Question 7·Easy·Inferences
In 2022, the small city of Brookhaven replaced half of its streetlights with high-efficiency LED fixtures. After one year, the city’s annual electricity spending on streetlighting fell by 40 percent, allowing officials to divert the savings to park improvements. City leaders are now debating whether to replace the remaining older fixtures as well.
Based on the passage, which statement is most reasonable to infer about the city leaders’ expectations?
For SAT Reading questions that ask what is “most reasonable to infer” or “most logically completes the text,” first restate in your own words what clearly happened in the passage (especially causes and effects). Then ask: given these facts, what would the people in the passage likely expect next? Eliminate any choice that introduces new topics, extreme predictions, or details not hinted at in the text, and choose the answer that extends the existing pattern or logic in a modest, supported way.
Hints
Focus on cause and effect
Look at what happened after half the streetlights were replaced with LED fixtures. How did this change affect the city’s electricity spending?
Think about why leaders would consider more changes
City leaders are now debating whether to replace the remaining fixtures. Given the result of the first replacement, what outcome are they probably hoping for if they continue?
Watch out for new, unsupported ideas
Eliminate any answer choices that introduce topics not mentioned in the passage, such as long-term pricing trends or residents’ voting behavior.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify what the question is asking
The question asks: "Based on the passage, which statement is most reasonable to infer about the city leaders’ expectations?" This means you are not looking for something directly stated, but for what the leaders likely expect given the information in the passage. Any correct answer must:
- Be consistent with the facts given.
- Reflect a logical expectation the leaders could have.
- Avoid adding new, unsupported ideas.
Pull out the key facts from the passage
From the passage, note these details:
- In 2022, Brookhaven replaced half of its streetlights with high-efficiency LED fixtures.
- After one year, the city’s annual electricity spending on streetlighting fell by 40 percent.
- Because of that drop, officials could divert the savings to park improvements.
- Now, city leaders are debating whether to replace the remaining older fixtures as well.
So the leaders have already seen that switching to LEDs leads to big electricity savings, and they are now considering doing more of the same change.
Infer the leaders’ likely expectation
Ask yourself: If replacing half the streetlights with LEDs reduced electricity spending by 40%, why would city leaders now consider replacing the remaining older fixtures?
The most logical reason is that they expect a similar effect from the remaining switch as from the first one. In other words, they likely believe that continuing the LED replacement will continue the positive trend they already observed (less spending on electricity, more money available for other uses).
Match the inference to the answer choices
Now compare each answer choice to the situation:
- Choices that talk about long-term LED prices, park funding being completely solved, or resident voting are not mentioned or hinted at in the passage.
- Only one choice reflects the clear pattern already shown: switching lights to LEDs leads to lower electricity spending, and leaders considering more switching means they probably expect even more savings.
Therefore, the best answer is: electricity spending will decrease further if the remaining streetlights are switched to LED fixtures.