For one academic year all the students at a high school were observed. The aim was to test the hypothesis that studyi...

Mehran on November 21, 2015

Thank you for your question. This is a Paradox logical reasoning question. Typically, such questions include a stimulus that consists of a set of facts. Here, however, we have a conclusion: the researchers conclude that their observations support their initial hypothesis (that the more a student studies, the better that student performs academically). That's strange at first glance, since the data the researchers collected seems to undermine this theory (the stimulus says "it turned out that the students who spent the most time studying did not earn grades as high as did many students who studied less").

So we need to evaluate each answer choice and figure out which one provides an explanation for the apparent discrepancy between the researchers' findings and their ultimate conclusion. Specifically, we need an answer choice that can help justify the researchers' conclusion that studying MORE increases a student's chances of earning a HIGHER grade, even though the students who spent the most time studying did not earn the HIGHEST grades (many students who studied less earned higher grades, according to the stimulus).

Answer choice (C) does just this. It states, "In each course, the MORE a student studied, the BETTER his or her grade was in that course." True, a student who studied the most would not, according to the stimulus, end up with the HIGHEST grade in the class--but she would have a BETTER grade thanks to her efforts than if she had not studied more in the first place.

Hope this helps. I encourage you to review the introduction to the Paradox lecture in the Logical Reasoning section of the app. Please let us know if you have any additional questions.