A table question about a prediction tests whether the numbers support the researchers’ whole claim. Read the prediction first, and separate its parts when it compares one pattern with other measures. Then use the column headings to find the values that test each part. Ask what changes across rows and what stays the same, and check every number a choice gives. A true fact can still miss the claim if it doesn’t test all the measures being compared.
Hints
- Hint 1
Break the prediction into three parts. Which measure do the researchers favor, and which two do they compare it against?
- Hint 2
Continuity across the three periods means a steady supply of flowers throughout the season. Read each row from early season through late season to judge that continuity.
- Hint 3
Calculate the total and highest coverage for each lot. Compare those with brood counts and with how coverage changes across the three periods.
Step-by-step
Compare continuity, totals, and peaks
Step 1Identify the prediction’s parts
The prediction favors continuity of floral resources, meaning flowers stay available throughout the season. What must supporting data show? Brood production should follow that steady supply more closely than cumulative flower coverage across the surveys or maximum coverage in any single survey. Let’s compare each of those measures with the brood counts.
- Step 2
Read the seasonal pattern
The first three number columns show percentage of ground covered by flowers across the season, and the last gives the mean number of successful brood cells per nest. Which lot keeps coverage steady? North’s 32, 31, and 30 barely change, while the other rows rise or fall sharply. North also has the highest brood count, 8.2.
- Step 3
Test totals and peaks
Could cumulative flower coverage across the surveys or maximum coverage in any single survey explain North’s lead? Adding each row gives 93 in every lot; for example, North is 32 + 31 + 30 = 93. The highest readings are 32 for North, 58 for East and South, and 65 for West, so North’s peak is the lowest despite its highest brood count. The totals and peaks don’t follow the brood pattern.
- Step 4
Check how much higher brood production is
How large is North’s lead in brood production? West’s 4.1 is the next-highest mean, and North’s 8.2 is exactly double that. East’s 3.5 and South’s 3.8 are lower still, so the choice’s phrase at least twice as many brood cells is true for every other lot. Choice C.