For a ten-month period, the total

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct61% picked this

   The total monthly sales within Calistan of new cars by companies other than Marvel Automobile Company decreased over the three months following

   Why this is right

   This answer contradicts the final sentence. During these 3 months, Marvel made the same amount of money each month as they had before. But now that monthly pile of money was a much smaller percentage of the overall market. That tells us that the overall market was bigger than before. If the overall market is bigger than before (there's more total revenue being made in this industry), but Marvel's monthly income is still the same, then it has to be other companies that are making this new, extra money. If $1 million / month in sales previously meant 20% of the overall market, and now, during this 3 month period, you're still making $1 million / month but that only represents 13% of the overall market, then the market has grown. There's more money out there, but clearly you aren't getting it. So if you added up all the other companies' monthly sales, it would have to be higher than it used to be.

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

   61%
2. B

   Out of Scope: 3 months before9% picked this

   Over the three months before the imposition of the emission standards, the combined market share of companies other than Marvel Automobile Company

   We know about a ten month period before the emission standards and about a three month period after the emission standards. This answer is about a three month period before. We don't know anything that's specific to those three months. What we do know about the 10 month period essentially agrees with this. Marvel's market share was increasing (it doubled) so other companies' market shares were decreasing.

   9%
3. C

   Compatible11% picked this

   If the emission standards had not been imposed, Marvel Automobile Company would have lost an even larger share of the number of new cars

   This answer essentially says that Marvel was going to lose market share during that 3 month period either way, and that the emission standards actually helped Marvel lose a smaller amount of the market than they otherwise would have. This is definitely not supported by the paragraph, but it's not contradicted. This is getting at the potential causal speculation we might have that the emission standards had a causal effect on Marvel's numbers in the 3 months that followed the imposition of the new standards. Maybe the emissions standards did affect Marvel's numbers. Maybe not. We can't prove any causal connection is true, nor could we prove that one is false.

   11%
4. D

   Compatible5% picked this

   A decrease in the total monthly sales of new cars within Calistan will occur if the emission

   This answer is saying that the emissions standards will lead to a decrease in the total monthly sales of new cars. In the 3 months since the standards were imposed, the market has actually grown in terms of overall sales, so this, like (C), goes against the gist of the paragraph. But nothing in the paragraph contradicts this prediction. To pick this answer we have to be able to prove, from the paragraph, that if emission standards continue (past the 3 month period we know about), overall monthly sales in the country will not decrease. We can't prove the future. So we can't contradict this answer.

   5%
5. E

   Out of Scope: profit14% picked this

   Since the imposition of the emission standards, Marvel Automobile Company’s average profit on each new car sold

   Phew. After a grueling stimulus and concomitant set of answers, this choice gives us a little out of scope excuse to ignore it. Since the paragraph never references "profit" (or gives us the Revenue - Expenses ingredients we would need to calculate it), there's no way we could prove any claim about profit is true or false.

   14%