Bunuel
Competition Mode Question
A teacher has proposed requiring all students in her oversubscribed environmental science course do field work on Saturdays in place of a portion of their homework, claiming that the Saturday requirement will reduce the number of students in the class without making it significantly more demanding. The teacher reasons that the Saturday requirement will motivate many students to transfer into other courses that do not require Saturday work.
Which of the following statements, if true, provides the best evidence that the teacher's reasoning is flawed?
(A) Projected increases in the cost of mass transit will increase the cost to students of traveling to and from their Saturday fieldwork sites.
(B) Students in other science courses do not currently have the option of transferring into the environmental science course.
(C) The amount of research required for the environmental science course currently makes it significantly more time-consuming on weekends than any other science course.
(D) Many students opposing the teacher's plan have indicated that they would rather allow the environmental science course to remain overcrowded than do the Saturday field work.
(E) Twenty percent of the students enrolled in the environmental science course attend the school at which it is taught.
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:
The question asks for something that would suggest that the teacher is incorrect in her belief that the Saturday work will encourage students to transfer into other science courses. The teacher believes that students will transfer into other courses if there is extra work in the environmental science course. If, however, the extra work is unlikely to motivate students to transfer into other science courses, then the teacher's plan is unlikely to succeed.
Choice A states that it will soon cost more for students to travel to and from their Saturday work sites. This says nothing about the likelihood of the teacher's plan to succeed.
Choice B states students in other science courses do not currently have the option of transferring into the environmental science course. This has nothing to do with encouraging students in the environmental science course to transfer into other courses.
Choice C states that the amount of research required of students in the environmental science course already makes this course significantly more time-consuming on weekends than any other science course. This suggests that the teacher is incorrect in the belief that requiring the some work be done over the weekend will be sufficient to encourage students to transfer into other science courses. Choice C is correct.
Choice D states that many students have said that they would rather let the environmental science course remain overcrowded than do the Saturday work. However, this does not provide any additional information about how students in the environmental science course will respond if the Saturday fieldwork is imposed.
Choice E states that students who attend the high school at which the environmental science course is taught account for twenty percent of the students enrolled in the environmental science course. While this suggests that some of the students in the course cannot be forced out of it, it says nothing about the eighty percent of the students who could conceivably be forced to transfer into other courses.
Choice C is correct.