Adults who do not have young children often dislike buying medication in child….

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Adults who do not have young children often dislike buying medication in child-resistant bottles, and marketing surveys indicate that there is considerable demand for aspirin packaged in ordinary bottles, which do not have child-resistant tops. As a strategy for increasing overall sales of its brand of aspirin tablets, the Saber pharmaceutical company, which at present sells aspirin exclusively in bottles with child-resistant tops, is planning to start selling aspirin in ordinary bottles as well.

Which of the following would it be most useful to establish in order to evaluate whether the plan, if implemented, is likely to achieve the stated goal?

A. Whether making aspirin available in bottles that are not child-resistant will increase the likelihood that some children will ingest dangerous quantities of the aspirin.

B. Whether revenues from the sale of aspirin in bottles that are not child-resistant will be sufficient to offset the investment required to offer aspirin in such bottles.

C. Whether buyers of Saber aspirin in ordinary bottles will be people who would otherwise have bought Saber aspirin in child-resistant bottles

D. Whether the number of people who prefer to buy aspirin in ordinary bottles is greater than the number of people who prefer to buy aspirin in child-resistant bottles

E. Whether Saber currently sells aspirin tablets that are specifically formulated to be safer for children than ordinary aspirin

Solution

Passage Analysis:

Text from Passage	Analysis
Adults who do not have young children often dislike buying medication in child-resistant bottles, and marketing surveys indicate that there is considerable demand for aspirin packaged in ordinary bottles, which do not have child-resistant tops.	What it says: Adults without kids don’t like child-resistant bottles, and surveys show strong demand for regular bottles What it does: Sets up the market opportunity by identifying customer preferencesWhat it is: Market research findings Visualization: Adults without kids (say 60% of market) → prefer regular bottles → creates demand gap
As a strategy for increasing overall sales of its brand of aspirin tablets, the Saber pharmaceutical company, which at present sells aspirin exclusively in bottles with child-resistant tops, is planning to start selling aspirin in ordinary bottles as well.	What it says: Saber currently only sells child-resistant bottles but plans to add regular bottles to boost total sales What it does: Presents the company’s business strategy based on the market demand identified earlier What it is: Company’s strategic plan Visualization: Current Saber sales: 100% child-resistant bottles → New plan: Child-resistant + Regular bottles → Goal: Higher total sales

Argument Flow:

“The argument starts by establishing market demand (adults without kids want regular bottles), then presents Saber’s current situation (only sells child-resistant bottles), and finally introduces their plan to meet this demand by adding regular bottles to increase overall sales.”

Main Conclusion:

“Saber’s plan to start selling aspirin in ordinary bottles (in addition to child-resistant ones) will increase their overall sales.”

Logical Structure:

“The premise about market demand for regular bottles supports the conclusion that adding regular bottles to Saber’s product line will boost total sales. The logic assumes that meeting unmet customer demand will translate directly into increased sales volume.”

Prethinking:

Question type:

Evaluate – We need to find what information would help us determine if Saber’s plan to add regular bottles will actually increase their overall sales

Precision of Claims

The key claim is about ‘increasing overall sales’ – this is a quantitative outcome that depends on whether new customers gained from regular bottles will outweigh any potential losses

Strategy

For evaluate questions, we need to think of assumptions underlying the plan and create scenarios that, when taken to extremes, would either strongly support or undermine the conclusion. We should focus on gaps in reasoning between the evidence (demand exists) and the conclusion (this will increase Saber’s total sales)

Answer Choices Explained

A. Whether making aspirin available in bottles that are not child-resistant will increase the likelihood that some children will ingest dangerous quantities of the aspirin.

This focuses on safety concerns, which while important from a public health perspective, doesn’t directly help us evaluate whether the plan will achieve its stated goal of increasing overall sales. Safety issues might affect regulatory approval or corporate reputation, but the question asks specifically about achieving the sales goal.

B. Whether revenues from the sale of aspirin in bottles that are not child-resistant will be sufficient to offset the investment required to offer aspirin in such bottles.

This addresses profitability but not the core question of whether overall sales will increase. Even if regular bottles are profitable, we still need to know if they’re generating truly new sales or just replacing existing sales. A profitable product line that cannibalizes existing sales might not increase overall sales.

C. Whether buyers of Saber aspirin in ordinary bottles will be people who would otherwise have bought Saber aspirin in child-resistant bottles

This directly addresses the critical assumption underlying the plan. If buyers of regular bottles are mostly people who would have bought Saber’s child-resistant bottles anyway, then we’re just shifting sales between product lines rather than increasing total sales. If they’re new customers who wouldn’t have bought Saber products otherwise, then total sales would indeed increase. This is the key information needed to evaluate the plan.

D. Whether the number of people who prefer to buy aspirin in ordinary bottles is greater than the number of people who prefer to buy aspirin in child-resistant bottles

This tells us about general market preferences but doesn’t help evaluate Saber’s specific plan. Even if more people prefer regular bottles, we still don’t know if those people will buy from Saber or if they’re already Saber customers who would just switch product lines.

E. Whether Saber currently sells aspirin tablets that are specifically formulated to be safer for children than ordinary aspirin

This information about product formulation doesn’t directly relate to the sales strategy question. The plan is about packaging (bottle types), not about the aspirin formulation itself, so this wouldn’t help evaluate whether the packaging strategy will increase overall sales.