Assuming I parsed the garbled English correctly, I agree that C was the correct choice.
You really gotta work on your typing.
You really gotta work on your typing.
A correlation coefficient (in this case, 0.82) measures the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables (in this case, the number of hours studied and final exam scores). It does not imply causation, meaning it does not prove that one variable directly causes the other to change.
Based on the given information, the correct answer is not C ("studying caused students to receive higher exam scores") because correlation does not imply causation. The fact that there is a strong correlation between the number of hours studied and final exam scores does not prove that studying caused the higher scores.
Therefore, the most appropriate answer would be A ("students who studied less received higher exam scores"). This indicates that there is an inverse relationship between the two variables in this case.