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<p>Sorry, but that explanation makes as much sense as the four “subtle” explanations offered by the Holliday tandem. </p>
<p>Fwiw, if you were to focus on the answers, you’ll notice that ONLY an answer of 77 cm would satisfy the original question. For instance, starting with a 52 cm ribbon would only allow to wrap the box and have … none left. The question is VERY clear, “Stu needs TWO things: wrap the ribbon around a box AS SHOWN **and **have 25 cm left for the bow.” </p>
<p>When facing a standardized test question --at least the type of questions written by reputed organizations such as ETS-- a student needs to pay close attention to the ENTIRE set of information and focus on the specific instructions. One of the biggest dangers is idle speculation and erroneous inferences about what MIGHT be asked. The 25 cm for the bow was not a distractor but a main component of the problem. And, fwiw, people who have looked at standardized test for some time know that the use of distractors is extremely rare. The allegations of tests being tricky are usually presented by people who do not understand the process in the first place.</p>
<p>In this case, there is only one way to answer this question. Answering anything but 77cm means that the student was unable to understand the question or was unable to answer correctly. And, for the purpose of the test, in both cases, the conclusion remains the same. Understanding a question correctly is as important as being able to perform elementary school math. </p>
<p>Even if the american student comes out with the same amount of self-esteem.</p>