suyash23n wrote:
I Believe the word "reported" in the sentence is what makes the difference.
There are 2 distinct info available from the passage:
1- Results of survey, whee students directly respond to the survey----> gives the result in terms of number of student who cheat in exams.
2- Exam officials reporting the numbers.
What is asked : Despite the % of students who admit to cheat declined. The number of students who were reported by exam official increased.
Option A gives you an explanation, why the numbers have increased-----> it's because the officials are more
vigilant and are reporting more such cases of cheating.
Hope that helps!
Suyash,
Your explanation was very useful in clearing the question, which I admit was a little challenging to absorb. But If I may repackage your answer, I'd do so in the following way :-
1) On one hand we have Surveys, where students report their
cheating habits --> This number has declined, so overall students are cheating less
2) On the other hand, more students have been
caught cheating by officials --> This number has increased and we need to try explain how this is possible,
given that students are cheating less overall. Now, from among the options as pointed out by Suyash, Option A says the officials are more vigilant/effective and this could explain the seemingly conflicting numbers.
A final explanation using simple numbers!
OLD Scenario : 100 students, 65 cheaters, lets assume 5 cheaters are caught --> 65% cheating, vigilance efficiency = 5/65 or 7.7 %
NEW Scenario : 100 students, 61 cheaters , lets assume 6 cheaters are caught --> 61 % cheating, vigilance efficiency = 6/61 or 9.8 %
Therefore, improved vigilance efficiency in the recent years CAN explain why cheaters are less, but more are being caught.
Hope this helps a little!