LSAT Critical Reasoning - Great ongoing deals from across Acme.com


Untitled

TEST 15

SECTION II

Time 35 minutes 25 Questions

Directions: The questions in this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or passages...

1.     Rainfall in the drought plagued metropolitan area was heavier than usual for the month of June. Nevertheless, by the first of July the city’s water shortage was more severe than ever, and officials proposed drastic restrictions on the use of water.

Which one of the following, if true, helps to explain why the city’s water shortage was not alleviated by the first of July?

(A) Moderate restrictions on the industrial use of water had gone into effect in the metropolitan area several months earlier.

(B) Because of the heavier rainfall, people watered their lawns much less in June that they usually do in the metropolitan area during that month.

(C) People in the metropolitan area who had voluntarily reduced their use of water in earlier months when officials voice alarm used greater than normal amounts of water when rainfall seemed plentiful in June.

(D) During the drought most residents of the metropolitan area had been informed about water conservation methods that would help them to reduce their water consumption significantly with a minimal reduction in their standard of living.C

(E) The per capita rate of the use of water in the metropolitan area was slightly lower in June that in each of the three previous months and significantly lower that in June of the previous year.

2.     Manager: I have circulated posting for the position of Social Scientific Researcher. Applicants must have either an earned doctorate and a track record of published research, or else five years’ work experience. The relevant fields for these requirements are sociology, psychology, and education.

Which one of the applicants, as described below, does NOT meet the manager’s requirements?

(A) Joanne Bernstein has worked for the department of education as coordinator of research for the pas eleven years. She also served for six years as director of the Save the Children Fund. For which she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the liberal arts college where she earned her bachelor’s degree.

(B) Alvin Johnson is a doctoral candidate at a local university and is currently working on dissertation. Prior to undertaking doctoral studies, he worked as a psychology research for seven years.

(C) Edward St. John has worked as business consultant for the past ten years, during which time he has published six novels. He holds an earned doctorate from one of the nation’s foremost business schools.

(D) Michael Roberts has published two highly regarded books on the problems of urban public schools and has a master’s degree in special education. He taught special education classes for two years and then for four years served as a research associate with the Mayor’s Task Force on Education.C

(E) Alicia Arias holds an earned doctorate in sociology from a prestigious university and has published one book and fifteen research articles in sociology.

3.     Deer mice normally do not travel far from their nests, and deer mice that are moved more than half a kilometer from their nests generally never find their way back. Yet in one case, when researchers camped near a deer mouse nest and observed a young deer mouse for several weeks before moving it to an area over two kilometers away, the deer mouse found its way back to its nest near their camp in less than two days.

Which one of the followings, if true, most help to explain how the deer mouse might have found its way back to its nest?

(A) The area to which the deer mouse was moved was dryer and more rocky than the area in which its nest was located.

(B) The researchers released the deer mouse in a flat area across which their campfire smoke drifted.

(C) There were very few deer mice in the area to which the deer mouse was moved.

(D) The researchers had moved the deer muse in a small dark box, keeping the mouse calm before it was released.B

(E) Animals that prey on deer mice were common in the area to which the deer mouse was moved.

4.     The government’s proposed 8 percent cut in all subsidies to arts groups will be difficult for those groups to absorb. As can be seen, however, from their response to last year’s cut, it will not put them out of existence. Last year there was also an 8 percent cut and though private fund-raising was very difficult for the arts groups in the current recessionary economy, they did survive.

The reasoning in the argument is flawed because the argument

(A) relies without warrant on the probability that the economy will improve

(B) does not raise the issue of whether there should be any government subsidies to arts groups at all

(C) equates the mere survival of the arts groups with their flourishing

(D) does not take into account that the dollar amount of the proposed cut is lower than the dollar amount of last year’s cutE

(E) overlooks the possibility that the cumulative effect of the cuts will be more that the arts groups can withstand

5.     The average literate person today spends significantly less time reading than the average literate person did 50 years ago, yet many more books are sold per year now than were sold 50 years ago.

Each of the following, if true, help resolve the apparent discrepancy above EXCEPT:

(A) The population of the literate people is significantly larger today that it was 50 years ago.

(B) People who read books 50 years ago were more likely to read books borrowed from libraries than are people who read books today.

(C) The average scholar or other person who uses books professionally today owns and consults many more different books than did the average scholar or similar professional 50 years ago.

(D) People of 50 years ago were more likely than people are today to display large collections of books as a sign of education and good taste.D

(E) Books sold now tend to be shorter and easier to read that were books sold 50 years ago.

6.     Some scientists believe that the relationship between mice and humans has, over time, diminished the ability of mice to survive in nature, so that now they must depend upon human civilization for their continued existence. This opinion, however, ignores significant facts. Despite numerous predators and humanity’s enmity, mice have distributed themselves more widely across the planet than any other mammal except humans. Mice reproduce rapidly and, more important to their survival, they have the ability to adapt to an extraordinary range of habitats. Should the environment ever become too extreme to support human life, naturalists predict that mice would be able to adapt and survive.

Which one of the following, if true, would most support the naturalists’ prediction?

(A) The size of the mouse population is limited by the availability of food.

(B) Under optimum conditions, mice reproduce every four weeks, with five to seven pups per litter.

(C) Fossil remains prove that mice inhabited North America prior to the arrival of humans.

(D) Mice have colonized an island near Antarctica which is too bleak and harsh to support human life.D

(E) A significant percentage of the world’s mouse population lives in urban areas.

7.     All zebras have stripes, and the most widespread subspecies has the best-defined stripes. The stripes must therefore be of importance to the species. Since among these grassland grazers the stripes can hardly function as camouflage, they must serve as some sort of signal for other zebras.

Which one of the following, if true, most strongly supports the conclusion regarding a signaling function?

(A) The subspecies of zebras with the best-defined strips is also characterized by exceptional size and vigor.

(B) In certain tall grasses zebras can be harder to spot than grazing animals with a coat of uniform color.

(C) A visual signal transmitted among the members of a species can consist of a temporary change of color perceptible to other members of the species.

(D) Zebras react much faster to moving shapes that have stripes than they do to moving shapes that are otherwise identical but lack stripes.D

(E) Zebras have a richer repertoire of vocal signals than do similar species such as horses.

8.     Some years ago, an editorial defended Unite States government restrictions on academic freedom, arguing that scientists who receive public funding cannot rightly “detach themselves from the government’s policies on national security.” Yet the same editorial criticized the Soviet government for not allowing scientists to “detach themselves from politics.” If there is a significant difference between the principles involved in each case, the editorial should have explained what that difference is.

The author of the passage criticizes the editorial by

(A) disputing certain factual claims made in the editorial

(B) pointing out an apparent inconsistency in the editorial

(C) describing an alleged exception to a general claim made in the editorial

(D) refuting an assumption on which the argument of the editorial appears to have been basedB

(E) drawing conclusions from the editorial different from the conclusion drawn by the writer of the editorial

9.     Ph.D. programs are valuable only if they inculcate good scholarship and expedite the student’s full participation in the field. Hence, doctoral dissertations should not be required in the humanities. Undertaking a quality book-length dissertation demands an accumulation of knowledge virtually impossible for those relatively new to their disciplines. The student consequently either seeks to compensate for poor quality with quantity or ends up spending years producing a work of quality. Either way, the dissertation is counterproductive and frustrates the appropriate goals of the doctoral program.

The claim that doctoral dissertations should not be required in the humanities play which one of the following roles in the argument?

(A) It provides essential support for the conclusion.

(B) It is an example illustrative of a general principle concerning the goals of Ph.D. programs.

(C) It is what the argument is attempting to establish.

(D) It provides evidence for the assumption that requirements for degrees in the humanities differ from requirements for degrees in other disciplines.C

(E) It confirms the observation that the requirement for a dissertation can frustrate the goals of a doctoral program.

10.   The government of Penglai, an isolated island, proposed eliminating outdoor adverting except for small signs of standard shape that identify places of business. Some island merchants protested that the law would reduce the overall volume of business in Penglai, pointing to a report done by the government indicating that in every industry the Penglai businesses that used outdoor advertising had a larger market share than those that did not.

Which one of the following describes an error of reasoning in the merchants’ argument?

(A) presupposing that there are no good reasons for restricting the use of outdoor advertising in Penglai

(B) assuming without giving justification that the outdoor advertising increased market share by some means other than by diverting trader from competing businesses

(C) ignoring the question of whether the government’s survey of the island could be objective

(D) failing to establish whether the market-share advantage enjoyed by businesses employing outdoor advertising was precisely proportionate to the amount of advertisingB

(E) disregarding the possibility that the government’s proposed restrictions are unconstitutional

11.   Unless they are used as strictly temporary measures, rent-control ordinances (municipal regulations placing limits on rent increases) have several negative effects for renters. One of these is that the controls will bring about a shortage of rental units. This disadvantage for renters occurs over the long run, but the advantage—smaller rent increases—occurs immediately. In many municipalities, specifically in all those where tenants of rent-control units have a secure hold on political power and can get rent-control ordinances enacted or repealed, it is invariably the desire for short-term gain that guides those tenants in the exercise of that power.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following can be properly inferred from them?

(A) It is impossible for landlords to raise rents when rent controls are in effect.

(B) In many municipalities rent-control ordinances are repealed as soon as shortages of rental unites arise.

(C) The only negative effect of tent control for renters is that it brings about a shortage of rental units.

(D) In many municipalities there is now, or eventually will be, a shortage of rental units.D

(E) In the long term, a shortage of rental units will raise rents substantially.

Questions 12-13

In many languages other than English there is a word for “mother’s brother” which is different from the word for “father’s brother,” whereas English uses the word “uncle” for both. Thus, speakers of these languages evidence a more finely discriminated kinship system than English speakers do. The number of basic words for colors also varies widely from language to language. Therefore, speakers of languages that have fewer basic words for colors than English has must be perceptually unable to distinguish as many colors as speakers of English can distinguish.

12.   Which one of the following, if true, undermines the conclusion concerning words for colors?

(A) Speakers of English are able to distinguish between lighter and darker shades of the color they call “blue” for which Russian has two different basic words.

(B) Almost every language distinguishes red from the other colors.

(C) Khmer uses a basic word corresponding to English “blue” for most leaves, but uses its basic word corresponding to English “green” for unripe bananas.

(D) The word “orange” in English has the same origin as the equivalent word in Spanish.A

(E) Most languages do not have a basic word that distinguishes gray from other colors, although gray is commonly found in nature.

13.   The conclusion concerning words for colors would be properly draw if which one of the following were assumed?

(A) Most languages have distinct words for “sister” and “brother.”

(B) Each language has a different basic word for each sensory quality that its speakers can perceptually distinguish.

(C) Every language makes some category distinctions that no other language makes.

(D) In any language short, frequently used words express categories that are important for its speakers to distinguish perceptually from each other.B

(E) Speaker of languages with relatively few basic words for colors live in geographical regions where flora and fauna do not vary greatly in color.

Questions 14-15

Zachary: One would have to be blind to the reality of moral obligation to deny that people who believe a course of action to be morally obligatory for them have both the right and the duty to pursue that action, and that no one else has any right to stop them from doing so.

Cynthia: But imagine an artist who feels morally obliged to do whatever she can to prevent works of art from being destroyed confronting a morally committed antipornography demonstrator engaged in destroying artworks he deems pornographic. According to your principle that artist has, simultaneously, both the right and the duty to stop the destruction and no right whatsoever to stop it.

14.   Cynthia’s response to Zachary’s claim is structured to demonstrate that

(A) the concept of moral obligation is incoherent

(B) the ideas of right and duty should not be taken seriously since doing so leads to morally undesirable consequences

(C) Zachary’s principle is untenable on its own terms

(D) because the term “moral” obligation is understood differently by different people, it is impossible to find a principle concerning moral rights and duties that applies to everyoneC

(D) Zachary’s principle is based on an understanding of moral obligation that is too narrow to encompass the kind of moral obligation artists feel toward works of art

15.   Which one of the following, if substituted for the scenario invoked by Cynthia, would preserve the force of her argument?

(A) a medical researcher who feels a moral obligation not to claim sole credit for work that was performed in part by someone else confronting another researcher who feels no such moral obligation

(B) a manufacturer who feels a moral obligation to recall potentially dangerous products confronting a consumer advocate who feels morally obliged to expose product defects

(C) an investment banker who believes that governments are morally obliged to regulate major industries confronting an investment banker who holds that governments have a moral obligation not to interfere with market forces

(D) an architect who feels amoral obligation to design only energy-efficient buildings confronting, as a potential client, a corporation that believes its primary moral obligation is to maximize shareholder profitsE

(E) a health inspector who feels morally obliged to enforce restrictions on the number of cats a householder may keep confronting a householder who, feeling morally obliged to keep every stray that comes along, has over twice that number of cats

16.   A county airport, designed to serve the needs of private aircraft owners, planned to cover its operating expenses in part by charging user fees to private aircraft using the airport. The airport was unable to pay its operating expenses because the revenue from user fees was lower that expected.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true?

(A) Most of the country’s citizens live a convenient distance from one or another airport now offering commercial airline services.

(B) Private aircraft owners were unwilling to pay the user fees charged at the airport.

(C) The airport’s construction was financed exclusively by private funds.

(D) The airport’s operating expenses were greater than the revenues raised from sources other than the airport user fees for private planes.D

(E) The number of owners of private aircraft who use the county’s airport facilities will not change appreciably in the future.

Questions 17-18

Consumer activist: By allowing major airlines to abandon, as they promptly did, all but their most profitable routes, the government’s decision to cease regulation of the airline industry has worked to the disadvantage of everyone who lacks access to large metropolitan airport.

Industry representative: On the contrary, where major airlines moved out, regional airlines have moved in and, as a consequence, there are more flights into and out of most small airports now than before the change in regulatory policy.

17.   The industry representative’s argument will not provide an effective answer to the consumer activist’s claim unless which one of the following is true?

(A) No small airport has fewer flights now than it did before the change in policy regarding regulation of the airline industry.

(B) When permitted to do so by changes in regulatory policy, each major airline abandoned all but large metropolitan airports.

(C) Policies that result in an increase in the number of flights to which consumers have easy access do not generally work to the disadvantage of consumers.

(D) Regional airlines charge less to fly a given route now than the major airlines charged when they flew the same route.C

(E) Any policy that leads to an increase in the number of competitors in a given field works to the long-term advantage of consumers.

18.   Which one of the following is assumption on which the consumer activist’s argument depends?

(A) Before the recent change in regulatory policy, there was no advantage in having easy access to large metropolitan airport.

(B) When any sizable group of consumers is seriously disadvantaged by a change in government policy, that change should be reversed.

(C) Government regulation of industry almost always works to the advantage of consumers.

(D) At the time of the regulatory change, the major airlines were maintaining their less profitable routes at least in part because of government requirements.D

(E) Regional airlines lack the resources to provide consumers with service of the same quality as that provided by the major airlines.

19.   A report on the likely effects of current levels of air pollutions on forest growth in North America concluded that, since nitrogen is necessary nutrient for optimal plant growth, the nitrogen deposited on forest soil as result of air pollution probably benefits eastern forests. However, European soil scientists have found that in forests saturated with sulfate and nitrate, tress begin to die when the nitrogen deposited exceeds the amount of nitrogen absorbed by the forest system. Since this finding is likely to apply to forests everywhere, large areas of eastern forests of North America are, undoubtedly, already being affected adversely.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

(A) The implication of the report cited is that the amount of nitrogen reaching eastern forests by way of polluted air is approximately what those forests need for optimal growth.

(B) If large areas of eastern forests were increasingly saturated with sulfate and nitrate, the capacity of those forest systems for absorbing nitrogen would also increase.

(C) The type of analysis used by European soil scientists does not necessarily apply to eastern forests of North America.

(D) The eastern forests are the only forests of North America currently affected by polluted air.E

(E) Contrary to the report cited, the nitrogen pollution now in the air is more likely to cause trees to die in eastern forests than to benefit them.

20.   Railroad spokesperson: Of course it is a difficult task to maintain quality of service at the same time that the amount of subsidy the taxpayers give the railroad network is reduced. Over recent years, however, the number of passengers has increased in spite of subsidy reductions. This fact leads to the conclusion that our quality of service has been satisfactory.

The spokesperson’s argument is based on which one of the following assumptions?

(A) Taxpayers do not wish to have their taxes raised to subsidize the railroads.

(B) Some people refuse to travel by train if they are dissatisfied with the quality of service.

(C) The quality of service on the trains must have improved in spite of subsidy reductions.

(D) It is impossible to reduce subsidies to the railroad network without some effect on the quality of service.B

(E) The increase in the number of passengers will increase revenue sufficiently to offset the subsidy reductions.

21.   In response to high mortality in area hospitals, surgery was restricted to emergency procedures during a five-week period. Mortality in these hospitals was found to have fallen by nearly one-third during the period. The number of deaths rose again when elective surgery (surgery that can be postponed) was resumed. It can be concluded that, before the five-week period, the risks of elective surgery had been incurred unnecessarily often in the area.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the conclusion above?

(A) The conditions for which elective surgery was performed would in the long run have been life-threatening, and surgery for them would have become riskier with time.

(B) The physicians planning elective surgery performed before the five-week period had fully informed the patients who would undergo it of the possible risks of the procedures.

(C) Before the suspension of elective surgery, surgical operations were performed in area hospitals at a higher rate, per thousand residents of the area, than was usual elsewhere.

(D) Elective surgery is, in general, less risky than is emergency surgery because the conditions requiring or indicating surgery are often less severe.A

(E) Even if a surgical procedure is successful, the patient can die of a hospital-contracted infection with a bacterium that is resistant to antibiotic treatment.

22.   Gallery owner: Because this painting appears in no catalog of van Gogh’s work, we cannot guarantee that he painted it. But consider the subject is one he painted often, and experts agree that in his later paintings van Gogh invariably used just such broad brushstrokes and distinctive combinations of colors as we find here. Internal evidence, therefore, makes it virtually certain that this is a previously uncataloged, late van Gogh, and as such, a bargain at its price.

The reasoning used by the gallery owner is flawed because it

(A) ignores the fact that there can be general agreement that something is the case without its being the case

(B) neglects to cite expert authority to substantiate the claim about the subject matter of the painting

(C) assumes without sufficient warrant that the only reason anyone would want to acquire a painting is to make a profit

(D) provides no evidence that the painting is more likely to be an uncataloged van Gogh than to be a painting by someone else who painted that particular subject in van Gogh’s styleD

(E) attempts to establish a particular conclusion because doing so is in the reasoner’s self-interest rather than because of any genuine concern for the truth of the matter

23.   Government-subsidized insurance available to home owners makes it feasible for anyone to build a house on a section of coastline regularly struck by hurricanes. Each major storm causes billions of dollars worth of damage in such coastal areas, after which owners who have insurance are able to collect an amount of money sufficient to recoup a high percentage of their losses.

The passage provides the most support for an argument against a government bill proposing

(A) that power companies be required to bury power lines in areas of the coastline regularly struck by hurricanes

(B) an increase in funding of weather service programs that provide a hurricane watch and warning system for coastal areas

(C) renewal of federal funding for emergency life-support programs in hurricane-stricken areas

(D) establishment of an agency committed to managing coastal lands in ecologically responsible waysE

(E) establishment of a contingency fund protecting owners of uninsured houses in the coastal areas from catastrophic losses due to the hurricane damage

24.   Between 1951 and 1963, it was illegal in the country of Geronia to manufacture, sell, or transport any alcoholic beverages. Despite this prohibition, however, the death rate from diseases related to excessive alcohol consumption was higher during the first five years of the period than it was during the five years prior to 1951. Therefore, the attempt to prevent alcohol use merely make people want and use alcohol more than they would have if it had not been forbidden.

Each of the following, if true, weakens the argument EXCEPT:

(A) Death from an alcohol-related disease generally does not occur until five to ten years after the onset of excessive alcohol consumption.

(B) The diseases that can be caused by excessive alcohol consumption can also be caused by other kinds of behavior that increased between 1951 and 1963.

(C) The death rate resulting from alcohol-related diseases increased just as sharply during the ten years before and the ten years after the prohibition of alcohol as it did during the years of prohibition.

(D) Many who died of alcohol-related diseases between 1951 and 1963 consumed illegally imported alcoholic beverages produced by the same methods as those used within Geronia.D

(E) Between 1951 and 1963, among the people with preexisting alcohol-related diseases, the percentage who obtained lifesaving medical attention declined because of a social stigma attached to excessive alcohol consumption.

25.   A letter submitted to the editor of a national newsmagazine was written and signed by a Dr. Shirley Martin who, in the text of the letter, mentions being a professor at a major North American medical school. Knowing that fewer than 5 percent of the professors at such schools are women, the editor reasons that the chances are better than 19 to 1 that the letter was written by a man.

Which one of the following involves flawed reasoning most like that used by the editor?

(A) Since 19 out of 20 home computers are purchased primarily for use with computer games, and the first computer sold today was purchased solely for word processing, the next 19 computers sold will almost certainly be used primarily for computer games.

(B) Fewer than 1 in 20 of the manuscripts submitted to Argon Publishing Co. are accepted for publication. Since only 15 manuscripts were submitted last week, there is almost no chance that any of them will be accepted for publication.

(C) Fewer that 5 percent of last year’s graduating class took Latin in secondary school. Howard took Latin in secondary school, so if he had graduated last year, it is likely that one or the other Latin scholars would not have graduated.

(D) More that 95 percent of the planes built by UBC last year met government standards for large airliners. Since small planes account for just under 5 percent of UBC’s output last year, it is almost certain that all their large planes met government standards.E

(E) Since more than 19 out of every 20 animals in the wildlife preserve are mammals and fewer than 1 out of 20 are birds, there is a greater than 95 percent chance that the animal Emily saw flying between two trees in the wildlife refuge yesterday morning was a mammal.

SECTION IV

Time 35 minutes 25 Questions

Directions: The questions in this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or passages...

1.     In a yearlong study, half of the participants were given a simple kit to use at home for measuring the cholesterol level of their blood. They reduced their cholesterol levels on average 15 percent more than did participants without the kit. Participants were selected at random from among people with dangerously high cholesterol levels.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the study’s finding?

(A) The lower a blood-cholesterol level is, the less accurate are measurements made by the kit.

(B) Participants with the kit were more likely to avoid foods that lower cholesterol level.

(C) Participants with the kit used it more frequently during the first two months of the study.

(D) All the participants in the study showed some lowering of cholesterol levels, the most striking decreases having been achieved in the first three months.E

(E) Participants using the kit reported that each reading reinforced their efforts to reduce their cholesterol levels.

2.     You should not praise an act of apparent generosity unless you believe it is actually performed out of selfless motives, and you should not condemn an act of apparent selfishness unless you believe it is actually performed out of self-centered motives.

Which one of the following judgments conforms to the principle stated above?

(A) Caroline rightly blamed her coworker Monica for failing to assist her in doing a time-consuming project, even though she knew that Monica had offered to help in the project earlier but that her offer had been vetoed by their supervisor.

(B) It was correct for Sarah not to praise Michael for being charitable when he told her that he donates a tenth of his income to charity, since she guessed that he only told that fact in order to impress her.

(C) Enrique justifiably excused his friend William for failing to write or phone after William moved out of town because he realized that William never makes an effort to keep in contact with any of his friends.

(D) Daniel was right not to praise Margaret for offering to share her house with a visiting French family, since he believe that she made the offer only because she hoped it would be reciprocated by an invitation to use the family’s apartment in Paris.D

(E) Albert correctly criticized Louise for adopting an abandoned dog because he believe that, although she felt sorry for the dog, she did not have sufficient time or space to care for it adequately.

3.     The government recently released a study of drinking water, in which it was reported that consumers who bought bottled water were in many cases getting water that was less safe than what they could obtain much more cheaply from the public water supply. In spite of the enormous publicity that the study received, sales of bottled water have continued to rise.

Which one of the following, if true, is most help in resolving the apparent paradox?

(A) Bottled water might contain levels of potentially harmful contaminants that are not allowed in drinking water.

(B) Most consumers who habitually drink the bottled water discussed in the study cannot differentiate between the taste of their usual brand of bottled water and that of water from public sources.

(C) Increased consumption of the five best-selling brands of bottled water, which the report said were safer than both public water and most other brands of bottled water, accounted for the increase in sales.

(D) The rate of increase in the sales of bottled water has slowed since the publication of the government study.C

(E) Government health warnings concerning food have become so frequent that consumers have begun to doubt the safety of many everyday foods.

4.     Many economically useful raw materials are nonrenewable and in limited supply on Earth. Therefore, unless those materials can be obtained somewhere other than Earth, people will eventually be unable to accomplish what they now accomplish using those materials.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Some economically useful resources are renewable.

(B) It is extremely difficult to get raw materials from outer space.

(C) Functionally equivalent renewable substitutes could be found for nonrenewable resources that are in limited supply.

(D) What is accomplished now using nonrenewable resources is sometimes not worth accomplishing.C

(E) It will be a few hundred years before the Earth is depleted of certain nonrenewable resources that are in limited supply.

5.     Only some strains of the tobacco plant are naturally resistant to tobacco mosaic virus, never becoming diseased even when infected. When resistant strains were experimentally infected with the virus, levels of naturally occurring salicylic acid in these plants increased fivefold: no such increase occurred in the nonresistant plants. In a second experiment, 50 nonresistant tobacco plants were exposed to tobacco mosaic virus, and 25 of them were injected with salicylic acid. None of these 25 plants showed signs of infection; however, the other 25 plants succumbed to the disease.

Which one of the following conclusions is most strongly supported by the results of the experiments?

(A) Tobacco plants that have become diseased by infection with tobacco mosaic virus can be cured by injecting them with salicylic acid.

(B) Producing salicylic acid is at least part of the mechanism by which some tobacco plants naturally resist the disease caused by tobacco mosaic virus.

(C) Salicylic acid is not produced in strains of tobacco plants that are not resistant to tobacco mosaic virus.

(D) It is possible to test an uninfected tobacco plant for resistance to tobacco mosaic virus by measuring the level of salicylic acid it contains.B

(E) The production of salicylic acid in certain strains of tobacco plants can be increased and thus the strains made resistant to tobacco mosaic virus.

Questions 6-7

The number of hospital emergency room visits by heroin users grew more than 25 percent during the 1980s. Clearly, then, the use of heroin rose in that decade.

6.     Which one of the following, if true, would account for the statistic above without supporting the author’s conclusion?

(A) Widespread use of automatic weapons in the drug trade during the 1980s raised the incidence of physical injury to heroin users.

(B) The introduction of a smokable type of heroin during the 1980s removed the need for heroin to be injected intravenously and thus reduced the user’s risk of infection.

(C) Many hospital emergency rooms were barely able to accommodate the dramatic increase in the number of medical emergencies related to drug abuse during the 1980s.

(D) Heroin use increased much more than is reflected in the rate of heroin-linked hospital emergency room visits.A

(E) Viral and bacterial infections, malnourishment, and overdose account for most hospital emergency room visits linked to heroin.

7.     The author’s conclusion is properly drawn if which one of the following is assumed?

(A) Those who seek medical care because of heroin use usually do so in the later stages of addiction.

(B) Many heroin users visit hospital emergency rooms repeatedly.

(C) The number of visits to hospital emergency rooms by heroin users is proportional to the incidence of heroin usage.

(D) The methods of using heroin have changed since 1980, and the new methods are less hazardous.C

(E) Users of heroin identify themselves as such when they come to hospital emergency rooms.

8.     The year 1917, 1937, 1956, 1968, 1979, and 1990 are all notable for the occurrence of both popular uprisings and near-maximum sunspot activity. During heavy sunspot activity, there is a sharp rise in positively charged ions in the air people breathe, and positively charged ions are known to make people anxious and irritable. Therefore, it is likely that sunspot activity has actually been a factor in triggering popular uprisings.

Which one of the following exhibits a pattern of reasoning most similar to that in the passage?

(A) The ancient Greeks sometimes attempted to predict the outcome of future events by watching the flight patterns of birds. Since the events themselves often matched the predictions, the birds were probably responding to some factor that also influenced the events.

(B) Martha, Sidney, and Hilary are the city’s three most powerful politicians, and all three graduated from Ridgeview high School. Although Ridgeview never had a reputation for excellence, it must have been a good school to have produced three such successful graduates.

(C) Unusually cold weather last December coincided with a rise in fuel prices. When it is cold, people use more fuel to keep warm; and when more fuel is used, prices rise. Therefore if prices are high next winter, it will be the result of cold weather.

(D) The thirty healthiest people in a long-term medical study turned out to be the same thirty whose regular diets included the most vegetables. Since specific substances in vegetables are known to help the body flight disease, vegetables should be part of everyone’s diet.E

(E) Acme’s most productive managers are consistently those who occupy the corner offices, which have more windows than other offices at Acme. Since people are more alert when they are exposed to abundant natural light, the greater productivity of these managers is probably at least in part a result of their working in the corner offices.

9.     Since anyone who supports the new tax plan has no chance of being elected, and anyone who truly understands economics would not support the tax plan, only someone who truly understands economics would have any chance of being elected.

The reasoning in the argument is flawed because the argument ignores the possibility that some people who

(A) truly understand economics do not support the tax plan

(B) truly understand economics have no chance of being elected

(C) do not support the tax plan have no chance of being elected

(D) do not support the tax plan do not truly understand economicsD

(E) have no chance of being elected do not truly understand economics

10.   Interviewer: You have shown that biofeedback, dietary changes, and adoption of proper sleep habits all succeed in curing insomnia. You go so far as to claim that, with rigorous adherence to the proper treatment, any case of insomnia is curable. Yet in fact some patients suffering from insomnia do not respond to treatment.

Therapist: If patients do not respond to treatment, this just shows that they are not rigorous in adhering to their treatment.

The therapist’s reply to the interviewer is most vulnerable to which one of the following criticisms?

(A) It precludes the possibility of disconfirming evidence.

(B) It depends on the ambiguous use of the term “treatment.”

(C) It fails to acknowledge that there may be different causes for different cases of insomnia.

(D) It does not provide statistical evidence to back up its claim.A

(E) It overlooks the possibility that some cases of insomnia might improve without any treatment.

Questions 11-12

Conservative: Socialists begin their arguments with an analysis of history, from which they claim to derive certain trends leading inevitably to a socialist future. But in the day-to-day progress of history there are never such discernible trends. Only in retrospect does inevitability appear, for history occurs through accident, contingency, and individual struggle.

Socialist: If we thought the outcome of history were inevitable, we would not work so hard to transform the institutions of capitalist society. But to transform them we must first understand them, and we can only understand them by an analysis of their history. This is why historical analysis is important in socialist argument.

11.   In the dispute the issue between the socialist and the conservatives can most accurately be described as whether

(A) a socialist society is the inevitable consequence of historical trends that can be identified by an analysis of history

(B) the institutions of capitalist society stand in need of transformation

(C) socialists’ arguments for the inevitability of socialism are justified

(D) it is possible for people by their own efforts to affect the course of historyE

(E) socialists analyze history in order to support the view that socialism is inevitable

12.   The socialist’s statements imply a conflict with the conservative’s view of history if the conservative also holds that

(A) it would have been impossible for anyone to predict a significant period beforehand that the institutions of capitalist society would take the form that they actually took

(B) the apparent inevitability of historical change is deceptive; all historical events could have occurred otherwise than they actually did

(C) in the past, radical changes in social structures have mostly resulted in a deterioration of social conditions

(D) since socialism cannot arise by accident or contingency, it can only arise as a result of individual struggleE

(E) because historical changes are mostly accidental, it is impossible for people to direct their efforts sensibly toward achieving large-scale changes in social conditions

13.   “Addiction” has been defined as “dependence on and abuse of a psychoactive substance.” Dependence and abuse do not always go hand in hand, however. For example, cancer patients can become dependent on morphine to relieve their pain, but this is not abusing the drug. Correspondingly, a person can abuse a drug without being dependent on it. Therefore, the definition of “addiction” is incorrect.

The relevance of the example of cancer patients to the argument depends on the assumption that

(A) cancer patients never abuse morphine

(B) cancer patients often become dependent on morphine

(C) cancer patients who are dependent on morphine are addicted to it

(D) cancer patients who abuse a drug are dependent on itC

(E) cancer patients cannot depend on morphine without abusing it

14.   The commissioner has announced that Judge Khalid, who was on the seven-member panel appointed to resolve the Amlec labor dispute, will have sole responsibility for resolving the Simdon labor dispute. Since in its decision the Amlec panel showed itself both reasonable and fair, the two sides in the Simdon dispute are undoubtedly justified in the confidence they have expressed in the reasonableness and fairness of the arbitrator assigned to their case.

Which one of the following contains flawed reasoning most parallel to that contained in the passage?

(A) Representing the school board, Marcia Barthes presented to the school’s principal a list of recently elected school board members. Since only an elected member of the school board can act as its representative. Ms. Barthes’s name undoubtedly appears on that list.

(B) Alan Caldalf, who likes being around young children, has decided to become a pediatrician. Since the one characteristic common to all good pediatricians is that they like young children, Mr. Caldalf will undoubtedly be a very good pediatrician.

(C) Jorge Diaz is a teacher at a music school nationally known for the excellence of its conducting faculty. Since Mr. Diaz has recently been commended for the excellence of his teaching, he is undoubtedly a member of the school’s conducting faculty.

(D) Ula Borg, who has sold real estate for Arcande Realty for many years, undoubtedly sold fewer houses last year that she had the year before since the number of houses sold last year by Arcande Realty is far lower than the number sold the previous year.D

(E) The members of the local historical society unanimously support designating the First National Bank building a historical landmark. Since Evelyn George is a member of that society, she undoubtedly favors according landmark status to the city hall as well.

15.   Magazine article: The Environmental Commissioner’s new proposals are called “Fresh Thinking on the Environment” and a nationwide debate on them has been announced. Well, “fresh thinking” from such an unlikely source as the commissioner does deserve closer inspection. Unfortunately we discovered that these proposals are virtually identical to those issued three months ago by Tsarque Inc, under the heading “new Environmentalism” (Tsarque Inc.’s chief is a close friend of the commissioner). Since Tsarque Inc.’s polluting has marked it as an environmental nightmare, in our opinion the “nationwide debate” can end here.

A flaw in the magazine article’s reasoning is that it

(A) assumes without any justification that since two texts are similar one of them must be influenced by the other

(B) gives a distorted version of the commissioner’s proposals and then attacks this distorted version

(C) dismisses the proposals because of their source rather than because of their substance

(D) uses emotive language in labeling the proposalsC

(E) appeals to the authority of Tsarque Inc.’s chief without giving evidence that this person’s opinion should carry special weight

16.   It is not reasonable to search out “organic” foods—those grown without the application of synthetic chemicals—as the only natural foods. A plant will take up the molecules it needs from the soil and turn them into the same natural compounds, whether or not those molecules come from chemicals applied to the soil. All compounds made by plants are part of nature, so all are equally natural.

The argument proceeds by

(A) redefining a term in a way that is favorable to the argument

(B) giving a reason why a recommended course of action would be beneficial

(C) appealing to the authority of scientific methods

(D) showing that a necessary condition for correctly applying the term “organic” is not satisfiedA

(E) reinterpreting evidence presented as supporting the position being rejected

17.   On completing both the course in experimental design and the developmental psychology course, Angela will have earned a degree in psychology. Since experimental design, which must be completed before taking developmental psychology, will not be offered until next term, it will be at least two terms before Angela gets her psychology degree.

If the statements above are all true, which one of the following must also be true?

(A) The developmental psychology course Angela needs to take requires two terms to complete.

(B) The course in experimental design is an easier course than the course in developmental psychology.

(C) There are no prerequisites for the course in experimental design.

(D) Anyone who earns a degree in psychology form the university Angela attends will have completed the course in experimental design.E

(E) Once Angela completes the developmental psychology course, she will have earned a degree in psychology.

18.   According to government official involved in overseeing airplane safety during the last year, over 75 percent of the voice-recorder tapes taken from small airplanes involved in relatively minor accidents record the whistling of the pilot during the fifteen minutes immediately preceding the accident. Even such minor accidents pose some safety risk. Therefore, if passengers hear the pilot start to whistle they should take safety precautions, whether instructed by the pilot to do so or not.

The argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that it

(A) accepts the reliability of the cited statistics on the authority of an unidentified government official

(B) ignores the fact that in nearly one quarter of these accidents following the recommendation would not have improved passenger’ safety

(C) does not indicate the criteria by which an accident is classified as “relatively minor”

(D) provides no information about the percentage of all small airplane flights during which the pilot whistles at some time during that flightD

(E) fails to specify the percentage of all small airplane flights that involve relatively minor accidents

19.   When permits for the discharge of chemicals into a waterway are issued, they are issued in terms of the number of pounds of each chemical that can be discharged into the waterway per day. These figures, calculated separately for each chemical for which a permit is issued, are based on an estimate of the effect of the dilution of the chemical by the amount of water flowing through the waterway. The waterway is therefore protected against being adversely affected by chemicals discharged under the permits.

The argument depends on the assumption that

(A) relatively harmless chemicals do not interact with each other in the water to form harmful compounds

(B) there is a swift flow of water in the waterway that ensures rapid dispersion of chemicals discharged

(C) there are no chemicals for which discharge into waterways is entirely prohibited

(D) those who receive the permits do not always discharge the entire quantity of chemicals that the permits allowA

(E) the danger of chemical pollution of waterways is to be evaluated in terms of human health only and not in terms of the health of both human beings and wildlife

Questions 20-21

Monroe, despite his generally poor appetite, thoroughly enjoyed the three meals he ate at the Tip-Top Restaurant, but, unfortunately, after each meal he became ill. The first time he ate an extra-large sausage pizza with a side order of hot pepper; the second time he took full advantage of the all-you-can-eat fried shrimp and hot peppers special; and the third time he had two of Tip-Top’s giant meatball sandwiches with hot peppers. Since the only food all three meals had in common was the hot peppers. Monroe concludes that it is solely due to Tip-Top’s hot peppers that he became ill.

20.   Monroe’s reasoning is most vulnerable to which one of the following criticisms?

(A) He draws his conclusion on the basis of too few meals that were consumed at Tip-Top and that included hot peppers.

(B) He posits a causal relationship without ascertaining that the presumed cause preceded the presumed effect.

(C) He allows his desire to continue dining at Tip-Top to bias his conclusion.

(D) He fails to establish that everyone who ate Tip-Top’s hot peppers became ill.E

(E) He overlooks the fact that at all three meals he consumed what was, for him, an unusually large quantity of food.

21.   If both Monroe’s conclusion and the evidence on which he bases it are correct, they would provide the strongest support for which one of the following?

(A) Monroe can eat any of Tip-Top’s daily all-you-can-eat specials without becoming ill as long as the special does not include the hot peppers.

(B) If, at his third meal at Tip-Top, Monroe had chosen to eat the baked chicken with hot peppers, he would have become ill after that meal.

(C) If the next time Monroe eats one of Tip-Top’s extra-large sausage pizzas he does not have a side order of hot peppers, he will not become ill after his meal.

(D) Before eating Tip-Top’s fried shrimp with hot peppers special, Monroe had eaten fried shrimp without suffering any ill effects.B

(E) The only place Monroe has eaten hot peppers has been at Tip-Top.

22.   “This company will not be training any more pilots in the foreseeable future, since we have 400 trained pilots on our waiting list who are seeking employment. The other five major companies each have roughly the same number of trained pilots on their waiting lists, and since the projected requirement of each company is for not many more than 100 additional pilots, there will be no shortage of personnel despite the current upswing in the aviation industry.”

Which one of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the accuracy of the above conclusion?

(A) Most of the trained pilots who are on awaiting list for a job are on the waiting lists of all the major companies.

(B) In the long run, pilot training will become necessary to compensate for ordinary attrition.

(C) If no new pilots are trained, there will be an age imbalance in the pilot work force.

(D) The quoted personnel projections take account of the current upswing in the aviation industry.A

(E) Some of the other major companies are still training pilots but with no presumption of subsequent employment.

23.   A car’s antitheft alarm tat sounds in the middle of the night in a crowded city neighborhood may stop an attempted car theft. On the other hand, the alarm might signal only a fault in the device, or a response to some harmless contact, such as a tree branch brushing the car. But whatever the cause, the sleep of many people in the neighborhood is disturbed. Out of consideration for others, people who have these antitheft alarms on their cars should deactivate them when they park in crowded city neighborhoods at night.

Which one of the following, if assumed by the author of the passage, would allow her properly to draw her conclusion that the owners of alarm-equipped cars should deactivate the alarms when parking in crowded city neighborhoods at night?

(A) The inconvenience of false alarms is small price to pay for the security of a neighborhood.

(B) In most cases when a car alarm sounds at night, it is a false alarm.

(C) Allowing the residents of a crowded city neighborhood to sleep undisturbed is more important than preventing car theft.

(D) People who equip their cars with antitheft alarms are generally inconsiderate of others.C

(E) The sounding of car antitheft alarms during the daytime does not disturb the residents of crowded city neighborhoods.

Questions 24-25

In Peru, ancient disturbances in the dark surface material of a desert show up as light-colored lines that are the width of a footpath and stretch for long distances. One group of lines branching out like rays from a single point crosses over curved lines that form a very large bird figure. Interpreting the lines in the desert as landing strips for spaceship-traveling aliens, an investigator argues that they could hardly have been Inca roads, asking, “What use to the Inca would have been closely spaced roads that ran parallel? That intersected in a sunburst pattern? That came abruptly to an end in the middle of an uninhabited plain.”

24.   The argumentative strategy of the investigator quoted is to

(A) reject out of hand direct counterevidence to the investigator’s own interpretation

(B) introduce evidence newly discovered by the investigator which discredits the alternative interpretation

(C) support one interpretation by calling into question the plausibility of the alternative interpretation

(D) challenge the investigative methods used by those who developed the alternative interpretationC

(E) show that the two competing interpretations can be reconciled with one another

25.   For someone who interprets the lines as referring to astronomical phenomena, which one of the following, if true, most effectively counters an objection that the crossing of the straight-line pattern over the bird figure shows that the two kinds of line pattern served unrelated purposes?

(A) In areas that were inhabited by ancient native North American peoples, arrangements of stones have been found that make places where sunlight falls precisely on the spring solstice, an astronomically determined date.

(B) The straight lines are consistent with sight lines to points on the horizon where particular astronomical events could have been observed at certain plausible dates, and the figure could represent a constellation.

(C) The straight-line pattern is part of a large connected complex of patterns of straight-line rays connecting certain points with one another.

(D) Native Central American cultures, such as that of the Maya, left behind elaborate astronomical calendars that were engraved on rocks.B

(E) There is evidence that the bird figure was made well before the straight-line pattern.

TEST 15

SECTION II

1.        C

2.        C

3.        B

4.        E

5.        D

6.        D

7.        D

8.        B

9.        C

10.    B

11.    D

12.    A

13.    B

14.    C

15.    E

16.    D

17.    C

18.    D

19.    E

20.    B

21.    A

22.    D

23.    E

24.    D

25.    E

SECTION IV

1.        E

2.        D

3.        C

4.        C

5.        B

6.        A

7.        C

8.        E

9.        D

10.    A

11.    E

12.    E

13.    C

14.    D

15.    C

16.    A

17.    E

18.    D

19.    A

20.    E

21.    B

22.    A

23.    C

24.    C

25.    B





  Where's My Stuff?


  Shipping & Returns