Self-study
The basic ingredients from which cement is made are both cheap and plentiful. █████████ ██ ██████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ███ █████████████ ███ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ███████ ███ █████ ███████████ ████ ██████ ██ ████████████████ █████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ███████
Stimulus Summary
The basic ingredients of cement (limestone and clay) are cheap and plentiful. So you'd expect cement to be cheap too. But the stimulus tells us cement prices are influenced by oil prices, and the reason given is that turning the ingredients into cement uses high-temperature kilns that burn through large amounts of energy.
Anticipation
For the kilns' energy use to explain why oil prices matter to cement, oil has to be one of the things powering those kilns.
1.
Which one of the following ███ ██ █████████ ████████ ████ ███ ████████
a
Oil is one ██ ███ █████ ███████████ ████ ████ ██ ███████
Oil isn't a basic ingredient. The stimulus is explicit that the basic ingredients are limestone and clay, and those are the things described as cheap and plentiful. The stimulus actually contrasts oil with the ingredients. Oil is mentioned as a cost driver through energy use, not as something that goes into the cement itself.
b
Oil is a ██████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███████
The stimulus says oil prices influence cement prices because kilns use lots of energy. For that "because" to make sense, oil has to be supplying at least some of that energy. Otherwise there'd be no path from oil prices to cement prices.
c
The higher the █████ ██ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ██████
Unsupported. The stimulus says oil prices influence cement prices. It says nothing about cement prices turning around and influencing clay prices. Clay is described as cheap and plentiful, which suggests its price isn't being pushed around by what's happening downstream in the cement market.
d
Whenever oil prices █████ ██████ ██████ █████
If oil prices rise, the energy bill for running the kilns rises with them, which should push cement prices up, not down. The whole reason oil shows up in the stimulus is that energy is a major cost of making cement. A rising cost generally raises a product's price.
e
A given amount ██ ██████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███ █████ ████████████
Anti-supported. Making cement costs the price of the ingredients plus the energy to run the kilns. The stimulus tells us that energy bill is large enough to make oil prices matter. So a given amount of cement should cost more than its ingredients alone, not "no more."