SAT OwlQuestion bank / Central Ideas and Details
Marketing researcher Delphine Aubert offered café customers two sizes of coffee: a small cup for 2.50 euros and a large cup for 4.00 euros. Most customers chose the small cup. She then added a third option, a medium cup priced at 3.80 euros, only slightly less than the large. Hardly anyone bought the medium cup, yet sales of the large cup rose sharply. Aubert concluded that the medium cup, though it rarely sold, made the large cup look like a bargain by comparison.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Café customers preferred small cups of coffee to large ones no matter which options were offered.
Adding an option that few customers chose changed which of the other options customers bought.
Customers bought the medium cup because its price fell between those of the small and large cups.
Aubert found that raising the price of the large cup increased its sales.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
The medium cup almost never sold, but once it appeared, sales of the large cup rose sharply. Aubert concluded that the medium cup made the large one look like a bargain. The main idea is that an option few people chose still changed what they bought, choice B.
Choice C is the trap: the text says "hardly anyone bought the medium cup," so its middle price did not make it popular.
Why the other choices are wrong
- A. Sales of the large cup rose sharply once the medium cup was added, so customers' choices did depend on the options offered.
- C. The text says hardly anyone bought the medium cup. Its effect was on sales of the large cup.
- D. The large cup stayed at 4.00 euros. What changed was the addition of a medium cup, not a higher price.
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