PrepTest 144, Section 2, Question 20
Professor: The number of new university students who(44 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(8 more words not shown)
- AMany students enter(12 more words not shown)
- BThere has been(17 more words not shown)
- CMany students are(13 more words not shown)
- DJob prospects for(16 more words not shown)
- EOver the years,(18 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Where are the chemistry students going?
Just as many students enter as chemistry majors, but fewer finish with chemistry degrees. Better job prospects make that more surprising: we'd expect an attractive career to give students a reason to stay.
Maybe they're switching to biology or economics. Maybe they're finding jobs before graduation and leaving without the degree. Either could explain why entering the major isn't the same as completing it.
What we’re looking for
But why would that happen more over the past decade? Saying that students sometimes change majors won't explain a decline unless something has changed. Perhaps the courses have become less interesting and more students are losing interest. We need a reason more of the students who begin in chemistry would now fail to finish there.
Working the answers
- A
Inadequate preparation could explain why some students don't complete chemistry degrees. But A doesn't say preparation has worsened during the decade. Without that change, it doesn't explain why fewer degrees are being earned now despite a steady number of entering majors.
- B
This puts chemistry within a broader decline in natural-science degrees. It doesn't explain the cause of either decline. Learning that related fields share the outcome leaves us still asking why students are finishing less often.
- C
Being unsure about a major could lead students to switch. But were entering students less uncertain ten years ago? The answer gives us no change over time. We need to explain the declining number of graduates, not just the existence of students who reconsider their choice.
- D
Other science careers being just as promising could give chemistry students another attractive option. Yet the answer doesn't say those alternatives have become relatively more attractive over the decade. The comparison alone doesn't account for a newly increasing loss of chemistry majors.
- ECorrect
First-year chemistry has become more routine and less intellectually appealing over the years. Students may enter interested in the subject, encounter less engaging courses, and decide to study something else. This supplies both a reason to leave and a change over time that helps explain the decline. Good job prospects don't guarantee students will finish a major they no longer enjoy.
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