#26 - Global Reference, Parallel, Except

[Dana D]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (A).

We're asked which of the following answer choices does not mimic a problem also experienced by US steel producers. Any answer choice which does is incorrect.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. The inability to find raw material is never cited as an issue for the steel industry

Answer choice (B): This describes the labor-intensive machinery used in steel mills, evidenced in line (40)

Answer choice (C): This is similar to the energy and capital intensive steelmaking process described in lines (52-54)

Answer choice (D): Similar to the inflexibility of manufacturing in steel described in lines (31-32)

Answer choice (E): Steel machinery is also largely from the 19th century, described in line (49)

[cgleeson]

Hi,
I'm having problems understanding this question. I chose E because I thought the question was asking me to strengthen the author's view of the problems associated with integrated steel mills. First thing I thought was the steel process, and labor involved. E fit that to a "t". I never saw anything about trade deficits so I dismissed A. Any advice greatly appreciated.
Chris

[Beth Hayden]

Hi Chris,

The question is not asking you to strengthen the author's view, it's asking you to find examples that fit with the author's theory.

The general idea here is that the integrated steel producers are not doing well because they use inefficient processes built around old technologies, and haven't "changed with the times." As a modern example, consider the workplace. We setup a system involving in-person offices for everything because it was necessary to be in the same physical space to access documents and talk to coworkers. Entire cultures and ways of doing things in business were developed around that. Then technology advanced and we found more efficient ways of communicating and accessing resources, which suddenly made the old way of doing things less profitable. So some new and smaller companies have found success by using a more efficient model that takes advantage of new technology.

This is an except question, so (A) is correct precisely because it doesn't fit with this pattern. There the company's difficulty is that it can't get the resources it needs. But the problem with the steel mills was not about getting resources but about an inefficient process (what they do with those resources).

However, answer choice (E) does fit the pattern. You have a company that is using old machines that were manufactured a hundred years ago. The age of the machines and fact that they are hand operated shows that they are probably really inefficient. That's directly analogous to the integrated steel producers using old and less automated equipment (lines 32-33).

I hope that helps!
Beth

[cgleeson]

Thank you Beth, this clears things up for me. I think I am reading the some question stems and not paying as much attention as I should to them. This explains a lot because I have a pretty good record answering EXCEPT questions.
Thanks again,
Chris

Hi Chris,

The question is not asking you to strengthen the author's view, it's asking you to find examples that fit with the author's theory.

The general idea here is that the integrated steel producers are not doing well because they use inefficient processes built around old technologies, and haven't "changed with the times." As a modern example, consider the workplace. We setup a system involving in-person offices for everything because it was necessary to be in the same physical space to access documents and talk to coworkers. Entire cultures and ways of doing things in business were developed around that. Then technology advanced and we found more efficient ways of communicating and accessing resources, which suddenly made the old way of doing things less profitable. So some new and smaller companies have found success by using a more efficient model that takes advantage of new technology.

This is an except question, so (A) is correct precisely because it doesn't fit with this pattern. There the company's difficulty is that it can't get the resources it needs. But the problem with the steel mills was not about getting resources but about an inefficient process (what they do with those resources).

However, answer choice (E) does fit the pattern. You have a company that is using old machines that were manufactured a hundred years ago. The age of the machines and fact that they are hand operated shows that they are probably really inefficient. That's directly analogous to the integrated steel producers using old and less automated equipment (lines 32-33).

I hope that helps!
Beth