Companies are providing consumers with more opportunities to purchase customized products than ever before. Whether buying customized sneakers, jewelr...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Companies are providing consumers with more opportunities to purchase customized products than ever before. Whether buying customized sneakers, jewelry, or clothing, consumers can participate in the design of products to meet their specific needs and tastes. In turn, companies profit too: studies have shown that consumers are willing to pay more and wait longer for a customized product. Still, it can be difficult for companies to offer customization while keeping costs low, as the standard methods of mass production may not be able to accommodate making a unique product each time.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Companies are providing consumers with more opportunities to purchase customized products than ever before.' |
|
| 'Whether buying customized sneakers, jewelry, or clothing, consumers can participate in the design of products to meet their specific needs and tastes.' |
|
| 'In turn, companies profit too: studies have shown that consumers are willing to pay more and wait longer for a customized product.' |
|
| 'Still, it can be difficult for companies to offer customization while keeping costs low, as the standard methods of mass production may not be able to accommodate making a unique product each time.' |
|
Part B: Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Companies are offering more product customization opportunities, which benefits both consumers and businesses, but creates operational challenges for maintaining low costs.
Argument Flow: The passage introduces the growing trend of product customization, demonstrates how this trend benefits both consumers (who get personalized products) and companies (who can charge more), then presents the flip side by explaining the operational challenge this creates for companies trying to balance customization with cost efficiency.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? The overall structure of the text - how the ideas are organized and flow together
What type of answer do we need? A description of how the passage is architecturally arranged - what comes first, what follows, and how the pieces relate
Any limiting keywords? 'Overall structure' tells us we need to capture the big-picture organization, not focus on specific details
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- Looking at our analysis, the correct answer needs to capture three key elements: 1) The passage introduces a trend (customization in consumer products) 2) It explains how this trend creates benefits (for both consumers and companies) 3) It presents a challenge or difficulty (balancing customization with cost control)
- The flow moves from introducing the trend, to showing its positive aspects, to revealing its complications. So the right answer should describe a structure that introduces something and then shows both its advantages and its challenges.
- Claims the text discusses 'innovations in product manufacturing' but our passage focuses on customization opportunities, not manufacturing innovations
- Says it suggests 'potential applications' but the passage discusses current practices, not future possibilities
- Misses the benefit/challenge structure we identified
- Claims it describes 'a company's recent success' but the passage discusses a general industry trend, not one specific company's performance
- Says it explains 'factors that contributed to that success' but there is no individual company success story being analyzed
- Perfectly captures our structure: 'introduces a trend' matches how we start with the customization trend
- 'Explains how the trend both benefits and poses a challenge' exactly matches our benefits (higher prices, consumer satisfaction) followed by challenges (cost control difficulty)
- Matches our prethinking about the dual nature of the trend
- Claims the passage presents 'two contrasting product-marketing techniques' but we only see one approach (customization), not two different techniques being compared
- The contrast in our passage is between benefits and challenges of the same trend, not between different approaches