On the whole, scientists do their most creative work before age forty, a tendency that has been taken to show...

GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions

Source: Official Guide

Critical Reasoning

Logically Completes

MEDIUM

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Notes

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On the whole, scientists do their most creative work before age forty, a tendency that has been taken to show that aging carries with it a loss of creative capacity. An alternative explanation is that by age forty most scientists have worked in their field for fifteen or more years and that by then they have exhausted the opportunity for creative work in that field. Supporting this explanation is the finding that ________

Which of the following most logically completes the passage?

the average age of recipients of scientific research grants is significantly greater than forty.

a disproportionately large number of the scientists who produce highly creative work beyond age forty entered their field at an older age than is common.

many scientists temper their own expectations of what they can achieve in their research work by their belief that their creativity will decline as they age.

scientists who are older than forty tend to find more satisfaction in other activities, such as teaching and mentoring, than they do in pursuing their own research.

there is a similar diminution of creativity with age in non-scientific fields, such as poetry and musical composition.

Solution

Passage Analysis:

Text from Passage	Analysis
On the whole, scientists do their most creative work before age forty, a tendency that has been taken to show that aging carries with it a loss of creative capacity.	What it says: Scientists are most creative before 40, and people think this means getting older makes you less creative What it does: Sets up a commonly accepted explanation that the passage might challenge What it is: Commonly held belief/interpretation Visualization: Timeline: Age 20-40 (High creativity) â†’ Age 40+ (Lower creativity)
An alternative explanation is that by age forty most scientists have worked in their field for fifteen or more years and that by then they have exhausted the opportunity for creative work in that field.	What it says: Maybe it's not aging that reduces creativity - maybe scientists just run out of new things to discover in their specific field after 15+ years What it does: Presents a competing theory that challenges the aging explanation from the first statement What it is: Author's alternative hypothesis Visualization: Scientist's Career: Years 1-15 (Fresh opportunities, high creativity) â†’ Years 15+ (Fewer unexplored opportunities, lower creativity)

Argument Flow:

The passage starts by presenting a widely accepted explanation (aging reduces creativity), then immediately offers an alternative explanation (scientists exhaust opportunities in their field over time). The passage is setting up a debate between two competing theories.

Main Conclusion:

This passage doesn't actually contain a main conclusion - it's incomplete and ends with a question stem asking us to find evidence that would support the alternative explanation.

Logical Structure:

This is an incomplete argument structure. We have two competing explanations presented, but we need to find evidence that would support the second explanation over the first. The logical structure will depend on what evidence we choose to complete the passage.

Prethinking:

Question type:

Logically Completes - We need to find evidence that would support the alternative explanation that scientists become less creative due to exhausting opportunities in their field, not because aging reduces creative capacity.

Precision of Claims

The key claims involve timing (before age 40, 15+ years in field), causation (aging vs. field exhaustion), and the nature of creative opportunities within scientific fields.

Strategy

For this logically completes question, we need to think about what kind of finding would strengthen the alternative explanation. The alternative theory says creativity drops because scientists exhaust their field's opportunities after 15+ years, not because they get older. So we need evidence that supports 'field exhaustion' over 'aging' as the cause. This could be evidence showing that when scientists change fields or when new opportunities arise in their field, their creativity rebounds despite their age.

Answer Choices Explained

the average age of recipients of scientific research grants is significantly greater than forty.

This doesn't help us distinguish between the two explanations. Older scientists getting grants could support either theory - maybe they're getting grants despite reduced creativity due to aging, or maybe they're getting grants because they still have opportunities in their field. This finding is too ambiguous to support the alternative explanation specifically.

a disproportionately large number of the scientists who produce highly creative work beyond age forty entered their field at an older age than is common.

This is perfect support for the alternative explanation! If scientists who started later in their careers (and thus have fewer than 15 years of experience by age 40) continue being creative past 40, this shows that it's field exhaustion, not aging, that reduces creativity. These late-starters prove that age itself isn't the limiting factor - it's how long you've been working in your field.

many scientists temper their own expectations of what they can achieve in their research work by their belief that their creativity will decline as they age.

This actually supports the aging explanation rather than the alternative one. It shows that scientists themselves believe aging reduces creativity, which doesn't help support the field-exhaustion theory.

scientists who are older than forty tend to find more satisfaction in other activities, such as teaching and mentoring, than they do in pursuing their own research.

This might explain why older scientists do less creative work, but it doesn't support either explanation about the cause of reduced creative capacity. It's more about preference than ability.

there is a similar diminution of creativity with age in non-scientific fields, such as poetry and musical composition.

This actually supports the aging explanation, not the alternative one. If creativity declines with age across all fields, it suggests aging itself (not field-specific exhaustion) is the cause of reduced creativity.

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