Information and IdeasEasy–MediumCompute per-person ratios to support claim
Information and Ideas practice question
An administrator at Ridgeview Hospital reviewed one Tuesday's staffing and patient census on the general medical floor.
Shift / Nurses on duty / Patients on the floor
Day (7 a.m.-3 p.m.) / 24 / 96
Evening (3 p.m.-11 p.m.) / 18 / 90
Night (11 p.m.-7 a.m.) / 12 / 84
The administrator argued that nurses working the night shift are each responsible for more patients than nurses working the day shift are.
Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to support the administrator's argument?
- A. The day shift has 24 nurses on duty, twice as many as the 12 nurses on duty during the night shift.
- B. On the night shift, 84 patients are divided among 12 nurses, or 7 patients per nurse, compared with 96 patients among 24 nurses, or 4 patients per nurse, on the day shift.Correct
- C. The day shift covers 96 patients, more than the 84 patients covered during the night shift.
- D. The evening shift has 5 patients per nurse, more than the day shift's 4 patients per nurse.
Answer: B. On the night shift, 84 patients are divided among 12 nurses, or 7 patients per nurse, compared with 96 patients among 24 nurses, or 4 patients per nurse, on the day shift.
The claim is about patients per nurse, so the support must combine both columns: 84 divided by 12 is 7 for the night shift, and 96 divided by 24 is 4 for the day shift (choice B). Choice A uses only the staffing numbers, which alone say nothing about each nurse's patient load. Choice C compares raw patient totals, the classic error of ignoring how many nurses share those patients; it would actually seem to weaken the claim. Choice D computes a ratio correctly but for the evening shift, which is not part of the administrator's comparison.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. The day shift has 24 nurses on duty, twice as many as the 12 nurses on duty during the night shift.
- This uses only the nurse column; without the patient counts it says nothing about how many patients each nurse handles.
- C. The day shift covers 96 patients, more than the 84 patients covered during the night shift.
- Comparing raw patient totals ignores how many nurses share them — and taken alone, 96 versus 84 would seem to argue against the administrator's claim.
- D. The evening shift has 5 patients per nurse, more than the day shift's 4 patients per nurse.
- The ratio is computed correctly, but for the evening shift; the argument compares night with day.
More Information and Ideas questions
- Easy–Medium
Which choice most logically completes the text? - Easy–Medium
According to the text, which statement is true of the monarch migration? - Easy–Medium
According to the text, which statement about the Great Barrier Reef is true? - Easy–Medium
According to the text, what does the duration of the waggle dance indicate? - Easy–Medium
According to the text, what was one purpose of the 1976 voyage of the Hōkūleʻa? - Easy–Medium
Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the researchers' hypothesis?
Not affiliated with the College Board. SAT is a trademark of the College Board.