D) The hottest guy in school is less hot than the hottest guy in the
county.(Answer: C)In order to answer this question, you have to pay close attention to precisely
what the first graph is recording. If we look at the preceding text, we see that our
anonymous texter is comparing Johnny’s individual hotness to the average
hotness of guys in the school, county, and state. Does this mean that Johnny is
the hottest? No! There could be someone hotter in the state, but also enough
disgusting manimals (to use the technical term) to drag down the average. So A
is wrong. Similarly, we know nothing about the number of hot guys at the state
or county level, so B is out as well. Finally, we know nothing about the hottest
individual guy in school, nor the hottest individual guy in the county, so D is out.
That leaves us with C, our correct answer. Let’s try another:
The author’s efforts to woo Johnny are best advanced by her claim that she is
hotter than
A) Jessica and Penny’s combined hotness.
B) Rebecca, Penny, and Jessica’s combined hotness.
C) Rebecca and Penny’s combined hotness.
D) none of the three girls who like Johnny.(Answer: B)
Don’t pick the first answer that seems right. A, B, and C are all true, but B is the most compelling claim and the one that takes the wholegraph into consideration.
—SamanthaAs you can see, most infographic questions are straightforward, but they
require close, careful reading of the graph AND the question. If you were
speeding through, you might accidentally pick A or C. Let’s try another:
According to the author’s measurements, the boys at the author’s high
school are
A) hotter than the average for the state, but not the county.
B) hotter than the average for the county, but not the state.
C) hotter than the county and state averages.
D) less hot than the county and state averages.