Self-paced
On the basis of incontestable proof that car safety seats will greatly reduce the number of serious injuries sustained by children in car accidents, laws have been passed mandating the use of these seats. █████████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ █████ ████ █ █████ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ █████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████████ ████ ██████ █████ ████ ████████████ ████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ██ ██████████
Summary: Unexpected Phenomenon
The stimulus describes an unexpected phenomenon. Although there is "incontestable proof" that car safety seats "greatly reduce" the number of serious injuries children sustain in car accidents, after laws mandating the use of these seats were passed, it was found that "a large number" of children riding in safety seats continue to receive the sorts of injuries those seats were designed to prevent, and have been shown to be effective in preventing.
8.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████
a
Many parents are ███████ ███ ███ ██ ███ █████ ██████ █████ ███ █████ █████████
Incorrect. Even if (A) is true, the phenomenon we're interested in is why children who are riding in safety seats are still getting injured. So (A) is irrelevant.
b
Children are more ██████ ██ ████ ██████████ █████ ███ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████
(B) might be tempting: if children are going on more automobile trips, maybe it makes sense that more accidents are occurring where children are injured. But the higher frequency of automobile trips alone does not explain the unusually high frequency of children receiving injuries while riding in safety seats specifically designed to prevent those injuries.
Remember that the safety seats have been shown to be effective in preventing these injuries. So if, in testing, these seats were shown to reduce these injuries to 1% of cases in an accident, but now, 20% of children riding in a safety seat still receive these kinds of injuries in an accident, what we need to explain is why these seats are apparently malfunctioning. Just saying "people are driving more often" doesn't explain why the seats aren't working like they should. We need some additional explanation as to why the children are receiving these specific types of injuries more often than expected.
c
The high cost ██ █████ ██████ █████ ███ ██████ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ██████████ █████
Incorrect. As we discussed for (A), the phenomenon we're interested in is why children who are riding in these seats are still getting injured. So what happens to children whose parents haven't yet purchased safety seats, whether those parents just choose not to drive with their children or choose to drive their children without safety seats, isn't relevant.
d
The car safety ████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ██ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ██████████
Incorrect. The reason the phenomenon in the stimulus is so unexpected is not just that children are sustaining "some" injuries from car accidents, but that many children are specifically continuing to sustain the kinds of injuries that safety seats were designed to prevent.
e
The protection afforded ██ █████ ██████ █████ ███████ ██ █████ █████ ████ █████████ █████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ███
Correct. If (E) is true, and many parents are failing to use these safety seats properly, this helps explain why many children are still sustaining these types of injuries despite riding in safety seats.