In the Business program at a university, all candidates for the MBA in

KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
Identify the Question Type:

The phrase “must be true” in the question stem helps identify this as an Inference question. However, this question also provides an additional fact which must be considered in conjunction with the statements in the stimulus: a student in the Business program took a seminar on Microeconomics, but did not take a seminar on Applied Economics.

Untangle the Stimulus:

Start by taking inventory of the facts provided. As described in the passage, International Business candidates who entered the Business program after 1990 were required to take a Microeconomics seminar. Those who entered after 1994 had to take an Applied Economics seminar.

Predict the Answer:

To predict, use the additional information from the question stem: there's a student who took the Microeconomics seminar but not the Applied Economics seminar. The Applied Economics seminar was required for International Business students entering the program after 1994. Therefore, the student in question is either not an International Business student, or did not enter the program after 1994. As for the Microeconomics seminar, that may have become a requirement after 1990, but it still could have been taken any other time. The correct answer must be true based on these deductions.

Evaluate the Choices:

(C) must be true, and is thus correct. If the student was an International Business candidate, that student couldn't enter after 1994 or else Applied Economics would have been required. By not taking Applied Economics, the student must have entered before 1995 (i.e., 1994 or earlier).

Neither (A) nor (B) have to be true. The requirement of Applied Economics is only mentioned for International Business candidates. If the student is not an International Business candidate, no requirements are mentioned, so the student could have entered the Business program in any year without taking Applied Economics.

(D) does not have to be true. The requirement for Applied Economics started after 1994. The student still could have entered any time from 1991 to 1994, as well as the years before that.

(E) does not have to be true. The Microeconomics seminar became a requirement after 1990, but the student could still have entered the program before that and taken the Microeconomics seminar anyway -- even if it wasn't required.

TAKEAWAY: Just because something is not required doesn't mean it can't be done. After all, you're not required to pair peanut butter with jelly, but it sure does taste good to do it anyway!

Can you explain that it's also possible that a student took applied economics prior to 1995 considering the same logic you used(after 1994, if all students took app. econ. then it's possible that one of the students took applied economy prior to 1995). In this case, those answers would be equally true, isn't it?

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