GMAT Pill Explanation For This GMAT Question | GMAT Prep

Same idea as the Official Guide Critical Reasoning Question #124. There’s no IF…..THEN….. structure. But try to think of visual diagrams. Is the first some data/evidence that leads into the second conclusion? Or is A saying something and then B saying that A is not true?

Well, it should be clear that A is like a scientific data point. Looks like a statistic right? So obviously a statistic must be evidence that leads to something else. That something else is the second bolded statement—a conclusion. So A leads to B.

(A) “claim” is fine but then it says “accuracy of which is at issue in the argument”—this is not right. We are not questioning the statistic mentioned in the first bold statement.

(B) “objection” is not correct–again we have evidence/statistics here–not an objection
(C) “evidence” is ok..but the argument does not challenge the explanation at the end. In fact, the whole paragraph argument is supporting the last sentence as an explanation. So (C) is off here.

(D) “evidence” is ok but again same thing..the phrase “that the argument challenges” should be “that the argument supports”

(E) “evidence is OK…and finally! we see “evidence to support an explanation that the argument favors”–that’s what we want. Both (C) and (D) used “that the argument challenges” which is incorrect.

So finally we find (E) as the correct answer!

GMAT Pill Explanation For This GMAT Question | GMAT Prep

The keyword is “If”

IF X, THEN Y.
Well, clearly, Y is the conclusion. Or in this question, they use a similar word “position.” So immediately, you can see the first bolded statement is X and the second bolded statement is Y. So you just browse through the answer choices where the first part leads into the second part.

(A) uses the word “objection”–it’s not an objection so I don’t even bother reading the rest of the answer choice.

(B) uses “position taken by the argument” –sounds fancy but really the “argument” is the entire paragraph. The “position” is basically the conclusion. So we know that’s what the SECOND statement is, NOT the first.

(C) uses the word “judgment” which seems OK since the phrase “paint is the most sensitive substance in the works” is a judgment based on lab tests. The second part says it’s a “circumstance”—well that’s not what we’re looking for. We’re looking for something to the effect of a “conclusion.”
So (C) is no good.

(D) also uses the word “judgment” which is OK. The second half uses “position”—AHA! That’s what we want. Looks like (D) is the answer.

Let’s check (E) just in case.
(E) uses claim–which could be ok, but “claim that the argument calls into question” is a bit specific. What exactly does that mean? Is the author calling into question the claim that “paint is the most sensitive substance in these works?” No! The author is not questioning that. In fact, he’s using that claim to make/support yet another claim. So (E) is no good.

So you can be confident and mark (D) as your answer. By spotting sentence structure IF….THEN… you can see that the first bold statement most lead into the second one. It would never contract the second one. In fact, it would support the second statement.

Sounds pretty ridiculous! I don’t think I’d be able to take the GMAT while going through training or doing even a simulation in Iraq. But hey, this guy did–and he did it well!