Each December 31 in Country Q,

Answer choices

1. A

   Not Necessarily18% picked this

   In Country Q, more coal was mined in 1990 than was

   It's possible that an equivalent amount of coal was mined in both years, and we just consumed more coal in 1991, thus lowering our coal supplies.

   18%
2. B

   Correct45% picked this

   In Country Q, the amount of coal consumed in 1991 was greater than the amount of

   Why this is right

   Say that on Dec 31, 1990, we had 100 tons of coal supplies. We know that on Dec 31, 1991, we had considerably lower (let's say 70 tons of coal supplies). That means that during 1991 we consumed more than we mined; we spent more than we earned.

   Skill tested: Must be True · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   45%
3. C

   Not Necessarily6% picked this

   In Country Q, the amount of coal consumed in 1990 was greater than the amount of

   This is the flipside of (A). We know the two things that affect the coal supplies bank account are coal mined and coal consumed, but we're not sure the exact combo that dwindled our account during 1991. This answer is actually counterintuitive, in addition, because we would expect 1991 to be the year we consumed more coal (since we know 1991 ate into our coal savings account).

   6%
4. D

   Not Necessarily29% picked this

   In Country Q, the amount of coal consumed in 1991 was greater than the amount of

   This is the same as (C), only they flipped it to the more intuitive idea that "more coal was consumed" in 1991. But it's possible that the same (or less) coal was consumed in 1991, and the reason the coal account went down is because we mined less coal in 1991.

   29%
5. E

   Out of Scope: first half1% picked this

   In Country Q, more coal was consumed during the first half of 1991 than was consumed during the

   We definitely don't have any information that would allow to derive definite truths about 1st half of 1991 vs. 1st half of 1990.

   1%