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- Fri May 06, 2016 2:41 pm
#24061
Complete Question Explanation
Must Be True-#%. The correct answer choice is (D)
This is a Must Be True question dealing with percentages, but it is not as difficult as it may seem. In the stimulus we are told that a survey of students has found that 25 percent label themselves conservative, 51 percent as middle-of-the-road, and 24 percent as liberal. The survey as discovered that 77 percent of the students endorsed liberal positions on a set of issues. From this we know that some students other than self-identified liberals support liberal policies. But we do not know much more than that. The 77 percent could be made up in any number of ways. It could be that all the conservatives and middle-of-the-roaders supported the liberal positions and only a few of the actual liberals did. Or it could be that all of the liberals and conservatives and about half of the middle-of-the-roaders endorsed the liberal policies. We don’t know the exact makeup of the 77 percent, but we do know that at least some percentage from each of the three groups would have to be included in the 77 percent. And that will be the key for the correct answer.
Answer Choice (A): We cannot know this to be true. It is tempting to think that all liberal students would support liberal positions but there is nothing in the stimulus telling us this for sure. It could be the case that significant proportion of conservative students endorsed the liberal position.
Answer Choice (B): Once again we cannot know if this actually occurred because the exact makeup of the 77 percent is unknown. It is possible that all the liberals and middle-of-the-roaders endorsed the same positions.
Answer Choice (C): Same problem that we saw with (A) and (B). We do not have enough information to make this answer choice.
Answer Choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. Because of how the students are split (25, 51, 24), it is necessary that at least some from each category will be needed to comprise the 77 percent. In fact if we assume that all liberal students (24 percent) and all middle-of-the-road students (51 percent) endorsed the liberal position, that total would still not add up to 77 percent only 75 percent. And that extra 2 percent would have to come from conservative students.
Answer Choice (E): This answer choice is asking about who endorsed the conservative position, and we can assume that at most 23 percent of the students endorsed that position. Since it is only 23 percent it is completely plausible that it was entirely made up of conservative students. And that would still leave 2 percent leftover to endorse the liberal position as explained in (D).
Must Be True-#%. The correct answer choice is (D)
This is a Must Be True question dealing with percentages, but it is not as difficult as it may seem. In the stimulus we are told that a survey of students has found that 25 percent label themselves conservative, 51 percent as middle-of-the-road, and 24 percent as liberal. The survey as discovered that 77 percent of the students endorsed liberal positions on a set of issues. From this we know that some students other than self-identified liberals support liberal policies. But we do not know much more than that. The 77 percent could be made up in any number of ways. It could be that all the conservatives and middle-of-the-roaders supported the liberal positions and only a few of the actual liberals did. Or it could be that all of the liberals and conservatives and about half of the middle-of-the-roaders endorsed the liberal policies. We don’t know the exact makeup of the 77 percent, but we do know that at least some percentage from each of the three groups would have to be included in the 77 percent. And that will be the key for the correct answer.
Answer Choice (A): We cannot know this to be true. It is tempting to think that all liberal students would support liberal positions but there is nothing in the stimulus telling us this for sure. It could be the case that significant proportion of conservative students endorsed the liberal position.
Answer Choice (B): Once again we cannot know if this actually occurred because the exact makeup of the 77 percent is unknown. It is possible that all the liberals and middle-of-the-roaders endorsed the same positions.
Answer Choice (C): Same problem that we saw with (A) and (B). We do not have enough information to make this answer choice.
Answer Choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. Because of how the students are split (25, 51, 24), it is necessary that at least some from each category will be needed to comprise the 77 percent. In fact if we assume that all liberal students (24 percent) and all middle-of-the-road students (51 percent) endorsed the liberal position, that total would still not add up to 77 percent only 75 percent. And that extra 2 percent would have to come from conservative students.
Answer Choice (E): This answer choice is asking about who endorsed the conservative position, and we can assume that at most 23 percent of the students endorsed that position. Since it is only 23 percent it is completely plausible that it was entirely made up of conservative students. And that would still leave 2 percent leftover to endorse the liberal position as explained in (D).