GRE Prep Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Nov 17Live Online Classes with Top GRE Expert Rich Zwelling
08:00 PM EST
-10:00 PM EST
Get live instruction from a top-scoring, industry-recognized GRE teachers + 6 months of access to TTP Self-Study included! Tues/Thur Sept 7, 2026---Feb. 2, 2027, 1:00pm-3:00pm EST
Dec 14Live Online Classes with Top GRE Expert Michael Butville
08:00 PM EST
-10:00 PM EST
Get live instruction from a top-scoring, industry-recognized GRE teachers + 6 months of access to TTP Self-Study included! Mon/Wed Dec. 14, 2026---Feb. 22, 2027, 8:00pm-10:00pm EST
Within six months, nineteen of the forty electric buses
[#permalink]
12 Oct 2026, 14:10
12 Oct 2026, 14:10
1
Expert Reply
Question 1
00:00
Question Stats:
14% (01:23) correct
86% (01:06) wrong based on 14 sessions
Hide Show timer Statistics
Within six months, nineteen of the forty electric buses in a regional transit fleet suffered sudden battery failures. The failures began shortly after the manufacturer pushed a software update that changes how the batteries are charged overnight. That same season brought a record run of days above 35°C, and many of the affected buses carry battery cells from a single supplier lot. Fleet engineers maintain that the software update is chiefly to blame.
Which of the following, if true, lends the most support to the engineers' attribution?
A. Buses at the fleet's cooler coastal depot, which also received the update, have suffered battery failures about as often as the rest of the fleet.
B. The manufacturer's release notes confirm that the update altered the overnight charging routine.
C. In a chamber held at 38°C, packs drawn from that supplier lot failed repeatedly when running the updated software, while otherwise identical packs running the prior version did not.
D. The buses that failed were overwhelmingly the fleet's oldest vehicles, and battery cells degrade fastest with age.
E. Replacement batteries for the affected buses will not arrive until next spring.
- Part of the project: GRE Hard and Tricky Verbal Practice: NEW Questions Daily - Gain 20 Kudos & Get FREE Access to GRE Prep Club TESTS
- Also replying to the unanswered questions
GRE Prep Club Team Member
Joined: 20 Feb 2017
Posts: 2972
Given Kudos: 1297
GPA: 3.39
Re: Within six months, nineteen of the forty electric buses
[#permalink]
24 Oct 2026, 11:11
24 Oct 2026, 11:11
Expert Reply
Explanation
Option C provides the strongest evidence because it isolates the effect of the software update while controlling for other potential causes.
- Both groups of battery packs were tested at the same high temperature (38°C).
- Both groups used cells from the same supplier lot.
- The key difference was the software version.
- Packs running the updated software failed repeatedly, while otherwise identical packs running the previous version did not.
This controlled comparison strongly suggests that the software update contributes directly to the battery failures, even under the same temperature and supplier-lot conditions.
-A: Similar failure rates at the cooler depot weaken the theory that heat alone explains the failures, but do not establish that the software is responsible.
-B: Confirms that the update changed charging behavior, but not that the change caused failures.
-D: Supports an alternative explanation involving vehicle age.
-E: Concerns replacement logistics, not the cause of the failures.
Key reasoning principle: Evidence is strongest when it isolates the suspected cause while controlling for competing explanations. Option C does exactly that.
Option C provides the strongest evidence because it isolates the effect of the software update while controlling for other potential causes.
- Both groups of battery packs were tested at the same high temperature (38°C).
- Both groups used cells from the same supplier lot.
- The key difference was the software version.
- Packs running the updated software failed repeatedly, while otherwise identical packs running the previous version did not.
This controlled comparison strongly suggests that the software update contributes directly to the battery failures, even under the same temperature and supplier-lot conditions.
-A: Similar failure rates at the cooler depot weaken the theory that heat alone explains the failures, but do not establish that the software is responsible.
-B: Confirms that the update changed charging behavior, but not that the change caused failures.
-D: Supports an alternative explanation involving vehicle age.
-E: Concerns replacement logistics, not the cause of the failures.
Key reasoning principle: Evidence is strongest when it isolates the suspected cause while controlling for competing explanations. Option C does exactly that.
gmatclubot
Re: Within six months, nineteen of the forty electric buses [#permalink]
24 Oct 2026, 11:11
Moderators:
