There are More Opera Houses Than There were Two Decades Ago GMAT Critical Reasoning

Question: There are more opera houses than there were two decades ago, and charitable contributions are on the rise. Average audiences for opera, however, have been declining for the past twenty years.

Which of the following, if true, best explains the discrepancy above?

1. In the past twenty years musical theatre audiences have grown.
2. A change in the tax code has conferred certain advantages on charitable giving.
3. Constructions codes have been revised on a national level to promote the construction of cultural facilities.
4. there has been an emphasis on unamplified sound in opera.
5. The number of new works has declined in the past three decades.

“There are More Opera Houses Than There were Two Decades Ago and Charitable Contributions are on the Rise” is a GMAT Critical question. This particular GMAT Critical Reasoning topic has been taken from the book ‘1,037 Practice Questions for the New GMAT, 2nd Edition’ by Priceton review. In this particular topic candidates need to choose the option that best suits the passage. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. Critical reasoning in GMAT requires candidates to find the strengths and weaknesses of the argument, or find the logical flaw in the argument.  The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

Answer: D

Explanation:

GMAT critical reasoning tests the reasoning, logical and analytical thinking abilities of the candidate. The candidate has to deduce the correct option by finding the logically correct argument or by eliminating the irrelevant arguments.

The statement states - There are more opera houses than there were two decades ago, and charitable contributions are on the rise. Average audiences for opera, however, have been declining for the past twenty years.

We will check each statement one by one. This will help us to understand the most appropriate option. 
 

1. In the past twenty years musical theatre audiences have grown. – This argument can explain the decrease in average audiences but not explain the increase in opera houses. The passage clearly states that the audience has decreased in the past twenty years. Hence, this option stands incorrect. 
2. A change in the tax code has conferred certain advantages on charitable giving. – This argument explains the increase in charities but does not explain the decrease in the average audience. It talks about "charitable giving", but does that necessarily explain the increase in contributions to opera houses? Not necessarily. It could only explain why the overall charity has increased, but not to a certain section only. This option does not contain enough information to prove the fact as true. Hence, we will consider this as incorrect. 
3. Constructions codes have been revised on a national level to promote the construction of cultural facilities. – This option again does not explain why charitable contributions are on the rise. Although it does explain why the number of opera houses is increasing. This also does not contain the ext reason for it to be true. 
4. there has been an emphasis on unamplified sound in opera. – This seems to be a reasonable explanation. It talks about "emphasis on unamplified sound in opera". In this case, it means that because of this, the size of the opera houses has been decreasing. Now, this would explain why the average audience has reduced (as capacity is less), while at the same time, because of more interest in opera, more people are contributing to it as a charity in order to build more opera houses. It helps us to comment on average audiences, as the size of the opera house decreases for the said reason, average audiences also decreased and no shows or opera houses increased to accommodate the total audience. Hence, this is the correct option. 
5. The number of new works has declined in the past three decades. – The fact talks about audience and charity but does not mention anything about new works. Here the stimulus talks about the average audience, but there is no information on the number of works. So we can consider this as out of scope and hence, not correct.

Suggested GMAT Critical Reasoning Questions

• Critics have Long been Puzzled by the Inner Contradictions of Major Characters in John Webster’s Tragedies.
• The Marison County Police Department recently implemented a new traffic safety program
• A major network news organization experienced a drop in viewership in the week
• Between 1980 and 2000 the sea otter population of the Aleutian Islands declined precipitously.
• Few of the corporate contributions to the earthquake relief fund, aside from Pterocom
• Because no employee wants to be associated with bad news in the eyes of a superior
• Medicare, the United States government’s health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, covers the full cost of home health care
• But man is not destined to vanish. He can be killed, but he cannot be destroyed, because his soul is deathless and his spirit is irrepressible.
• The pioneers of the teaching of science imagined that its introduction into education would remove the conventionality, artificiality, and backward-lookingness
• JIT stands for Just-In-Time. More than a standardized methodology or systematic process, it is a philosophy
• Josh has twenty years of typing experience behind him
• If the books have been cataloged last week, why haven’t they been placed on the shelf?
• According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by Association of American Medical College
• Computer “Viruses” are Known to Everyone and their Ability to Spread is also Well Known.
• Until recently most astronomers believed that the space between the galaxies in our universe was a near-perfect vacuum
• Seeking a competitive advantage, some professional service firms
• Most Recent Work on the History of Leisure in Europe has been based on the Central Hypothesis of a Fundamental Discontinuity between Preindustrial and Industrial Societies
• Many Politicians, Business Leaders, and Scholars Discount the Role of Public Policy and Emphasize the Role of the Labor Market When Explaining Employers’ Maternity-Leave Policies
• Without information that could only have come from someone present at the secret meeting between the finance minister and the leader of the opposition party
• French cuisine is highly regarded all over the world.