#20 - There are two ways to manage an existing

[nihals23]

I could not comprehend how E is the correct answer to this question. Could someone please help me understrand how to go about with it? Many thanks! -Nihal

[Robert Carroll]

Nihal,

The stimulus is telling us that continuous maintenance is far less expensive than radical reconstruction. That alone doesn't tell us much - a BMW may be far less expensive than a Lambo, but that doesn't mean I'll be buying either one! However, the stimulus also says that failing to perform continuous maintenance leads to requiring radical reconstruction. So if you don't do the far less expensive thing, you WILL have to do something more expensive. Thus, unlike in my hypothetical about luxury automobiles, there's no way to avoid SOME expense here! So, if one of these things needs to be done, it makes a lot more sense to do continuous maintenance, since it's far less expensive. Yet...the last sentence says that it almost never happens. Why?

Well, whoever is making decisions must have some other idea in mind besides the expense, because the less expensive of two alternatives (where at least one of them always has to be done) isn't being chosen. You'll be looking for an answer that explains a motivation not related to expense that may cause someone not to choose that alternative. Answer choice (E) introduces the idea that there may not be enough urgency in the case for maintenance to get people to employ continuous maintenance, so, even though it's less expensive, people neglect it. This helps explain why people are making the apparently silly and paradoxical decision of wasting money!

Robert Carroll

[Jenmstearns]

I got this correct but it took me two and a half minutes, and I think part of the delay was I had trouble categorizing the question, so although I really liked E I wasn’t sure if it was a question type where new information was safe. I’ve reread my notes on MSS, Justify, and finally have landed on it being Strengthen. Is that correct? I also diagrammed the two premises, CM not RC; and notCM RC. So was the question asking us to strengthen the second premise, or weaken the first premise, both of which happen to get you to (E). Or was there a better/faster way to get there?

Thanks in advance.

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Jen,

This is actually a Resolve the Paradox question stem, which is in the same family (Family 2) as Strengthen questions, so you're in the right ballpark! Where there is not a complete argument in the stimulus (notice there's no conclusion in the stimulus, only a set of facts), and the question stem asks for an answer choice that explains a fact or facts in the stimulus, then you're dealing with a Resolve the Paradox question.

I don't know that diagramming is entirely necessary here, though I think you can find the implied conditional relationships you noticed: If you do continuous maintenance, then there's no need for radical recontruction. And, if you don't do continuous maintenance, then you will eventually have to do radical reconstruction.

What you're really looking for in the answer choice, though, is the "explanation" the question stem calls for. The correct answer should directly answer this question: "Why does continuous maintenance almost never happen?" That's your best prephrase: anything that tells me why continuous maintenance almost never happens. Answer choice E (as you note) gives us that reason: it almost never happens, because the consequences of NOT doing it aren't apparent to people for a very long time.

I hope this helps!

Jeremy

[PVequalsnRT]

I can see why answer E was the correct answer, however I eliminated it because I didn't know if we could equate "continuous maintenance" with "regular maintenance"

[Jeremy Press]

Hi PV!

It's true that "regular" maintenance (maintenance recurring at uniform intervals) and "continuous" maintenance (maintenance occurring continuously) are not identical. But the real question is whether the factual information in answer choice E about "regular" maintenance has the power to explain the stimulus information about "continuous" maintenance (that it almost never happens). And the answer there is yes, because, whatever the implied interval is in the notion of regular maintenance, such maintenance will lack urgency for long periods and provide a motivation not to pursue continuous maintenance. Don't get too thrown off by the conceptual change! Just make sure the answer does what the question stem calls for, explaining why continuous maintenance is almost never adopted.

I hope this helps!

Jeremy

[thung23]

Can anyone please explain why (C) is wrong?

My understanding is according to (C), the current standard level of continuous maintenance is less favorable than if we lower the standard (just responding to emergencies). Therefore, continuous maintenance is not adopted because its standard level is not liked.

I can understand why (E) is right but find it hard to negate (C).

TIA!

[Ryan Twomey]

Hey Thung23,

So the reason answer choice C is incorrect is that we cannot assume that consistent maintenance will be performed at less than adequate levels. So you are adding a consideration with answer choice C that does not really apply to the stimulus and doesn't really explain why they are neglecting to choose the route of continuous maintenance. We are looking to explain why they do not choose to perform continuous maintenance adequately, and this answer choice does not explain why they are making that choice.

Answer choice E explains why they continue to neglect continuous maintenance. Answer choice E essentially says that the problems of neglecting continuous maintenance don't arise for a long period of time, which better explains why we neglect to choose continuous maintenance.

I hope this helps and I wish you all of the luck in your studies.

Best,
Ryan