ada and paul received their scores on 3 tests . on the first test , ada ' s score was 10 points higher than paul ' s score . on the second test , ada ' s score was 4 points higher than paul ' s score . if paul ' s average ( arithmetic mean ) score on the 3 tests was 4 points higher than ada ' s average score on the 3 tests , then paul ' s score on the third test was how many points higher than ada ' s score ?
Choose the most appropriate option
A) 9 B) 14 C) 17 D) 23 E) 26

Rationale: my take is option d ( 23 ) i followed a simple approach ( explained below ) : test 1 : ada ' s score = paul ' s score + 10 test 2 : ada ' s score = paul ' s score + 4 avg . of paul ' s score = 4 points higher than avg . of ada ' s score this implies that : sum of paul ' s score [ 3 tests ] = 12 points higher than sum of ada ' s score [ 3 tests ] ( 12 points higher since 3 points were given in terms of average of 3 scores ) so , paul needs to score 23 points higher than ada in test 3 , since paul needs to compensate for the lower score in test 1 and test 2 ( 26 = 10 + 4 + 12 ) e
Answer: E