OE
Even though the passage is only one sentence long, you should have read the question “Which of the following statements directly contradicts this claim?” first. Unfortunately, there are many ways to contradict the claim made in that sentence. So there is no point in trying to think of one, and then looking to see if it is one of the five choices. You simply must read each choice, and then, by process of elimination, find the correct one. The passage states that the death row population increased. Choice A confirms this (and says nothing about the general prison population). Choice A is incorrect.
Choice B compares the proportion of new death row inmates to the number of people convicted of murder, not to the general prison population. Choice B is incorrect.
Choice C states that the number of people executed each year went up. If the number of people executed each year went up, the death row population might have decreased (thereby contradicting the first part of the claim), but not necessarily (not if they were replaced by many more people being sentenced to death). Choice C is incorrect.
Choice D doesn’t guarantee that the claim is true, but it comes closer to confirming it than to contradicting it. Even if fewer people were sentenced to death each year, some still were, so the number of people on death row might have increased. Again, this answer choice makes no reference to the general prison population. Choice D is incorrect.
Choice E is a little harder to analyze. Because it refers to an increase, many students would not choose it, thinking it confirms rather than refutes the claim. However, you must analyze it. Having definitively rejected Choices A, B, C, and D, you know, by the process of elimination, that Choice E must be the correct answer. Let’s examine why, in fact, it is.
The passage claims the death row population increased at a slower rate than the prison population did. This means that the proportion of death row inmates in the prison population actually decreased. Choice E, which states that the proportion increased, is a direct contradiction of that claim.
Answer: E
11 Jun 2025, 11:28
40%
(01:16) wrong 
