Fourteen-Year-Old Muhammed Won a Contest Sponsored by the Local Newspaper

Fourteen-year-old Muhammed won a contest sponsored by the local newspaper to celebrate a championship basketball game.The object of the contest was to determine how many words could be made from the word "score." Which newly developed ability of formal operational thought would have been most helpful to Muhammed?

A) The ability to reason about objects or situations not previously seen or experienced
B) The ability to search systematically and methodologically for the solutions to a problem
C) The ability to use ethical principles for decision-making
D) The ability to start with a theory and a prediction and arrive at a conclusion