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TEST 13

SECTION I

Time 35 minutes 26 Questions

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

1.     It is probably within the reach of human technology to make the climate of Mars inhabitable. It might be several centuries before people could live there, even with breathing apparatuses, but some of the world’s great temples and cathedrals took centuries to build. Research efforts now are justified if there is even a chance of making another planet inhabitable. Besides, the intellectual exercise of understanding how the Martian atmosphere might be changed could help in understanding atmospheric changes inadvertently triggered by human activity on Earth.

The main point of the argument is that

(A) it is probably technologically possible for humankind to alter the climate of Mars

(B) it would take several centuries to make Mars even marginally inhabitable

(C) making Mars inhabitable is an effort comparable to building a great temple or cathedral

(D) research efforts aimed at discovering how to change the climate of Mars are justifiedD

(E) efforts to change the climate of Mars could facilitate understanding of the Earth’s climate

Questions 2-3

Adults have the right to vote; so should adolescents. Admittedly, adolescents and adults are not the same. But to the extent that adolescents and adults are different, adults cannot be expected to represent the interests of adolescents. If adults cannot represent the interests of adolescents, then only by giving adolescents the vote will these interests represented.

2.     The argument relies on which one of the following assumption?

(A) The right to vote is a right that all human beings should have.

(B) Adolescents and adults differ in most respects that are important.

(C) Adolescents should have their interests represented.

(D) Anyone who has the right to vote has all the right an adult has.C

(E) Adolescents have never enjoyed the right to vote.

3.     The statement that adolescents and adults are not the same plays which one of the following roles in the argument?

(A) It presents the conclusion of the argument.

(B) It makes a key word in the argument more precise.

(C) It illustrates a consequence of one of the claims that are used to support the conclusion.

(D) It distracts attention from the point at issue.E

(E) It concedes a point that is then used to support the conclusion.

4.     When deciding where to locate or relocate, business look for an educated work force, a high level of services, a low business-tax rate, and close proximity to markets and raw materials. However, although each of these considerations has approximately equal importance, the lack of proximity either to markets or to raw materials often causes municipalities to lose prospective business, whereas having a higher-than-average business-tax rate rarely has this effect.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the statements above?

(A) Taxes paid by business constitute only a part of the tax revenue collected by most municipalities.

(B) In general, the higher the rate at which municipalities tax businesses, the more those municipalities spend on education and on providing services to businesses.

(C) Businesses sometimes leave a municipality after that municipality has raised its taxes on businesses.

(D) Members of the work force who are highly educated are more likely to be willing to relocate to secure work than are less highly educated workers.B

(E) Businesses have sometimes tried to obtain tax reductions from municipalities by suggesting that without such a reduction the business might be forced to relocate elsewhere.

Questions 5-6

Oscar: I have been accused of plagiarizing the work of Ethel Myers in my recent article. But that accusation is unwarranted. Although I admit I used passages from Myers’s book without attribution, Myers gave me permission in private correspondence to do so.

Millie: Myers cannot give you permission to plagiarize. Plagiarism is wrong, not only because it violates author’s rights to their own words, but also because it misleads readers: it is fundamentally a type of lie. A lie is no less a lie if another person agrees to the deception.

5.     Which of the following principles, if established, would justify Oscar’s judgment?

(A) A writer has no right to quote passage from another published source if the author of that other source has not granted the writer permission to do so.

(B) The writer of an article must cite the source of all passages that were not written by that writer if those passages are more than a few sentences long.

(C) Plagiarism is never justified, but writers are justified in occasionally quoting without attribution the work of other writers if the work quoted has not been published.

(D) An author is entitled to quote freely without attribution the work of a writer if that writer relinquishes his or her exclusive right to the material.D

(E) Authors are entitled to quote without attribution passages that they themselves have written and published in other books or articles.

6.     Millie uses which one of the following argumentative strategies in contesting Oscar’s position?

(A) analyzing plagiarism in a way that undermines Oscar’s position

(B) invoking evidence to show that Oscar did quote Myers’ work without attribution

(C) challenging Oscar’s ability to quote Myers’ work without attribution

(D) citing a theory of rights that prohibits plagiarism and suggesting that Oscar is committed to that theoryA

(E) showing that Oscar’s admission demonstrates his lack of credibility

7.     Soil scientists studying the role of compost in horticulture have found that, while compost is useful for building soil structure, it does not supply large enough quantities of the nutrients essential for plant growth to make it a replacement for fertilizer. Many home gardeners, however, have found they can grow healthy and highly productive plants in soil that lacked essential nutrients by enriching the soil with nothing but compost.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the discrepant findings of the soil scientists and the home gardeners?

(A) The findings of soil scientists who are employed by fertilizer manufacturers do not differ widely from those of scientists employed by the government or by universities.

(B) Compost used in research projects is usually made from leaves and grass clipping only, whereas compost used in home gardens is generally made from a wide variety of ingredients.

(C) Most plants grown in home gardens and in scientists’ test plots need a favorable soil structure, as well as essential nutrients, in order to thrive.

(D) The soil in test plots, before it is adjusted in the course of experiments, tends to contain about the same quantities of plant nutrients as does soil in home gardens to which no compost or fertilizer has been added.B

(E) Some of the varieties of plants grown by home gardeners require greater quantities of nutrients in order to be healthy than do the varieties of plants generally grown by the soil scientists in test plots.

8.     At Happywell, Inc., last year the average annual salary for dieticians was $50,000, while the average annual salary for physical therapists was $42,000. The average annual salary for all Happywell employees last year was $40,000.

If the information above is correct, which one of the following conclusions can properly be drawn on the basis of it?

(A) There were more physical therapists than dieticians at Happywell last year.

(B) There was no dietician at Happy well last year who earned less than the average for a physical therapist.

(C) At least one Happywell employee earned less than the average for a physical therapist last year.

(D) At least one physical therapist earned less than the lowest-paid Happywell dietician last year.C

(E) At least one dietician earned more than the highest-paid Happywell physical therapist last year.

9.     Since multinational grain companies operate so as to maximize profits, they cannot be relied to initiate economic changes that would reform the world’s food-distribution system. Although it is true that the actions of multinational companies sometimes do result in such economic change, this result is incidental, arising not from the desire for reform but from the desire to maximize profits. The maximization of profits normally depends on a stable economic environment, one that discourages change.

The main point of the argument is that

(A) the maximization of profits depends on a stable economic environment

(B) when economic change accompanies business activity, that change is initiated by concern for the profit motive

(C) multinational grain companies operates so as to maximize profits

(D) the world’s current food-distribution system is not in need of reformE

(E) multinational grain companies cannot be relied on to initiate reform of the world’s food-distribution system

10.   Stage performances are judged to be realistic to the degree that actors reproduce on stage the behaviors generally associated by audiences with the emotional states of the characters portrayed. Traditional actors imitate those behaviors, whereas Method actors, through recollection of personal experience, actually experience the same emotions that their characters are meant to be experiencing. Audiences will therefore judge the performances of Method actors to be more realistic than the performances of traditional actors.

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

(A) Performances based on an actor’s own experience of emotional states are more likely to affect an audience’s emotions than are performances based on imitations of the behaviors generally associated with those emotional states.

(B) The behavior that results when a Method actor feels a certain emotion will conform to the behavior that is generally associated by audiences with that emotion.

(C) Realism is an essential criterion for evaluating the performances of both traditional actors and Method actors.

(D) Traditional actors do not aim to produce performances that are realistic representations of a character’s emotional states.B

(E) In order to portray a character, a Method actor need not have had experiences identical to those of the character portrayed.

11.   The demand for used cars has risen dramatically in Germany in recent years. Most of this demand is generated by former East Germans who cannot yet afford new cars and for whom cars were generally unavailable prior to unification. This demand has outstripped supply and thus has exerted an upward pressure on the prices of used cars. Consequently, an increasing number of former West Germans, in order to take advantage of the improved market, will be selling the cars they have owned for several years. Hence, the German new-car market will most likely improve soon as well.

Which one of the following, if true, would most help to support the conclusion about the German new-car market?

(A) The demand for old cars in former West Germany is greater than the demand for new cars in former East Germany.

(B) In most European countries, the sale of a used car is subject to less tax than is the sale of a new car.

(C) Most Germans own very few cars in the course of their lives.

(D) Most former West Germans purchase new cars once they sell their used cars.D

(E) Many former East Germans prefer to buy cars imported from North America because they are generally larger than European cars.

12.   In 1980 health officials began to publicize the adverse effects of prolonged exposure to the sun, and since then the number of people who sunbathe for extended periods of time has decreased considerably each year. Nevertheless, in 1982 there was a dramatic rise in newly reported cases of melanoma, a form of skin cancer found mostly in people who have had prolonged exposure to the sun.

Which one of the following, if true, helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the information above?

(A) Before 1980 a considerable number of the people who developed melanoma as a result of prolonged exposure to the sun were over forty years of age.

(B) Before 1980, when most people had not yet begun to avoid prolonged exposure to the sun, sunbathing was widely thought to be healthful.

(C) In 1982 scientists reported that the body’s need for exposure to sunlight in order to produce vitamin D, which helps prevent the growth of skin cancers, is less than was previously though.

(D) In 1982 medical researchers perfected a diagnostic technique that allowed them to detect the presence of melanoma much earlier than had previously been possible.D

(E) Since 1980, those people who have continued to sunbathe for extended periods of time have used sunblocks that effectively screen out the ultraviolet rays that help cause melanoma.

13.   The tiny country of Minlandia does not produce its own television programming. Instead, the citizens of Minlandia, who generally are fluent not only in their native Minlandian, but also in Boltese, watch Boltese-language television programs from neighboring Bolta. Surveys show that the Minlandians spend on average more hours per week reading for pleasure and fewer hours per week watching television than people anywhere else in the world. A prominent psychologist accounts for the survey results by explaining that people generally prefer to be entertained in their native language even if they are perfectly fluent in other languages.

The explanation offered by the psychologist accounts for the Minlandian’s behavior only if which one of the following is assumed?

(A) Some Minlandians derive no pleasure from watching television in a language other than their native Minlandian.

(B) The study of Boltese is required of Minlandian children as part of their schooling.

(C) The proportion of bilingual residents to total population is greater in Minlandia than anywhere else in the world.

(D) At least some of what the Minlandians read for pleasure is in the Minlandian language.D

(E) When Minlandians watch Boltese television programs, they tend to ignore the fact that they are hearing a foreign language spoken.

14.   Morris High School has introduced a policy designed to improve the working conditions of its new teachers. As a result of this policy, only one-quarter of all part-time teachers now quit during their first year. However, a third of all full-time teachers now quit during their first year. Thus, more full-time than part-time teachers at Morris now quit during their first year.

The argument’s reasoning is questionable because the argument fails to rule out the possibility that

(A) before the new policy was instituted, more part-time than full-time teachers at Morris High School used to quit during their first year

(B) before the new policy was instituted, the same number of full-time teachers as part-time teachers at Morris High School used to quit during their first year

(C) Morris High School employs more new full-time teachers than new part-time teachers

(D) Morris High School employs more new part-time teachers than new full-time teachersD

(E) Morris High School employs the same number of new part-time as new full-time teachers

Questions 15-16

Salmonella is a food-borne microorganism that can cause intestinal illness. The illness is sometimes fatal, especially if not identified quickly and treated. Conventional Salmonella tests on food samples are slow and can miss unusual strains of the microorganism. A new test identifies the presence or absence of Salmonella by the one piece of genetic material common to all strains. Clearly, public health officials would be well advised to replace the previous Salmonella tests with the new test.

15.   Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

(A) The level of skill required for laboratory technicians to perform the new test is higher than that required to perform previous tests for Salmonella.

(B) The new test returns results very soon after food samples are submitted for testing.

(C) A proposed new treatment for Salmonella poisoning would take effect faster than the old treatment.

(D) Salmonella poisoning is becoming less frequent in the general population.B

(E) Some remedies for Salmonella poisoning also cure intestinal disorders caused by other microorganism.

16.   Which one of the following, if true, most substantially weakens the argument?

(A) The new test identifies genetic material from Salmonella organisms only and not from similar bacteria.

(B) The new test detects the presence of Salmonella at levels that are too low to pose a health to people.

(C) Salmonella is only one of a variety of food-borne microorganism that can cause intestinal illness.

(D) The new test has been made possible only recently by dramatic advances in biological science.B

(E) Symptoms of Salmonella poisoning are often mistaken for those of other common intestinal illness.

17.   On average, city bus drivers who are using the new computerized fare-collection system have a much better on-time record than do drivers using the old fare-collection system. Millicent Smith has the best on-time record of any bus driver in the city. Therefore, she must be using the computerized fare-collection system.

Which one of the following contains flawed reasoning most similar to that contained in the argument above?

(A) All the city’s solid-waste collection vehicles acquired after 1988 have a large capacity than any of those acquired before 1988. This vehicle has the largest capacity of any the city owns, so it must have been acquired after 1988.

(B) The soccer players on the blue team are generally taller than the players on the gold team. Since Henri is a member of the blue team, he is undoubtedly taller than most of the members of the gold team.

(C) This tomato is the largest of this year’s crop. Since the tomatoes in the experimental plot are on average larger than those grown in the regular plots, this tomato must have been grown in the experiment plot.

(D) Last week’s snowstorm in Toronto was probably an average storm for the area. It was certainly heavier than any snowstorm known to have occurred in Miami, but any average snowstorm in Toronto leaves more snow than ever falls in Miami.C

(E) Lawn mowers powered by electricity generally require less maintenance than do lawn mowers powered by gasoline. This lawn mower is powered by gasoline, so it will probably require a lot of maintenance.

18.   Frieda: Lightning causes fires and damages electronic equipment. Since lightning rods can prevent any major damage, every building should have one.

Erik: Your recommendation is pointless. It is true that lightning occasionally causes fires, but faulty wiring and overloaded circuits cause far more fires and damage to equipment than lightning does.

Erik’s response fails to establish that Frieda’s recommendation should not be acted on because his response

(A) does not show that the benefits that would follow from Frieda’s recommendation would be offset by any disadvantage

(B) does not offer any additional way of lessening the risk associated with lightning

(C) appeals to Frieda’s emotions rather than to her reason

(D) introduces an irrelevant comparison between overloaded circuits and faulty wiringA

(E) confuses the notion of preventing damage with that of causing inconvenience

19.   The use of automobile safety seats by children aged 4 and under has nearly doubled in the past 8 years. It is clear that this increase has prevented child fatalities that otherwise would have occurred, because although the number of children aged 4 and under who were killed while riding in cars involved in accidents rose 10 percent over the past 8 years, the total number of serious automobile accidents rose by 20 percent during that period.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

(A) Some of the automobile safety seats purchased for children under 4 continue to be used after the child reaches the age of 5.

(B) The proportion of serious automobile accidents involving child passengers has remained constant over the past 8 years.

(C) Children are taking more trips in cars today than they were 8 years ago, but the average total time they spend in cars has remained constant.

(D) The sharpest increase in the use of automobile safety seats over the past 8 years has been for children over the age of 2.B

(E) The number of fatalities among adults involved in automobile accidents rose by 10 percent over the past 8 years.

Questions 20-21

The new perfume Aurora smells worse to Joan than any comparably priced perfume, and none of her friend likes the smell of Aurora as much as the smell of other perfumes. However, she and her friends must have a defect in their sense of smell, since Professor Jameson prefers the smell of Aurora to that of any other perfume and she is one of the world’s foremost experts on the physiology of smell.

20.   The reasoning is flawed because it

(A) calls into question the truthfulness of the opponent rather than addressing the point issue

(B) ignore the well-known fact that someone can prefer one thing to another without liking either very much

(C) fails to establish that there is widespread agreement among the experts in the field

(D) makes an illegitimate appeal to the authority of an expertD

(E) misrepresents the position against which it is directed

21.   From the information presented in the support of the conclusion, it can be properly inferred that

(A) none of Joan’s friends is an expert on the physiology of smell

(B) Joan prefers all other perfumes to Aurora

(C) Professor Jameson is not one of Joan’s friends

(D) none of Joan’s friends likes Aurora perfumeC

(E) Joan and her friends all like the same kinds of perfumes

22.   At the end of the year, Wilson’s Department Store awards free merchandise to its top salespeople. When presented with the fact that the number of salespeople receiving these awards has declined markedly over the past fifteen years, the newly appointed president of the company responded, “In that case, since our award criterion at present is membership in the top third of our sales force, we can also say that the number of salespeople passed over for these awards has similarly declined.”

Which one of the following is an assumption that would allow the company president’s conclusion to be properly drawn?

(A) Policies at Wilson’s with regard to hiring salespeople have not become more lax over the past fifteen years.

(B) The number of salespeople at Wilson’s has increased over the past fifteen years.

(C) The criterion used by Wilson’s for selecting its award recipients has remained the same for the past fifteen years.

(D) The average total sales figures for Wilson’s salespeople have been declining for fifteen years.C

(E) Wilson’s calculates its salespeople’s sales figures in the same way as it did fifteen years ago.

23.   The capture of a wild animal is justified only as a last resort to save that animal’s life. But many wild animals are captured not because their lives are in any danger but so that they can be bred in captivity. Hence, many animals that have been captured should not have been captured.

Which one of the following arguments is most similar in its pattern of reasoning to the argument above?

(A) Punishing a child is justified if it is the only way to reform poor behavior. But punishment is never the only way to reform poor behavior. Hence, punishing a child is never justified.

(B) Parents who never punish a child are not justified in complaining if the child regularly behaves in ways that disturb them. But many parents who prefer not to punish their children’s behavior. Hence, many parents who complain about their children have no right to complain.

(C) Punishing a young child is justified only if it is done out of concern for the child’s future welfare. But many young children are punished not in order to promote their welfare but to minimize sibling rivalry. Hence, many children who are punished should not have been punished.

(D) A teacher is entitled to punish a child only if the child’s parents have explicitly given the teacher the permission to do so. But many parents never give their child’s teacher the right to punish their child. Hence, many teachers should not punish their pupils.C

(E) Society has no right to punish children for deeds that would be crimes if the children were adults. But society does have the right to protest itself from children who are known threats. Hence, confinement of such children does not constitute punishment.

24.   Until recently it was thought that ink used before the sixteenth century did not contain titanium. However, a new type of analysis detected titanium in the ink of the famous Bible printed by Johannes Gutenberg and in that of another fifteenth-century Bible known as B-36, though not in the ink of any of numerous other fifteenth-century books analyzed. This finding is of great significance, since it not only strongly supports the hypothesis that B-36 was printed by Gutenberg but also shows that the presence of titanium in the ink of the purportedly fifteenth century Vinland Map can no longer be regarded as a reason for doubting the map’s authenticity.

The reasoning in the passage is vulnerable to criticism on the ground that

(A) the results of the analysis are interpreted as indicating that the use of titanium as an ingredient in fifteenth-century ink both was, and was not, extremely restricted

(B) if the technology that makes it possible to detect titanium in printing ink has only recently become available, it is unlikely that printers or artists in the fifteenth century would know whether their ink contained titanium or not

(C) it is unreasonable to suppose that determination of the date and location of a document’s printing or drawing can be made solely on the basis of the presence or absence of a single element in the ink used in the document

(D) both the B-36 Bible and the Vinland Map are objects that can be appreciated on their own merits whether or not the precise date of their creation or the identity of the person who made them is knownA

(E) the discovery of titanium in the ink of the Vinland Map must have occurred before titanium was discovered in the ink of the Gutenberg Bible and the B-36 Bible

25.   All actors are exuberant people and all exuberant people are extroverts, but nevertheless it is true that some shy people are actors.

If the statements above are true, each of the following must also be true EXCEPT:

(A) Some shy people are extroverts.

(B) Some shy extroverts are not actors.

(C) Some exuberant people who are actors are shy.

(D) All people who are not extroverts are not actors.B

(E) Some extroverts are shy.

26.   Science Academy study: It has been demonstrated that with natural methods, some well-managed farms are able to reduce the amounts of synthetic fertilizer and pesticide and also of antibiotics they use without necessarily decreasing yields; in some cases yields can be increased.

Critics: Not so. The farms the academy selected to study were the ones that seemed most likely to be successful in using natural methods. What about the farmers who have tried such methods and failed?

Which one of the following is the most adequate evaluation of the logical force of the critics’ response?

(A) Success and failure in farming are rarely due only to luck, because farming is the management of chance occurrences.

(B) The critics show that the result of the study would have been different if twice as many farms had been studied.

(C) The critics assume without justification that the failures were not due to soil quality.

(D) The critics demonstrate that natural methods are not suitable for the majority of framers.E

(E) The issue is only to show that something is possible, so it is not relevant whether the instances studied were representative.

SECTION IV

Time 35 minutes 24 Questions

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

1.     Most regular coffee is made from arabica coffee beans because the great majority of consumers prefer its generally richer flavor to that of coffee made from robusta beans. Coffee drinkers who switch to decaffeinated coffee, however, overwhelmingly prefer coffee made from robusta beans, which are unlike arabica beans in that their flavors is not as greatly affected by decaffeination. Depending on the type of bean involved, decaffeination reduces or removes various substances, most of which are flavor-neutral but one of which contributes to the richness of the coffee’s flavor.

The statements above provide the most support for which one of the following conclusion?

(A) The annual world crop of arabica beans is not large enough to satisfy completely the world demand for regular coffee.

(B) Arabica beans contain more caffeine per unit of weight than do robusta beans.

(C) Coffee drinkers who drink decaffeinated coffee almost exclusively are the ones who prefer regular coffee made from robusta beans to regular coffee made from arabica beans.

(D) Decaffeination of arabica beans extracts more of the substance that enhances a coffee’s flavor than does decaffeination of robusta beans.D

(E) There are coffee drinkers who switch from drinking regular coffee made from arabica beans to drinking decaffeinated coffee made from arabica beans because coffee made from arabica beans is less costly.

2.     For the past 13 years, high school guidance counselors nationwide have implemented an aggressive program to convince high school students to select careers requiring college degrees. The government reported that the percentage of last year’s high school graduates who went on to college was 15 percent greater than the percentage of those who graduated 10 years ago and did so. The counselors concluded from this report that the program had been successful.

The guidance counselors’ reasoning depends on which one of the following assumptions about high school graduates?

(A) The number of graduates who went on to college remained constant each year during the 10-year period.

(B) Any college courses that the graduates take will improve their career prospects.

(C) Some of the graduates who went on to college never received guidance from a high school counselor.

(D) There has been a decrease in the number of graduates who go on to college without career plans.E

(E) Many of last year’s graduates who went on to college did so in order to prepare for careers requiring college degrees.

3.     Insectivorous plants, which unlike other plants have the ability to trap and digest insects, can thrive in soils that are too poor in minerals to support noninsectivorous plants. Yet the mineral requirements of insectivorous plants are not noticeably different from the mineral requirements of noninsectivorous plants.

The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following hypotheses?

(A) The insects that insectivorous plants trap and digest are especially abundant where the soil is poor in minerals.

(B) Insectivorous plants thrive only in soils that are too poor in minerals to support noninsectivorous plants.

(C) The types of minerals required by noninsectivorous plants are more likely than are the types of minerals required by insectivorous plants to be found in soils poor in minerals.

(D) The number of different environments in which insectivorous plants thrive is greater than the number of different environments in which noninsectivorous plants thrive.E

(E) Insectivorous plants can get some of the minerals they require from the insects they trap and digest.

4.     The region’s water authority is responding to the current drought by restricting residential water use. Yet reservoir levels are now at the same height they were during the drought ten years ago when no restrictions were put into effect and none proved necessary. Therefore, imposing restriction now is clearly premature.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously calls the conclusion above into question?

(A) There are now more water storage reservoirs in the region than there were ten years ago.

(B) The population of the region is approximately three times greater than it was ten years ago.

(C) The region currently has more sources outside the drought-stricken area from which to draw water than it did ten years ago.

(D) The water-consuming home appliances and fixtures sold today are designed to use water more efficiently than those sold ten years ago.B

(E) The price of water for residential use is significantly higher in the region than it is in regions that are not drought-stricken.

5.     Montgomery, a biologist who is also well read in archaeology, has recently written a book on the origin and purpose of ancient monumental architecture. This book has received much positive attention in the popular press but has been severely criticized by many professional archaeologists for being too extreme. Montgomery’s views do not deserve a negative appraisal, however, since those views are no more extreme than the views of some professional archaeologists.

The argument is most vulnerable to which one of following criticisms?

(A) It fails to establish that professional archaeologists’ views that are at least as extreme as Montgomery’s views do not deserve negative appraisal for that reason.

(B) It assumes without warrant that many professional archaeologists consider biologists unqualified to discuss ancient architecture.

(C) It overlooks the possibility that many professional archaeologists are unfamiliar with Montgomery’s views.

(D) It provides no independent evidence to show that the majority of professional archaeologists do not support Montgomery’s views.A

(E) It attempts to support its position by calling into question the motives of anyone who supports an opposing position.

6.     Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterized by prolonged fatigue, muscular pain, and neurological problems. It is not known whether these symptoms are all caused by a single virus or whether each symptom is the result of a separate viral infection. A newly synthesized drug has been tested on those who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome. Although the specific antiviral effects of this drug are unknown, it has lessened the severity of all of the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome. Thus there is evidence that chronic fatigue syndrome is, in fact, caused by one virus.

The argument assumes which one of following?

(A) All those who suffer from prolonged fatigue also suffer from neurological problems.

(B) It is more likely that the new drug counteracts one virus than that it counteracts several viruses.

(C) The symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome are dissimilar to those of any other syndrome.

(D) Most syndromes that are characterized by related symptoms are each caused by a single viral infection.B

(E) An antiviral medication that eliminates the most severe symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome thereby cures chronic fatigue syndrome.

7.     DataCom, a company that filed many patents last year, was financially more successful last year than were its competitors, none of which filed many patents. It is therefore likely that DataCom owed its greater financial success to the fact that it filed many patents last year.

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

(A) presupposes what it sets out to demonstrate about the relationship between the financial success of DataCom’s competitors and the number of patents they filed

(B) confused a company’s financial success with its technological innovativeness

(C) fails to establish whether any one of DataCom’s competitors was financially more successful last year than was any other

(D) gives no reason to exclude the possibility that other differences between DataCom and its competitors accounted for its comparative financial successD

(E) applies a generalization to an exceptional case

8.     A history book written hundreds of years ago contains several inconsistencies. Some scholars argue that because the book contains inconsistencies, the author must have been getting information from more than one source.

The conclusion cited does not follow unless

(A) authors generally try to reconcile discrepancies between sources

(B) the inconsistencies would be apparent to the average reader of the history book at the present time

(C) the history book’s author used no source that contained inconsistencies repeated in the history book

(D) the author of the history book was aware of the kinds of inconsistencies that can arise when multiple sources are consultedC

(E) the author of the history book was familiar with all of the available source material that was relevant to the history book

9.     Some games, such as chess and soccer, are competitive and played according to rules, but others, such as children’s games of make believe, are neither. Therefore, being competitive and involving rules are not essential to being a game.

Which one of following is most similar in its logical features to the argument above?

(A) Both the gourmet and the glutton enjoy eating. However, one can be a glutton, but not a gourmet, without having an educated palate. Therefore, having an educated palate is essential to being a gourmet, but enjoying food is not.

(B) All North American bears eat meat. Some taxonomists, however, have theorized that the giant panda, which eats only bamboo shoots, is a kind of bear. Either there taxonomists are wrong or eating meat is not essential to being a bear.

(C) It is true that dogs occasionally eat vegetation, but if dogs were not carnivorous they would be shaped quite differently from the way they are. Therefore, being carnivorous is essential to being a dog.

(D) Most automobiles, and nearly all of those produced today, are gasoline-fueled and four-wheeled, but others, such as some experimental electric cars, are neither. Therefore, being gasoline-fueled and having four wheels are not essential to being an automobile.D

(E) Montreal’s most vaunted characteristics, such as its cosmopolitanism and its vitality, are all to be found in many other cities. Therefore, cosmopolitanism and vitality are not essential properties of Montreal.

Questions 10-11

Household indebtedness, which some theorists regard as causing recession, was high preceding the recent recession, but so was the value of assets owned by households. Admittedly, if most of the assets were owned by quite affluent households, and most of the debt was owed by low-income households, high household debt levels could have been the cause of the recession despite high asset values: low-income households might have decreased spending in order to pay off debts while the quite affluent ones might simply have failed to increase spending. But, in fact, quite affluent people must have owed most of the household debt, since money is not lent to those without assets. Therefore, the real cause must lie elsewhere.

10.   The argument is structured to lead to which one of the following conclusions?

(A) High levels of household debt did not cause the recent recession.

(B) Low-income households succeeded in paying off their debts despite the recent recession.

(C) Affluent people probably increased their spending levels during the recent recession.

(D) High levels of household debt have little impact on the economy.A

(E) When people borrowed money prior to the recent recession, they did not use it to purchase assets.

11.   Which one of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the argument?

(A) Prior to the recent recession, middle-income households owed enough debt that they had begun to decrease spending.

(B) The total value of the economy’s household debt is exceeded by the total value of assets held by households.

(C) Low-income households somewhat decreased their spending during the recent recession.

(D) During a recession the affluent usually borrow money only in order to purchase assets.A

(E) Household debt is the category of debt least likely to affect the economy.

12.   Fossil-fuel emissions, considered a key factor in the phenomenon known as global warming, contain two gases, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, that have opposite effects on atmospheric temperatures. Carbon dioxide traps heat, tending to warm the atmosphere, whereas sulfur dioxide turns into sulfate aerosols that reflect sunlight back toward space, thereby tending to cool the atmosphere. Given that the heat-trapping effect is stronger than the cooling effect, cutting fossil-fuel emissions might be expected to slow the rise in global temperatures. Yet, surprisingly, if fossil-fuel emissions were cut today, global warming would actually be enhanced for more than three decades before the temperature rise began to slow.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the claim made in the last sentence above?

(A) Carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for many decades, while the sulfate aerosols fall out within days.

(B) Sulfur pollution is not spread evenly around the globe but is concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere, where there is a relatively high concentration of industry.

(C) While it has long been understood that sulfur dioxide is a harmful pollutant, it has been understood only recently that carbon dioxide might also be a harmful pollutant.

(D) Carbon dioxide is produced not only by automobiles but also by power plants that burn fossil fuels.A

(E) Because fossil-fuel emissions contain sulfur dioxide, they contribute not only to global warming but also to acid rain.

13.   Police published a “wanted” poster for a criminal fugitive in a medical journal, because the fugitive was known to have a certain acute noninfectious skin problem that would eventually require a visit to a doctor. The poster asked for information about the whereabouts of the fugitive. A physician’s responding to the poster’s request for information would not violate medical ethics, since physicians are already subject to requirements to report gunshot wounds to police and certain infectious diseases to health authorities. These exceptions to confidentiality are clearly ethical.

Which one of the following principles, while remaining compatible with the requirements cited above, supports the view that a physician’s responding to the request would violate medical ethics?

(A) Since a physician acts both as a professional person and as a citizen, it is not ethical for a physician to conceal information about patients from duly constituted law enforcement agencies that have proper jurisdiction.

(B) Since a patient comes to a physician with the expectation that the patient’s visit and medical condition will remain confidential, it is not ethical for a physician to share this information with anyone except personnel within the physician’s office.

(C) Since the primary concern of medicine is individual and public health, it is not ethical for a physician, except in the case of gunshot wounds, to reduce patients’ willingness to come for treatment by a policy of disclosing their identities to law-enforcement agencies.

(D) Except as required by the medical treatment of the patient, physicians cannot ethically disclose to others information about a patient’s identity or medical condition without the patient’s consent.C

(E) Except to other medical personnel working to preserve or restore the health of a patient or of other persons, physicians cannot ethically disclose information about the identity of patients or their medical condition.

14.   Ingrid: Rock music has produced no songs as durable as the songs of the 1940s, which continue to be recorded by numerous performers.

Jerome: True, rock songs are usually recorded only once. If the original recording continues to be popular, however, that fact can indicate durability, and the best rock songs will prove to be durable.

Jerome responds to Ingrid’s claim by

(A) intentionally misinterpreting the claim

(B) showing that the claim necessarily leads to a contradiction

(C) undermining the truth of the evidence that Ingrid presents

(D) suggesting an alternative standard for judging the point at issueD

(E) claiming that Ingrid’s knowledge of the period under discussion is incomplete

15.   Health insurance insulates patients from the expense of medical care, giving doctors almost complete discretion in deciding the course of most medical treatments. Moreover, with doctors being paid for each procedure performed, they have an incentive to overtreat patients. It is thus clear that medical procedures administered by doctors are frequently prescribed only because these procedures lead to financial rewards.

The argument uses which one of the following questionable techniques?

(A) assigning responsibility for a certain result to someone whose involvement in the events leading to that result was purely coincidental

(B) inferring the performance of certain actions on no basis other than the existence of both incentive and opportunity for performing those actions

(C) presenting as capricious and idiosyncratic decisions that are based on the rigorous application of well-defined principles

(D) depicting choices as having been made arbitrarily by dismissing without argument reasons that have been given for these choicesB

(E) assuming that the irrelevance of a consideration for one participant in a decision makes that consideration irrelevant for each participant in the decision

16.   Chlorofluorocarbons are the best possible solvents to have in car engines for cleaning the electronic sensors in modern automobile ignition systems. These solvents have contributed significantly to automakers’ ability to meet legally mandated emission standards. Now automakers will have to phase out the use of chlorofluorocarbons at the same time that emission standards are becoming more stringent.

If under the circumstances described above cars continue to meet emission standards, which one of the following is the most strongly supported inference?

(A) As emission standards become more stringent, automakers will increasingly cooperate with each other in the area of emission control.

(B) Car engines will be radically redesigned so as to do away with the need for cleaning the electronic ignition sensors.

(C) There will be a marked shift toward smaller, lighter cars that will have less powerful engines but will use their fuel more efficiently.

(D) The solvents developed to replace chlorofluorocarbons in car engines will be only marginally less effective than the chlorofluorocarbons themselves.E

(E) Something other than the cleansers for electronic ignition sensors will make a relatively greater contribution to meeting emission standards than at present.

Questions 17-18

Two alternative drugs are available to prevent blood clots from developing after a heart attack. According to two major studies, drug Y does this no more effectively than the more expensive drug Z, but drug Z is either no more or only slightly more effective than drug Y. Drug Z’s manufacturer, which has engaged in questionable marketing practices such as offering stock options to doctors who participate in clinical trials of drug Z, does not contest the results of the studies but claims that they do not reveal drug Z’s advantages. However, since drug Z does not clearly treat the problem more effectively than drug Y, there is no established medical reason for doctors to use drug Z rather than drug Y on their heart-attack victims.

17.   A major flaw in the argument is that the argument

(A) does not consider drugs or treatments other than drug Y and Z that may be used to prevent blood clotting in heart-attack patients

(B) neglects to compare the marketing practices of drug Y’s manufacturer with those of drug Z’s manufacturer

(C) fails to recognize that there may be medical criteria relevant to the choice between the two drugs other than their effectiveness as a treatment

(D) assumes without proof that the two drugs are similar in their effectiveness as treatments because they are similar in their chemical compositionC

(E) confuses economic reasons for selecting a treatment with medical reasons

18.   Which one of the following principles, if established, would most help to justify a doctor’s decision to use drug Z rather than drug Y when treating a patient?

(A) Only patients to whom the cost of an expensive treatment will not be a financial hardship should receive that treatment rather than a less expensive alternative one.

(B) Doctors who are willing to assist in research on the relative effectiveness of drugs by participating in clinical trials deserve fair remuneration for that participation.

(C) The decision to use a particular drug when treating a patient should not be influenced by the marketing practices employed by the company manufacturing that drug.

(D) A drug company’s criticism of studies of its product that do not report favorably on that product is unavoidably biased and therefore invalid.E

(E) Where alternative treatments exist and there is a chance that one is more effective than the other, the possibly more effective one should be employed, regardless of cost.

19.   Jane: According to an article in this newsmagazine, children’s hand-eye coordination suffers when they spend a great amount of time watching television. Therefore, we must restrict the amount of time Jacqueline and Mildred are allowed to watch television.

Alan: Rubbish! The article says that only children under three are affected in that way. Jacqueline is ten and Mildred is eight. Therefore, we need not restrict their television viewing.

Alan’s argument against Jane’s conclusion makes which one of the following errors in reasoning?

(A) It relies on the same source that Jane cited in support of her conclusion.

(B) It confuses undermining an argument in support of a given conclusion with showing that the conclusion itself is false.

(C) It does not address the main point of Jane’s argument and focuses instead on a side issue.

(D) It makes an irrelevant appeal to an authority.B

(E) It fails to distinguish the consequences of a certain practice from the causes of the practice.

20.   A new gardening rake with an S-shaped handle reduces compression stress on the spine during the pull stroke to about one-fifth of what it is with a straight-handled rake. During the push stroke, however, compression stress is five times more with the new rake than with a straight-handled rake. Neither the push stroke nor the pull stroke with a straight-handled rake produces enough compression stress to cause injury, but compression stress during the push stroke with the new rake is above the danger level. Therefore, straight-handled rakes are better than the new rakes for minimizing risk of spinal injury.

The conclusion above is properly drawn from the premises given if which one of the following is true?

(A) Compression stress resulting from pushing is the only cause of injuries to the spine that occurs as a result of raking.

(B) Raking is a frequent cause of spinal injury among gardeners.

(C) The redesign of a tool rarely results in a net gain of efficiency, since gains tend to be counterbalanced by losses.

(D) A garden rake can never be used in such a way that all the strokes with that rake are push strokes.A

(E) It is not possible to design a garden rake with a handle that is other than straight or S-shaped.

21.   Some people fear that global warming will cause the large ice formations in the polar seas to melt, thereby warming the water of those seas and threatening the plankton that is crucial to the marine food chain. Some scientists contend that it is unlikely that the melting process has begun, since water temperatures in the polar seas are the same today as they were a century ago.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the scientists’ contention?

(A) Much of the marine plant life that flourished in the polar seas will die in the event that the water temperatures rise above their present levels.

(B) The overall effect of the melting process will be an increase in global sea levels.

(C) The mean air temperature above both land and water in the polar regions has not varied significantly over the past 100 years.

(D) The temperature of water that contains melting ice tends to remain constant until all of the ice in the ice-and-water mixture has melted.D

(E) The mean temperature of ocean waters near the equator has remained constant over the past 100 years.

22.   A long-term health study that followed a group of people who were age 35 in 1950 found that those whose weight increased by approximately half a kilogram or one pound per year after the age of 35 tended, on the whole, to live longer than those who maintained the weight they had at age 35. This finding seems at variance with other studies that have associated weight gain with a host of health problems that tend to lower life expectancy.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparently conflicting findings?

(A) As people age, muscle and bone tissue tends to make up a smaller and smaller proportion of total body weight.

(B) Individuals who reduce their cholesterol levels by losing weight can thereby also reduce their risk of dying from heart attacks or strokes.

(C) Smokers, who tend to be leaner than nonsmokers, tend to have shorter life spans than nonsmokers.

(D) The normal deterioration of the human immune system with age can be slowed down by a reduction in the number of calories consumed.C

(E) Diets that tend to lead to weight gain often contain not only excess fat but also unhealthful concentrations of sugar and sodium.

23.   Insurance industry statistics demonstrate that cars with alarms or other antitheft devices are more likely to be stolen or broken into than cars without such devices or alarms. Therefore antitheft devices do not protect cars against thieves.

The pattern of flawed reasoning in the argument above is most similar to that in which one of the following?

(A) Since surveys reveal that communities with flourishing public libraries have, on average, better-educated citizens, it follows that good schools are typically found in communities with public libraries.

(B) Most public libraries are obviously intended to serve the interests of the casual reader, because most public libraries contain large collections of fiction and relatively small reference collections.

(C) Studies reveal that people who are regular users of libraries purchase more books per year than do people who do not use libraries regularly. Hence using libraries regularly does not reduce the number of books that library patrons purchase.

(D) Since youngsters who read voraciously are more likely to have defective vision than youngsters who do not read very much, it follows that children who do not like to read usually have perfect vision.C

(E) Societies that support free public libraries are more likely to support free public universities than are societies without free public libraries. Hence a society that wished to establish a free public university should first establish a free public library.

24.   The problem that environmental economics aims to remedy is the following: people making economic decisions cannot readily compare environmental factors, such as clean air and the survival of endangered species, with other costs and benefits. As environmental economists recognize, solving this problem requires assigning monetary values to environmental factors. But monetary values result from people comparing costs and benefits in order to arrive at economic decisions. Thus, environmental economics is stymied by what motivates it.

If the considerations advanced in its support are true, the passage’s conclusion is supported

(A) strongly, on the assumption that monetary values for environment factors cannot be assigned unless people make economic decisions about these factors

(B) strongly, unless economic decision-making has not yet had any effect on the things categorized as environmental factors

(C) at best weakly, because the passage fails to establish that economic decision-makers do not by and large take adequate account of environmental factors

(D) at best weakly, because the argument assumes that pollution and other effects on environmental factors rarely result from economic decision-makingA

(E) not at all, since the argument is circular, taking that conclusion as one of its premises

TEST 13

SECTION I

1.        D

2.        C

3.        E

4.        B

5.        D

6.        A

7.        B

8.        C

9.        E

10.    B

11.    D

12.    D

13.    D

14.    D

15.    B

16.    B

17.    C

18.    A

19.    B

20.    D

21.    C

22.    C

23.    C

24.    A

25.    B

26.    E

27.     

28.     

29.     

30.     

SECTION IV

1.        D

2.        E

3.        E

4.        B

5.        A

6.        B

7.        D

8.        C

9.        D

10.    A

11.    A

12.    A

13.    C

14.    D

15.    B

16.    E

17.    C

18.    E

19.    B

20.    A

21.    D

22.    C

23.    C

24.    A

25.     





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