is unlikely to have developed independently in both bakeries.One food critic theorized that the bakers at neighborhood X's bakery mush have learned the method from the bakers at town Y's bakery.

The answer to which of the following questions would be most useful in evaluating the critic's theory?

A) Do bakers ever leave their own bakeries in order to socialize with other bakeries.

B) Are baked goods ever bought from bakery to bakery?

C) Do bakers in town Y's bakery still employ the same method to create cakes?

D) Do food critics personally travel to local bakeries to sample their baked goods?

E) Does the bakery in neighborhood X sell any other types of baked goods?
ugh not so fond of Princeton review questions, IMO i'd stick to kaplan, og, or lsat... i was drawn to choice A also, it just seemed difficult for me to believe that a bakery can reverse engineer a 'baked good', esp the complexity of its baking method? i was thinking in choice B, after socializing with other bakeries, baking secrets are exchanged in the process. :-)

then again, if choice A had been re-written to: "Do bakers of town X ever leave their own bakeries in order to socialize with bakeries in town Y.", choice A would be stronger...?
While I would hold onto A on a first pass, I would be skeptical of A because it asks -- explicitly -- whether bakeries met in order to socialize. To justify A, we need to connect socializing to the rare method.

Answer choice B doesn't require such a leap. If bakery X were brought the intricately created cakes and admired them, it is conceivable -- even likely -- that bakery X would study them, taste them, and -- perhaps through trial and error -- learn to replicate them. Also, the fact that a method is rarely used doesn't mean the method's existence isn't commonly known.
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by mundasingh123 » Sun Jan 16, 2011 10:26 am
But arent We making Assumptions in B as Well ?Also arent we making assumptions as to the various interpretations of "use"
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by prachich1987 » Sun Jan 16, 2011 11:03 pm
A) Do bakers ever leave their own bakeries in order to socialize with other bakeries.

I think the trick in A is the usage of "leave"
Let's apply the variance test.
The bakers leave their own bakeries in order to socialize-----It may be possible that bakers in town Y taught the procedure to bakers n town X
The bakers leave their own bakeries in order to socialize-----It may be possible that the bakers didn't leave their bakeries in order to socialize,but that the bakers in town Y sent a mail to bakers in town X dictating the recipe

B) Are baked goods ever bought from bakery to bakery?

In B, as mundasingh has written, the bakers in town used to make the particular cake previously.
So here we will have to make another assumption that the cakes were bought previously and at that time the bakers on town X learned that method.

If we apply variance test then,

Are baked goods ever bought from bakery to bakery? --Yes
Then it may be possible that the bakers in town X analysed the cake and made a prediction about recipe.

Are baked goods ever bought from bakery to bakery? ---No
I think then there are no chances the bakers in town X could have stolen the recipe and they must have learnt it from bakers in town Y.The bakers at least need to see/taste the product before they can predict the recipe.

But in this case we will have to make an assumption as mentioned above.

Overall,both the options are very confusing
We can just pray that we don't get to see such options on actual GMAT !!!
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