Graduate schools have begun to check whether applicants for

[S swerve]

Graduate schools have begun to check whether applicants for admission are in default on government-guaranteed student loans. Any application submitted by an applicant who fails this test is not processed. Though all applications are tested, it is thought that 3 percent of the applications that fail represent only three-quarters of the incoming applications from individuals in default. Consequently, approximately 1 percent of the applications that are processed are those of applicants in default who remain undetected.

Which of the following inferences about the consequences of instituting the new procedure is best supported by the passage above?

A. The rate of default on government-guaranteed student loans will probably increase by 1 percent.
B. The rate of default on government-guaranteed student loans will probably decrease.
C. The number of applications received by graduate schools will decrease.
D. The percentage of applications processed by graduate schools may decrease.
E. The percentage of loan applications from students applying to graduate school is likely to increase.

The OA is D

Source: Princeton Review

[BTG Expert Team]

What we see: a Critical Reasoning inference question. We need the one choice the passage's facts support, with nothing added from outside.

Step 1. Read the new procedure.
What we see: graduate schools now check whether each applicant is in default on a government-guaranteed student loan. "Any application submitted by an applicant who fails this test is not processed."
What it means: before the check, schools processed every application they took in. Now some are stopped. The passage puts the ones that fail at about 3 percent.
What we do and why: if applications that used to go through are now stopped, the share of applications that get processed drops below what it was. That is a safe conclusion from the facts alone.

Step 2. Read the 1 percent carefully.
What we see: about 1 percent of the applications that are processed still come from people in default who were not caught.
What it means: this number is about who slips past the check. It says nothing about how many people will default on loans in the future.
What we do and why: so any choice that predicts a change in default rates goes beyond the facts.

Step 3. Match the choices.
The choice saying the percentage of applications processed may decrease fits Step 1: some applications that used to be processed are now stopped. The word "may" keeps the claim safe.
A: the 1 percent is the share of processed applications from undetected defaulters, not a 1 percent rise in default rates. Right number, wrong meaning.
B: the passage never says the check makes anyone repay a loan. It may happen in real life, but nothing here supports it.
C: the passage is about what schools do with the applications they get, not how many arrive.
E: loan applications are never counted in the passage.

The trap: B. It sounds like the reason schools started checking. But the passage gives no fact about how borrowers act, only about which applications get processed.
Takeaway: On an inference question, pick the choice that follows from the facts on the page. A prediction about what people will do next needs facts the passage does not give.

Answer: D