Mayor: Residential burglar alarm systems prevent burglary, but only in residences equipped with them. As long as there are people...

GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions

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Critical Reasoning

Weaken

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Mayor: Residential burglar alarm systems prevent burglary, but only in residences equipped with them. As long as there are people intent on burglary, equipping residences with these systems will simply lead burglars to target residences not so equipped. Therefore, a proposed plan to encourage the installation of burglar alarm systems in more local residences will not help to reduce residential burglaries here.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument that the mayor raises against the proposed plan?

Most burglars can quickly and easily determine whether a home that they are thinking of burglarizing is protected by an alarm system.

The vast majority of residential burglaries occur when the residents of the burglarized dwelling are not at home.

Equipping more homes with burglar alarm systems would allow police to give more attention to residences that are not protected by these systems.

The cost of installing and maintaining burglar alarm systems is great enough that many local residents would refuse to equip their homes with them if asked to do so.

A burglar who is deterred from burglarizing a particular residence by the presence of an alarm system will usually attempt to burglarize another residence rather than a store or an office.

Solution

Passage Analysis:

Text from Passage	Analysis
Residential burglar alarm systems prevent burglary, but only in residences equipped with them.	What it says: Alarm systems work to stop burglaries, but only protect the houses that actually have them installed What it does: Sets up the basic fact about how alarm systems work - they're effective but limited to where they're installed What it is: Author's opening premise about alarm system effectiveness
As long as there are people intent on burglary, equipping residences with these systems will simply lead burglars to target residences not so equipped.	What it says: Burglars will just move to houses without alarms instead of giving up on burglary altogether What it does: Builds on the limitation mentioned before - explains the consequence of partial alarm installation What it is: Author's key premise about burglar behavior Visualization: Town with 100 houses → 30 get alarms → burglars avoid those 30 and focus on the remaining 70 unprotected houses
Therefore, a proposed plan to encourage the installation of burglar alarm systems in more local residences will not help to reduce residential burglaries here.	What it says: The mayor concludes that encouraging more alarm installations won't actually reduce the total number of burglaries in the area What it does: Combines the previous facts to reach the final conclusion against the proposed plan What it is: Author's main conclusion

Argument Flow:

The mayor starts with a basic fact about alarm systems (they work but only protect equipped homes), then explains burglar behavior (they'll just target unprotected homes), and uses these premises to conclude that encouraging more alarm installations won't reduce total burglaries.

Main Conclusion:

The proposed plan to encourage more burglar alarm installations will not help reduce residential burglaries in the area.

Logical Structure:

The argument follows a logical chain: Alarm systems only protect equipped homes + Burglars will target unprotected homes → Therefore, more alarms won't reduce total burglaries. The mayor assumes burglars will simply shift targets rather than be deterred from burglary altogether.

Prethinking:

Question type:

Weaken - We need to find information that reduces our belief in the mayor's conclusion that the alarm plan won't reduce total residential burglaries

Precision of Claims

The mayor's conclusion is very specific - it claims the plan will NOT help reduce residential burglaries 'here' (in this local area). The key assumption is about burglar behavior - that they'll simply shift to unprotected homes rather than be deterred entirely

Strategy

To weaken this argument, we need to challenge the mayor's core assumption about how burglars behave when faced with more alarm systems. The mayor assumes burglars will just redirect to unprotected homes, keeping total burglaries the same. We should look for scenarios where installing more alarms actually reduces the total number of burglaries, not just shifts them around

Answer Choices Explained

Most burglars can quickly and easily determine whether a home that they are thinking of burglarizing is protected by an alarm system.

This actually strengthens the mayor's argument rather than weakening it. If burglars can easily identify which homes have alarm systems, this supports the mayor's premise that burglars will simply redirect to unprotected homes. The easier it is for burglars to distinguish protected from unprotected homes, the more likely they are to successfully avoid alarms and maintain their overall burglary rate.

The vast majority of residential burglaries occur when the residents of the burglarized dwelling are not at home.

This information about timing of burglaries (when residents are away) doesn't address the core issue in the mayor's argument. The mayor's concern is about the displacement effect - that burglars will shift targets rather than be deterred entirely. Whether residents are home or not during burglaries doesn't impact this displacement logic, so this choice is irrelevant to weakening the conclusion.

Equipping more homes with burglar alarm systems would allow police to give more attention to residences that are not protected by these systems.

This is the correct answer because it introduces a mechanism that could actually reduce total burglaries rather than just shifting them around. The mayor assumes that more alarms will only cause burglars to target unprotected homes, keeping total burglaries constant. However, if installing more alarm systems allows police to better protect the remaining unprotected homes, then we could see an overall reduction in successful burglaries. This directly challenges the mayor's conclusion that the plan won't help reduce residential burglaries.

The cost of installing and maintaining burglar alarm systems is great enough that many local residents would refuse to equip their homes with them if asked to do so.

This strengthens the mayor's position by suggesting the plan might not even be implemented effectively. If many residents would refuse to install alarm systems due to cost, then the plan would have limited reach anyway. This supports rather than undermines the mayor's skepticism about the plan's effectiveness.

A burglar who is deterred from burglarizing a particular residence by the presence of an alarm system will usually attempt to burglarize another residence rather than a store or an office.

This reinforces the mayor's argument about displacement rather than weakening it. The choice confirms that deterred burglars will attempt other residential burglaries rather than giving up crime entirely. This supports the mayor's core premise that burglars simply shift to different targets, maintaining the same total level of residential burglaries.

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