Margaret: A primary goal of any university is to serve the needs of the community where it is located. The main reason people have for attending a university is the same as that for attending a community college: preparing oneself for a career.
Speaker 1 Summary
James argues that universities do not work to meet the educational needs of their communities. He supports this by saying that universities’ goals differ from community colleges’ goals. Further, all community colleges have a goal of meeting their communities’ educational needs. So, if universities’ goals are different, they wouldn’t be trying to meet those needs.
Speaker 2 Summary
Margaret doesn’t make an argument, just two factual claims. Firstly, all universities have a primary goal of serving their community’s needs (presumably including educational needs). Secondly, most people attend universities and community colleges for the same reason, to prepare for a career.
Objective
We’re looking for a disagreement. James and Margaret disagree about whether a primary goal of universities is to meet their communities’ educational needs.
A
A primary goal of any university is to serve the educational needs of its community.
James disagrees and Margaret agrees, making this their disagreement. James directly states that universities do not share this goal with community colleges, while Margaret directly states that universities do have this primary goal.
B
Most universities adequately serve the educational needs of the communities in which they are located.
Neither speaker makes this claim. James and Margaret are just talking about universities’ primary goals. They don’t get as far as discussing whether universities actually accomplish those goals.
C
The main reason people have for attending a university is to prepare themselves for a career.
Margaret agrees with this and James doesn’t state an opinion. As with (E), James never mentions the reasons that people have for attending a university.
D
In a typical community, the primary educational need is to prepare community residents for careers.
Margaret seems to agree with this, but James doesn’t offer an opinion. James doesn’t talk at all about what people’s educational needs actually are.
E
The main reason people have for attending a university is the same as the main reason people have for attending a community college.
Margaret agrees with this and James does not express an opinion. Like with (C), James doesn’t discuss people’s reasons for attending universities or community colleges.
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why do so few people become more efficient after taking an organization skills seminar, even though many become more organized?
Objective
The correct answer will be a hypothesis that highlights a key difference between how the organizational skills seminar affects organization and how it affects efficiency.
A
Some of the people who are most efficient in the workplace are not among the most organized.
This doesn’t present a difference between the effect of organizational skills seminars on organization versus on efficiency. Even if many efficient people are unorganized, we still need a reason why the seminar might contribute to people’s organization but not their efficiency.
B
Most people whose organizational skills in the workplace are below average do not take seminars for building organizational skills in the workplace.
This doesn’t explain why the seminar contributes to organizational skill but not to efficiency. Regardless of organizational skill before the seminar, we know that most people were more organized after the seminar. We need an explanation for why they weren’t also more efficient.
C
Most seminars for building organizational skills in the workplace are designed for people who have been selected for management training.
This doesn’t provide a difference between how organizational skill and efficiency are affected by the seminar. It doesn’t matter for whom the seminars are designed or who takes them; we need a hypothesis that contributes to an explanation of the seminar’s results.
D
Most people who have taken a seminar for building organizational skills in the workplace have below-average organizational skills before they enroll in the seminar.
Again, regardless of who takes the seminar or what that person’s organizational skill level is before taking the seminar, we know that most people were more organized after the seminar. We still need an explanation for why they weren’t also more efficient.
E
Most people who have taken a seminar for building organizational skills in the workplace consequently expend a great amount of time organizing their activities.
This answer provides a hypothesis that highlights a key difference between how the organizational skills seminar affects organization and how it affects efficiency. After one takes the seminar, she spends more time organizing and is thus more organized but not more efficient.