1000 SC #42

[Sam]

42. According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges, minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas.
(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice
(B) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates who plan on practicing
(C) minority graduates are nearly four times as likely as other graduates to plan on practicing
(D) it is nearly four times more likely that minority graduates rather than other graduates will plan to practice
(E) it is nearly four times as likely for minority graduates than other graduates to plan to practice

Can you please why the answer is C and not D?

Thx

[Guest79]

Problems with D

1. 'It' is ambigous
2. Also the verb tense 'will plan' is in future though the original sentencce is in present.

On the flip side (C) correctly compares 'minority graduates' with 'other graduates'

[sam]

ThANKS FOR YOUR POINTS. i THINK THEY ARE VALID. However is '4 times as likely' correct? Shouldn't it be '4 times more likely'?

[RonPurewal]

Heh.

Mathematically speaking, there's a difference between '4 times more likely' and '4 times as likely'. Specifically, '4 times more likely' is actually the same as '5 times as likely', although even experts accidentally conflate the two constructions on occasion.

But this is a verbal question, so let's set the mathematical nitpicking aside; there is no language-based reason to prefer one or the other of these constructions.

The biggest problem with D is its poor idiomatic construction. You don't say 'it is X times MORE likely that A will happen, RATHER THAN B'; 'more' is supposed to go with 'THAN', and is incompatible with 'rather than'. The proper construction would be 'it is X times more likely that A will happen than that B will happen.' Better than either of these, though, is the more compact form: 'A is X times more likely to happen than is B.'

Hope that helps.

[DCE]

Hi

Can you please expalin why A is incorrect

Thanks
DCE

[goutham]

Hi:

I also remember reading somewhere that 'plan on' as an idiom is incorrect. I therefore chose A because it uses 'plan to'. Can one of the tutors please clarify?

thanks,

Goutham

[Aspirant]

42. According to a survey of graduating medical students conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges, minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice in socioeconomically deprived areas.
(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice
(B) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than other graduates who plan on practicing
(C) minority graduates are nearly four times as likely as other graduates to plan on practicing
(D) it is nearly four times more likely that minority graduates rather than other graduates will plan to practice
(E) it is nearly four times as likely for minority graduates than other graduates to plan to practice

between A & C,
whats wrong in A

[esledge]

Sorry for the inconvenience, but SC1000 questions are now a banned source, therefore we can no longer comment on them.

[visitdhiraj]

This question now appears on GMAT prep as well (PREP 1)

w.r.t the above question, I would like to know the following

Can we distinguish between A and C just on the basis of "More likely than" vs "as likely as"

0r

These both of these could be correct in the current context and we need to look for other problems

Thanks

Dheeraj

[vinaybhatia12]

(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice

minority graduates are being compared with other graduates. There is no need for "are" in option (A)

[tim]

(A) minority graduates are nearly four times more likely than are other graduates in planning to practice

minority graduates are being compared with other graduates. There is no need for "are" in option (A)

just because something is not needed does not mean that it is categorically wrong. remember not to look for what you think could improve the sentence, but instead look to see if something is actually wrong..

[tim]

This question now appears on GMAT prep as well (PREP 1)

w.r.t the above question, I would like to know the following

Can we distinguish between A and C just on the basis of "More likely than" vs "as likely as"

0r

These both of these could be correct in the current context and we need to look for other problems

Thanks

Dheeraj

either one of those constructions could be correct, so don't eliminate either choice based on these wordings..

[nmoghadam22]

Iam really confused .
if the correct construction is
A is x times more likely to happen than is B.
so choice A is compeletely compatible with this construction
( minority are 4 times more likely than are other graduates .
so i do not understand why are is not necessary in A.

[tim]

perhaps you didn't read my previous post. you refer to "the correct construction" as though there is only one possible way to express this thought correctly. please re-read my post and make sure you understand that just because one thing could be right, that doesn't make everything else wrong..

[student503]

Not sure if how I see it is right.

But C is the only choice (except E) that has the construction "more/as likely to".

E) uses "to plan to practice" but that's just weird.

Anyway I got this one wrong, but is that a correct way to look at it too?