Summary of Steps to Solve Drawing Conclusion Type Questions:
- Read the Question (Every question)
- Go through the text and underline evidence
- Read the answer and eliminate the outliers
- (easiest to eliminate contradictory conclusions)
- Using the underlined evidence and examples, prove each conclusion. Ask yourself “is this another piece of evidence? Or is this proved and strengthened by what’s in the text?”
- Remember to ignore bias and disregard answers that may be true in the real world, but are not supported in the text.
The text is talking about how research into cutlery could provide an advantage to some restaurants by showing how the type of cutlery can enhance the food they serve. The research suggests that a small change can make a large difference in the enjoyment/how food is perceived. Since we are solving a drawing conclusion-type question, we need to look for what can be concluded based on the research data.
A. People choose restaurants only because of the quality of the food.
This is completely opposite to what is being said in the text. The research suggests that cutlery can affect the perceived taste of food, which means that the quality of food isn’t everything that is being taken into consideration. The study shows the quality of food can be enhanced or worsened by cutlery. Therefore A is incorrect.
B. Restaurants should think carefully about what cutlery they use.
The study shows that the food served by the restaurant can be perceived differently depending on the cutlery, so we can draw from this that restaurants should find the cutlery that best complements their dishes. The introduction to the argument starts off by saying how competitive these restaurants can be, so if they wanted to have an edge on the competition they should do anything they can to enhance the experience of the customer. This is why they should think carefully about the cutlery they use. Therefore B is the correct answer.
C. Restaurants should pay less attention to food presentation.
This cannot be drawn as a conclusion because the study shown in the text is saying that a factor outside of the food itself (the cutlery) can enhance the experience of the consumer. This means that the presentation of the food is important and shouldn’t be neglected. Therefore C is incorrect.
D. Customers pay attention to the cutlery they are using.
This is a tricky one as it is related to what is in the text. It is actually something we cannot conclude though because it requires too much inferring. The cutlery changes the way that the food is perceived but we do not know if they are paying attention to the cutlery. If they were paying attention to the cutlery (as in they were aware of the change of cutlery) then it might mean they are aware of the change and less likely to have a changed perception of taste. As a result, D cannot be correct.
E. Variety of cutlery is more important than quality of food.
This cannot be inferred from the text. The cutlery is used to enhance the experience but the cutlery alone cannot be the only factor a restaurant must take into consideration. The idea of the text is to show that changing the cutlery can help make a small change and be a bit of a difference to your restaurant, which is welcome since the restaurants are already so competitive, a small change can make a difference. Therefore E cannot be correct.