Mark and Sarah Are Two Eighth-Grade Students Who Have Just

Multiple Choice

Mark and Sarah are two eighth-grade students who have just failed a math test. Considering gender differences in students' explanations for failure, how are the two students likely to explain their poor test performance?

A) Mark will think that he failed because he "just can't do math." Sarah will think, "I got an F because I didn't work hard enough on this subject-I could have studied more."
B) Mark will attribute his failure to a lack of effort, thinking, "I didn't study very hard because I don't need to get good grades." Sarah will think, "I'm just not very good at math."
C) Mark will think that he isn't very lucky when it comes to tests, and Sarah will think that she failed because she didn't have her friends help her study.
D) Mark will think, "I got an F because I'm not smart enough to do this math." Sarah will think, "I failed because the teacher hates me and the test wasn't fair."