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Is that a comparison?<\/p>\nIs that a comparison?<\/p>\n
One way to classify conclusions on GMAT Critical Reasoning conclusions is comparative versus absolute.\u00a0 Why should you care about this classification?\u00a0 Because this distinction can be very helpful in eliminating wrong answers and finding right answer.<\/p>\n
A comparative conclusion will make a comparison between two or more groups.<\/p>\n
Car A is better family car than Car B.<\/p>\n
An absolute conclusion will just express an opinion about one specific topic or situation.<\/p>\n
Therefore, A monorail should not be installed in Town C\u2019s central district.<\/p>\n
As a start, let\u2019s get used to classifying conclusions as absolute or comparative.\u00a0 If the conclusion is comparative, identify the two groups being compared.<\/p>\n
1) Therefore, children in the United States who spend at least two hours a day outdoors are less likely to be obese than other children.<\/p>\n
2) Thus, Springfield\u2019s recycling program is likely to achieve its aim.<\/p>\n
3) For these reasons, isolationism should not be considered a viable trade strategy.<\/p>\n
4) The service sector will become more important to Caloda\u2019s economy in the future.<\/p>\n
5) Brand D is the best brand of vacuum cleaner available.<\/p>\n
(See bottom of this post for answers)<\/p>\n
Now that you are comfortable identifying different types of conclusions, we will consider how this classification will help you find the right answer. In many critical reason question types, your job in finding the answer is to influence the conclusion (strengthen the conclusion, weaken the conclusion, find the assumption).\u00a0 Let\u2019s consider answer choices that are most likely to influence these different types of conclusions.<\/p>\n
The most direct way to strengthen or weaken a comparative conclusion is to provide comparative information about the two groups in the comparison.\u00a0 To go back to our simple example about Car A and Car B, the most direct way to influence the conclusion would be to say \u201cCar A has a superior record for accident safety than Car B.\u201d\u00a0 This statement clearly could aid in making the comparison the conclusion aims to make (we would also need to know that accident safety is an important feature to families).<\/p>\n
What about information only about one of the elements of the comparison?\u00a0 For example, if an answer said \u201cCar A averages 28 miles per gallon.\u201d\u00a0 On its own, this statement does not really help us compare Car A to Car B.\u00a0 The only time this statement would be relevant is if we were previously provided with information about Car B\u2019s fuel efficiency in the original argument.<\/p>\n
Finally, the statements that are least likely to be relevant are ones that compare one of the comparators to a group not in the original comparison.\u00a0 For example, \u201cCar A offers more cargo space than Car C.\u201d\u00a0 Since we are trying to compare Car A to Car B, bringing up Car C will generally not be helpful.<\/p>\n
With an absolute conclusion, we usually want to stay focused on the issue in the conclusion, and not bring up other comparators.\u00a0 Again considering the example from the beginning, if I wanted to strengthen the conclusion I would be looking for a statement that spoke directly about a monorail in Town C.\u00a0 For example, \u201cThe geography in Town C would make construction of a monorail prohibitively expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n
The only time I should consider a comparator in an answer choice for an absolute conclusion is if that comparator already plays in integral role in the argument as a premise that supports the conclusion.\u00a0 Below is the complete monorail argument.<\/p>\n
The selectmen in Town C are considering a proposal to install a monorail in the town.\u00a0 Last year, City X installed a monorail in its central district, and that monorail has operated at a substantial financial loss due to lower than expected ridership.\u00a0 Therefore, a monorail should not be installed in Town C\u2019s central district.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In this case, although City X plays no role in the conclusion, it provides the key supporting information to allow us to draw the conclusion.\u00a0 In order for information about City X to be relevant to a conclusion about Town C what needs to be true?<\/p>\n
The situation in City X has to be similar to the situation in Town C. As such, any answer choice that showed why or how Town C\u2019s situation was in some way analogous to City X\u2019s could be influence the conclusion.\u00a0 The statement \u201cTown C has a similar population with similar demographics to City X\u201d could strengthen this argument because it demonstrates why the previously provided premise is relevant to the conclusion.<\/p>\n
Aside from the situation discussed above, we generally want to avoid answers that make comparisons to groups not previously mentioned in the argument when dealing with an absolute conclusion.\u00a0 Both the statements below have no bearing on the monorail conclusion.<\/p>\n
A) A monorail\u2019s top speed is similar to that of a standard railroad.<\/p>\n
B) A greater proportion of residents in Town C regularly ride city buses than do residents in Town D.<\/p>\n
Many people find themselves getting overwhelmed on critical reasoning questions because of the amount of information they are asked to process in a very limited amount of time.\u00a0 As such, any technique that allows us to eliminate answers relatively quickly \u2013 and then focus in on a smaller pool of information – is quite valuable.\u00a0 I find conclusion classification to be such a technique.\u00a0 After reading the argument, a task that must be completed, it takes only a few extra seconds to classify the conclusion into comparative versus absolute.\u00a0 With this classification in place, I am better able to digest and eliminate answer choices. \u00a0Give it a try for yourself.<\/p>\n
Answers for conclusion types<\/span><\/h3>\n
1) Comparative \u2013 children in the US who spend more than two hours outside to those who do not<\/p>\n
2) Absolute<\/p>\n
3) Absolute<\/p>\n
4) Comparative \u2013 Coloda\u2019s economy now to Coloda\u2019s economy in the future<\/p>\n
5) Comparative \u2013 Brand D to all other available brands of vacuum cleaners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Is that a comparison? One way to classify conclusions on GMAT Critical Reasoning conclusions is comparative versus absolute.\u00a0 Why should you care about this classification?\u00a0 Because this distinction can be very helpful in eliminating wrong answers and finding right answer. A comparative conclusion will make a comparison between two or more groups. Car A is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-7945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7945"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17480,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7945\/revisions\/17480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7945"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=7945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}