Q15 - Municipal officials originally estimated

[ebrickm2]

The stem asks us to resolve the discrepancy between the estimated time and actual time.

So what knowledge would help resolve the following facts:

The contractors would not finish any sooner (6 months)
The finished in 28 days

E states different procedures that are taken by the municipal v private contractors. Though it seems like for us to accept this we have to make an assumption that the municipal workers used this as a premise which would resolve the discrepancy. But simply stating that there exists a difference in procedure doesn't mean anything necessarily, it is simply the statement of fact.

ANGRY FACE!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Wait a minute...

Two things.

First, the municipal workers are not being asked to resolve the discrepancy. It's us who are asked to resolve a significant difference between municipal workers and private contractors.

Second, answer choice (E) does not just state that there is a difference between municipal workers and private contractors. Actually, it tells us crucial information about why the private contractors could potentially operate more quickly than the municipal workers.

Does that help you this a little differently?

[cyruswhittaker]

I think the sentence that can throw someone off is the second sentence: "the officials presumed..."

If someone reads too quickly, he/she might start thinking that the discrepancy involves the presumption of the officials.

But the question specifies that we need to select a choice that resolves the discrepancy of why the officials' estimation was 6 months while the actual time it takes the private contractosrs was just 28 days.

Choice E addresses both sides and adds information that shows how the two occurences can coexist.