Q12 - On average, cars fed canned cat food

[mshinners]

Question Type:
Inference (Most Strongly Supported)

Stimulus Breakdown:
1) Avg. canned-food cat eats less than avg. dry-food cat
2) Canned food has more calories/ounce
3) Feeding canned cat food typically costs more

Answer Anticipation:
There's a lot of overlap between the first and third statements. Putting them together, it can be inferred that canned food must cost more per ounce than dry food (since it costs more overall but cats eat less of it).

Correct answer:
(E)

Answer choice analysis:
(A) They eat less of something with more calories. That could balance out, or it could result in one group eating more calories. Since we can't say, we can't pick this answer.

(B) There's nothing in the stimulus that suggests these are the only two options. While the stimulus is concerned with comparing these two options, there could be others.

(C) Degree. "Only on"? There could be other factors (possibly how fast it spoils).

(D) This answer doesn't even sound right. Since we know that canned cat food, at least, costs something, it seems as if more food = more cost.

(E) Almost exactly the anticipation!

Takeaway/Pattern:
Always look for the overlap between statements and see if there's a hidden comparison that can be drawn.

#officialexplanation