Bunuel wrote:
Tooten County is populated by a significantly lower percentage of young families than the typical county in the nation. Yet, per capita retail sales of children's bicycles are above the national average.
Which of the following, if true, best reconciles the seeming paradox described above?
A. The two leading retailers of children's bicycles in Tooten County spend a remarkable 50% of their marketing budget on attracting residents of neighboring counties.
B. A local manufacturer of children's bicycles has just announced that national sales are up 20% over last year.
C. Retail outlets in Tooten County import the majority of their children's bicycles from Canada.
D. Elementary schools in Tooten County continue to promote the values of exercise to its students.
E. Residents of Tooten County rent children's bicycles as about the same rate as residents of other counties in the nation.
Official Explanation
The phrase "reconciles the seeming paradox" identifies this as an Explain question, which requires finding the one answer that explains the central mystery of the stimulus.
The mystery is: Why is a community with fewer young families selling more children's bicycles than the national average?
The discrepancy can be explained by any reason why bike sales may be higher in the county than in other places. Perhaps there's a lot of grandparents purchasing the bicycles as gifts? Or the prices in the county are much lower? Keep the general prediction firmly in mind, but be flexible applying it to the specific situation the correct choice may describe.
(A) is correct. By attracting customers from other counties, the bike store can have above-average sales of children's bikes despite the lack of local children.
(B) might explain increased sales, but it does not address why this store is doing above average in an area with fewer children.
(C) is irrelevant. The mystery is about who the bikes are being sold to, not where they bikes are imported from.
(D) might seem tempting as it might help explain why the children of Tooten County would be encouraged to ride bicycles, but it does not offer any evidence that this would account for the greater sales of bicycles.
(E) refers to rentals, so it is of no relevance to the question.