Bunuel
The paintings of French painter Trianne Dejere sold best in the period following the production of La Triump now Dejere's most famous piece. In the 12-month period preceding the unveiling of this piece, Dejere sold 57% of the works she produced in this period, a far greater percentage than in previous years. In the 12-month period following a glowing review of La Triumph in a popular magazine, however, Dejere sold 85% of the paintings she produced. Interestingly, Dejere's revenue from painting sales was roughly the same in both periods, since she sold the same number of paintings in the 12 months before presenting La Triumph as she did in the 12 months following the favorable review.
Which of the following statements can be properly concluded from the passage, if the information above is true?
(A) Due to the positive review, Dejere was able to charge substantially more for the works produced after La Triumph than the works produced before it.
(B) Dejere was more concerned with positive reviews than with increasing the prices of her paintings.
(C) The positive review of La Triumph brought Dejere's work to the attention of more art collectors than were previously aware of her work.
(D) Dejere painted fewer works in the 12-month period following the review of La Triumph than she had in the 12-month period preceding its unveiling.
(E) Dejere paid more attention to marketing her paintings after La Triumph received such a positive reception
KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:
Trianne Dejere's paintings sold best after she revealed her most famous piece. In the twelve months before that unveiling, she sold 57% of her works. In the 12 months following the unveiling, she sold 85% of her works. Nevertheless, in both periods, she sold the same number of paintings.
An 800 test taker zeroes in on percents and ratios, knowing that the test makers often test his ability to distinguish between rates and raw numbers.
We need to consider what conclusion this evidence would support. If 57% equals the same number of paintings before the unveiling as 85% equals after the unveiling, then Dejere must have produced more paintings in the period before the unveiling; that's the only way that the numbers could work out. (D) states this from the other angle: Dejere must have painted fewer paintings after the unveiling.
(D) is the correct answer.(A) The author tells us that revenue from both periods is equal since Dejere sells the same number of paintings in both. Therefore, if she had charged more in the second period, she would have made more money than she had in the first, which would contradict the stimulus. Because this is inconsistent with the passage, it certainly can't be inferred from it.
(B) The information given pertains solely to the hard facts of the matter: the number sold and revenues gained during different time periods. (B) is therefore outside of the scope of the argument, since the author never mentions Dejere's motivations for painting. We can't reasonably conclude anything about her "concerns" here.
(C) if anything, might suggest that Dejere sold more paintings in the second period, which the stimulus explicitly contradicts. Further, the stimulus provides no information about how art collectors might have responded to the review, giving us no basis to form a conclusion about those collectors.
(E) might also suggest that sales would be higher in the second period, but we know that the sales were the same. However, there's really no reason to look this deeply into it. The main reason for chopping (E) is because marketing is never discussed.
An 800 test taker does not read more into a stimulus than what's given.