In 2003, the Making Hits Record Company

We are being asked to draw a conclusion that is completely supported by the text. The text contains a lot of numbers, but the numbers are relative information (percentages). There is not a single dollar figure in the information.

Option A asks us to extend the situation found in the text into a generalization of all music sales. However, we cannot do so because we do not know that either of these companies is typical of the industry. We have no information about that.

Option B asks us to draw an inference with discrete numbers (a total dollar figure) when all we have is relative information (percentages). Without at least one discrete piece of information, we can only make relative statements.

Option C asks us to draw a conclusion about the money made when we have no discrete dollar figures. Since we have no information about dollars, we cannot do so.

Option D is the credited response. All we need to know is that all percentages add up to 100 percent. We can then calculate that Making Hits Company spent 30% of its budget on overhead whereas The Song Factory spent only 20%

Option E asks us to infer a causal relationship between two pieces of information when information about what causes what is not in the text. We cannot assume that one thing causes another just because they occurred together.