A financial counselor is reviewing the annual tax refunds received by a group of clients.

This question assesses understanding of the median, which is the middle value when data are ordered from least to greatest. First, list the refunds in ascending order:

$500, $500, $857, $1,500, $2,500, $3,000, $6,753.

There are seven values total, so the median is the fourth value in the ordered list. The fourth value is $1,500. Therefore, option D is correct. Option B represents the mode (most frequent value), not the median. Options A and C are averages or midpoints that do not correspond to the true median position. On the NEX exam, students are frequently tested on distinguishing mean, median, and mode, so remembering that the median is strictly positional—not calculated—is essential.

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