PrepTest 146, Section 3, Question 23

What we’re looking for

Working the answers

• A

  The maintenance might have been scheduled for an excellent reason or a terrible one. Either way, that doesn't establish whether the businessperson could have parked quickly without it. We're evaluating what caused the delay, not whether the maintenance crew chose a sensible date.

• B

  Other attendees might have been delayed too, but they could have arrived at different times or searched in different places. That doesn't settle what would have happened to this businessperson if the front parking area had been open. Several people having trouble today isn't the comparison we need.

• C
  Correct

  'Parking patterns' is a broad way to ask whether spaces are normally available. If the front area and nearby parking are ordinarily full at that time, the businessperson might have had a long search even without the closure. That would undermine the claim that moving the maintenance to another day would have ensured an on-time arrival.

  If, instead, an open front area normally offers an easy space and the search only becomes difficult when it closes, that supports the businessperson's explanation. C investigates the very alternative we raised. Its wording is less direct than 'Would the lot have been full?', but it gets at the same issue.

• D

  Someone who is usually late could still have been on time today except for a parking closure. Someone who is usually punctual could have left too little time today. A general habit doesn't settle whether this particular delay would have happened without the maintenance.

• E

  Being late could have been disastrous or relatively unimportant. That changes the stakes, not the cause. We need to know whether the person would have arrived on time if the parking area had been open.