as a hypothesis as a conclusion as a theory as a statement
I gave my students this multiple choice question: A student proposes the rate of increase in a plant's mass will be proportional to the length of light exposure per day when all other variables are constant. How should this proposal be classified?

Only one answer is correct among these 4 choices:
- as a hypothesis
- as a conclusion
- as a theory
- as a statement

Could you tell me which one is correct?

as a hypothesis