Critical Reasoning

When Tim's Tools opened in the town of Hockney last year, the owners of Evan's Equipment-the only other hardware store in town-feared that revenue would suffer. However, since then, the average number of tools sold per day at Evan's Equipment has increased significantly.

Which of the following, if true, provides the best explanation for the apparent discrepancy described above?

A. Tim's Tools attracts a large number of its customers from neighboring towns, and on many days, the store attracts more customers than its staff can help.
B. Evan's Equipment sells more tools on weekends than it does on weekdays, which is not the case at Tim's Tools.
C. Tim's Tools is closed on Sundays, and residents of Hockney must either go to Evan's Equipment or drive to a nearby town.
D. The profit per tool is higher, on average, at Tim's Tools than it is at Evan's Equipment.
E. Tools at Evan's Equipment cost less than those offered at Tim's Tools.

Not able to find a reason good enough to explain the increase in sales. Any explanations?

coderversion1 wrote:When Tim's Tools opened in the town of Hockney last year, the owners of Evan's Equipment-the only other hardware store in town-feared that revenue would suffer. However, since then, the average number of tools sold per day at Evan's Equipment has increased significantly.

Which of the following, if true, provides the best explanation for the apparent discrepancy described above?

A. Tim's Tools attracts a large number of its customers from neighboring towns, and on many days, the store attracts more customers than its staff can help.
B. Evan's Equipment sells more tools on weekends than it does on weekdays, which is not the case at Tim's Tools.
C. Tim's Tools is closed on Sundays, and residents of Hockney must either go to Evan's Equipment or drive to a nearby town.
D. The profit per tool is higher, on average, at Tim's Tools than it is at Evan's Equipment.
E. Tools at Evan's Equipment cost less than those offered at Tim's Tools.

Not able to find a reason good enough to explain the increase in sales. Any explanations?

D

Conclusion: However, since then, the average number of tools sold per day at Evan's Equipment has increased significantly.

Explanation: Tim's tools makes on average a higher profit on each tool than Evan's Equipment, does. For Evan's Equipent to see an increase in sales, it relies on volume.

on these types of questions you want to set up a question with the two contradictory facts and determine which answer choice answers that question fully. The question is why (fact #2) if (fact #1) [ on occasion the facts can be reversed to make sense]

So here the question is why did sales increase if a new competitor opened locally.

A) says that the new competitor attracts more new customers than it can help - this could explain how the revenue in the other store went up, they are getting the overflow from the new store.

B)The day of the week is not at issue here, only total sales.

C) See explanation for B

D) profit is a common distractor on this test - the paragraph does not talk about profit or revenue only abut sales so profit is irrelevant.

E) See explanation for D - cost is irrelevant. This could be a reason why Evan sells more than Tim, however it does not explain how sales went up when Tim came to town.

tpr-becky wrote:on these types of questions you want to set up a question with the two contradictory facts and determine which answer choice answers that question fully. The question is why (fact #2) if (fact #1) [ on occasion the facts can be reversed to make sense]

So here the question is why did sales increase if a new competitor opened locally.

A) says that the new competitor attracts more new customers than it can help - this could explain how the revenue in the other store went up, they are getting the overflow from the new store.

Great question and nice explanation. Thanks.