#21 - George: Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, hardly

[Dave Killoran]

I think the lack of clarity in my question reflects a lack of ability.

I don't think so. I'd say it's more that some of the relationships that are being discussed on this test aren't familiar to a lot of people--this before/after situation in this problem being a good example. You have to be trained to look for and understand these things, but once you start doing it, it gets easier and easier to spot

[AK921]

Hi!

Does this question rely on you to know why the merengue was trending/ being learned in 1995?

In my head, it may have been that the merengue was introduced someway instantaneously (like a viral music video on MTV) and that led to more interest in other ball room dances. I didn't question the why though, knowing that people had an interest in merengue led to further interest in ballroom was good enough for me. Was this too large of a gap to leave as an assumption?

Thank you

[Adam Tyson]

We don't need to know why the merengue became popular in 1995, AK921. We just need to realize that Boris hasn't told us why that happened, and because of that Boris hasn't adequately answered the question that George posed. George wants to know why ballroom became popular around that time, and all Boris has told us is that some types of ballroom dancing became popular first in that time period and that they led to others also becoming popular.

The actual cause isn't relevant to us, but it is relevant to George, and Boris has given an unhelpful, even irrelevant, answer!