Shirla: In figure skating competitions that allow amateur and professional skaters to compete against each other, the professionals are bound...

GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions

Source: Official Guide

Critical Reasoning

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MEDIUM

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Shirla: In figure skating competitions that allow amateur and professional skaters to compete against each other, the professionals are bound to have an unfair advantage. After all, most of them became professional only after success on the amateur circuit.

Ron: But that means that it's been a long time since they've had to meet the more rigorous technical standards of the amateur circuit.

Which of the following is most likely a point at issue between Shirla and Ron?

Whether there should be figure skating competitions that allow amateur and professional skaters to compete against each other

Whether the scores of professional skaters competing against amateurs should be subject to adjustment to reflect the special advantages of professionals

Whether figure skaters can successfully become professional before success on the amateur circuit

Whether the technical standards for professional figure skating competition are higher than those for amateur figure skating competition

Whether professional figure skaters have an unfair advantage over amateur figure skaters in competitions in which they compete against each other

Solution

Passage Analysis:

Text from Passage	Analysis
In figure skating competitions that allow amateur and professional skaters to compete against each other, the professionals are bound to have an unfair advantage.	What it says: Shirla thinks pros will always beat amateurs unfairly in mixed competitions What it does: Sets up Shirla's main position that mixing pros and amateurs creates unfairness What it is: Shirla's central claim
After all, most of them became professional only after success on the amateur circuit.	What it says: Most pros were successful amateurs first What it does: Provides Shirla's reasoning for why pros have unfair advantages - they already proved they're better What it is: Shirla's supporting premise
But that means that it's been a long time since they've had to meet the more rigorous technical standards of the amateur circuit.	What it says: Ron argues pros haven't had to follow strict amateur rules for a while, so they might actually be at a disadvantage What it does: Directly challenges Shirla's reasoning by flipping her logic - suggests pros might be worse off, not better What it is: Ron's counterargument

Argument Flow:

This is a classic disagreement between two people. Shirla makes a claim about unfair advantages, supports it with evidence about pros' amateur success, then Ron takes that same evidence and flips it to suggest the opposite conclusion.

Main Conclusion:

There isn't one main conclusion here - we have two opposing viewpoints about whether pros have advantages or disadvantages when competing against amateurs.

Logical Structure:

Shirla uses a simple logical chain: pros were successful amateurs → therefore pros will beat current amateurs unfairly. Ron accepts her premise but argues it leads to the opposite conclusion: pros were successful amateurs long ago → they're out of practice with amateur standards → they might actually be at a disadvantage now.

Prethinking:

Question type:

Point at Issue - This is a dialogue question where we need to find what Shirla and Ron fundamentally disagree about regarding mixed amateur-professional figure skating competitions.

Precision of Claims

Shirla claims professionals have an unfair advantage due to their past amateur success, while Ron suggests professionals might actually be disadvantaged due to being away from rigorous amateur standards for too long.

Strategy

For point at issue questions, we need to find statements that one person would agree with and the other would disagree with. The correct answer should be something Shirla says 'yes' to and Ron says 'no' to, or vice versa. We should look for the core disagreement about whether professionals have an advantage or disadvantage when competing against amateurs.

Answer Choices Explained

Whether there should be figure skating competitions that allow amateur and professional skaters to compete against each other

This is incorrect because neither Shirla nor Ron discusses whether such competitions should exist at all. They're debating the fairness within existing mixed competitions, not whether those competitions should be allowed in the first place.

Whether the scores of professional skaters competing against amateurs should be subject to adjustment to reflect the special advantages of professionals

This is incorrect because neither person mentions scoring adjustments or any specific remedies. They're focused on whether an advantage exists, not on how to fix any perceived unfairness.

Whether figure skaters can successfully become professional before success on the amateur circuit

This is incorrect because Shirla actually states that 'most of them became professional only after success on the amateur circuit,' and Ron doesn't challenge this fact. Both seem to agree that pros typically have amateur success first.

Whether the technical standards for professional figure skating competition are higher than those for amateur figure skating competition

This is incorrect because Ron mentions 'more rigorous technical standards of the amateur circuit,' suggesting amateur standards are higher, but this isn't what they're really debating. The disagreement isn't about which standards are higher, but about the competitive implications.

Whether professional figure skaters have an unfair advantage over amateur figure skaters in competitions in which they compete against each other

This is correct because this captures the exact point of disagreement. Shirla clearly states that 'the professionals are bound to have an unfair advantage,' while Ron's response suggests that pros might actually be at a disadvantage due to being away from rigorous amateur standards for too long. Shirla would agree with this statement, Ron would disagree.

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