Lesson: Tips for Each Passage Type

Comment on Tips for Each Passage Type

This series of videos were very useful! Thanks!
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Glad you like them!

Only one word : "Great".
Thank you for this video.
gmat-admin's picture

Thanks Bille!

https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-many-really-suffer-as-a-result-of-labor-market-problems-77865.html#p1925351
please explain q9
gmat-admin's picture

Question link: https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-many-really-suffer-as-a-result-of-labor-m...

Question 9) Which of the following, if true, is the best criticism of the author’s argument concerning why poverty statistics cannot properly be used to show the effects of problems in the labor market?

Let's examine each answer choice.

(A) A short-term increase in the number of those in poverty can indicate a shortage of jobs because the basic number of those unable to accept employment remains approximately constant.
THIS SEEMS LIKE A REASONABLE CRITICISM. A QUICK CHANGE IN POVERTY NUMBERS COULD DEFINITELY INDICATE A JOB SHORTAGE.
KEEP A FOR NOW.

(B) For those who are in poverty as a result of joblessness, there are social programs available that provide a minimum standard of living.
THE AUTHOR USED THIS FACT TO SHOW THAT POVERTY STATS ARE NOT A GOOD INDICATOR OF PROBLEMS IN THE LABOR MARKET. SO, THIS DOES NOT HELP WEAKEN THE AUTHOR'S POSITION.
ELIMINATE B.

(C) Poverty statistics do not consistently agree with earnings statistics, when each is taken as a measure of hardship resulting from unemployment.
THIS ALSO SUPPORTS THE AUTHOR'S POSITION THAT POVERTY STATS ARE NOT SO USEFUL.
ELIMINATE C

(D) The elderly and handicapped categories include many who previously were employed in the labor market.
IRRELEVANT
ELIMINATE D

(E) Since the labor market is global in nature, poor workers in one country are competing with poor workers in another with respect to the level of wages and the existence of jobs.
OUT OF SCOPE. THIS PASSAGE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OTHER COUNTRIES.
ELIMINATE E

Answer: A

Cheers,
Brent

https://gmatclub.com/forum/one-reason-we-are-able-to-recognize-speech-despite-all-the-acoustic-v-259443.html
please explain q3
gmat-admin's picture

Question link: https://gmatclub.com/forum/one-reason-we-are-able-to-recognize-speech-de...

Question #3) The main reason that the author of the passage discounts using a purely acoustic analysis to understand the way in which humans are able to recognize sounds is that

A. the physical properties of speech and the perception of those physical properties are qualitatively different

B. redundancy, or the excess of information, typically ensures that a signal is faithfully transmitted between two speakers

C. no two people process the same cue in exactly the same way

D. the relevant distinguishing features of a sound tend to merge different cues into a generalized sound so as to render any analysis ineffectual

E. humans ignore certain features of the acoustic sound that may figure prominently into the perception of sound

The relevant part of the passage is as follows:
It is not possible to obtain this information simply by carrying out an acoustic analysis of natural speech: this would tell us what acoustic information is present but not what features of the signal are actually used by listeners in order to identify speech sounds.

Answer choice A is just a re-wording of the above quote.

Cheers,
Brent

https://gmatclub.com/forum/when-catastrophe-strikes-analysts-typically-202837.html
please explain q6
gmat-admin's picture

Question link: https://gmatclub.com/forum/when-catastrophe-strikes-analysts-typically-2...

The 1st paragraph suggests the traditional approach may be flawed.

The 2nd paragraph explains the rationale for the traditional approach.

At the end of the 2nd paragraph we have: For LACK OF A BETTER theory, they assumed that in large interactive systems the response to a disturbance is proportional to that disturbance.

The next three paragraphs discuss a new (BETTER) approach/theory.

THE QUESTION
6. In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with
(A) arguing against the abandonment of a traditional approach
(B) describing the evolution of a radical theory
(C) reconciling conflicting points of view
(D) illustrating the superiority of a new theoretical approach
(E) advocating the reconsideration of an unfashionable explanation.

The best answer is D.

Cheers,
Brent

https://gmatclub.com/forum/after-evidence-was-obtained-in-the-1920s-that-the-universe-is-expandin-83242.html
please explain q3(117)
gmat-admin's picture

Question link: https://gmatclub.com/forum/after-evidence-was-obtained-in-the-1920s-that...

In the first paragraph, we're told that, for expansion to stop, there must be WAY MORE invisible (nonluminous) matter than luminous matter.

In the second paragraph, the researchers examined spiral galaxies and concluded that spiral galaxies must have a LOTS of nonluminous matter.

In the highlighted portion of the passage, the researchers use their studies of spiral galaxies to suggest that 90% of the Universe's mass in nonluminous.

Our task is the WEAKEN this.

Notice that the researchers have based their conclusion of ONE type of galaxy. If ALL of the galaxies were spiral galaxies, the results from Paragraph 2 would support the researchers' conclusion. However, if spiral galaxies are not very common, then what?

Answer choice A says: Spiral galaxies are less common than types of galaxies that contain little nonluminous matter.

This hurts the researchers' conclusion.

Cheers,
Brent

https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-winters-v-united-states-1908-the-supreme-court-held-that-the-ri-67133.html
sir took me 13 mins to solve 7 questions with q3 wrong please explain q3 and is this tough rc?
gmat-admin's picture

Question link: https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-winters-v-united-states-1908-the-supreme-c...

This is a tricky passage.

That said, question #3 is pretty straightforward.

3. According to the passage, which of the following was true of the treaty establishing the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation?

(A) It was challenged in the Supreme Court a number of times.
(B) It was rescinded by the federal government, an action that gave rise to the Winters case.
(C) It cited American Indians’ traditional use of the land’s resources.
(D) It failed to mention water rights to be enjoyed by the reservation’s inhabitants.
(E) It was modified by the Supreme Court in Arizona v. California.

In the first paragraph, the second sentence reads "Although this treaty did not mention water rights, the Court ruled... "

Answer: D

Cheers,
Brent

Hi Brent,

https://gmatclub.com/forum/historians-remain-divided-over-the-role-of-banks-in-facilitating-eco-222700.html

Book question 422

What is the difference in meaning between the following two sentences:

1. Banks benefited only a small minority of the people
2. Banks did not benefit more than a small minority of the people

Thank you in advance
gmat-admin's picture

Link: https://gmatclub.com/forum/historians-remain-divided-over-the-role-of-ba...

I see those sentences as providing pretty much the same information.

Hi Brent,

Could you please explain why C is incorrect?

According to the passage, comparable worth principles are different in which of the following ways from other mandates intended to reduce or eliminate pay inequities:
A) Comparable worth principles address changes in the pay schedules of male as well as female workers
B) Comparable worth principles can be applied to employees in both the public and the private sector
C) Comparable worth principles emphasize the training and skill of workers
D) Comparable worth principles require changes in the employer's resource allocation
E) Comparable worth principles can be used to quantify the value of elements of dissimilar jobs

https://gmatclub.com/forum/comparable-worth-as-a-standard-applied-to-eliminate-inequities-in-pay-132718.html

Thank you in advance,
gmat-admin's picture

Question link: https://gmatclub.com/forum/comparable-worth-as-a-standard-applied-to-eli...

Answer choices C and E are quite tempting.

The passage reads "Comparable worth, on the other hand, takes as its premise that certain tasks in dissimilar jobs may require a similar amount of training, effort, and skill; may carry similar responsibility; may be carried on in an environment having a similar impact upon the worker; and may have a similar dollar value to the employer."

As we can see, comparable worth considers many things:
- training, effort, and skill
- responsibility
- environment
- dollar value to the employer

Giving all of this, we can't really say that comparable worth principles EMPHASIZE the training and skill of workers. Training and skills or just one feature of comparable worth.

Eliminate C.

Cheers,
Brent

Thank you, Brent,

Good point

Hi Brent,

Could you please explain why A is correct and C is incorrect?

The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) analyzing data from a 1994 exploration of lunar surface
(B) reconciling two opposing theories about the origin of lunar impact basins
(C) presenting a possible explanation of a puzzling finding about lunar impact basins
(D) discussing how impact basins on the Moon's surface are formed
(E) examining the claim that the moon's impact basins show negative gravity anomalies

https://gmatclub.com/forum/when-a-large-body-strikes-a-planet-or-moon-material-is-ejected-there-164731.html

Thank you in advance,
gmat-admin's picture

Question link: https://gmatclub.com/forum/when-a-large-body-strikes-a-planet-or-moon-ma...

The correct answer for this question is C (not A).

I believe you might be looking at the official answer for question #2, but the question that asks "The passage is primarily concerned with..." is actually question #3.

Cheers,
Brent

Sorry, I meant why C better answer than E,


Thank you in advance,
gmat-admin's picture

(E) examining the claim that the moon's impact basins show negative gravity anomalies

The passage does not contain any claims that "the moon's impact basins show negative gravity anomalies."
In the third sentence the author says that we SHOULD see these negative gravity anomalies, but in the fourth sentence we're told that this is not the case:

"Yet data collected in 1994 by the Clementine spacecraft show that many of these Clementine basins have no anomalously low gravity and some even have anomalously high gravity."

For this reason we can eliminate answer choice E.

Does that help?

Hi Brent,

Indeed very good,

Now for me, it is very clear why C is the correct answer and E is out,

Thank you for your great explanation,

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