by StaceyKoprince Thu Jan 03, 2008 3:28 pm
I am glad to hear you don't study from 1000SC - it's pulled together from all kinds of sources and some are downright bad. And, hmmm, now that we have proof they've lifted from OG / GMATPrep, we might just have to ban that source too... geez, don't any of these guys write their own questions anymore? If you're really into standardized tests, it's a disgrace not to make your own - especially b/c it's fun to write questions! (If you're us, that is :)
Anyway, to your original question. Since you narrowed to D and E, I'm assuming you don't need any explanation on the apples-to-apples comparison issue. The difference between D and E is one of meaning.
D says that some severance packages require workers to stay at the company until the last scheduled day they're supposed to work (say, next Friday) or they don't get their severance (which may get paid that day or at some point in the future - we don't know).
E says that some severance packages require workers to stay until the day that they are scheduled to get their money - in other words, they stay until, say, next Friday which is the day that they are actually paid.
Either could be the way things work (though D is probably more realistic, but we don't pay attention to that on SC). So we check the meaning of the original sentence. The original says that these packages "require workers to stay until the last day scheduled to collect..." Could be confusing, because that's grammatically incorrect in general, which muddles the meaning, but concentrate on "require workers to stay until the last day scheduled" - that goes along with option D. The "to collect" here is missing "in order" which makes it a little harder to see what's going on.
But notice in E how it separates out the later clause - "the last day THAT they are scheduled to collect" - making this into a separate statement, so now "scheduled" is paired with "to collect" instead of "last day scheduled" or (as in correct answer D) "last scheduled day."
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep