GMATPrep software question

[pranay.shetty13]

Motorcycle-safety courses, offered by a number of organizations, teach motorcyclists important techniques for handling and for safely sharing the road with other road users. If more motorcyclists took these courses, there would be fewer serious motorcycle accidents. Data show that 92% of the motorcyclists who are involved in a serious motorcycle accident have never taken a motorcycle-safety course.

In assessing whether the data cited provided support for the position taken about motorcyclists' taking the courses, it would be most useful to determine which of the following?

A) Whether significantly more than eight percent of motorcyclists have taken a motorcycle-safety course
B )Whether it is riskier for a motorcyclist to ride with a passenger behind the rider than to ride alone
c) Whether the different organizations that offer motorcycle-safety courses differ in the content of the courses that they offer
D)Whether more than 92% of serious motorcycle accidents involve collisions between a motorcycle and another vehicle in motion.
E) Whether variations in the size and potential speed of a motorcycle influence the risk of a serious accident's occuring.

The OA is A. I arrived at A by elimination but I am not sure how it is correct. Would appreciate any help.

[RonPurewal]

if these kinds of problems ("which would help evaluate?") are too annoyingly abstract for you, then, try settling the answer choices one way or the other, and then see what effect that has on the issue in the passage.

for choice A -- what if only 8% of motorcyclists have taken a motorcycle-safety course?
consider the interaction between that 8% figure and the 92% statistic that's already in the passage. do you see how those would relate, in that case? (think of the numbers you'd expect if the safety course had NO effect on anything.)

try that and see.

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[RonPurewal]

more generally -- please do not just post a problem here and say "i don't know how to solve this problem."
you NEED to be able to give specifics about the issues you're having with the problem.
• what do you understand already?
• what, SPECIFICALLY, don't you understand?
• what approach(es) have you already tried?
• where, SPECIFICALLY, are you getting stuck?
• if one of the wrong answers is appealing to you, which one, and why?
etc.

if you really, honestly, have no clue how to solve the problem, then you won't benefit from simply reading an explanation of it -- and you'll waste the problem! in that case, you should leave the problem and come back to it later, when you can attack it with fresh eyes.

[amank196]

Thanks Ron!
I was stuck between A and D.
I discarded A because 92% is the figure for motorcyclists who were involved in motorcycle accident while 8% is overall figure (all the motorcyclists). I favoured D because of Prethinking : "what if accident happened because of other vehicle's mistake" in that case conclusion is falsified because than theres no fault on motorcycle drivers end. Now, I understand D doesn't actually says its other vehicles fault but thats the best possible choice I could see! Could you please verify my understanding and fill in the gaps if necessary thanks!

[RonPurewal]

Thanks Ron!
I was stuck between A and D.
I discarded A because 92% is the figure for motorcyclists who were involved in motorcycle accident while 8% is overall figure (all the motorcyclists). I favoured D because of Prethinking : "what if accident happened because of other vehicle's mistake" in that case conclusion is falsified because than theres no fault on motorcycle drivers end. Now, I understand D doesn't actually says its other vehicles fault but thats the best possible choice I could see! Could you please verify my understanding and fill in the gaps if necessary thanks!

the problem with this reasoning is that it still doesn't have anything to do with the safety course, which is the whole point of the argument.

if that isn't clear, then, just change "safety course" to something else, and the issue should become more clear:
Prayer should help motorcyclists safely share the road with other road users. If more motorcyclists prayed, there would be fewer serious motorcycle accidents. Data show that 92% of the motorcyclists who are involved in a serious motorcycle accident have never prayed before.

A/
Whether significantly more than eight percent of ALL motorcyclists pray
—> clearly relevant

D/
still says the same thing... you can see why this doesn't matter.

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also... the other big problem with your reasoning is that a HUGE part of what's taught in safety courses is "defensive driving"—which is, basically, avoiding accidents that ARE someone else's fault!

[amank196]

hmm.. make sense thanks!

[RonPurewal]

you're welcome.