- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 8917
- Joined: Feb 02, 2011
- Tue Apr 09, 2019 5:31 pm
#64004
Complete Question Explanation
Flaw in the Reasoning—#%. The correct answer choice is (A)
Here the “company president” presents a plan whose stated goal is to select one of the best
management consultants available. To achieve this end, the president has decided to limit interviews
to only those who have worked for management consulting firms which are considered to be in the
top 1% of firms around the world.
The question stem requires us to find the vulnerability in this plan. If the goal is to select one of the
best management consultants available, then the president appears to presume that having worked for
a top 1% consulting firm provides such a guarantee. In other words, the president must assume that
every consultant who has worked for a top 1% firm could be described as one of the best consultants
in the country.
Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer, restating our prephrase from the discussion above,
in slightly different terms. Assuming that only the best management consultants work at the top 1%
firms is the same as assuming that every consultant at those top firms could accurately be described
as one of the best in the country.
Answer choice (B): The president specifically states that the candidates are to come from firms
generally considered to be in the top 1% worldwide. This is a stringent criterion, not a generalization
based on too small a sample.
Answer choice (C): This answer choice may have drawn your attention, but it is incorrect because
there is no such presumption implied in the plan from the stimulus. The president does not imply that
the firms are good because those working for them are good, but rather the opposite: the president’s
assumption is that the consultants who work for the top firms must each individually be among the
best.
Answer choice (D): There is no presumption that everyone who receives an offer will accept a job—
the president is discussing selection in this stimulus, not acceptance of the offer.
Answer choice (E): The firm is looking for talented management consultants—there is no
presumption that these applicants are competent at every task.
Flaw in the Reasoning—#%. The correct answer choice is (A)
Here the “company president” presents a plan whose stated goal is to select one of the best
management consultants available. To achieve this end, the president has decided to limit interviews
to only those who have worked for management consulting firms which are considered to be in the
top 1% of firms around the world.
The question stem requires us to find the vulnerability in this plan. If the goal is to select one of the
best management consultants available, then the president appears to presume that having worked for
a top 1% consulting firm provides such a guarantee. In other words, the president must assume that
every consultant who has worked for a top 1% firm could be described as one of the best consultants
in the country.
Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer, restating our prephrase from the discussion above,
in slightly different terms. Assuming that only the best management consultants work at the top 1%
firms is the same as assuming that every consultant at those top firms could accurately be described
as one of the best in the country.
Answer choice (B): The president specifically states that the candidates are to come from firms
generally considered to be in the top 1% worldwide. This is a stringent criterion, not a generalization
based on too small a sample.
Answer choice (C): This answer choice may have drawn your attention, but it is incorrect because
there is no such presumption implied in the plan from the stimulus. The president does not imply that
the firms are good because those working for them are good, but rather the opposite: the president’s
assumption is that the consultants who work for the top firms must each individually be among the
best.
Answer choice (D): There is no presumption that everyone who receives an offer will accept a job—
the president is discussing selection in this stimulus, not acceptance of the offer.
Answer choice (E): The firm is looking for talented management consultants—there is no
presumption that these applicants are competent at every task.