During the course of research, a student compiled these notes on a particular subject:Art collection management and organization are handled...
GMAT Expression of Ideas : (Expression) Questions
During the course of research, a student compiled these notes on a particular subject:
- Art collection management and organization are handled by museum curators, who work as specialized professionals.
- Contemporary art gets classified by certain curators as artwork produced following 1945.
- When applying this standard, the Metropolitan Museum calculated that 12,000 works comprise its contemporary collection.
- Alternative curators define contemporary art as pieces made post-1980 by currently living artists maintaining active exhibition schedules.
- When applying this standard, the Metropolitan Museum calculated that 800 works comprise its contemporary collection.
The student seeks to formulate and substantiate a broad conclusion regarding how curators categorize contemporary art. Which option best utilizes pertinent details from the notes to achieve these objectives?
Certain curators who oversee museum collections employ the classification of contemporary art as work produced following 1945.
The varying standards curators use for classification can result in substantial disparities in collection tallies, as evidenced by the Metropolitan Museum's findings.
Multiple classification methodologies have been applied by the Metropolitan Museum to enumerate its contemporary art holdings.
Based on current analysis, the Metropolitan Museum possesses a limited number of contemporary pieces by artists who remain professionally active.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Art collection management and organization are handled by museum curators, who work as specialized professionals." |
|
| "Contemporary art gets classified by certain curators as artwork produced following 1945." |
|
| "When applying this standard, the Metropolitan Museum calculated that 12,000 works comprise its contemporary collection." |
|
| "Alternative curators define contemporary art as pieces made post-1980 by currently living artists maintaining active exhibition schedules." |
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| "When applying this standard, the Metropolitan Museum calculated that 800 works comprise its contemporary collection." |
|
Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Different curators use different standards to classify contemporary art, resulting in dramatically different collection counts.
Argument Flow: The notes establish that curators are responsible for art classification, then present two competing definitions of contemporary art. Each definition is supported by real data from the Metropolitan Museum, showing how the same institution gets vastly different contemporary art counts (12,000 vs. 800) depending on which classification standard is applied.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
- What's being asked? The student wants to "formulate and substantiate a broad conclusion regarding how curators categorize contemporary art."
- What type of answer do we need? An answer that provides a generalization supported by the specific evidence in the notes about curatorial categorization practices.
- Any limiting keywords? "broad conclusion" means we need a generalization rather than a narrow observation
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The notes show us two completely different ways curators define contemporary art
- These different definitions produce wildly different results when applied to the same museum collection (12,000 works vs. 800 works)
- A good broad conclusion should capture that curators don't all use the same classification standards
- The conclusion should highlight that these different standards have significant practical impact
Certain curators who oversee museum collections employ the classification of contemporary art as work produced following 1945.
- Simply states that certain curators use the post-1945 definition.
- Too narrow - only describes one classification method rather than making a broad conclusion about categorization practices
The varying standards curators use for classification can result in substantial disparities in collection tallies, as evidenced by the Metropolitan Museum's findings.
- Captures the core insight: varying standards lead to substantial disparities in collection counts.
- Makes a genuinely broad conclusion about curatorial classification practices
- Directly supported by the Metropolitan Museum's contrasting results (12,000 vs. 800)
Multiple classification methodologies have been applied by the Metropolitan Museum to enumerate its contemporary art holdings.
- Just states that the Metropolitan Museum has used multiple methods.
- Focuses on one institution rather than making a broad conclusion about curators generally
Based on current analysis, the Metropolitan Museum possesses a limited number of contemporary pieces by artists who remain professionally active.
- Only focuses on the smaller collection number from the stricter definition.
- Fails to make any broad conclusion about curatorial categorization