Tiger sharks are common in the waters surrounding Tenare Island. Usually tiger sharks feed on smaller sharks, but sometimes they...

GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions

Source: Official Guide

Critical Reasoning

Weaken

MEDIUM

...

Notes

Post a Query

Tiger sharks are common in the waters surrounding Tenare Island. Usually tiger sharks feed on smaller sharks, but sometimes they have attacked tourists swimming and surfing at Tenare's beaches. This has hurt Tenare's tourism industry, which is second only to its fishing industry in annual revenues. In order to help the economy, therefore, the mayor of the island has proposed an ongoing program to kill any tiger sharks within a mile of the beaches.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly calls into question the likelihood that implementation of the mayor's proposal will have the desired consequence?

Even if not all the tiger sharks that come close to the beaches are killed, the existence of the program would reassure tourists.

Business owners who depend on tourism are willing to pay most of the cost of implementing the program.

Tourists come to Tenare Island for its beaches, even though the island features a number of other tourist attractions.

The small sharks on which tiger sharks prey feed on fish that are commercially important to the island's fisheries.

Not all tourists who come to Tenare Island enjoy swimming or surfing.

Solution

Passage Analysis:

Text from Passage	Analysis
Tiger sharks are common in the waters surrounding Tenare Island.	What it says: Tiger sharks live in large numbers around Tenare Island What it does: Sets up the basic situation about shark presence What it is: Author's factual premise
Usually tiger sharks feed on smaller sharks, but sometimes they have attacked tourists swimming and surfing at Tenare's beaches.	What it says: Tiger sharks normally eat other sharks but occasionally attack tourists at beaches What it does: Explains the problem - sharks are causing tourist attacks, building on the previous setup What it is: Author's factual premise
This has hurt Tenare's tourism industry, which is second only to its fishing industry in annual revenues.	What it says: The shark attacks have damaged tourism, which is the island's second biggest money-maker What it does: Shows the economic impact of the shark problem and establishes tourism's importance What it is: Author's factual premise Visualization: Island Revenue: Fishing Industry (1st place - $50M), Tourism Industry (2nd place - $40M, but declining due to sharks)
In order to help the economy, therefore, the mayor of the island has proposed an ongoing program to kill any tiger sharks within a mile of the beaches.	What it says: The mayor wants to kill tiger sharks near beaches to fix the economic problem What it does: Presents the proposed solution, connecting back to the economic damage mentioned earlier What it is: Author's statement of the mayor's proposal Visualization: Beach Protection Zone: 1-mile radius around beaches = shark-free zone (kill all tiger sharks in this area)

Argument Flow:

The argument starts by setting up a problem (tiger sharks attacking tourists), then shows the economic consequences (tourism industry suffering), and finally presents a proposed solution (kill sharks near beaches to help the economy).

Main Conclusion:

The mayor believes that killing tiger sharks within a mile of the beaches will help Tenare's economy by reducing tourist attacks.

Logical Structure:

This is a causal argument where the mayor assumes that removing tiger sharks (cause) will lead to fewer attacks, which will restore tourism revenue (effect). The logic depends on the idea that killing nearby sharks will solve the tourist attack problem and economic damage.

Prethinking:

Question type:

Weaken - We need to find information that would make us doubt whether the mayor's shark-killing plan will actually help the economy as intended.

Precision of Claims

The mayor's proposal is very specific: kill tiger sharks within exactly 1 mile of beaches to help the economy by reducing tourist attacks. We need to respect that tourism is the second-largest revenue source and that tiger sharks do attack tourists.

Strategy

Since this is a weaken question, we want to find scenarios that would make the mayor's plan backfire or fail to achieve its economic goal. We can attack this plan by showing how killing tiger sharks might actually hurt the economy even more, or how it might not solve the tourist attack problem, or how it could damage other revenue sources.

Answer Choices Explained

Even if not all the tiger sharks that come close to the beaches are killed, the existence of the program would reassure tourists.

This actually supports the mayor's plan rather than weakening it. If tourists would feel reassured just by knowing the program exists (even if it doesn't kill all sharks), this suggests the plan would work to restore tourism confidence and help the economy. This strengthens rather than weakens the likelihood of success.

Business owners who depend on tourism are willing to pay most of the cost of implementing the program.

This is about who pays for the program, not whether it will work. The willingness of business owners to fund the program doesn't tell us anything about whether killing the sharks will actually achieve the economic goal. This is irrelevant to the plan's effectiveness.

Tourists come to Tenare Island for its beaches, even though the island features a number of other tourist attractions.

This tells us tourists come for beaches specifically, which actually supports the mayor's reasoning. If people are coming primarily for beach activities, then making beaches safer from shark attacks would logically help tourism. This strengthens the plan rather than weakening it.

The small sharks on which tiger sharks prey feed on fish that are commercially important to the island's fisheries.

This creates a devastating unintended consequence that would undermine the economic goal. Here's the chain: Tiger sharks eat small sharks → Small sharks eat commercially important fish → Kill tiger sharks → Small shark population explodes → Commercial fish populations crash → Fishing industry (the island's #1 revenue source) gets destroyed. The mayor would solve a smaller economic problem (tourism decline) by creating a massive economic disaster (destroying the primary industry). This strongly suggests the plan won't achieve its desired economic benefit.

Not all tourists who come to Tenare Island enjoy swimming or surfing.

This doesn't impact the plan's effectiveness. Even if some tourists don't swim or surf, the ones who do are still being attacked by sharks, which still hurts tourism. The plan would still help by making beaches safer for those who do engage in water activities. This doesn't weaken the argument.

Rate this Solution

Tell us what you think about this solution

...

Forum Discussions

Start a new discussion

Post

Previous Attempts

Loading attempts...