Doctor: Greenville, An Agricultural City, will be Doubling its Cattle Population the Coming Year.

Question: Greenville, an agricultural city, will be doubling its cattle population the coming year. To make the city more conducive for cattle rearing, Greensville’s mayor plans to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses generated in the city. He plans to promote widespread use of solar powered vehicles rather than gasoline powered ones; he therefore plans to ban gasoline sale for use in vehicles. He argues that solar power represents a far greener source of energy (producing lesser greenhouse gasses) than does fossil fuel.

All of the following call into question the feasibility of the proposed plan, EXCEPT

1. The process of making solar cells that will power vehicles involves the use of more fossil fuel than what it would take to power a conventional gasoline vehicle through its entire life cycle.
2. Since most of the citizens of Greensville prefer gasoline powered vehicles, they will drive to their neighboring cities to fuel up, when they need to.
3. It has been found that the amount of greenhouse gasses produced by cattle far exceeds that of those produced by gasoline powered vehicles.
4. New research has shown evidence that disproves the popular notion that vehicle emissions are causative for the production of greenhouse gasses.
5. There was a decrease of 20 percent in the production of solar cells last year.

“Doctor: Greenville, An Agricultural City, will be Doubling its Cattle Population the Coming Year.” –  this is a GMAT Critical question. This particular GMAT Critical Reasoning topic has been taken from the book ‘501 GMAT Questions’. In this particular topic, candidates need to choose the option that best suits the passage. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. Critical reasoning in GMAT requires candidates to find the strengths and weaknesses of the argument, or find the logical flaw in the argument.  The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

Answer: D
Solution and Explanation:

This is a GMAT critical reasoning question. The question type is weakening except. So we are looking for something that is implied in the argument. In case it is wrong or maybe disable the argument. This question type demands to find a new piece of information that, if true and/or added to the existing argument, will make the conclusion less likely to be true.

As per the passage the plan is :

• To reduce greenhouse gases
• use solar powered vehicles
• Ban gasoline sale for vehicles consuming gasoline.

Now, we will check each option one by one and see which one fits the condition: We need to find the statements that does not weakens the argument.

1. The process of making solar cells that will power vehicles involves the use of more fossil fuel than what it would take to power a conventional gasoline vehicle through its entire life cycle
   - This weakens the plan. This statement doesn't help to reduce greenhouse gases. Hence, this is not correct.
2. Since most of the citizens of Greensville prefer gasoline powered vehicles, they will drive to their neighboring cities to fuel up, when they need to
   - This statement also weakens the argument or in this case, the plan. Here, people are using gasoline but the plan states to ban gasoline. These are completely opposite means it weakens the plan. Hence, this is not correct..
3. It has been found that the amount of greenhouse gasses produced by cattle far exceeds that of those produced by gasoline powered vehicles
   - This statement also weakens the plan. The plan talks about reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the statement talks about the increase in greenhouse gases produced by cattle.
4. New research has shown evidence that disproves the popular notion that vehicle emissions are causative for the production of greenhouse gasses.
   - This is the statement that does not oppose the plan stated. Hence, it is the correct answer.
5. There was a decrease of 20 percent in the production of solar cells last year
   - Since there was a 20% decrease in production of solar cells, there is a chance that the supply didn't meet the demand. The plan talks about increasing solar cell use.

Suggested GMAT Critical Reasoning Questions

• Carol is Shorter Than Juan, But She is Taller than Ed. Sandra is Shorter than Juan, and She is Shorter than Ed
• Without Information that could Only have Come from Someone Present at the Secret Meeting between the Finance Minister and the Leader of the Opposition Party
• Many Politicians, Business Leaders, and Scholars Discount the Role of Public Policy and Emphasize the Role of the Labor Market When Explaining Employers’ Maternity-Leave Policies
• Manufacturers are Now Required to Make All Cigarette Lighters Child-Resistant by Equipping Them With Safety Levers
• Studying the Fruit Fly, a Household Nuisance but a Time-Honored Experimental Subject
• Many Large Department Stores in Montalia Now Provide Shopping Carts For Their Customers
• Our School District Should Not Spend its Money on the New Verbal Advantage Reading Program.
• Building a Space Station, in Which Astronauts Would Live For a Considerable Time
• Popular Child Psychologists Have Advocated That Parents Discipline Male Children
• Five Fledgling Sea Eagles Left Their Nests in Western Scotland This Summer
• Most Recent Work on the History of Leisure in Europe has been based on the Central Hypothesis of a Fundamental Discontinuity between Preindustrial and Industrial Societies
• Coral Reefs Are One of the Most Fragile, Biologically Complex, And Diverse Marine Ecosystems on Earth
• On The Surface, The Conquest Of The Aztec Empire by Herman Cortes Is One of the Most Amazing Military Accomplishments in History
• One Legacy of Madison Avenue’s Recent Campaign to Appeal to People Fifty Years Old
• Experienced Pilots often Have More Trouble than Novice Pilots in Learning to Fly
• Airline: Newly Developed Collision-Avoidance Systems, Although Not Fully Tested to Discover Potential Malfunctions
• Every Action has Consequences and Among the Consequences of any Action are Other Actions.
• Although Numbers of Animals in a Given Region May Fluctuate From Year to Year
• A Diet High in Saturated Fats Increases a Person's Risk of Developing Heart Disease
• Justice is the First Virtue of Social Institutions, as Truth is of Systems of Thought