Self-study
The technical sophistication of commercial fishing equipment increased steadily from 1960 through 2010, which enabled the commercial fishing industry to harvest a greater percentage of the total amount of fish, by weight, in the world's oceans in each succeeding year during that time. ███ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ████████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ███ ███ ████████ █████ █████
Summary
Commercial fishing equipment became more technically sophisticated from 1960 through 2010.
The commercial fishing industry has been able to harvest a greater percentage of the total amount of fish in the ocean by weight each succeeding year from 1960 through 2010.
The industry’s harvest by weight increased from 1960 until 1995,
The industry’s harvest by weight did not increase from 1995 through 2010.
Notable Valid Inferences
From 1995 through 2010, each year, the industry harvested a greater percentage of the total amount of fish in the ocean (by weight), but the amount of fish harvested by weight did not increase. This means that the total amount of fish by weight in the ocean decreased each year from 1995 through 2010.
25.
If the statements above are █████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ██ █████
a
After 1995, the ██████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ ████████ ██████████ ███ ███ ███████ ██████ ██ ████ ████ █████████ ██████████
Could be false. All of the information in the stimulus is about fish by weight; we have no information about the number of fish harvested or the average weight of each fish.
b
After 2010, improvements ██ ██████████ ███████ █████████ ███ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ████████ ██ ███████ █ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████
Could be false. The stimulus does not provide information about what happened technologically after 2010.
c
The total amount ██ █████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ █████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ ████ ██ █████
Must be true. In order for it to be true that the industry harvested a greater percentage of the total weight of fish in the ocean, but the amount of fish harvested by weight did not increase, it must be the case that the total amount of fish by weight in the ocean decreased.
d
The commercial fishing ██████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██ █████
Could be false. We know that the commercial fishing industry’s harvest by weight was not higher in 2010 than it was in 1995, but it could be true that the harvest was the same or only slightly lower.
e
No significant improvements ██ ██████████ ███████ █████████ ████████ ██████ █████
Could be false. We know that the technical sophistication increased steadily from 1960 through 2010; we don’t have any information about the equipment before 1960.