In each of the following questions, two statements numbered I and II are…

Concept: In this reasoning format, two given statements can relate in exactly four ways: one statement causes the other, the other statement causes the first, both statements are separate causes with no link between them, or both statements are separate effects — outcomes — each triggered by its own, unrelated cause. The test is whether either statement's wording actually supplies a reason for the other, or whether both statements simply report something that has already happened without explaining why.

Application: Statement I reports that every school in the area had to be closed for most of the week, and statement II reports that many parents have withdrawn their children from the local schools. Neither sentence gives a reason connecting to the other — statement I never says the closures made parents pull children out, and statement II never says the withdrawals forced the closures. Both statements simply describe a finished situation (a closure order already carried out, a set of withdrawals already made), each of which would ordinarily be explained by its own separate background — an administrative or safety reason behind the closure, and a personal or logistical reason behind the withdrawals. Because both statements read as completed outcomes traceable to their own separate origins rather than to each other, they are effects of independent causes.

Cross-check: Checking each of the other readings against the wording confirms this:

• Statement I is the cause and statement II is its effect — this would need statement II to spell out that families left specifically because of the week-long closure; nothing in the passage draws that link.

• Statement II is the cause and statement I is its effect — this would need the withdrawals to be large and forceful enough to shut every school in the area; a set of individual family decisions does not by itself explain an area-wide closure.

• Both statements I and II are independent causes — this would need each statement to describe something actively producing a further, stated consequence; instead, both statements stop at reporting an already-completed situation, so they read as results rather than as starting causes.

Result: The two statements are best read as separate outcomes, each driven by its own unrelated cause — both statements I and II are effects of independent causes.