An apple is ? ARE strategy.
An author who calls him/ herself "flats" posted this brilliant piece of work describing how to navigate tricky questions on exams. Here is a description of the kind of questions that are routine in the architectural registration exams.
"I’ll take a stab at my thought process when it comes to selecting the best possible answer. Take the following simple sample question:
An apple:
A. is red
B. is a fruit.
C. tastes like chicken
D. is round, high in fiber and vitamin C.
When I first read this question, the only thing I can say with certainty is I can eliminate ‘C’ as an answer. The remaining all seem like possibilities. So I would reread the question followed by each remaining answer and see if it still makes sense.
An apple (A) is red. True, but they are also green, yellow, and perhaps other colors as well. So I’m not sold this is the best answer.
An apple (B) is a fruit. I don’t think it’s a vegetable, so I think this is correct. Not much else I can add.
An apple (D) is round, high in fiber and vitamin C. Apples are roundish, I don’t know if they come in other shapes. I know they make cube pumpkins, but that’s off topic. I know apples are high in fiber. I know they are full of vitamins, but not sure if vitamin C is one of them. Plus, in order for this answer to be correct, there are actually three items that must be correct. Purely speaking statics here, the odds are against me. But lets assume for the moment I believe this answer to be correct.
Where do I go from here? To me, (A) and (D) are too specific and would actually fall under the broader envelope of (B). (B) trumps the others because when I read the question followed by the answer I cannot come up with any ‘but’ statements.
An apple is a fruit but….. I got nothing. So I conclude the answer is (B)."
From here.