Question

This graph shows the temperature of a room over time.

What situation could match the graph?


Aaron turns on the heat in a conference room and the temperature of the room steadily increases to a comfortable temperature. The temperature of the room stays the same for a while and then people complain of being hot. Aaron turns on the air conditioner, causing the temperature to steadily decrease for a while until Aaron turns the air conditioner off and the temperature stays the same for a while. Finally, Aaron turns the heat back on and the temperature of the room increases steadily for the rest of the conference.

Aaron turns on the air conditioner in a conference room and the temperature of the room steadily decreases to a comfortable temperature. The temperature of the room stays the same for a while and then Aaron decides it is too cold, so he turns on the heat and the temperature of the room steadily increases. When the temperature in the room becomes comfortable, Aaron turns off the heat and the temperature in the room stays the same for the rest of the conference.

Aaron turns on the heat and the temperature of a conference room steadily increases. After the room becomes a comfortable temperature, Aaron turns off the heat and the temperature in the room stays the same for a while. Aaron’s coworker says it is too hot in the room, so Aaron turns on the air conditioner. The temperature in the room steadily decreases. Aaron gets cold again and turns the heat back on so that the temperature of the room steadily increases. Again, when the room becomes comfortable, Aaron turns off the heat and the temperature of the room stays the same.

Aaron turns on the heat to raise the temperature in the room at the beginning of a conference. The temperature steadily increases until the room becomes too hot, so Aaron turns on the air conditioner. The temperature in the room steadily decreases for a while. When the room gets too cold again, Aaron turns the heat back on and the temperature in the room steadily increases. When the room reaches a comfortable temperature, Aaron turns the heat off and the temperature stays the same for the rest of the conference.

Answer 1

I took the test:

Answer 2

The correct answer is C. Aaron turns on the heat and the temperature of a conference room steadily increases. After the room becomes a comfortable temperature, Aaron turns off the heat and the temperature in the room stays the same for a while. Aaron’s coworker says it is too hot in the room, so Aaron turns on the air conditioner. The temperature in the room steadily decreases. Aaron gets cold again and turns the heat back on so that the temperature of the room steadily increases. Again, when the room becomes comfortable, Aaron turns off the heat and the temperature of the room stays the same.

Explanation:

1. Let's see what happens in the conference room the first 20 minutes, according to the graph:

The temperature increase from 65 °F to 75 °F. This fact discards immediately answer B, that mentions that "the temperature of the room decreases steadily to a comfortable temperature".

2. Let's see what happens in the conference room the next 20 minutes (between minutes 20 and 40), according to the graph:

The temperature remains at 75 °F, at a comfortable temperature, during these 20 minutes. This fact discards answer D because it mentions that the "room becomes too hot", which is not true because the additional 10 °F of increase is most likely, not "too much" and it also considers 65 °F as "too cold".

3. Let's see what happens in the conference room between minutes 40 and 50, according to the graph:

In ten minutes, the temperature decreases from 75 °F to 65 °F, which was the original temperature of the room. No big difference between answers A and C, the only that are still valid.

4. Let's see what happens in the conference room between minutes 50 and 80, according to the graph:

In these 30 minutes, the temperature of the conference room again increases between minutes 50 and 70 from 65 °F to 75 °F. This last fact discards the answer A, that mentions that " finally, Aaron turns the heat back on and the temperature of the room increases steadily for the rest of the conference". What actually happened is that the temperature becomes comfortable again and stays the same the rest of the conference.

This is a detailed explanation why we discard answers A, C and D and we select answer C as the right one.