What percent of messages receive a response?

• A. 45%
• B. 6%
• C. 25%
• D. 60%

Answer: (A)

The concept being tested is how to calculate the response rate. It’s the percentage of messages that receive a reply, found by dividing the number of messages that got a response by the total number of messages sent, then multiplying by 100.

If, for example, 36 messages out of 80 sent received a response, 36 ÷ 80 = 0.45, which is 45%. So the data indicate that about half of the messages are getting replies, specifically 45%.

Other percentages would imply different counts of responses relative to total messages—for instance, 6% would require only a very small number of replies, 25% would be a quarter, and 60% would be a majority—none of which matches the observed data in this scenario.