CR Sample Problem
CR weakening questions are often frames in a complex style in order to confuse students. Let us look at the following GMAT Prep question.
Twelve years ago and again five years ago, there were extended periods when Darfir Republic's currency, the Pundra, was weak: its value was unusually low relative to the world's most stable currencies. Both times a weak Pundra made Darfir's manufactured products a bargain on the world markets, and Darfir's exports were up substantially. Now some politicians are saying that, in order to cause another similarly sized increase in exports,the government should allow the Pundra to become weak again.
Which of the following, if true, provides the government with the strongest grounds to doubt that the politician's recommendation, if followed, will achieve its aim?
a) Several of the politicians now recommending that the Pundra be allowed to become weak made that same recommendation before each of the last two periods of currency weakness.
b) After several decades of operating well below its peak capacity, Darfir's manufacturing sector is now operating at near-peak levels.
c)The economy of a country experiencing a rise in exports will become healthier only if the country's currency is strong or the rise in exports is significant.
d) Currently, those countries whose manufactured products compete with Darfir's on the world market all have stable currencies.
e) A sharp improvement in the efficiency of Darfir's manufacturing plants would make Darfir's products a bargain on the world markets even without weakening the Pundra relative to other currencies.
The first step while dealing with such questions is to understand the premise, anti premise, assumption and conclusion of the argument.
Premise: Twice in history, Darfir's currency Pundra became weak compared to the currencies of stable countries. This made Darfir's manufactured goods cheap for the rest of the world. Thus, they bought more of Darfir's products. This led to an increase in Darfir's exports.
Conclusion: Based on this logic, one of the ministers thinks that intentionally weakening Pundra might cause an increase in the sale of Darfir's products in the international market.
The second step is to understand what is being asked in the question.
Question: The question asks us to select an option that would cause the rest of the ministers to doubt the the claim made by the minister in the argument.
The third step is to understand the possible assumptions that underlie this conclusion.
Possible Assumptions: The possible assumptions in this argument are as follows:
- The argument fails to consider the possibility of some other common factor that could have played a crucial role in the increase in Darfir's exports earlier.
- It also fails to consider the possibility that due to some factor this time, a decrease in the value of Pundra might not increase Darfir's exports.
- It also fails to consider the fact that,presently, other countries might also have weakened currencies and if their currency is weaker than Darfir's Pundra then Darfir might not be benefited by the minister's suggestion.
Now the first step is to read and evaluate all the given options in order to eliminate the ones that are irrelevant.
a) several of the politicians now recommending that the Pundra be allowed to become weak made that same recommendation before each of the last two periods of currency weakness,
The recommendation of the ministers will in no way affect Darfir's exports.
b) after several decades of operating well below its peak capacity, Darfir's manufacturing sector is now operating at near-peak levels
This suggests that Darfir's export level has currently equaled its production level. Thus, any further increase in Darfir's exports cannot occur as their production cannot be increased immediately. This might weaken the minister's suggestion. Since the exports cannot rise due to production constraints there is no use weakening Pundra.
c)the economy of a country experiencing a rise in exports will become healthier only if the country's currency is strong or the rise in exports is significant.
This option is talking about factors that will make the economy of a country strong. However, this is the affect of the increase in exports and thus, is irrelevant. We are only concerned with whether the exports will increase.
d) those countries whose manufactured products compete with Darfir's on the world market currently all have stable currencies.
The economies of these competing countries, if stable, will ensure that their products won't be as attractive in the international market as Darfir's and thus the minister's suggestion might be successful. This option strengthens the minister's suggestion.
e) a sharp improvement in the efficiency of Darfir's manufacturing plants would make Darfir's products a bargain on the world markets even without weakening of the Pundra relative to other currencies.
A sharp improvement in the efficiency might increase Darfir's exports. However, this does not mean that a weakened Pundra will not increase Darfir's exports.
Thus, from the available options, only B weakens the argument.