#3 - Banking analyst: Banks often offer various services to

[sekyiste]

Hi!

Can someone please help me understand how ans B strengthens the argument?

[Jonathan Evans]

Sekyiste,

Good question. I can see how the scenario presented in Answer Choice (B) may not correspond to your expectation about how to strengthen the conclusion that the banks' practice of offering perks to new customers but not to existing customers is not an ideal practice.

For instance, for my prephrase, I was expecting the answer choice might say something to the effect of:

"Existing long term customers will likely take their business elsewhere if they are not offered all the perks given to new customers."

Notice that my prephrase shores up a problem with the reasoning: we need a reason why this perks for new customers but not existing customers is not such a hot idea.

Let's take a look at Answer Choice (B) now. What would this information do to our conclusion? The scenario described in Answer Choice (B) may not conform precisely to our expectations. However, if we knew that banks did best when offering special privileges only to existing, loyal customers, we would indeed have good reason to believe that the practice of giving perks to new customers but not existing ones is not ideal.

That's the thing about Strengthen (and Weaken) questions. When you work through the stimulus, you should identify the claim/conclusion and see what kind of evidence is offered in support of it. You should know the gist of what a credited response will do. Either it will be a supporter (like this credited response here or a defender (like my prephrase for this question). However, it will often be difficult to predict exactly what the credited response will say (since there are often many possibilities). Instead, you should use your understanding of the reasoning and your evaluation of the information in the answer choice to assess what effect each answer has on the validity of the conclusion.

[ataraxia10]

I thought D was the answer because once they have chosen a bank, people tend to remain loyal to that bank and since that is the case, it adheres to the reason why banks should cater to their loyal customers. I can see why B is superior, but I would appreciate someone clarifying the reasoning since mine is obscure. Thanks.

[Jay Donnell]

Hi Ataraxia10!

This one is tricky, so I want to hopefully clear up the issue why D falls short as a Strengthen answer here.

The argument concludes that helping out new customers without charge is not ideal business practice, based on the idea that these deals offer no benefit to long-term customers, who make up the bulk of the bank business.

On the surface, D seems attractive with the idea that as you say, 'banks should cater to their loyal customers.' I know that personally, I would want my long-term bank to remain loyal to me, and especially in the modern age you'd think that banks have a vested interest in keeping their long-term clients happy.

However, D could maybe even be seen as a Weaken answer, and I'll tell you why. If it's generally the case that people choose to remain loyal to a bank once they have picked one, then the banks aren't as concerned about losing long-term customers due to exclusion from deals to new customers.

D would also imply that if people stay loyal once they commit to a bank, shouldn't a bank do all that it can to recruit new members who then become loyal long-term customers? With this reasoning, D actually suggests this could be the ideal business practice, which would argue against the conclusion.

The logical force presented in the correct response of B is very useful, as the word only implies that this current practice of catering exclusively to new clients would not be the ideal business practice, aka when "banks do best."

I hope that helps clear it up!

[ataraxia10]

That totally makes sense! D could weaken the argument! Thanks a lot.