Official TSA Inferences Questions (2008-2019)

Explanation

The correct answer is E.

The passage examines how ecotourism must offer a sustainable substitute to the overuse of natural resources, however it then also illustrates the range of problems that are associated or can be generated by this. These include a reduction in breeding success, stress and diseases. This suggests that the negative outcomes can outweigh the positive, and this is particularly supported by the fact that the passage indicates that ecotourism should offer an alternative that is sustainable, which holds an implication that indeed it doesn’t, therefore E can inferred reliably. Nothing can be inferred about the attributes of the changes observes such as altered behaviour patterns and new diseases, thus the recommendation that they may not be as obvious to a casual observer in A. cannot be confirmed from the passage reliably. The statements C. and D. are not relevant and we have no information, (for example, we cannot tell if the dolphins become frantic when they are near fishing boats) hence this is why neither C. and D. can be reliably inferred. B. also cannot be reliably inferred, this is due to the passage indicating that ecotourism projects are in fact not sustainable because of the damage caused to wildlife.

Explanation

The correct answer is E.

Using ‘s’ to represent small chickens and ‘l’ to represent large chickens, you can form a pair of simultaneous equations: 100=1l+2s and 175=2l+3s. Solving these, you could double the first equation and then subtract the second equation from the doubled first equation: (100=1l+2s)x2=(200+2l+4s), (200=2l+4s)-(175=2l+3s), which gives 25=s. Substituting this value of s into the first original equation: 100=1l+2(25) –> 100=1l+50–> l=50. Therefore 25 pellets feed one small chicken for a day and 50 pellets feed one large chicken for a day. The only statement which contradicts these is E, because 3l+10s would be 3(50)+10(25)=150+250=400, so 350 pellets would nopt be enough to feed three large and ten small chickens for a day.

Explanation

The correct answer is E.

In order for the month of January to contain five Fridays, it must be initiated on one of the following weekdays: Wednesday, Thursday or a Friday and finish on either a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. By listing out the possible combinations of the 31 consecutive days including all the Fridays goes as follows:

MTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTW

TWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWT

WTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTF

TFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFS

FSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSS

SSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSM

SMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMTWTFSSMT

From this we can conclude that A. is true, as Friday has to be either the first, second (if January starts on a Thursday) or third (if it starts on a Wednesday). If January starts on a Wednesday, that means there are five Fridays so B could also be true. C is also true since regardless whichever of the days: Wednesday, Thursday or Friday the month starts on, there will still be only four Tuesdays and D also shows that if the month started on a Friday, the 31st date of the month would have to be a Sunday. Meanwhile, E is not correct and therefore is the answer since there would only be 4 Fridays if Monday would be the 31st.

Explanation

The correct answer is D.

Unless we are given information regarding UK house prices, we cannot assume anything about the prices of Northern Irish houses from the graph because whether they are true or false does not depend on the ratio of Northern Irish to UK house prices but rather it depends on Northern Irish house prices, so we cannot presume that A., B., or E. are correct. Also, without understanding what happened to Northern Ireland house pricing, we cannot infer anything about UK house prices therefore C. cannot be correct. On the other hand, D. is true as the gradient of the graph has been positive for some years which suggests that as a percentage of the UK average in that year, Northern Irish house prices increased, therefore we can conclude the answer for this question as D.

Explanation

The correct answer is C.

It is evident that in:

1990: 40% of the adult population smoked

1991: 30% of the adult population smoked

With this information, we can conclude that between the years of 1990 and 1991, 10% of the population quit smoking. There has been a 25% reduction in the number of adults that smoked (since 10% is 25% of 40%) if we express this as ‘a percentage of the number of smokers in 1990’. The answer is C. because this is how the campaign organisers have conveyed the reduction in percentage of adult smokers within the population.

Explanation

The correct answer is A.

We can assume the number of brochures as X to describe the piece of each structure:

• Price structure 1) cost = X (Y) (Y is cost per brochure)

• Price structure 2) cost = W + X(Z) (W is the fixed price) (Z is cost per brochure). Z is smaller than Y

It is evident that:

• Due to W, Price structure 2 will begin as most expensive

• As Z is smaller than Y and as the number of brochures rises, the price of 1) will increase at a larger pace than 2)

• Price structure 2) will be relatively less expensive compared to 1) as the number of brochures increases until they arrive at a point where they are the same (Equiv)

• Price structure 2) will be cheaper above the point of Equiv

Point Equiv will allow us to tell which price structure is cheaper. For example, if this point is greater than 500, 1) will be cheaper, but on the other hand if it is less than 500, then 2) will be cheaper.

Explanation

The correct answer is C.

A. is incorrect because we cannot assume from the passage that the removal of these two heavy metals would determine that the sludge is safe as it is not clear enough to be stated from the passage. Also, the passage does not claim if it is potentially possible to make the sewage sludge safe or if it is just easier to discard in the North sea which is why both D. and E. cannot be reliably confirmed. B. also cannot be correct as it is conflicting to the passage which describes that Zinc kills plants at lower concentration levels that aren’t concentrated enough to harm animals. And thus, C) is the only answer that can be correct.

Explanation

The correct answer is C.

We can assume the % change in wages each time to be X. The wage would decrease by X% of the original wage if the original change was a reduction. The following change would be an increase by X% of a lesser amount so it would not be as big as the original reduction would have been. Also, it would not increase the wage as high as the original either. On the contrary, if the original change was a rise, the wage would increase by X% of the original wage, nonetheless, the following change would be a reduction of X% of a larger amount, therefore being bigger than the original rise and also bringing the wage less than that of the original wage. This suggests that the new wage has to be less than the original wage and C) is correct.

Explanation

The correct answer is E.

A. and B. are incorrect, because the only way Andrew may potentially be able to calculate the number of houses in the street by knowing Amy and the opposite house’s number is if they are numbered along the street consecutively which would be starting at one end, and then going right up to the end and back down the other side of the street. The case of Andrew figuring out the number of houses in the street cannot be possible if the houses are odd numbered on one side and have even numbers on the other, therefore he cannot calculate how many houses would have a bigger house number than Amy’s.

If the house opposite Amy’s is 26, this means that the house numbers are even on one side but odd on the other, consequently he cannot work out how many houses there are. This could only happen if the opposite house was not 26. Likewise, if the houses are odd numbered on one side and even on the other, Andrew will still not be able to figure out the number of houses on the street if he is aware of the numbers either side of Amy’s house.

Andrew can work out the numbers of the houses either side of Amy’s:

• The number of the house opposite Amy’s house, if it is 26, then it is clear the house numbers are odd one side and even on the other. For this reason the houses on either side of Amy’s house will be numbered 23 and 27.

• If the house opposite Amy’s is not 26, this means that the houses must be numbered consecutively, s the houses either side of Amy are numbered 24 and 26.

Explanation

The correct answer is D.

The question is explicitly asking for a representation of plankton production in southern Polar Regions. Variations of plankton production throughout the year would be more easily observable and detectable on the graph since we are in a polar region. Also, since it would be summer during the duration of the months of December, January and February in the southern hemisphere, indicates there will be a sudden large increase in numbers of plant plankton. D) is the only graph that supports both criteria, therefore D) is correct.

• Option A) A is the same graph for the production in plankton in the northern tropical region so A) is not correct.

• Options B) C) and E) show the increase in plankton production in the winter months of July and August, since it is in the southern hemisphere, these months are during the seasonal winter period so these 3 graphs are also not correct.

Explanation

The correct answer is B.

The same numbers of people were surveyed in each age group. Comparison becomes more straightforward as we can say there were 100 people in each of the groups.

• Option A) Drink A is favoured more in comparison to Drink B for all of the age groups apart from ages 25-35. Thus A) is false

• Option B) the total number of people who preferred Drink B is 103 (20 + 31 + 33 + 19 = 103)

• The total number of people without a preference for any drink is 101 (33 + 12 + 22 + 34 = 101). This means B) is the correct answer

• Option C) 48% of people showed a preference, therefore the rest of the 52% either showed none or are unsure, hence C) has to be false

• Option D) to calculate the total number of people who showed a preference, (total for B + total for A) therefore 103 + 122 = 225. This is larger than 50% of the total number so D) is incorrect.

• Option E) The average ((19 + 19 + 12 + 23)/4 = 18.25%) that is calculated of people who did not know what they preferred is 18.25%. E) is also not correct

Explanation

The correct answer is E.

It is essential to study the tables and truly understand what they both show/suggest. The first table represents that the children of parents who do manual labour achieve less/ aren’t as successful with their GCSE’s than those of children whose parents work in professional or managerial roles. The second table on the other hand suggests that those children in independent school achieve more than those who attend local authority schools. Although there is no solid evidence that there is a direct link with these variables, even though parental occupation/status and type of school do seem to affect studies, this is why A. and B. are not correct.

There is also no proof that one variable is supposedly more important than the other so C) also cannot be correct.

D) is not backed by any information that is provided so D. is also false.

E. is the only correct answer that can be inferred as parental occupation and type of school both affect academic/educational success in their own way.

Explanation

The correct answer is C.

Using method C: 210+26+20+24+28+24+20+24+16+20+18+26=456=the total capacity of all the rooms. 456-420=36=the number of spare seats altogether. Total number of rooms (including the sports hall)=12. 36/12=3=number of empty desks to have in each room. Subtracting 3 away from the capacity of each room then gives the number of students to have in each room.