Couple of CR questions

[QV]

[Deleted. Please see below.]

[RA]

Are the answers to the 2 questions (A) and (C) respectively?

[QV]

Could you please offer your reasoning?

Why isn't it E and A?

For number 1, as E says, since the austere budgets were also introduced in the previous guy's term, and they did not have the effect proposed; then more likely than not, it is not the cause for the decrease in growth.

For number 2, this one is just over my head. I can't understand why A should not be the answer. Number of couples waiting would increast if number of people wanting to adopt (demand) is more than the available children (supply). Why C?

[RA]

Here is the logic I used

Question# 1
The author concludes that there has been a slowdown in state spending. If we can prove that there has not been an actual slowdown in spending then we can weaken/discredit the conclusion.

Choice (A) helps us calculate budget increase after accounting for inflation. This calculation shows that there has been a 3% annual budget increase in current Governor' s term compared to 1.5% annual budget increase in previous Governor's term.


Question# 2:
The author concludes that there are not enough children available for adoption. The author tries to support this conclusion by showing that only a small percentage of the demand for adoption was met in 1982. The author assumes that the demand was not met because of supply constraints alone but in reality the reason could have been bureaucracy or something else. Option (C) eliminates reasons other than supply for adoption demand not being met, thereby strengthening the authors conclusion.


Hope that helps.

[QV]

Bunch of doubts:

Re 1, it is basically a causality question. In a causality question, ifwe are able to show that the event pertaining to the stated cause did happen, but the event names as the expected result/effect did not occur; isn't that weakening the argument? That is essentially what E does. It shows that austere budgets could not be the reason because growth has shown to increase even in their presence?

Re 2, the argument says there were 50,000 adoptions in 1982. The 2 million waiting to adopt is present: i.e. 2008. How does that show that the current supply of children is less than demand for them? Even if we take choice C. into account which says #adoptions = supply, it shows in 1982, there were 50,000 children available (supply). But we have no clue about the demand back then? Nor do we have any clue about the supply now. How does this complete the argument? Choice A on the other hand explicitly says that the number of people waiting to adopt has increased which leads us to believe current supply is more than current demand (I understand other reasons, like beaurocracy, could be the reason; but this is the best of all choices unless there is something I am missing?).

Clarifications appreciated.

[QV]

correcting some typos:

1. event named* as the

2. leads us to believe current DEMAND is more than current SUPPLY

[RA]

Do you have the OA's? Before we discuss this further it would be great to confirm that my answers are correct :)

[QV]

sorry, yup, they indeed are!

[RA]

Q#1:
Your line of reasoning assumes that the conclusion "spending slowdown" is true. Choice (A) tells us that there has been no slowdown in spending and hence discredits/weakens the conclusion.

Q#2
The claim is that supply is not keeping pace with demand. Choice (A) only talks about demand and says nothing about supply. It is possible that supply kept pace with demand in the past decade and supply was not absorbed because of other factors. If this is true then choice (A) would not support authors claim

Choice C tells us that 100% of the supply is absorbed by the market each year. In spite of all the children available for adoption being adopted there is still a waiting list. This shows that supply is not keeping pace with demand

You were right about my being careless with years in the original explanation. Luckily in this case the logic I had used was still effective.

Hope this helps.

[StaceyKoprince]

Please make sure to read (and follow!) the forum guidelines before posting.

This folder is for ManhattanGMAT verbal strategy guide questions ONLY. Please do not post questions from other sources here. When you do that, we have to spend time on administrative tasks (like writing this post) instead of answering peoples' questions - so please make sure to follow the rules.

If the problem is from an MGMAT CAT, post in those folders. If the problem is from GMATPrep, post in those folders. Problems from other sources should go in the general math and general verbal folders - those problems MUST cite the authors and must not come from one of the banned sources.

Also, please post ONE problem per post, not multiple.

I've deleted the two questions here - if they are not from banned sources, please re-post in two separate posts in the appropriate folders (with attribution if in the general folders). Thanks!