The number of applications for admission reported by North American Ph.D. programs in art history has declined in eac...

Skylar on April 12, 2020

@jingjingxiao11111@gmail.com, happy to help!

This is a Bizarro weaken question, which means that the four incorrect answer choices will weaken the argument made in the passage while the one correct answer choice won't. The argument made in the passage is that the decrease in number of applications reported by North American Ph.D. programs in art history over the last four years shows that interest among recent North American graduates in pursuing art history has declined in the last four years.

(E) "The percentage of applications for admission received from outside North America by North American Ph.D. programs in art history has declined substantially in the last four years."

So, we are told that the percentage of applications from outside of North America decreases substantially. While this is happening, the percentage of applications from inside North America increases. It follows that the total number of reported applications could decline due to a decrease in non-North American interest, but interest among North American graduates would not necessarily decline. For example, let's say these programs receive a total of 200 applications, 100 of which are from outside of North America and 100 of which are from inside North America. Let's say that the following year these programs receive 60 applications from outside of North America and 100 applications from inside North America. Here, the percentage of applications from outside of North America decreased, but interest among North American graduates did not decline. Therefore, (E) weakens the argument and is incorrect.

(B) "The average age of applications for admission to North American Ph.D. programs in art history has increased in each of the last four years."

Age as an independent factor is irrelevant in what the argument is measuring. Remember, being a "recent" graduate does not necessarily mean you are of a certain age. Therefore, (B) does not weaken the passage and is correct.

Does that make sense? Please let us know if you have any other questions!

yckim2180 on May 4, 2021

With regard to answer E, isn't it also a correct answer since it does not necessarily weaken the argument given we can’t make any determination about the number of applications received from NA based on the percentage of applications received from outside NA?

Emil-Kunkin on March 18 at 10:23PM

E weakens the argument by strongly suggesting that the decline is driven by international students rather than domestic students. A weakener does not have to kill the argument, just make it less likely .