A study question tests whether you can draw a conclusion from a change and its results. Read the sentence before the blank to decide what it needs, then name each group or time period and what happened in it. Compare what changed with what stayed the same, so you can check how the results differ across groups or time periods. Predict a limited conclusion that stays within what the study shows. Wrong choices often claim more than the results show.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read the sentence that compares weekend and weekday ridership. Check what happened on each set of days.
- Hint 2
Use the officials' statement to test your conclusion. What does it add to the ridership results?
Step-by-step
Compare the days and limit the conclusion
Step 1Name the change and its result
The city changed the cost of weekend travel by eliminating bus fares on Saturdays and Sundays. What happened after that change? The text says weekend bus ridership rose by 40 percent, so our conclusion needs to connect free rides with more weekend riders.
- Step 2
Use the weekday comparison
Next, weekday ridership remained unchanged. Was the rise a change across the whole week? No, it appeared on the days when fares were removed, and officials said many people chose the bus over driving when it was free. Together, those clues suggest the price affected whether people took the bus, rather than showing a general increase in bus use.
- Step 3
Make the smallest supported conclusion
What does that suggest about the old weekend fares? More people chose the bus when it was free, so paying had likely put some riders off. The phrase discouraged some potential riders matches that limited conclusion without claiming that fares held back every traveler. Choice B.