It seemed to me that C was a trivial answer because it simply gives the definition of an average. In any set, there will be instances where a subset will be higher or lower than the average. That is by definition an average.
For example, I can say “for some portion of X year, the volume of stocks traded was higher or lower than the average for that year.” This would stand true for every year that stocks were traded. It is the same as saying for some portion of your life, you were alive. It seems trivial in that sense.
True, but C specifically says that the volume of the stock market was higher than average for some portion of that year. So, even though the volume was considerably low during the weeks after the drop, the portion higher than average counterbalanced it. If this were true, the overall volume that year could remain almost the same as the year before that. It resolves the paradox
I get the reasoning behind the answer. I’m saying that it seems like a poorly worded choice because C is a truism, it is by default true because that is the definition of an average. There will always be portions of the year where it is higher than the average. My guess before looking at the answer choices was that the stocks bought before or after the drop was higher to compensate for the lows. I know that C is the closest answer to that guess but I still think its poorly worded because it doesn’t necessarily resolve the paradox. It would be better if it stated that the highs at a different time counterbalanced or compensated the lows. Simply saying some portion is higher than the average doesn’t really help because it is a truism.
Your guess was pretty accurate! Yeah, it does seem like an obvious piece of information, but I suppose that’s where inference comes in. Put it this way, if ETS had written lower than average instead of higher, then that could add to the contradiction, not resolve it… By saying some portion could be higher, it leaves open the possibility of the volume balancing out. Maybe it could be better worded. But I think C makes the most logical sense of them all.
