MGMAT CAT CR: The Ergonomic Society conducted a study…

[supratim7]

The Ergonomic Society conducted a study that indicated that many people develop severe back problems during adulthood, and that virtually all such people who received chiropractic treatment showed great improvement. Therefore, in order to minimize the proportion of the population that suffers from back pain, the Ergonomic Society recommended that chiropractic treatment be directed toward those adults who suffer from severe back problems.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
a) Any person who receives chiropractic treatment for back pain may also benefit from other forms of treatment.
b) Large insurance carriers cover chiropractic care for back problems to a lesser degree than they do other medical treatments.
c) Individuals who receive chiropractic or other treatment prior to developing severe back problems are not less likely to develop back pain than those who do not.
d) Chiropractic treatment is more effective in treating severe back problems when utilized over a long period of time, as opposed to sporadically.
e) Severe back pain and other problems often cause individuals to miss workdays.

OA: C

Got it correct by eliminating other four choices, but couldn't make sense of the OA until I made a small modification in my understanding of the stem "…Therefore, in order to minimize the proportion of the population that suffers from back pain, the Ergonomic Society recommended that chiropractic treatment be directed toward ONLY those adults who suffer from severe back problems…" At this point the OA fitted perfectly well.

Perhaps I am totally wrong, but addition of "ONLY" made a huge difference in my reasoning. I felt the absence of "ONLY" subtly obfuscated my line of thought.

A) Should I expect GMAT CR to indulge in such "subtle obfuscation"? Is this very much part of the game?

B) Is resorting to POE without worrying much about "closing the reasoning loop", at least for questions that seem very baffling, a legit tool?

BTW, it's just a query; I don't intend to question/ridicule the particular CR problem :)

Many thanks.

[neha.purswani]

is the ans D?

[RonPurewal]

"Directed toward" implies a shift of resources——in general——toward a certain group.
E.g., if a certain college fund is directed toward minority students, then, generally, minority students will get the money and non-minority students won't.

"Only" may be a bit too strong, but the idea is similar.

[RonPurewal]

And, no, no "subtle obfuscation". No obfuscation at all, actually.

On the official problems, there are NEVER "tricky" wordings. Won't happen.

I do agree that, in this problem, too much is predicated on the interpretation of "directed toward". The problem is sound, but, in that regard, it seems to discriminate against test takers from non-English backgrounds.
In other words, GMAC will almost certainly NOT write any problem that turns so heavily on a particular phrase.

[supratim7]

Dear Ron,

Thank you for the reply. As usual, immensely helpful.

Last weekend I wrote the test and scored 720 (Q49, V40, IR6, AWA 5.5).

Looking back, feels very nostalgic. Learning won't stop, and I will keep checking your posts, especially the ones related to SC (hope MGMAT doesn't kill my account).

A simple "thank you" won't do, for I have learned so much… 120+ hrs of Thursdays with Ron recordings and 200+ forum posts, and most importantly, stuffs beyond GMAT, stuffs that I can't articulate.

So, in keeping with Indian tradition, I bow to you. May God always be by your side.

Hope to shake your hand someday with a crate full of Big Red Zero :)

Warm regards,
Supratim Choudhury

http://in.linkedin.com/in/supratimchoudhury