Ease Into Prep with a GMAT^® Question of the Day

Identify the Question Stem: The words explains the unexpected result indicate that this is an Explain the Discrepancy question.

Deconstruct the Argument: Research has shown that providing high-quality outpatient care for certain mental health issues is better than putting people in institutions. In response, in 1963, the US government took steps to release the vast majority of people confined to institutions, all of whom were suffering from the health issues addressed by the research. But, 20 years later, it was unfortunately discovered that many of those people were struggling even more. So what happened?

Pause and State the Goal: On Explain the Discrepancy questions, your goal is to find a new piece of information that, when added to the argument, explains why the surprising outcome actually happened. Essentially, the correct answer resolves the discrepancy. Maybe the research was flawed in some way? Or maybe the research was correct but there was some outside reason why things didn't play out the way they were expected to?

Work from Wrong to Right:
(A) The argument concerns the welfare of the people who were released in 1963. It does not address mental health trends among the broader population.
(B) While this data point might be useful to help researchers know what to examine further, it doesn't actually explain why the plan didn't work for these people.
(C) If anything, this choice makes the situation more puzzling. If better treatments are available, then why are so many people still doing poorly? The task on a Discrepancy question is to resolve the discrepancy, not to exacerbate the discrepancy.
(D) The research indicated that people with certain diagnoses would do better with high-quality outpatient care. Only people with those diagnoses were released. So knowing that those who weren't doing well in 1983 had one of three diagnoses doesn't actually explain why the plan didn't work for those people.
(E) CORRECT. The research did specify that high-quality outpatient care needed to be provided in lieu of institutionalization. If people were released from mental healthcare facilities but did not have access to the necessary high-quality outpatient care, then it would make sense that, 20 years later, the population was struggling even more with these health issues.

The correct answer is (E).