CR Question

by **Shib** Sat Jun 23, 2007 3:52 am

Source:LSAT Practice Test

Each December 31 in Country Q, a tally is made of
the country’s total available coal supplies"”that is,
the total amount of coal that has been mined
throughout the country but not consumed. In 1991
that amount was considerably lower than it had been
in 1990. Furthermore, Country Q has not imported or
exported coal since 1970.
If the statements above are true, which one of the
following must also be true on the basis of them?
(A) In Country Q, more coal was mined in 1990 than
was mined in 1991.
(B) In Country Q, the amount of coal consumed in
1991 was greater than the amount of coal
mined in 1991.
(C) In Country Q, the amount of coal consumed in
1990 was greater than the amount of coal
consumed in 1991.
(D) In Country Q, the amount of coal consumed in
1991 was greater than the amount of coal
consumed in 1990.
(E) In Country Q, more coal was consumed during
the first half of 1991 than was consumed
during the first half of 1990.

The correct answer is B.Whats wrong with A.

by **Shib** Sat Jun 23, 2007 3:54 am

just to be more specific:The source is The Official LSAT Sample Prep Test

by **StaceyKoprince** Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:59 pm

FYI: the LSAT and the GMAT are no longer written by the same company (as of a couple of years ago), so I no longer recommend using LSAT questions for practice.

The tally doesn't indicate what has been mined in a particular year - it just indicates what is available at the end fo any given year. You don't know that the excess coal available at the end of 1990 was actually mined IN 1990. It could have been mined in, say, 1989 and then they could have had such a mild winter that a ton was left over.

If the overall tally went down in the very next year (1991), though, then you do know they must have used more than they produced that year.