In Brindon County, virtually all of the fasteners—such as nuts, bolts, and screws—used by workshops and manufacturing firms have for...
GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions
In Brindon County, virtually all of the fasteners—such as nuts, bolts, and screws—used by workshops and manufacturing firms have for several years been supplied by the Brindon Bolt Barn, a specialist wholesaler. In recent months many of Brindon County's workshops and manufacturing firms have closed down, and no new ones have opened. Therefore, the Brindon Bolt Barn will undoubtedly show a sharp decline in sales volume and revenue for this year as compared to last year.
The argument depends on assuming which of the following?
Passage Analysis:
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
| "In Brindon County, virtually all of the fasteners—such as nuts, bolts, and screws—used by workshops and manufacturing firms have for several years been supplied by the Brindon Bolt Barn, a specialist wholesaler." |
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| "In recent months many of Brindon County's workshops and manufacturing firms have closed down, and no new ones have opened." |
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| "Therefore, the Brindon Bolt Barn will undoubtedly show a sharp decline in sales volume and revenue for this year as compared to last year." |
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Argument Flow:
The argument starts by establishing Brindon Bolt Barn's market dominance, then presents evidence of customer base decline, and concludes this will definitely lead to reduced business performance.
Main Conclusion:
Brindon Bolt Barn will undoubtedly show a sharp decline in sales volume and revenue this year compared to last year.
Logical Structure:
The argument assumes that fewer customers automatically means proportionally lower sales, without considering other factors that might maintain or even increase sales per remaining customer.
Prethinking:
Question type:
Assumption - We need to find what the author must believe is true for their conclusion to hold. This is about identifying unstated premises that are necessary for the logical jump from premise to conclusion.
Precision of Claims
The conclusion is very definitive - 'undoubtedly show a sharp decline' - so we need assumptions that support this certainty. The key claims involve quantity (many closures, no new openings) and projected activity (definite sales decline).
Strategy
The author jumps from 'many customer businesses closed and none opened' to 'Brindon Bolt Barn will definitely have sharp sales decline.' We need to think: what could make this conclusion false while keeping the stated facts true? What gaps exist in this reasoning that need to be filled?
This discusses last year's performance relative to the previous year, but the argument's conclusion compares this year to last year. What happened in years before last year is irrelevant to whether this year will show a decline compared to last year. The argument doesn't depend on any particular trend from previous years.
While this would support the conclusion by suggesting remaining businesses need fewer fasteners, it's not necessary for the argument. Even if remaining businesses maintained their same volume of work, the conclusion could still hold true simply because there are fewer total businesses operating. The argument doesn't require that remaining businesses also reduce their individual consumption.
This talks about future competition, but the argument's conclusion is about this year's sales performance. Whether Brindon Bolt Barn will face competition 'soon' doesn't affect whether they'll show a decline this year based on current customer closures. The timing and relevance don't align with the argument's scope.
Operating expenses are about costs, not revenue and sales volume. The conclusion specifically mentions sales volume and revenue decline, which can occur regardless of whether operating expenses increased, decreased, or stayed the same. Expenses don't affect the customer base impact on sales.
This is crucial because if Brindon Bolt Barn gets most of its business from customers outside Brindon County, then the closure of businesses within the county wouldn't necessarily cause a sharp decline in overall sales. The argument's logic completely depends on assuming that Brindon County represents a significant portion of their business. Without this assumption, the conclusion falls apart.