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TEST 2

SECTION II

Time 35 minutes 24 Questions

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

1.     Some people believe that witnessing violence in movies will discharge aggressive energy. Does watching someone else eat fill one’s own stomach?

In which one of the following does the reasoning most closely parallel that employed in the passage?

(A) Some people think appropriating supplies at work for their own personal use is morally wrong. Isn’t shoplifting morally wrong?

(B) Some people think nationalism is defensible. Hasn’t nationalism been the excuse for committing abominable crimes?

(C) Some people think that boxing is fixed just because wrestling usually is. Are the two sports managed by the same sort of people?

(D) Some people think that economists can control inflation. Can meteorologists make the sun shine?D

(E) Some people think workaholics are compensating for a lack of interpersonal skills. However, aren’t most doctors workaholics?

2.     Ann: All the campers at Camp Winnehatchee go to Tri-Cities High School

Bill: That’s not true. Some Tri-Cities students are campers at Camp Lakemont.

Bill’s answer can be best explained on the assumption that he has interpreted Ann’s remark to mean that

(A) most of the campers at Camp Lakemont come from high schools other than Tri-Cities

(B) most Tri-Cities High School students are campers at Camp Winnehatchee

(C) some Tri-Cities High School students have withdrawn from Camp Lakemont

(D) all Tri-Cities High School students have withdrawn from Camp LakemontE

(E) only campers at Camp Winnehatchee are students at Tri-Cities High School

3.     More than a year ago, the city announced that police would crack down on illegally parked cars and that resources would be diverted from writing speeding tickets to ticketing illegally parked cars. But no crackdown has taken place. The police chief claims that resources have had to be diverted from writing speeding tickets to combating the city’s staggering drug problem. Yet the police are still writing as many speeding tickets as ever. Therefore, the excuse about resources being tied up in fighting drug-related crime simply is not true.

The conclusion in the passage depends on the assumption that

(A) every member of the police force is qualified to work on combating the city’s drug problem

(B) drug-related crime is not as serious a problem for the city as the police chief claims it is

(C) writing speeding tickets should be as important a priority for the city as combating drug-related crime

(D) the police could be cracking down on illegally parked cars and combating the drug problem without having to reduce writing speeding ticketsE

(E) the police cannot continue writing as many speeding tickets as ever while diverting resources to combating drug-related crime

4.     Dried grass clippings mixed into garden soil gradually decompose, providing nutrients for beneficial soil bacteria. This results in better-than-average plant growth. Yet mixing fresh grass clippings into garden soil usually causes poorer-than-average plant growth.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the difference in plant growth described above?

(A) The number of beneficial soil bacteria increases whenever any kind of plant material is mixed into garden soil.

(B) Nutrients released by dried grass clippings are immediately available to beneficial soil bacteria.

(C) Some dried grass clippings retain nutrients originally derived from commercial lawn fertilizers, and thus provide additional enrichment to the soil.

(D) Fresh grass clippings mixed into soil decompose rapidly, generating high levels of heat that kill beneficial soil bacteria.D

(E) When a mix of fresh and dried grass clippings is mixed into garden soil, plant growth often decreases.

5.     A gas tax of one cent per gallon would raise one billion dollars per year at current consumption rates. Since a tax of fifty cents per gallon would therefore raise fifty billion dollars per year, it seems a perfect way to deal with the federal budget deficit. This tax would have the additional advantage that the resulting drop in the demand for gasoline would be ecologically sound and would keep our country from being too dependent on foreign oil producers.

Which one of the following most clearly identifies an error in the author’s reasoning?

(A) The author cites irrelevant data.

(B) The author relies on incorrect current consumption figures.

(C) The author makes incompatible assumptions.

(D) The author mistakes an effect for a cause.C

(E) The author appeals to conscience rather than reason.

6.     As symbols of the freedom of the wilderness, bald eagles have the unique capacity to inspire people and foster in them a sympathetic attitude toward the needs of other threatened species. Clearly, without that sympathy and the political will it engenders, the needs of more obscure species will go unmet. The conservation needs of many obscure species can only be met by beginning with the conservation of this symbolic species, the bald eagle.

Which one of the following is the main point of the passage as a whole?

(A) Because bald eagles symbolize freedom, conservation efforts should be concentrated on them rather than on other, more obscure species.

(B) The conservation of bald eagles is the first necessary step in conserving other endangered species.

(C) Without increased public sympathy for conservation, the needs of many symbolic species will go unmet.

(D) People’s love of the wilderness can be used to engender political support for conservation efforts.B

(E) Other threatened species do not inspire people or foster sympathy as much as do bald eagles.

7.     There is no reason why the work of scientists has to be officially confirmed before being published. There is a system in place for the confirmation or disconfirmation of scientific finding, namely, the replication of results by other scientists. Poor scientific work on the part of any one scientist, which can include anything from careless reporting practices to fraud, is not harmful. It will be exposed and rendered harmless when other scientists conduct the experiments and obtain disconfirmatory results.

Which one of the following, if true, would weaken the argument?

(A) Scientific experiments can go unchallenged for many years before they are replicated.

(B) Most scientists work in universities, where their work is submitted to peer review before publication.

(C) Most scientists are under pressure to make their work accessible to the scrutiny of replication.

(D) In scientific experiments, careless reporting is more common than fraud.A

(E) Most scientists work as part of a team rather than alone.

8.     Alice: Quotas on automobile imports to the United States should be eliminated. Then domestic producers would have to compete directly with Japanese manufacturers and would be forced to produce higher-quality cars. Such competition would be good for consumers.

David: You fail to realize, Alice, that quotas on automobile imports are pervasive worldwide. Since German, Britain, and France have quotas, so should the United States.

Which one of the following most accurately characterizes David’s response to Alice’s statement?

(A) David falsely accuses Alice of contradicting herself.

(B) David unfairly directs his argument against Alice personally.

(C) David uncovers a hidden assumption underlying Alice’s position.

(D) David takes a position that is similar to the one Alice has taken.E

(E) David fails to address the reasons Alice cites in favor of her conclusion.

9.     Governments have only one response to public criticism of socially necessary services: regulation of the activity of providing those services. But governments inevitably make the activity more expensive by regulating it, and that is particularly troublesome in these times of strained financial resources. However, since public criticism of child-care services has undermined all confidence in such services, and since such services are socially necessary, the government is certain to respond.

Which one of the following statements can be inferred from the passage?

(A) The quality of child care will improve.

(B) The cost of providing child-care services will increase.

(C) The government will use funding to foster advances in child care.

(D) If public criticism of policy is strongly voiced, the government is certain to respond.B

(E) If child-care services are not regulated, the cost of providing child care will not increase.

10.   Advertisers are often criticized for their unscrupulous manipulation of people’s tastes and wants. There is evidence, however, that some advertisers are motivated by moral as well as financial considerations. A particular publication decided to change its image from being a family newspaper to concentrating on sex and violence, thus appealing to a different readership. Some advertisers withdrew their advertisements from the publication, and this must have been because they morally disapproved of publishing salacious material.

Which one of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument?

(A) The advertisers switched their advertisements to other family newspapers.

(B) Some advertisers switched from family newspapers to advertise in the changed publication.

(C) The advertisers expected their product sales to increase if they stayed with the changed publication, but to decrease if they withdrew.

(D) People who generally read family newspapers are not likely to buy newspapers that concentrate on sex and violence.C

(E) It was expected that the changed publication would appeal principally to those in a different income group.

11.   “If the forest continues to disappear at its present pace, the koala will approach extinction,” said the biologist.

“So all that is needed to save the koala is to stop deforestation,” said the politician.

Which one of the following statements is consistent with the biologist’s claim but not with the politician’s claim?

(A) Deforestation continues and the koala becomes extinct.

(B) Deforestation is stopped and the koala becomes extinct.

(C) Reforestation begins and the koala survives.

(D) Deforestation is slowed and the koala survives.B

(E) Deforestation is slowed and the koala approaches extinction.

12.   People have long been fascinated by the paranormal. Over the years, numerous researchers have investigated telepathy only to find that conclusive evidence for its existence has persistently evaded them. Despite this, there are still those who believe that there must be “something in it” since some research seems to support the view that telepathy exist. However, it can often be shown that other explanations that do comply with known laws can be given. Therefore, it is premature to conclude that telepathy is an alternative means of communication.

In the passage, the author

(A) supports the conclusion by pointing to the inadequacy of evidence for the opposite view

(B) supports the conclusion by describing particular experiments

(C) supports the conclusion by overgeneralizing from a specific piece of evidence

(D) draws a conclusion that is not supported by the premisesA

(E) rephrases the conclusion without offering any support for it

13.   If retail stores experience a decrease in revenues during this holiday season, then either attitudes toward extravagant gift-giving have changed or prices have risen beyond the level most people can afford. If attitudes have changed, then we all have something to celebrate this season. If prices have risen beyond the level most people can afford, then it must be that salaries have not kept pace with rising prices during the past year.

Assume the premises above to be true. If salaries have kept pace with rising prices during the past year, which one of the following must be true?

(A) Attitudes toward extravagant gift-giving have changed.

(B) Retail stores will not experience a decrease in retail sales during this holiday season.

(C) Prices in retail stores have not risen beyond the level that most people can afford during this holiday season.

(D) Attitudes toward extravagant gift-giving have not changed, and stores will not experience a decrease in revenues during this holiday season.C

(E) Either attitudes toward extravagant gift-giving have changed or prices have risen beyond the level that most people can afford during this holiday season.

14.   The “suicide wave” that followed the United States stock market crash of October 1929 is more legend than fact. Careful examination of the monthly figures on the causes of death in 1929 shows that the number of suicides in October and in November was comparatively low. In only three other months were the monthly figures lower. During the summer months, when the stock market was flourishing, the number of suicides was substantially higher.

Which one of the following, if true, would best challenge the conclusion of the passage?

(A) The suicide rate is influenced by many psychological, interpersonal, and societal factors during any given historical period.

(B) October and November have almost always had relatively high suicide rates, even during the 1920s and 1930s.

(C) The suicide rate in October and November of 1929 was considerably higher than the average for those months during several preceding and following years.

(D) During the years surrounding the stock market crash, suicide rates were typically lower at the beginning of any calendar year than toward the end of that year.C

(E) Because of seasonal differences, the number of suicides in October and November of 1929 would not be expected to be the same as those for other months.

15.   A well-known sports figure found that combining publicity tours with playing tours led to problems, so she stopped combining the two. She no longer allows bookstore appearances and playing in competition to occur in the same city within the same trip. This week she is traveling to London to play in a major competition, so during her stay in London she will not be making any publicity appearances at any bookstore in London.

Which one of the following most closely parallels the reasoning used in the passage?

(A) Wherever there is an Acme Bugkiller, many wasps are killed. The Z family garden has an Acme Bugkiller, so any wasps remaining in the garden will soon be killed.

(B) The only times that the hospital’s emergency room staff attends to relatively less serious emergencies are times when there is no critical emergency to attend to. On Monday night the emergency room staff attended to a series of fairly minor emergencies, so there must not have been any critical emergencies to take care of at the time.

(C) Tomato plants require hot summers to thrive. Farms in the cool summers of country Y probably do not have thriving tomato plants.

(D) Higher grades lead to better job opportunities, and studying leads to higher grades. Therefore, studying will lead to better job opportunities.B

(E) Butter knives are not sharp. Q was not murdered with a sharp blade, so suspect X’s butter knife may have been the murder weapon.

Questions 16-17

The advanced technology of ski boots and bindings has brought a dramatic drop in the incidence of injuries that occur on the slopes of ski resorts: from 9 injuries per 1,000 skiers in 1950 to 3 in 1980. As a result, the remainder of ski-related injuries, which includes all injuries occurring on the premises of a ski resort but not on the slopes, rose from 10 percent of all ski-related injuries in 1950 to 25 percent in 1980. The incidence of these injuries, including accidents such as falling down steps, increases with the amount of alcohol consumed per skier.

16.   Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

(A) As the number of ski injuries that occur on the slopes decreases, the number of injuries that occur on the premises of ski resorts increases.

(B) The amount of alcohol consumed per skier increased between 1950 and 1980.

(C) The technology of ski boots and bindings affects the incidence of each type of ski-related injury.

(D) If the technology of ski boots and bindings continues to advance, the incidence of ski-related injuries will continue to decline.E

(E) Injuries that occurred on the slopes of ski resorts made up a smaller percentage of ski-related injuries in 1980 than in 1950.

17.   Which one of the following conflicts with information in the passage?

(A) The number of ski injuries that occurred on the slopes was greater in 1980 than in 1950.

(B) A skier was less likely to be injured on the slopes in 1950 than in 1980.

(C) The reporting of ski injuries became more accurate between 1950 and 1980.

(D) The total number of skiers dropped between 1950 and 1980.B

(E) Some ski-related injuries occurred in 1980 to people who were not skiing.

18.   Learning how to build a nest plays an important part in the breeding success of birds. For example, Dr. Snow has recorded the success of a number of blackbirds in several successive years. He finds that birds nesting for the first time are less successful in breeding than are older birds, and also less successful than they themselves are a year later. This cannot be a mere matter of size and strength, since blackbirds, like the great majority of birds, are fully grown when they leave the nest. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that they benefit by their nesting experience.

Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument?

(A) Blackbirds build better nests than other birds.

(B) The capacity of blackbirds to lay viable eggs increases with each successive trial during the first few years of reproduction.

(C) The breeding success of birds nesting for the second time is greater than that of birds nesting for the first time.

(D) Smaller and weaker blackbirds breed just as successfully as bigger and stronger blackbirds.B

(E) Up to 25 percent of all birds are killed by predators before they start to nest.

19.   How do the airlines expect to prevent commercial plane crashes? Studies have shown that pilot error contributes to two-thirds of all such crashes. To address this problem, the airlines have upgraded their training programs by increasing the hours of classroom instruction and emphasizing communication skills in the cockpit. But it is unrealistic to expect such measures to compensate for pilots’ lack of actual flying time. Therefore, the airlines should rethink their training approach to reducing commercial crashes.

Which one of the following is an assumption upon which the argument depends?

(A) Training programs can eliminate pilot errors.

(B) Commercial pilots routinely undergo additional training throughout their careers.

(C) The number of airline crashes will decrease if pilot training programs focus on increasing actual flying time.

(D) Lack of actual flying time is an important contributor to pilot error in commercial plane crashes.D

(E) Communication skills are not important to pilot training programs.

20.   All savings accounts are interest-bearing accounts. The interest from some interest-bearing accounts is tax-free, so there must be some savings accounts that have tax-free interest.

Which one of the following arguments is flawed in a way most similar to the way in which the passage is flawed?

(A) All artists are intellectuals. Some great photographers are artists. Therefore, some great photographers must be intellectuals.

(B) All great photographers are artists. All artists are intellectuals. Therefore, some great photographers must be intellectuals.

(C) All great photographers are artists. Some artists are intellectuals. Therefore, some great photographers are intellectuals.

(D) All great photographers are artists. Some great photographers are intellectuals. Therefore, some artists must be intellectuals.C

(E) All great photographers are artists. No artists are intellectuals. Therefore, some great photographers must not be intellectuals.

21.   One method of dating the emergence of species is to compare the genetic material of related species. Scientists theorize that the more genetically similar two species are to each other, the more recently they diverged from a common ancestor. After comparing genetic material from giant pandas, red pandas, raccoons, coatis, and all seven bear species, scientists concluded that bears and raccoons diverged 30 to 50 million years ago. They further concluded that red pandas separated from the ancestor of today’s raccoons and coatis a few million years later, some 10 million years before giant pandas diverged from the other bears.

Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

(A) Giant pandas and red pandas are more closely related than scientists originally thought they were.

(B) Scientists now count the giant panda as the eighth species of bear.

(C) It is possible to determine, within a margin of just a few years, the timing of divergence of various species.

(D) Scientists have found that giant pandas are more similar genetically to bears than to raccoons.D

(E) There is substantial consensus among scientists that giant pandas and red pandas are equally related to raccoons.

Questions 22-23

Despite improvements in treatment for asthma, the death rate form this disease has doubled during the past decade from its previous rate. Two possible explanations for this increase have been offered. First, the recording of deaths due to asthma has become more widespread and accurate in the past decade than it had been previously. Second, there has been an increase in urban pollution. However, since the rate of deaths due to asthma has increased dramatically even in cities with long-standing, comprehensive medical records and with little or no urban pollution, one must instead conclude that the cause of increased deaths is the use of bronchial inhalers by asthma sufferers to relieve their symptoms.

22.   Each of the following, if true, provides support to the argument EXCEPT:

(A) Urban populations have doubled in the past decade.

(B) Records of asthma deaths are as accurate for the past twenty years as for the past ten years.

(C) Evidence suggests that bronchial inhalers make the lungs more sensitive to irritation by airborne pollen.

(D) By temporarily relieving the symptoms of asthma, inhalers encourage sufferers to avoid more beneficial measures.A

(E) Ten years ago bronchial inhalers were not available as an asthma treatment.

23.   Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

(A) Urban pollution has not doubled in the past decade.

(B) Doctors and patients generally ignore the role of allergies in asthma.

(C) Bronchial inhalers are unsafe, even when used according to the recommended instructions.

(D) The use of bronchial inhalers aggravates other diseases that frequently occur among asthma sufferers and that often lead to fatal outcomes even when the asthma itself does not.E

(E) Increased urban pollution, improved recording of asthma deaths, and the use of bronchial inhalers are the only possible explanations of the increased death rate due to asthma.

24.   There is little point in looking to artists for insights into political issues. Most of them hold political views that are less insightful than those of any reasonably well-educated person who is not an artist. Indeed, when taken as a whole, the statements made by artists, including those considered to be great, indicate that artistic talent and political insight are rarely found together.

Which one of the following can be inferred from the passage?

(A) There are no artists who have insights into political issues.

(B) A thorough education in art makes a person reasonably well educated.

(C) Every reasonably well-educated person who s not an artist has more insight into political issues than any artist.

(D) Politicians rarely have any artistic talent.E

(E) Some artists are no less politically insightful than some reasonably well-educated persons who are not artists.

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.     A major art theft from a museum was remarkable in that the pieces stolen clearly had been carefully selected. The criterion for selection, however, clearly had not been greatest estimated market value. It follows that the theft was specifically carried out to suit the taste of some individual collector for whose private collection the pieces were destined.

The argument tacitly appeals to which one of the following principles?

(A) Any art theft can, on the evidence of the selection of pieces stolen, be categorized as committed either at the direction of a single known individual or at the direction of a group of known individuals.

(B) Any art theft committed at the direction of a single individual results in a pattern of works taken and works left alone that defies rational analysis.

(C) The pattern of works taken and works left alone can sometimes distinguish one type of art theft from another.

(D) Art thefts committed with no preexisting plan for the disposition of the stolen works do not always involve theft of the most valuable pieces only.C

(E) The pattern of works taken and works left alone in an art theft can be particularly damaging to the integrity of the remaining collection.

2.     The teeth of some mammals show “growth rings” that result from the constant depositing of layers of cementum as opaque bands in summer and translucent bands in winter. Cross sections of pigs teeth found in an excavated Stone Age trash pit revealed bands of remarkably constant width except that the band deposited last, which was invariably translucent, was only about half the normal width.

The statements above most strongly support the conclusion that the animals died

(A) in an unusually early winter

(B) at roughly the same age

(C) roughly in midwinter

(D) in a natural catastropheC

(E) from starvation

3.     The United States has never been a great international trader. It found most of its raw materials and customers for finished products within its own borders. The terrible consequences of this situation have become apparent, as this country now owes the largest foreign debt in the world and is a playground for wealthy foreign investors. The moral is clear: a country can no more live without foreign trade than a dog can live by eating its own tail.

In order to advance her point of view, the author does each of the following EXCEPT:

(A) draw on an analogy

(B) appeal to historical fact

(C) identify a cause and an effect

(D) suggest a cause of the current economic situationE

(E) question the ethical basis of an economic situation

4.     Giselle: The government needs to ensure that the public consumes less petroleum. When things cost more, people buy and use less of them. Therefore, the government should raise the sales tax on gasoline, a major petroleum product.

Antoine: The government should not raise the sales tax on gasoline. Such an increase would be unfair to gasoline users. If taxes are to be increased, the increases should be applied in such a way that they spread the burden of providing the government with increased revenues among many people, not just the users of gasoline.

As a rebuttal of Giselle’s argument, Antoine’s response is ineffective because

(A) he ignores the fact that Giselle does not base her argument for raising the gasoline sales tax on the government’s need for increase revenues

(B) he fails to specify how many taxpayers there are who are not gasoline users

(C) his conclusion is based on an assertion regarding unfairness, and unfairness is a very subjective concept

(D) he mistakenly assumes that Giselle wants a sales tax increase only on gasolineA

(E) he makes the implausible assumption that the burden of increasing government revenues can be more evenly distributed among the people through other means besides increasing the gasoline sales tax

5.     A government agency publishes ratings of airlines, ranking highest the airlines that have the smallest proportion of late flights. The agency’s purpose is to establish an objective measure of the relative efficiency of different airlines’ personnel in meeting published flight schedules.

Which one of the following, if true, would tend to invalidate use of the ratings for the agency’s purpose?

(A) Travelers sometimes have no choice of airlines for a given trip at a given time.

(B) Flights are often made late by bad weather conditions that affect some airlines more that others.

(C) The flight schedules of all airlines allow extra time for flights that go into or out of very busy airports.

(D) Airline personnel are aware that the government agency is monitoring all airline flights for lateness.B

(E) Flights are defined as “late” only if they arrive more that fifteen minutes past their scheduled arrival time, and a record is made of how much later than fifteen minutes they are.

6.     Although this bottle is labeled “vinegar,” no fizzing occurred when some of the liquid in it was added to powder from this box labeled “baking soda.” But when an acidic liquid such as vinegar is added to baking soda the resulting mixture fizzes, so this bottle clearly has been mislabeled.

A flaw in the reasoning in the argument above is that this argument

(A) ignores the possibility that the bottle contained an acidic liquid other than vinegar

(B) fails to exclude an alternative explanation for the observed effect

(C) depends on the use of the imprecise term “fizz”

(D) does not take into account the fact that scientific principles can be definitively tested only under controlled laboratory conditionsB

(E) assumes that the fact of a labeling error is proof of an intention to deceive

7.     Marine biologists have long thought that variation in the shell color of aquatic snails evolved as a protective camouflage against birds and other predators. Brown shells seem to be more frequent when the underlying seafloor is dark-colored and white shells more frequent when the underlying seafloor is light-colored. A new theory has been advanced, however, that claims that shell color is related to physiological stress associated with heat absorption. According to this theory, brown shells will be more prevalent in areas where the wave action of the sea is great and thus heat absorption from the Sun is minimized, whereas white shells will be more numerous in calmer waters where the snails will absorb more heat from the Sun’s rays.

Evidence that would strongly favor the new theory over the traditional theory would be the discovery of a large majority of

(A) dark-shelled snails in a calm inlet with a dark, rocky bottom and many predators

(B) dark-shelled snails in a calm inlet with a white, sandy bottom

(C) light-shelled snails in an inlet with much wave action and a dark, rocky bottom

(D) light-shelled snails in a calm inlet with a dark, rocky bottom and many predatorsD

(E) light-shelled snails in a calm inlet with a white, sandy bottom and many predators

8.     Measurements of the extent of amino-acid decomposition in fragments of eggshell found at archaeological sites in such places as southern Africa can be used to obtain accurate dates for sites up to 200,000 years old. Because the decomposition is slower in cool climates, the technique can be used to obtain accurate dates for sites almost a million years old in cooler regions.

The information above provides the most support for which one of the following conclusions?

(A) The oldest archaeological sites are not in southern Africa, but rather in cooler regions of the world.

(B) The amino-acid decomposition that enables eggshells to be used in dating does not take place in other organic matter found at ancient archaeological sites.

(C) If the site being dated had been subject to large unsuspected climatic fluctuations during the time the eggshell has been at the site, application of the technique is less likely to yield accurate results.

(D) After 200,000 years in a cool climate, less than one-fifth of the amino acids in a fragment of eggshell that would provide material for dating with the technique will have decomposed and will thus no longer be suitable for examination by the technique.C

(E) Fragments of eggshell are more likely to be found at ancient archaeological sites in warm regions of the world than at such sites in cooler regions.

9.     Advertisement: Clark brand-name parts are made for cars manufactured in this country. They satisfy all of our government automotive test—the toughest such tests in the world. With foreign-made parts, you never know which might be reliable and which are cheap look-alikes that are poorly constructed and liable to cost you hundreds of dollars in repairs. Therefore, be smart and insist on brand-name parts by Clark for your car.

The argument requires the assumption that

(A) Clark parts are available only in this country

(B) foreign-made parts are not suitable for cars manufactured in this country

(C) no foreign-made parts satisfy our government standards

(D) parts that satisfy our government standards are not as poorly constructed as cheap foreign-made partsD

(E) if parts are made for cars manufactured in our country, they are not poorly constructed

10.   Even if a crime that has been committed by computer is discovered and reported, the odds of being both arrested and convicted greatly favor the criminal.

Each of the following, if true, supports the claim above EXCEPT:

(A) The preparation of computer-fraud cases takes much more time than is required for average fraud cases, and the productivity of prosecutors is evaluated by the number of good cases made.

(B) In most police departments, officers are rotated through different assignments every two or three years, a shorter time than it takes to become proficient as a computer-crime investigator.

(C) The priorities of local police departments, under whose jurisdiction most computer crime falls, are weighted toward visible street crime that communities perceive as threatening.

(D) Computer criminals have rarely been sentenced to serve time in prison, because prisons are overcrowded with violent criminals and drug offenders.D

(E) The many police officers who are untrained in computers often inadvertently destroy the physical evidence of computer crime.

11.   Every week, the programming office at an FM radio station reviewed unsolicited letters from listeners who were expressing comments on the station’s programs. One week, the station received 50 letters with favorable comments about the station’s news reporting and music selection and 10 letters with unfavorable comments on the station’s new movie review segment of the evening program. Faced with this information, the programming director assumed that if some listeners did not like the movie review segment, then there must be other listeners who did like it. Therefore, he decided to continue the movie review segment of the evening program.

Which on e of the following identifies a problem with the programming director’s decision process?

(A) He failed to recognize that people are more likely to write letters of criticism than of praise.

(B) He could not properly infer from the fact that some listeners did not like the movie review segment that some others did.

(C) He failed to take into consideration the discrepancy in numbers between favorable and unfavorable letters received.

(D) He failed to take into account the relation existing between the movie review segment and the news.B

(E) He did not wait until he received at least 50 letters with unfavorable comments about the movie review segment before making his decision.

12.   “Though they soon will, patients should not have a legal right to see their medical records. As a doctor, I see two reasons for this. First, giving them access will be time-wasting because it will significantly reduce the amount of time that medical staff can spend on more important duties, by forcing them to retrieve and return files. Second, if my experience is anything to go by, no patients are going to ask for access to their records anyway.”

Which one of the following, if true, establishes that the doctor’s second reason does not cancel out the first?

(A) The new law will require that doctors, when seeing a patient in their office, must be ready to produce the patient’s records immediately, not just ready to retrieve them.

(B) The task of retrieving and returning files would fall to the lowest-paid member of a doctor’s office staff.

(C) Any patients who asked to see their medical records would also insist on having details they did not understand explained to them.

(D) The new law does not rule out that doctors may charge patients for extra expenses incurred specifically in order to comply with the new law.A

(E) Some doctors have all allowing their patients access to their medical records, but those doctors’ patients took no advantage of this policy.

13.   Alia: Hawthorne admits that he has influence with high government officials. He further admits that he sold that influence to an environmental interest group. There can be no justification for this kind of unethical behavior.

Martha: I disagree that he was unethical. The group that retained Hawthorne’s services is dedicated to the cause of preventing water pollution. So, in using his influence to benefit this group, Hawthorne also benefited the public.

Alia and Martha disagree on whether

(A) the meaning of ethical behavior has changed over time

(B) the consequences of Hawthorne’s behavior can ethically justify that behavior

(C) the standards for judging ethical behavior can be imposed on Hawthorne by another

(D) the meaning of ethical behavior is the same in a public situation as in a private oneB

(E) the definition of ethical behavior is rooted in philosophy or religion

14.   The mayor boasts that the average ambulance turnaround time, the time from summons to delivery of the patient, has been reduced this year for top-priority emergencies. This is a serious misrepresentation. This “reduction” was produced simply by redefining “top priority.” Such emergencies used to include gunshot wounds and electrocutions, the most time-consuming cases. Now they are limited strictly to heart attacks and strokes.

Which one of the following would strengthen the author’s conclusion that it was the redefinition of “top priority” that produced the reduction in turnaround time?

(A) The number of heart attacks and strokes declined this year.

(B) The mayor redefined the city’s financial priorities this year.

(C) Experts disagree with the mayor’s definition of “top-priority emergency.”

(D) Other cities include gunshot wound cases in their category o top-priority emergencies.E

(E) One half of all of last year’s top-priority emergencies were gunshot wounds and electrocution cases.

15.   In a large residential building, there is a rule that no pets are allowed. A group of pet lovers tried to change that rule but failed. The rule-changing procedure outlined in the building’s regulations states that only if a group of tenants can obtain the signatures of 10 percent of the tenants on a petition to change a rule will the proposed change be put to a majority vote of all the tenants in the building. It follows that the pet lovers were voted down on their proposal by the majority of the tenants.

The argument depends on which one of the following assumptions?

(A) The pet lovers succeeded in obtaining the signatures of 10 percent of the tenants on their petition.

(B) The signatures of less than 10 percent of the tenants were obtained on the pet lovers’ petition.

(C) Ninety percent of the tenants are against changing the rule forbidding pets.

(D) The support of 10 percent of the tenants for a rule change ensures that the rule change will be adopted.A

(E) The failure of the pet lovers to obtain the signatures of 10 percent of the tenants on their petition for a rule change ensures that the rule change will be voted down by a majority of the tenants.

16.   Nuclear fusion is a process whereby the nuclei of atoms are joined, or “fused,” and in which energy is released. One of the by-products of fusion is helium-4 gas. A recent fusion experiment was conducted using “heavy” water contained in a sealed flask. The flask was, in turn, contained in an air-filled chamber designed to eliminate extraneous vibration. After the experiment, a measurable amount of helium-4 gas was found in the air of the chamber. The experimenters cited this evidence in support of their conclusion that fusion had been achieved.

Which one of the following, if true, would cast doubt on the experimenters’ conclusion?

(A) Helium-4 was not the only gas found in the experiment chamber.

(B) When fusion is achieved, it normally produces several by-products, including tritium and gamma rays.

(C) The amount of helium-4 found in the chamber’s air did not exceed the amount of helium-4 that is found in ordinary air.

(D) Helium-4 gas rapidly breaks down, forming ordinary helium gas after a few hours.C

(E) Nuclear fusion reactions are characterized by the release of large amounts of heat.

17.   Every photograph, because it involves the light rays that something emits hitting film, must in some obvious sense be true. But because it could always have been made to show things differently than it does, it cannot express the whole truth and, in that sense, is false. Therefore, nothing can ever be definitively proved with a photograph.

Which one of the following is an assumption that would permit the conclusion above to be properly drawn?

(A) Whatever is false in the sense that it cannot express the whole truth cannot furnish definitive proof.

(B) The whole truth cannot be known.

(C) It is not possible to determine the truthfulness of a photograph in any sense.

(D) It is possible to use a photograph as corroborative evidence if there is additional evidence establishing the truth about the scene photographed.A

(E) If something is being photographed, then it is possible to prove definitively the truth about it.

Questions 18-19

Some cleaning fluids, synthetic carpets, wall paneling, and other products release toxins, such as formaldehyde and benzene, into the household air supply. This is not a problem in well-ventilated houses, but it is a problem in houses that are so well insulated that they trap toxins as well as heat. Recent tests, however, demonstrate that houseplants remove some household toxins from the air and thereby eliminate their danger. In one test, 20 large plants eliminated formaldehyde from a small, well-insulated house.

18.   Assume that a person who lives in a small, well-insulated house that contains toxin-releasing products places houseplants, such as those tested, in the house. Which one of the following can be expected as a result?

(A) There will no longer be any need to ventilate the house.

(B) The concentration of toxins in the household air supply will remain the same.

(C) The house will be warm and have a safe air supply.

(D) If there is formaldehyde in the household air supply, its level will decrease.D

(E) If formaldehyde and benzene are being released into the household air supply, the quantities released of each will decrease.

19.   The passage is structured to lead to which one of the following conclusions?

(A) Houseplants can remove benzene from the air.

(B) Nonsynthetic products do not release toxins into houses.

(C) Keeping houseplants is an effective means of trapping heat in a poorly insulated house.

(D) Keeping houseplants can compensate for some of the negative effects of poor ventilation.D

(E) The air in a well-insulated house with houseplants will contain fewer toxins than the air in a well-ventilated house without houseplants.

20.   Normal full-term babies are all born with certain instinctive reflexes that disappear by the age of two months. Because this three-month-old baby exhibits these reflexes, this baby is not a normal full-term baby.

Which one of the following has a logical structure most like that of the argument above?

(A) Because carbon dioxide turns limewater milky and this gas is oxygen, it will not turn limewater milky.

(B) Because no ape can talk and Suzy is an ape, Suzy cannot talk.

(C) Because humans are social animals and Henry is sociable, Henry is normal.

(D) Because opossums have abdominal pouches and this animal lacks any such pouch, this animal is not an opossum.D

(E) Because some types of trees shed their leaves annually and this tree has not shed its leaves, it is not normal.

21.   Efficiency and redundancy are contradictory characteristics of linguistic systems: however, they can be used together to achieve usefulness and reliability in communication. If a spoken language is completely efficient, then every possible permutation of its basic language sounds can be an understandable word. However, if the human auditory system is an imperfect receptor of sounds, then it is not true that every possible permutation of a spoken language’s basic language sounds can be an understandable word.

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

(A) Efficiency causes a spoken language to be useful and redundancy causes it to be reliable.

(B) Neither efficiency nor redundancy can be completely achieved in spoken language.

(C) If a spoken language were completely redundant, then it could not be useful.

(D) If the human auditory system were a perfect receptor of sounds, then every permutation of language sounds would be an understandable word.E

(E) If the human auditory system is an imperfect receptor of sounds, then a spoken language cannot be completely efficient.

22.   All intelligent people are nearsighted. I am very nearsighted. So I must be a genius.

Which one of the following exhibits both of the logical flaws exhibited in the argument above?

(A) I must be stupid because all intelligent people are nearsighted and I have perfect eyesight.

(B) All chickens have beaks. This bird has a beak. So this bird must be a chicken.

(C) All pigs have four legs, but this spider has eight legs. So this spider must be twice as big as any pig.

(D) John is extremely happy, so he must be extremely tall because all tall people are happy.D

(E) All geniuses are very nearsighted. I must be very nearsighted since I am a genius.

23.   An advertisements states:

Like Danaxil, all headache pills can stop your headache. But when you are in pain, you want relief right away. Danaxil is for you—no headache pill stops pain more quickly.

Evelyn and Jane are each suffering from a headache. Suppose Evelyn takes Danaxil and Jane takes its leading competitor.

Which one of the following can be properly concluded from the claims in the advertisement?

(A) Evelyn’s headache pain will be relieved, but Jane’s will not.

(B) Evelyn’s headache pain will be relieved more quickly than Jane’s.

(C) Evelyn’s headache will be relieved at least as quickly as Jane’s.

(D) Jane’s headache pain will be relieved at the same time as is Evelyn’s.C

(E) Jane will be taking Danaxil for relief from headache pain.

Questions 24-25

In opposing the 1970 Clean Air Act, the United States automobile industry argued that meeting the act’s standards for automobile emissions was neither economically feasible nor environmentally necessary. However, the catalytic converter, invented in 1967, enabled automakers to meet the 1970 standards efficiently. Currently, automakers are lobbying against the government’s attempt to pass legislation that would tighten restrictions on automobile emissions. The automakers contend that these new restrictions would be overly expensive and unnecessary to efforts to curb air pollution. Clearly, the automobile industry’s position should not be heeded.

24.   Which one of the following most accurately expresses the method used to counter the automakers’ current position?

(A) The automakers’ premises are shown to lead to a contradiction.

(B) Facts are mentioned that show that the automakers are relying on false information.

(C) A flaw is pointed out in the reasoning used by the automakers to reach their conclusion.

(D) A comparison is drawn between the automakers’ current position and a position they held in the past.D

(E) Evidence is provided that the new emissions legislation is both economically feasible and environmentally necessary.

25.   Which one of the following, if true, lends the most support to the automakers’ current position?

(A) The more stringent the legislation restricting emissions becomes, the more difficult it becomes for automakers to provide the required technology economically.

(B) Emissions-restriction technology can often be engineered so as to avoid reducing the efficiency with which an automobile uses fuel.

(C) Not every new piece of legislation restricting emissions requires new automotive technology in order for automakers to comply with it.

(D) The more automobiles there are on the road, the more stringent emission restrictions must be to prevent increased overall air pollution.A

(E) Unless forced to do so by the government, automakers rarely make changes in automotive technology that is not related to profitability.

TEST 2

SECTION II

1.        D

2.        E

3.        E

4.        D

5.        C

6.        B

7.        A

8.        E

9.        B

10.    C

11.    B

12.    A

13.    C

14.    C

15.    B

16.    E

17.    B

18.    B

19.    D

20.    C

21.    D

22.    A

23.    E

24.    E

25.     

SECTION IV

1.        C

2.        C

3.        E

4.        A

5.        B

6.        B

7.        D

8.        C

9.        D

10.    D

11.    B

12.    A

13.    B

14.    E

15.    A

16.    C

17.    A

18.    D

19.    D

20.    D

21.    E

22.    D

23.    C

24.    D

25.    A





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