Irrigation Runoff from Neighboring Farms May Well Have Increased the Concentration of Phosphorus GMAT Critical Reasoning

Question: Irrigation runoff from neighboring farms may well have increased the concentration of phosphorus in the local swamp above previous levels, but the claim that the increase in phosphorus is harming the swamp's native aquatic wildlife is false; the phosphorus concentration in the swamp is actually less than that found in certain kinds of bottled water that some people drink every day.

The argument is vulnerable to criticism on the ground that it

(A) makes exaggerations in formulating the claim against which it argues
(B) bases its conclusion on two contradictory claims
(C) relies on evidence the relevance of which has not been established
(D) concedes the very point that it argues against
(E) makes a generalization that is unwarranted because the sources of the data on which it is based have not been specified

“Irrigation runoff from neighboring farms may well have increased the concentration of phosphorus”- is a GMAT critical reasoning topic. This GMAT critical comes with five options and candidates need to choose the one which is correct. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. To answer the question, a candidate can either find a piece of evidence that would weaken the argument or have logical flaws in the argument. Candidates get 65 minutes to answer 36 MCQ questions in the critical reasoning section of the GMAT.

Correct Answer: C

Explanation: This is a Critical Reasoning question. This contains a passage-

Irrigation runoff from neighboring farms may well have increased the concentration of phosphorus in the local swamp above previous levels, but the claim that the increase in phosphorus is harming the swamp's native aquatic wildlife is false; the phosphorus concentration in the swamp is actually less than that found in certain kinds of bottled water that some people drink every day.

The argument is vulnerable to criticism on the ground that it

(A) makes exaggerations in formulating the claim against which it argues
This assumption does not satisfy the question. Hence option A is irrelevant.

(B) bases its conclusion on two contradictory claims
There are no two contradictory claims in the argument. This assumption does not satisfy the question. Hence option B is not correct.

(C) relies on evidence the relevance of which has not been established
This assumption does satisfy the question. Hence option C is relevant.

(D) concedes the very point that it argues against
The author simply puts forward his claim and this claim is based upon a comparison between two different things. This assumption does not satisfy the question. Hence option D is irrelevant.

(E) makes a generalization that is unwarranted because the sources of the data on which it is based have not been specified
No generalizations have been made. This assumption does not satisfy the question. Hence option E is irrelevant.

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