Professor: The number of new

Answer choices

1. A

   No Distinction6% picked this

   Many students enter universities without the academic background that is necessary for

   This answer doesn't talk about anything that's changed in the past ten years, so it can't possibly help us explain something that's changed in the past ten years. Also, this is talking about students who don't enter as a chemistry major, because they lack the requisite academic background. We, meanwhile, are trying to explain why people who are entering as chemistry majors aren't making it out with chemistry degrees.

   6%
2. B

   No Impact12% picked this

   There has been a significant decline in the number of undergraduate degrees earned in the natural

   This just tells us that there is also a reduction in the number of people earning degrees in other fields of science too. But why?

   12%
3. C

   No Distinction22% picked this

   Many students are very unsure of their choice when they pick a major

   This answer doesn't talk about anything that's changed in the past ten years, so it can't possibly help us explain something that's changed in the past ten years. Students were very unsure of their choice 10 years ago, too. Unless students have become more unsure about their first major, over the past 10 years, we can't use this to explain a difference.

   22%
4. D

   No Impact / Cheats the Background7% picked this

   Job prospects for graduates with chemistry degrees are no better than prospects for graduates with

   This comparison is saying that chemistry jobs look to be just as juicy, or less, than are jobs you could get with other science degrees. If we took "job prospects are no better" to mean "job prospects for people chemistry degrees are worse", we would already be adding something to the answer that isn't there. But, even forgiving that, we would start telling ourselves this story: Oh, that's why there are fewer chemistry degrees -- because job prospects for chemistry degrees are worse than for other degrees, so I guess they switched majors to those more lucrative fields. This would still be a really weak storyline, because one of the background constraints was that job prospects for chemistry degrees are better than ever.

   7%
5. E

   Correct52% picked this

   Over the years, first-year chemistry has come to be taught in a more routinely methodical fashion, which

   Why this is right

   "Over the years" gives a time dimension to this, so it offers us a change between now and 10+ years ago. We have the same number of students entering as chemistry majors, but since first-year chemistry has become increasingly taught in a way that dampens its appeal, we can understand why more chemistry majors end up switching majors and thus why fewer students end up earning a chemistry degree.

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

   52%