An analysis of student spending habits has found that a student spends

Question

An analysis of student spending habits has found that a student spends less on miscellaneous expenses the more automated – based on digital payment methods and automated billing – the student’s expense management system is. The more automated a student’s expense management system is, however, the more is the student’s miscellaneous stationery expenses.

Which of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

A. The less automated a student’s expense management system is, the more the student spends on entertainment expenses.
B. The less automated a student’s expense management system is, the less he or she spends on miscellaneous expenses.
C. The number of students who rely on a highly automated expense management system is growing.
D. The higher a student’s miscellaneous expenses, the more he or she spends on miscellaneous stationery.
E. The less automated a student’s expense management system is, the smaller is the proportion of miscellaneous stationery expenses in the student’s miscellaneous spending.

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agrasan · Answer

An analysis of student spending habits has found that a student spends less on miscellaneous expenses the more automated – based on digital payment methods and automated billing – the student’s expense management system is. The more automated a student’s expense management system is, however, the more is the student’s miscellaneous stationery expenses.

Which of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

A. The less automated a student’s expense management system is, the more the student spends on entertainment expenses.
 Incorrect , we know nothing about entertainment expenses, it can be possible that these expenses are constant.

B. The less automated a student’s expense management system is, the less he or she spends on miscellaneous expenses.
 Incorrect , we are only given about  miscellaneous stationery expenses , not miscellaneous expenses in general.

C. The number of students who rely on a highly automated expense management system is growing.
 Incorrect , very far stretch.

D. The higher a student’s miscellaneous expenses, the more he or she spends on miscellaneous stationery.
 Correct , we can infer this, based on the logic, higher A then higher B, and higher B then higher C. So higher A, higher C.

E. The less automated a student’s expense management system is, the smaller is the proportion of miscellaneous stationery expenses in the student’s miscellaneous spending.
 Incorrect , we don't know about the composition of miscellaneous spending so talking about the proportion is a far stretch.

egmat · Answer

Understanding the Stimulus:

The passage establishes  two relationships :

Relationship 1:  More automated system →  LESS  miscellaneous expenses
 Relationship 2:  More automated system →  MORE  miscellaneous stationery expenses

Note that  miscellaneous stationery is a  subset  of miscellaneous expenses (stationery is one type of miscellaneous expense).

The Key Insight:

Let's flip the relationships to match what the answer choices are testing:

• Less automation →  MORE  total miscellaneous spending (inverse of R1)
• Less automation →  LESS  stationery spending (inverse of R2)

Therefore:  With less automation, you have a  SMALLER  stationery amount inside a  BIGGER  total miscellaneous amount.

This means stationery becomes a  smaller proportion  of the total.

Eliminating the Wrong Choices:

(A)  Entertainment expenses are never mentioned in the passage. We cannot infer anything about them.

(B)  This  contradicts  the stimulus. Less automated = MORE miscellaneous expenses (not less).

(C)  The passage describes correlations, not trends over time. No information about growing numbers of students.

(D)  This reverses the logic. Higher misc expenses correlate with LESS automation, which means LESS stationery (not more).

(E)   Correct approach  - Less automated means:
→ Total misc expenses:  HIGHER 
→ Stationery expenses:  LOWER 
→ Proportion (stationery/total):  SMALLER

Answer: E

Dereno · Answer

An analysis of student spending habits is being studied. The main findings are:

LESS   miscellaneous expenses  means the student has spent  MORE  on  Automated digital bill payments. OR  specifically  MORE  automated is the student expense management system.

The MORE automated the system has contributed a high Miscellaneous Stationery Expenses ( Which is contradictory to the norm - since the usage of the word however).

Moreover, another important aspect is Miscellaneous Stationery expense is a part of the general Miscellaneous Expenses.

We need to look for the inference -  that MUST BE TRUE, based on the facts provided.

A. The less automated a student’s expense management system is, the more the student spends on entertainment expenses.

The direction cannot be reversed, and moreover, the less automated bill system may or may not lead to a lesser miscellaneous expense. But, not according to the given relationship. The option speaks about a new expense called the entertainment expense. Hence, Wrong.

B. The less automated a student’s expense management system is, the less he or she spends on miscellaneous expenses.

As per the relation, less miscellaneous expenses will lead to more automated student expense management system is. If the student automated expense management system is less, then he eventually ends up spending more on the miscellaneous expenses. Hence, option is contradicting the original statement. Thus, wrong.

C. The number of students who rely on a highly automated expense management system is growing.

This option paints a generalised claim about the inclination towards highly automated expense management systems. Hence, Wrong.

D. The higher a student’s miscellaneous expenses, the more he or she spends on miscellaneous stationery.

This is actually correct in the real time, but does the relationship project this particular aspect in the side manner is a big NO. A more miscellaneous stationery expense occurs because of a more automated expense management system, and a lesser miscellaneous expenses. Hence, Wrong.

E. The less automated a student’s expense management system is, the smaller is the proportion of miscellaneous stationery expenses in the student’s miscellaneous spending.

This is the correct answer. If the automated student expense management system, which is the link between the other two parts is kept LESS.

The miscellaneous stationery expense becomes LESS. ( direct relationship)

The miscellaneous expenses increases (i.e.,) MORE. ( Inverse relationship).

Hence, miscellaneous stationery expense which is a part of the miscellaneous expenses, have spent lesser compared to the entire miscellaneous expense.

Option E

vasu1104 · Answer

the less miscellaneous expenses - the more automated their expense. 
 the more automated expense = more miscellaneous stationary expense

3 different things to focus on. 
 1) miscellaneous expense 
 2) automated expense management system 
 3) miscellaneous stationary expense

now its saying is if 1st is less then 2nd is more. and if 2nd is more then 3rd is more.
 
so if 1st is more then 2nd is less and if 2nd is less then 3rd is less.

A this cant be true. out of scope 
 B no this is wrong reverse of given stems. so reject 
 C completely irrelevant 
 D we cant make connection directly based on what we have been given. 
 E we can make this one for sure. if automation is less then total spending goes up and stationary expense goes down.
that means denominator is increasing and numerator is decreasing so overall proportion is going down

ExpertsGlobal5 · Answer

Video explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoU636fR4kY

monkinaferrari · Answer

Hi egmat, in such question can we always believe that if its given that x increases then y decreases in that case we can suppose that if x decreases then y will increase ? does this approach always work ? i have come across a number of questions where if sucha realtion is given we cant infer that reverse is true

An analysis of student spending habits has found that a student spends

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