Extract:
A New Vision for PE
In some schools around the country, physical education classes look a lot different than they did a generation or two ago. Kids are still in motion, stretching, running, lifting, and sweating. But instead of everyone doing the same activity at the same time as a team, they are exercising independently. They are being taught movements and activities that their teachers hope they will incorporate into their lives rather than just perform long enough to get a good grade.
By teaching kids the pleasure of exercise, gym teachers hope to instill important lessons about maintaining good health, staying fit, and keeping weight under control. Students can also participate in low-impact sports like yoga, martial arts, and weight lifting. Instead of playing basketball or baseball, they can focus on more general skills like passing the ball.
A growing number of physical education (PE) teachers are also putting more of an emphasis on general nutrition and health. With the continual increase in the number of children who are obese, there is greater pressure to teach students how to stay fit. To do this, gym teachers have to look at new ways to introduce exercise to their students that will not intimidate or overwhelm them but instead intrigue and engage them.
One other difference found in some modern gym classes is the grading system. Instead of being graded on their ability to run laps in a set time or make a certain number of baskets, the students are graded simply on the effort they make in the class. Some even get extra credit if they are the sweatiest students in the room!
What can the reader infer about the “sweatiest students” referred to in the last sentence in the passage?
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A
These students are more overweight than anyone else.
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B
These students have worked harder during class.
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C
These students do not need extra credit.
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D
These students are behind all of their classmates.
A valid inference about the "sweatiest students" is that they have worked harder during class, sweat serving as visible physiological indicator of exertion level.
A) These students are more overweight than anyone else.
Unsupported inference, while overweight students may sweat more readily, the passage presents sweat as effort indicator within grading system, not body composition marker.
B) These students have worked harder during class.
Directly supported by context: students are "graded simply on the effort they make," with extra credit for being "sweatiest", establishing sweat as observable proxy for exertion level and effort intensity.
C) These students do not need extra credit.
Contradicted by passage, explicitly states sweatiest students "get extra credit," confirming they do receive additional points.
D) These students are behind all of their classmates.
Contradicted by passage, sweat correlates with effort (positively graded), not performance deficiency. Being sweaty earns extra credit rather than indicating lagging ability.
Conclusion
Valid inferences must extend logically from textual evidence without contradiction. The explicit connection between sweat, effort-based grading, and extra credit provides clear support for inferring sweat as exertion indicator reflecting harder work during class.