GMAT Prep With Official Guide to GMAT 12th Ed: Last Critical Reasoning Question # 124 | GMAT Prep

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GMAT Prep With Official Guide to GMAT 12th Ed: Last Critical Reasoning Question # 124 | GMAT Prep

Critical Reasoning: Question #124
Official Guide -12th Edition

#124: Museums that house Renaissance oil paintings typically store them in environments that are carefully kept within narrow margins of temperature and humidity to inhibit any deterioration. Laboratory tests have shown that the kind of oil paint used in these paintings actually adjust to climatic changes quite well. If, as some museum directors believe, paint is the most sensitive substance in these works, then by relaxing the standards for temperature and humidity control, museums can reduce energy costs without risking damage to these paintings. Museums would be rash to relax those standards, however, since results of preliminary tests indicate that gesso, a compound routinely used by Renaissance artists to help adhere to the canvas, is unable to withstand significant variations in humidity.

In the argument above, the two portions in bold face play which of the following roles?

A) The first is an objection that has been raised against the position taken by the argument; the second is the position taken by the argument.

B) The first is the position taken by the argument; the second is the position that the argument calls into question.

C) The first is a judgment that has been offered in support of the position that the argument calls into question; the second is a circumstance on which that judgment is, in part, based.

D) The first is a judgment that has been offered in support of the position that the argument calls into question; the second is that position.

E) The first is a claim that the argument calls into question; the second is the position taken by the argument.

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.

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