BF: Kaplan

[Prince]

[redacted]

[dbernst]

Prince, these Analyze the Argument Structure questions on the GMAT are few and far between. Unless you are scoring well into the 90th+ percentile on verbal it is very unlikely that you will see one. Moreover, as these questions are quite time consuming, they are excellent questions to answer rapidly through strategic guessing and logical elimination.

That said, the general process is to identify the conclusion, and then determine, one at a time, how each bold statement relates to the conclusion.

In the argument at hand, the author's conclusion is that commentators are, however, wrong to draw the further conclusion that in the countries with the higher rates of reported whiplash injuries, half of the reported cases are spurious.

Now, evaluate each bold statement. The first statement is simply a fact upon with the argument's discussion is based.
-Eliminate choices A, B, D.

The second bold statement is another fact, but this fact is one used to draw false conclusions.
-Eliminate E

The Correct Answer is C

-dan

[prince]

I do get the approach.
But I am still debating between A and C.

A: A. The first is a finding whose accuracy is evaluated in the argument; the second is an intermediate conclusion drawn to support the judgment reached by the
argument on the accuracy of that finding.

C. The first is a finding whose implications are at issue in the argument; the second
is an intermediate conclusion that has been used to support a conclusion that the
argument criticizes.

I get it that A is weak because 2nd BF is more a conclusion than a judgement.
Also the first BF is a fact so its accuracy is not an issue, only its implications need to be evaluated.

[dbernst]

Prince,

I think you "get it" better than you are admitting to yourself. The first BF is presented as fact, so choice A, which states that accuracy of this fact is evaluated, is incorrect. Furthermore, the second BF is an "intermediate conclusion," but it definitely is not "drawn to support the judgment reached by the argument on the accuracy of that finding."

On the verbal section you must be able to justify EVERY WORD in an answer choice. If the choice is only 1/2 wrong, or even 1/10 wrong, it is entirely wrong!

-dan

I do get the approach.
But I am still debating between A and C.

A: A. The first is a finding whose accuracy is evaluated in the argument; the second is an intermediate conclusion drawn to support the judgment reached by the
argument on the accuracy of that finding.

C. The first is a finding whose implications are at issue in the argument; the second
is an intermediate conclusion that has been used to support a conclusion that the
argument criticizes.

I get it that A is weak because 2nd BF is more a conclusion than a judgement.
Also the first BF is a fact so its accuracy is not an issue, only its implications need to be evaluated.

[Prince]

Thanks Dan.
As always your the KING here.
Thanks.
I feel BF is within reach. Takes 2-3 min, but it is worth it.

[tsenkulovskipete]

the actual answer is A according to GMAT prep,not C.

[StaceyKoprince]

Hmm. So, the title of this thread says that Kaplan is the author of this question. The last poster says that GMATPrep offers a different answer... which would be a bit surprising for a Kaplan question...

I would also be highly surprised to discover that A is the right answer here. Answer A says that the first boldface's accuracy is evaluated by the rest of the argument. The first boldface states that, in countries with whiplash compensation, whiplash injury reports are twice as frequent (as compared to countries without whiplash compensation). The rest of the argument does not in any way call into question this statistic or attempt to verify the accuracy of the actual statistic - nobody is arguing that the reports really aren't twice as frequent. Rather, the argument is about what conclusions can be drawn from that statistic.

For similar reasons, the second half of answer choice A also doesn't work. At this point, I'd actually be willing to bet money that A is not the right answer. :)

[david]

For similar reasons, the second half of answer choice A also doesn't work. At this point, I'd actually be willing to bet money that A is not the right answer. :)

Stacey - I'll take that bet :)

This is a GMAT question. I just came across it in Practice Test #2. The answer is A. Naughty Kaplan.

http://twitpic.com/drwjq

[RonPurewal]

For similar reasons, the second half of answer choice A also doesn't work. At this point, I'd actually be willing to bet money that A is not the right answer. :)

Stacey - I'll take that bet :)

This is a GMAT question. I just came across it in Practice Test #2. The answer is A. Naughty Kaplan.

http://twitpic.com/drwjq

hmm.

[rohit21384]

For similar reasons, the second half of answer choice A also doesn't work. At this point, I'd actually be willing to bet money that A is not the right answer. :)

Stacey - I'll take that bet :)

This is a GMAT question. I just came across it in Practice Test #2. The answer is A. Naughty Kaplan.

http://twitpic.com/drwjq

hmm.

The option wording is different in the option A that is there on the GMAT Prep software. It says that first one is an evidence that is used to support a conclusion that argument criticizes, and second is that conclusion.

[Ben Ku]

Thanks, Rohit.

[jessie-cn2007]

For similar reasons, the second half of answer choice A also doesn't work. At this point, I'd actually be willing to bet money that A is not the right answer. :)

Stacey - I'll take that bet :)

This is a GMAT question. I just came across it in Practice Test #2. The answer is A. Naughty Kaplan.

http://twitpic.com/drwjq

I believe this one is different from the one posted by Prince if you take a close look~

[helloriteshranjan]

For similar reasons, the second half of answer choice A also doesn't work. At this point, I'd actually be willing to bet money that A is not the right answer. :)

Stacey - I'll take that bet :)

This is a GMAT question. I just came across it in Practice Test #2. The answer is A. Naughty Kaplan.

http://twitpic.com/drwjq

I believe this one is different from the one posted by Prince if you take a close look~

even the BFs are different

[bluedot]

Here's a different variation of this question that I encountered in the GMATPrep Software Test 2. Mainly, the boldface sections are different and hence, the answer choices are different as well.

In countries where automobile insurance includes compensation for whiplash injuries sustained in automobile accidents, reports of having suffered such injuries are twice as frequent as they are in countries where whiplash is not covered. Some commentators have argued, correctly, that since there is presently no objective test for whiplash, spurious reports of whiplash injuries cannot be readily identified. These commentators are, however, wrong to draw the further conclusion that in the countries with the higher rates of reported whiplash injuries, half of the reported cases are spurious: clearly, in countries where automobile insurance does not include compensation for whiplash, people often have little incentive to report whiplash injuries that they actually have suffered.

In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?

A) The first is evidence that has been used to support a conclusion that the argument criticizes; the second is that conclusion.
B) The first is evidence that has been used to support a conclusion that the argument criticizes; the second is the position that the argument defends.
C) The first is a claim that has been used to support a conclusion that the argument accepts; the second is the position that the argument defends.
D) The first is an intermediate conclusion that has been used to support a conclusion that the argument defends; the second is the position that the argument opposes.
E) The first presents a claim that is disputed in the argument; the second is a conclusion that has been drawn on the basis of that claim.

I chose D, but that was the wrong answer choice. Could someone walk me through the right thinking to answer this one?

Also, another general question about BF questions; when evaluating the answer choices, do we assume that ONLY the bolded parts should be considered or the overall meaning of the sentence of which the BF is part of? for example, in the second BF in my example do we look at "These commentators, are, however, wrong to draw the further conclusion that in the countries with the ..." or only the BF?

Thanks a lot!

[RonPurewal]

well, first off, you can eliminate choice (d) pretty quickly, on the grounds that "there is presently no objective test for whiplash" is a fact.
since this is a fact, it can't possibly be a "conclusion" of any kind; conclusions must be claims, not facts. (a fact can't be a conclusion because facts don't require supporting arguments; you can just come out and state them, because they're, well, facts.)

from this point, you don't even have to process the actual material of the argument -- you can just read the transitions, which will give you a remarkably exact sense of what's going on in there.

Some commentators have argued, correctly, that, since (bold #1)...
--> the speaker says "correctly", so it's clear that the speaker accepts bold #1 as correct. on the other hand, that's not significant, because #1 is factual, and the gmat doesn't contain stated facts that turn out to be false (only claims are weakened/disproved on gmat problems).
what's significant is that the fact is used by "some commentators", i.e., other people.**

These commentators are, however, wrong to draw the further conclusion that (bold #2)
--> bold #2 is the other guys' conclusion, and our speaker thinks it's wrong.

so, we want an answer choice that says, "bold #1 is a fact that the other guys use in making their case; bold #2 is the other guys' main point, which is wrong according to our narrator."
that's (a).

(b) is wrong because our narrator doesn't defend the other guys' conclusion; (s)he does the opposite.

(c) is wrong for the same reason as (b), but also because it mis-identifies a fact (bold #1) as a "claim".

(d) is wrong for two reasons: because it mistakenly labels a factual statement as a "conclusion" (as stated above), and also because it says that the fact is used to support an argument with which the narrator agrees. the opposite is true; that fact is used by the narrator's opponent.

(e) is wrong because it says that our narrator disagrees with #1, rather than with #2.

--

**in fact, as soon as you see "some people think...", "it is commonly thought that...", etc. - basically, any form of The other guys think X - you can go ahead and assume that the narrator (= main argument) is going to oppose that point of view.
after all, that's the only sensible rationale for introducing "the other guys" into the argument in the first place. (if the narrator agreed with the other guys, then there would be no point in citing the other guys at all -- i.e., rather than saying The other guys think X, and they're right, the narrator will just say X.)