Self-study
French divers recently found a large cave along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ ████████ ████████ █████ ████████████ █████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ██████████ ██ █ ██████ ████ ██ █ ████ ██████ ███████ ██████ ███████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ████ █████
Summary
French divers found a cave that is only accessible through an underwater tunnel. The cave was nearly filled with water and contains numerous stalagmites. Stalagmites are stony pillars that are form when drops of water repeatedly fall in the same spot on a cave floor.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
The cave was not always filled with water (because the stalagmites had to form from water dripping on the ground)
1.
The information above most strongly ████████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
The Mediterranean Sea ███ ██ █ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██ ██ ████
This is too strong to support. While it is possible that the water in the Mediterranean Sea was lower in the past, this is too large of an assumption to make. All we know is that there is more water in the cave now.
b
The water level ██████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ████
This is strongly supported. The cave is now entirely filled with water. Stalagmites only form when drops of water repeatedly land on a single spot. The water must have risen since the stalagmites were formed.
c
The French divers ████ ███ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ████████
There is no evidence for this anywhere in the stimulus. We are not told who discovered the cave first.
d
There was once ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███████
There is no support for this anywhere in the stimulus. Nothing points to there being another entrance.
e
Seawater in the █████████████ ███ █ █████ ███████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ███████████ ████ █████ ███████
This is far too strong of a statement to support. The mineral content of the water does not play any major role in these statements. You need to make a lot of assumptions to make this work