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TEST 20
SECTION II
Time 35 minutes 25 Questions
Directions: The questions in this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or passages...
1. When politicians resort to personal attacks, many editorialists criticize these attacks but most voters pay them scant attention. Everyone knows such attacks will end after election day, and politicians can be excused for mudslinging. Political commentators, however, cannot be. Political commentators should be engaged in sustained and serious debate about ideas and policies. In such a context personal attacks on opponents serve not to beat those opponents but to cut off the debate.
Which of the following most accurately states the main point of the argument?
(A) Personal attacks on opponents serve a useful purpose for politicians.
(B) Political commentators should not resort to personal attacks on their opponents.
(C) Editorialists are right to criticize politicians who resort to personal attacks on their opponents.
(D) The purpose of serious debate about ideas and policies is to counteract the effect of personal attacks by politicians.（B）
(E) Voters should be concerned about the personal attacks politicians make on each other.
2. Throughout the Popoya Islands community pressure is exerted on people who win the national lottery to share their good fortune with their neighbors. When people living in rural areas win the lottery they invariably throw elaborate neighborhood feasts, often wiping out all of their lottery winnings. However, in the cities, lottery winners frequently use their winnings for their own personal investment rather than sharing their good fortune with their neighbors.
Which one of the following, if true, contributes most to an explanation of the difference between the behavior of lottery winners in rural areas and those in cities?
(A) Twice as many Popoyans live in rural areas as live in the city.
(B) Popoyan city dwellers tend to buy several lottery tickets at a time, but they buy tickets less frequently than do rural dwellers.
(C) Lottery winners in rural areas are notified of winning by public posting of lists of winners, but notification in the city is by private mail.
(D) Families in rural areas in the Popoyas may contain twelve or fourteen people, but city families average six or seven.（C）
(E) Twice as many lottery tickets are sold in rural areas as are sold in the city.
3. A new medication for migraine seems effective, but there is concern that the medication might exacerbate heart disease. If patients with heart disease take the medication under careful medical supervision, however, harmful side effects can definitely be averted. The concern about those side effects is thus unfounded.
The argument depends on which one of the following assumptions?
(A) The new medication actually is effective when taken by patients with heart disease.
(B) No migraine sufferers with heart disease will take the new medication except under careful medical supervision.
(C) Most migraine sufferers who have taken the new medication in trials also had heart disease.
(D) The new medication has various other side effects, but none as serious as that of exacerbating heart disease.（B）
(E) The new medication will displace all migraine medications currently being used.
4. The highest-ranking detectives in the city’s police department are also the most adept at solving crimes. Yet in each of the past ten years, the average success rate for the city’s highest-ranking detectives in solving criminal cases has been no higher than the average success rate for its lowest-ranking detectives.
Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent paradox?
(A) The detectives who have the highest success rate in solving criminal cases are those who have worked as detectives the longest.
(B) It generally takes at least ten years for a detective to rise from the lowest to the highest ranks of the city’s detective force.
(C) Those detectives in the police department who are the most adept at solving criminal cases are also those most likely to remain in the police department.
(D) The police department generally gives the criminal cases that it expects to be the easiest to solve to its lowest-ranking detectives.（D）
(E) None of the lowest-ranking detectives in the police department had experience in solving criminal cases prior to joining the police department.
5. Irrigation runoff from neighboring farms may well have increased the concentration of phosphorus in the local swamp above previous levels, but the claim that the increase in phosphorus is harming the swamp’s native aquatic wildlife is false: the phosphorus concentration in the swamp is actually less than that found in certain kinds of bottled water that some people drink every day.
The argument is vulnerable to criticism on the ground that it
(A) makes exaggerations in formulating the claim against which it argues
(B) bases its conclusion on two contradictory claims
(C) relies on evidence the relevance of which has not been established
(D) concedes the very point that it argues against（C）
(E) makes a generalization that is unwarranted because the sources of the data on which it is based have not been specified
6. Copyright laws protect the rights of writers to profits earned from their writings, whereas patent laws protect inventors’ rights to profits earned from their inventions. In Jawade, when computer-software writers demanded that their rights to profit be protected, the courts determined that information written for a machine does not fit into either the copyright or the patent category. Clearly, therefore, the profit rights of computer-software writers remain unprotected in Jawade.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
(A) Computer-software writers are not an influential enough group in Jawade for the government to consider modifying existing copyright laws in order to protect this group’s profit rights.
(B) No laws exist, other than copyright laws and patent laws, that would protect the profit rights of computer-software writers in Jawade.
(C) Most of the computer software used in Jawade is imported from other countries.
(D) Computer software is more similar to writings covered by copyright laws than it is to inventions covered by patent laws.（B）
(E) Copyright laws and patent laws in Jawade have not been modified since their original adoption.
7. Brownlea’s post office must be replaced with a larger one. The present one cannot be expanded. Land near the present location in the center of town is more expensive than land on the outskirts of town. Since the cost of acquiring a site is a significant part of the total construction cost, the post office clearly could be built more cheaply on the outskirts of town.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument’s stated conclusion?
(A) The new post office will have to be built in accordance with a demanding new citywide building code.
(B) If the new post office is built on the outskirts of town, it will require a parking lot, but if sited near the present post office it will not.
(C) If the new post office is built on the outskirts of town, current city bus routes will have to be expanded to provide access.
(D) If the new post office is built on the outskirts of town, residents will make decreased use of post office boxes, with the result that mail carriers will have to deliver more mail to homes.（B）
(E) If the new post office is built near the center of town, disruptions to city traffic would have to be minimized by taking such steps as doing some construction work in stages at night and on weekends.
8. In the past, the railroads in Ostronia were run as regional monopolies and operated with little regard for what customers wanted. In recent years, with improvements to the Ostronian national highway network, the railroad companies have faced heavy competition from long-distance trucking companies. But because of government subsidies that have permitted Ostronian railroad companies to operate even while incurring substantial losses, the companies continue to disregard customers’ needs and desires.
If the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true on the basis of them?
(A) If the government of Ostronia ceases to subsidize railroad companies, few of those companies will continue to operate.
(B) Few companies in Ostronia that have received subsidies from the government have taken the needs and desires of their customers into account.
(C) Without government subsidies, railroad companies in Ostronia would have to increase the prices they charge their customers.
(D) The transportation system in Ostronia is no more efficient today than it was in the past.（E）
(E) In recent years, some companies in Ostronia that have had little regard for the desires of their customers have nonetheless survived.
9. Although Damon had ample time earlier in the month to complete the paper he is scheduled to present at a professional conference tomorrow morning, he repeatedly put off doing it. Damon could still get the paper ready in time, but only if he works on it all evening without interruption. However, his seven-year-old daughter’s tap-dance recital takes place this evening and Damon had promised both to attend and to take his daughter and her friends out for ice cream afterward. Thus, because of his procrastination, Damon will be forced to choose between his professional and his family responsibilities.
The argument proceeds by
(A) providing evidence that one event will occur in order to establish that an alterative event cannot occur
(B) showing that two situations are similar in order to justify the claim that someone with certain responsibilities in the first situation has similar responsibilities in the second situation
(C) invoking sympathy for someone who finds himself in a dilemma in order to excuse that person’s failure to meet all of his responsibilities
(D) making clear the extent to which someone’s actions resulted in harm to others in order to support the claim that those actions were irresponsible（E）
(E) demonstrating that two situations cannot both occur by showing that something necessary for one of those situations is incompatible with something necessary for the other situation
10. The increase in the price of jet fuel is due to a sharp decrease over the past year in the supply of jet fuel available relative to demand. Nonetheless, the amount of jet fuel available for sale is larger today than it was last year.
If the statements above are true, which one of the following conclusions can be properly drawn on the basis of them?
(A) The demand for jet fuel has increased over the past year.
(B) The fuel efficiency of jet engines has increased over the past year.
(C) The number of jet airline flights has decreased over the past year.
(D) The cost of refining petroleum for jet fuel has increased over the past year.（A）
(E) The supply of petroleum available for jet fuel has decreased over the past year.
Questions 11-12
Nan: Government subsidies have been proposed in Cariana to encourage farmers in Rochelle, the country’s principal agricultural region, to implement certain new farming techniques. Unless these techniques are implemented, erosion of productive topsoil cannot be controlled. Unfortunately farmers cannot afford to shoulder the entire cost of the new techniques, which are more expensive than those currently used. Therefore, without subsidies, agricultural output in Rochelle will inevitably decline.
Betty: But erosion in Rochelle is caused by recurring floods, which will end next year once Cariana completes the hydroelectric dam it is building across the region’s major river. Therefore, Rochelle’s total agricultural output will stabilize at its present level even without subsidies.
11. Which one of the following is an assumption on which Betty’s argument depends?
(A) Building a dam across Rochelle’s major river will not reduce any recurrent flooding that occurs in regions of Cariana other than Rochelle.
(B) The new farming techniques that must be implemented to control soil erosion in Rochelle are not well suited to other regions of Cariana.
(C) The current yearly output, if any, from Rochelle’s land that will be permanently under water once the dam is completed will at least be matched by additional yearly output from Rochelle’s remaining land.
(D) The cost to the government of Cariana to operate the hydroelectric dam will not be greater than the projected cost of subsidizing the farmers of Rochelle in the implementation of the new farming techniques.（C）
(E) The government of Cariana has sufficient financial resources both to subsidize its farmers’ implementation of new farming techniques and to operate a hydroelectric dam.
12. Betty uses which one of the following argumentative techniques in countering Alan’s argument?
(A) showing that one premise in Alan’s argument is inconsistent with another premise in his argument
(B) making additional claims that, if correct, undermine a premise in Alan’s argument
(C) demonstrating that Alan’s conclusion is true but not for the reasons Alan gives to support it
(D) presenting evidence indicating that the policy Alan argues in favor of would have damaging consequences that outweigh its positive consequences（B）
(E) pointing out that Alan’s argument mistakenly identifies something as the cause of a trend when it is really an effect of that trend
13. Astronomers have long thought that the irregularity in the orbit of the planet Neptune was adequately explained by the gravitational pull exerted on Neptune by the planet Pluto. The most recent observations of Pluto, however indicate that this planet is much too small to exert the amount of gravitational pull on Neptune that astronomers once thought it did.
If the statements above are true, they provide the most support for which one of the following?
(A) Neptune is somewhat larger than scientists once believed it to be.
(B) The orbit of Neptune is considerably more irregular than scientists once thought it was.
(C) There exists another, as yet undiscovered, planet with an orbit beyond that of Pluto.
(D) The gravitational pull of Pluto is not the sole cause of Neptune’s irregular orbit.（D）
(E) Further observations of Pluto will eventually show it to be even smaller than it is now thought to be.
Questions 14-15
In most corporations the salaries of executives are set by a group from the corporation’s board of directors. Since the board’s primary mission is to safeguard the economic health of the corporation rather than to make its executives rich, this way of setting executives salaries is expected to prevent excessively large salaries. But, clearly, this expectation is based on poor reasoning. After all, most members of a corporation’s board are themselves executives of some corporation and can expect to benefit from setting generous benchmarks for executives salaries.
14. The point made by the author is that the most common way of setting executives salaries might not keep those salaries in bounds because
(A) most corporals executives, thanks to their generous salaries, are not financially dependent on money earned as board members
(B) most corporals executives might be less generous in setting their own salaries than the board members actually setting them are
(C) many board members might let their self-interest as executives interfere with properly discharging their role as board members in setting executives salaries
(D) many board members who set executives salaries unreasonably high do so because they happen to be on the board of a corporation of which they expect later to become executives（C）
(E) many board members are remunerated generously and wish to protect this source of income by pleasing the executives to whom they owe their appointments on the board
15. Which one of the following practices is vulnerable to a line of criticism most parallel to that used in the argument in the passage?
(A) in medical malpractice suits, giving physicians not directly involved in a suit a major role in determining the damages due to successful plaintiffs
(B) in a legislature, allowing the legislators to increase their own salaries only if at least two-thirds of them vote in favor of an increase
(C) to work both fast and accurately by paying them by the piece but counting only pieces of acceptable quality
(D) in a sports competition decided by judges’ scores, selecting the judges from among people retired from that sport after successful careers（A）
(E) in a business organization, distributing a group bonus among the members of a task force on the basis of a confidential evaluation by each member of the contribution made by each of the others
16. Consumer advocate: One advertisement that is deceptive, and thus morally wrong, states that “gram for gram, the refined sugar used in our chocolate pies is no more fattening than the sugars found in fruits and vegetables.” This is like trying to persuade someone that chocolate pies are not fattening by saying that, calorie for calorie, they are no more fattening than celery. True, but it would take a whole shopping cart full of celery to equal a chocolate pie’s worth of calories.
Advertiser: This advertisement cannot be called deceptive. It is, after all, true.
Which one of the following principles, if established would do most to support the consumer advocate’s position against the advertiser’s response?
(A) It is morally wrong to seek to persuade by use of deceptive statements.
(B) A true statement should be regarded as deceptive only if the person making the statement believes it to be false, and thus intends the people reading or hearing it to acquire a false belief.
(C) To make statements that impart only a small proportion of the information in one’s possession should not necessarily be regarded as deceptive.
(D) It is morally wrong to make a true statement in a manner that will deceive hearers or readers of the statement into believing that it is false.（E）
(E) A true statement should be regarded as deceptive if it is made with the expectation that people hearing or reading the statement will draw a false conclusion from it.
17. Members of the Amazonian Akabe people commonly take an early-morning drink of a tea made from the leaves of a forest plant. Although they greatly enjoy this drink, at dawn they drink it only in small amounts. Anthropologists hypothesize that since this tea is extraordinarily high in caffeine, the explanation for the Akabe’s not drinking more of it at dawn is that high caffeine intake would destroy the surefootedness that their daily tasks require.
Which one
of the following, if true, most seriously calls the anthropologists’ explanation
into question?
(A) The drink is full of nutrients otherwise absent from the Akabe diet.
(B) The Akabe also drink the tea in the evening, after their day’s work is done.
(C) The leaves used for the tea contain a soluble narcotic.
(D) Akabe children are introduced to the tea in only a very weak form.（C）
(E) When celebrating, the Akabe drink the tea in large quantities.
18. All of the cargo ships of the Blue Star Liner are over 100 meters long, and all of its passenger ships are under 100 meters long. Most of the ships of the Blue Star Line were built before 1980. All of the passenger and cargo ships of the Gold Star Line were built after 1980, and all are under 100 meters long. The dockside facilities of Port Tropica, which is open only to ships of these two lines, can accommodate only those ships that are less than 100 meters long. The S.S. Coral is a cargo ship that is currently docked at Port Tropica.
If the statements above are true, which one of the following must be true on the basis of them?
(A) The S.S. Coral was built after 1980.
(B) The S.S. Coral belongs to the Blue Star Line.
(C) Port Tropica is served only by cargo ships.
(D) Port Tropica is not served by ships of the Blue Start Line.（A）
(E) All of the ships of the Blue Star Line are older than any of the ships of the Gold Star Line.
19. Spectroscopic analysis has revealed the existence of frozen nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide on the surface of Pluto. Such ices have a tendency to vaporize, producing an atmosphere. Since the proportion of any gas in such an atmosphere depends directly on how readily the corresponding ice vaporizes, astronomers have concluded that the components of Pluto’s atmosphere are nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane, in order of decreasing abundance.
The astronomers’ argument relies on which one of the following assumptions?
(A) There is no more frozen nitrogen on the surface of Pluto than there is either frozen carbon monoxide or methane.
(B) Until space probes reach Pluto, direct analysis of the atmosphere is impossible.
(C) There is no frozen substance on the surface of Pluto that vaporizes more readily than methane but less readily than carbon monoxide.
(D) Nitrogen is found in the atmosphere of a planet only if nitrogen ice is found on the surface of that planet.（C）
(E) A mixture of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane is characteristic of the substances from which the Solar System formed.
20. Ann will either take a leave of absence from Technocomp and return in a year or else she will quit her job there; but she would not do either one unless she were offered a one-year teaching fellowship at a prestigious university. Technocomp will allow her to take a leave of absence if it does not find out that she has been offered the fellowship, but not otherwise. Therefore, Ann will quit her job at Technocomp only if Technocomp finds out she has been offered the fellowship.
Which one of the following, if assumed, allows the conclusion above to be properly drawn?
(A) Technocomp will find out about Ann being offered the fellowship only if someone informs on her.
(B) The reason Ann wants the fellowship is so she can quit her job at Technocomp.
(C) Technocomp does not allow any of its employees to take a leave of absence in order to work for one of its competitors.
(D) Ann will take a leave of absence if Technocomp allows her to take a leave of absence.（D）
(E) Ann would be offered the fellowship only if she quit her job at Technocomp.
21. If a mechanical aerator is installed in a fish pool, the water in the pool can be properly aerated. So, since John’s fish pool does not have a mechanical aerator, it must be that his pool is not properly aerated. Without properly aerated water, fish cannot thrive. Therefore, any fish in John’s fish pool will not thrive.
Which one of the following arguments contains an error of reasoning that is also contained in the argument above?
(A) If alum is added to pickle brine, brine can replace the water in the pickles. Therefore, since Paula does not add alum to her pickle brine, the water in the pickles cannot be replaced by brine. Unless their water is replaced with brine, pickles will not stay crisp. Thus, Paula’s pickles will not stay crisp.
(B) If pectin is added to jam, the jam will gel. Without a setting agent such as pectin, jam will not gel. So in order to make his jam gel, Harry should add a setting agent such as pectin to the jam.
(C) If stored potatoes are not exposed to ethylene, the potatoes will not sprout. Beets do not release ethylene. Therefore, if Sara stores her potatoes together with beets, the potatoes will not sprout.
(D) If a carrot patch is covered with mulch in the fall, the carrots can be left in the ground until spring. Without a mulch cover, carrots stored in the ground can suffer frost damage. Thus, since Kevin covers his carrot patch with mulch in the fall, the carrots can safely be left in the ground.（A）
(E) If tomatoes are not stored in a dark place, their seeds sometimes sprout. Sprouted seeds can make tomatoes inedible. Therefore, since Maria does not store her tomatoes in a dark place, some of Maria’s tomatoes could be inedible.
Questions 22-23
Antinuclear activist: The closing of the nuclear power plant is a victory for the antinuclear cause. It also represents a belated acknowledgment by the power industry that they cannot operate such plants safely.
Nuclear power plant manager: It represents no such thing. The availability of cheap power from nonnuclear sources, together with the cost of mandated safety inspections and safety repairs, made continued operation uneconomic. Thus it was not safety considerations but economic considerations that dictated the plant’s closing.
22. The reasoning in the manager’s argument is flawed because the argument
(A) fails to acknowledge that the power industry might now believe nuclear power plants to be unsafe even though this plant was not closed for safety reasons
(B) overlooks the possibility that the sources from which cheap power is available might themselves be subject to safety concerns
(C) mistakes the issue of what the closure of the plant represents to the public for the issue of what the managers’ reason for the closure were
(D) takes as one of its premises a view about the power industry’s attitude toward nuclear safety that contradicts the activist’s view（E）
(E) counts as purely economic considerations some expenses that arise as a result of the need to take safety precautions
23. Which one of the following, if true, most strongly supports the activist’s claim of victory?
(A) The plant had reached the age at which its operating license expired.
(B) The mandate for inspections and repairs mentioned by the manager was recently enacted as a result of pressure from antinuclear groups.
(C) The plant would not have closed if cheap power from nonnuclear sources had not been available.
(D) Per unit of electricity produced, the plant had the highest operating costs of any nuclear power plant.（B）
(E) The plant that closed had been able to provide backup power to an electrical network when parts of the network became overloaded.
Questions 24-25
Statistician: Changes in the Sun’s luminosity correlate exceedingly well with average land temperatures on Earth. Clearly—and contrary to accepted opinion among meteorologists—the Sun’s luminosity essentially controls land temperatures on Earth.
Meteorologist: I disagree. Any professional meteorologist will tell you that in a system as complicated as that giving rise to the climate, no significant aspect can be controlled by a single variable.
24. The rejection by the meteorologist of the statistician’s conclusion employs which one of the following techniques of argumentation?
(A) supporting a conclusion about a specific case by invoking a relevant generalization
(B) producing a single counterexample that establishes that a generalization is false as state
(C) reanalyzing a correlation as reflecting the multiple effects of a single cause
(D) rejecting a conclusion because it is a proposition that cannot be experimentally tested（A）
(E) pointing out that potentially unfavorable evident has been systematically neglected
25. The reasoning in the meteorologist’s counterargument questionable because that argument
(A) rejects a partial explanation, not because it is incorrect, but only because it is not complete
(B) fails to distinguish phenomena that exist independently of a particular system from phenomena that exist only as part of the system
(C) calls into question the existence of a correlation when the only real issue is that of how to interpret the correlation
(D) dismisses a hypothesis on the grounds that it fails to deal with any matters of scientific significant（E）
(E) appeals to the authoritativeness of an opinion without evaluating the merit of a putative counterexample
SECTION III
Time 35 minutes 25 Questions
Directions: The questions in this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or passages...
1. Everyone sitting in the waiting room of the school’s athletic office this morning at nine o’clock had just registered for a beginners tennis clinic. John, Mary, and Teresa were all sitting in the waiting room this morning at nice o’clock. No accomplished tennis player would register for a beginners tennis clinic.
If the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true on the basis of them?
(A) None of the people sitting in the school’s athletic office this morning at nine o’clock had ever played tennis.
(B) Everyone sitting in the school’s athletic office this morning at nine o’clock registered only for a beginners tennis clinic.
(C) John, Mary, and Teresa were the only people who registered for a beginners tennis clinic this morning.
(D) John, Mary, and Teresa were the only people sitting in the waiting room of the school’s athletic office this morning at nine o’clock.（E）
(E) Neither John nor Teresa is an accomplished tennis player.
2. Most people who ride bicycles for pleasure do not ride until the warm weather of spring and summer arrives. Yet it is probably more effective to advertise bicycles earlier in the year. Most bicycles are purchased in the spring, but once shoppers are ready to shop for a bicycle, they usually have already decided which brand and model of bicycle they will purchase. By then it is generally too late to induce them to change their minds.
The main point of the argument is that
(A) bicycle advertisements are probably more effective if they appear before the arrival of warm spring weather
(B) most bicycle purchasers decide on the brand and model of bicycle that they will buy before beginning to shop for a bicycle
(C) more bicycles are purchased in the spring than at any other time of year
(D) in general, once a bicycle purchaser has decided which bicycle he or she intends to purchase, it is difficult to bring about a change in that decision（A）
(E) spring and summer are the time of year in which bicycle riding as a leisure activity is most popular
3. During 1991 the number of people in the town of Bayburg who received municipal food assistance doubled, even though the number of people in Bayburg whose incomes were low enough to qualify for such assistance remained unchanged.
Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy in the information above?
(A) In 1990 the Bayburg Town Council debated whether or not to alter the eligibility requirements for the food assistance program but ultimately decided not to change them.
(B) In 1990 the Bayburg social service department estimated the number of people in Bayburg who might be eligible for the food assistance program and then informed the Bayburg Town Council of the total amount of assistance likely to be needed.
(C) During 1991 many residents of a nearby city lost their jobs and moved to Bayburg in search of work.
(D) During 1991 the number of applicants for food assistance in Bayburg who were rejected on the basis that their incomes were above the maximum allowable limit was approximately the same as it had been in 1990.（E）
(E) During 1991 Bayburg’s program of rent assistance for low-income tenants advertised widely and then informed all applicants about other assistance programs for which they would be qualified.
4. Campaigning for election to provincial or state office frequently requires that a candidate spend much time and energy catering to the interests of national party officials who can help the candidate to win office. The elected officials who campaign for reelection while they are in office thus often fail to serve the interests of their local constituencies.
Which one of the following is an assumption made by the argument?
(A) Catering to the interests of national party officials sometimes conflicts with serving the interests of a provincial or state official’s local constituencies.
(B) Only by catering to the interests of national party officials can those who hold provincial or state office win reelection.
(C) The interests of local constituencies are well served only by elected officials who do not cater to the interests of national party officials.
(D) Officials elected to provincial or state office are obligated to serve only the interests of constituents who belong to the same party as do the officials.（A）
(E) All elected officials are likely to seek reelection to those offices that are not limited to one term.
5. Since Professor Smythe has been head of the department, the most distinguished member of the faculty has resigned, fewer new courses have been developed, student has dropped, and the reputation of the department has gone down. These facts provide conclusive evidence that Professor Smythe was appointed to undermine the department.
The reasoning in the argument is flawed because the argument
(A) overlooks the fact that something can have the reputation for being of poor quality without being of poor quality
(B) bases a general claim on a few exceptional instances
(C) assumes that because an action was followed by a change, the action was undertaken to bring about that change
(D) fails to distinguish between a decline in quantity and a decline in quality（C）
(E) presupposes what it purports to establish
6. Books about architectural works, unless they are not intended for a general audience, ought to include discussions of both the utility and the aesthetic appeal of each of the buildings they consider. If they do not, they are flawed. Morton’s book on Italian Baroque palaces describes these palaces’ functional aspects, but fails to mention that the main hall of a palace he discusses at length has a ceiling that is one of the truly breathtaking masterpieces of Western art.
If the statements above are true, it would be necessary to establish which one of the following in order to conclude that Morton’s book is flawed?
(A) Morton’s description of the palaces’ utility is inaccurate.
(B) Morton’s book does not discuss aspects of the palaces other than utility and aesthetic appeal.
(C) Morton’s book is intended for a general audience.
(D) The passage discussing the palace plays a very important role in helping to establish the overall argument of Morton’s book.（C）
(E) The palace discussed at length is one of the most aesthetically important of those treated in Morton’s book.
7. Of all the photographs taken of him at his wedding there was one that John and his friends sharply disagreed about. His friends all said that this particular picture did not much resemble him, but John said that on the contrary it was the only photograph that did.
Which one of the following, if true, about the photograph most helps to explain John’s disagreement with his friends?
(A) It, unlike the other photographs of John, showed him in the style of dress he and his friends usually wear rather than the formal clothes he wore at the ceremony.
(B) It was the only photograph taken of John at his wedding for which the photographer had used a flash.
(C) It was a black-and-white photograph, whereas the other photographs that showed John were mostly color photographs.
(D) It was unique in showing John’s face reflected in a mirror, the photographer having taken the photograph over John’s shoulder.（D）
(E) It was one of only a few taken at the wedding that showed no one but John.
Questions 8-9
Eva: A “smart highway” system should be installed, one that would monitor areawide traffic patterns and communicate with computers in vehicles or with programmable highway signs to give drivers information about traffic congestion and alternate routes. Such a system, we can infer, would result in improved traffic flow in and around cities that would do more than improve drivers’ tempers; it would decrease the considerable loss of money and productivity that now results from traffic congestion.
Luis: There are already traffic reports on the radio. Why would a “smart highway” system be any better?
8. Eva’s argument depends on the assumption that
(A) on “smart highways” there would not be the breakdowns of vehicles that currently cause traffic congestion
(B) traffic lights, if coordinated by the system, would assure a free flow of traffic
(C) traffic flow in and around cities is not now so congested that significant improvement is impossible
(D) the type of equipment used in “smart highway” systems would vary from one city to another（C）
(E) older vehicles could not be fitted with equipment to receive signals sent by a “smart highway” system
9. If Eva responded to Luis by saying that the current one-minute radio reports are too short to give a sufficient description of overall patterns of traffic congestion, which one of the following, if true, would most strengthen Luis’s challenge?
(A) Bad weather, which radio stations report, would cause traffic to slow down whether or not a “smart highway” system was in operation.
(B) It would be less costly to have radio stations that give continual, lengthier traffic reports than to install a “smart highway” system.
(C) Radio reports can take note of congestion once it occurs, but a “smart highway” system could anticipate and forestall it in many instances.
(D) The proposed traffic monitoring would not reduce the privacy of drivers.（B）
(E) Toll collection booths, which constitute traffic bottlenecks, would largely be replaced in the “smart highway” system by electronic debiting of commuters’ accounts while traffic proceeded at full speed.
10. The terms “sex” and “gender” are often used interchangeably. But “sex” more properly refers to biological differences of male and female, while “gender” refers to society’s construction of a system that identifies what is masculine and feminine. Unlike the set of characteristics defining biological sex, the set of traits that are associated with gender does not sort people into two nonoverlapping groups. The traits characterize people in a complex way, so that a person may have both “masculine” and “feminine” traits.
Which one of the following statements best expresses a main point of the argument?
(A) Distinctions based on gender are frequently arbitrary.
(B) Gender traits are not determined at birth.
(C) Masculine gender traits are highly correlated with maleness.
(D) The terms “sex” and “gender” are not properly interchangeable.（D）
(E) Society rather than the individual decides what is considered proper behavior.
11. Raising the tax rate on essential goods—a traditional means of increasing government revenues—invariably turns low- and middle-income taxpayers against the government. Hence government officials have proposed adding a new tax on purchases of luxury items such as yachts, private planes, jewels, and furs. The officials claim that this tax will result in a substantial increase in government revenues while affecting only the wealthy individuals and corporations who can afford to purchase such items.
The answer to which one of the following questions would be most relevant in evaluating the accuracy of the government officials’ prediction?
(A) Will luxury goods be taxed at a higher rate than that at which essential goods are currently taxed?
(B) Will the revenues generated by the proposed tax be comparable to those that are currently being generated by taxes on essential goods?
(C) Will sales of the luxury items subject to the proposed tax occur at current rates once the proposed tax on luxury items has been passed?
(D) Will the proposed tax on luxury items win support for the government in the eyes of low- and middle-income taxpayers?（C）
(E) Will purchases of luxury items by corporations account for more of the revenue generated by the proposed tax than will purchases of luxury items by wealthy individuals?
12. In a study of the relationship between aggression and television viewing in nursery school children, many interesting interactions among family styles, aggression, and television viewing were found. High aggression occurred in both high-viewing and low-viewing children and this seemed to be related to parental lifestyle. High-achieving, competitive, middle-class parents, whose children did not watch much television, had more aggressive children than parents who planned their lives in an organized, child-centered way, which included larger amounts of television viewing.
Which one of the following conclusions is best supported by the passage?
(A) Low levels of television viewing often lead to high levels of aggression among children.
(B) The level of aggression of a child cannot be predicted from levels of television viewing alone.
(C) If high-achieving, competitive parents were more child-centered, their children would be less aggressive.
(D) High levels of television viewing can explain high levels of aggression among children only when the parents are not child-centered.（B）
(E) Parental lifestyle is less important than the amount of television viewing in determining the aggressiveness of children.
13. One of the effects of lead poisoning is an inflammation of the optic nerve, which causes those who have it to see bright haloes around light sources. In order to produce the striking yellow effects in his “Sunflowers” paintings, Van Gogh used Naples yellow, a pigment containing lead. Since in his later paintings, Van Gogh painted bright haloes around the stars and sun, it is likely that he was suffering from lead poisoning caused by ingesting the pigments he used.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument relies?
(A) In Van Gogh’s later paintings he painted some things as he saw them.
(B) Van Gogh continued to use paints containing lead after having painted the “Sunflowers” paintings.
(C) Van Gogh did not have symptoms of lead poisoning aside from seeing bright haloes around light sources.
(D) The paints Van Gogh used in the “Sunflowers” paintings had no toxic ingredients other than lead.（A）
(E) The effects of Naples yellow could not have been achieved using other pigments.
Questions 14-15
Politician: The mandatory jail sentences that became law two years ago for certain crimes have enhanced the integrity of our system of justice, for no longer are there two kinds of justice, the kind dispensed by lenient judges and the kind dispensed by severe ones.
Public advocate: But with judges stripped of discretionary powers, there can be no leniency even where it would be appropriate. So juries now sometimes acquit a given defendant solely because the jurors feel that the mandatory sentence would be too harsh. Those juries, then, do not return an accurate verdict on the defendant’s guilt. This is why it is imperative that the legislation instituting mandatory jail sentences be repealed.
14. The public advocate responds to the politician’s argument by doing which one of the following?
(A) trying to show that the politician’s conclusion merely paraphrases the politician’s evidence
(B) claiming that the politician’s evidence, properly analyzed, has no bearing on the conclusion the politician derives from it
(C) arguing that leniency is not a trait of individuals but that, rather, it is a property of certain kinds of decisions
(D) arguing that an analysis of the consequences of certain legislation undermines the politician’s conclusion（D）
(E) charging that the politician exaggerated the severity of a problem in order to justify a sweeping solution
15. Which one of the following principles, if valid, provides the politician with the strongest basis for countering the public advocate’s argument?
(A) Juries should always consider whether the sum of the evidence leaves any reasonable doubt concerning the defendant’s guilt, and in all cases in which it does, they should acquit the defendant.
(B) A system of justice should clearly define what the specific actions are that judges are to perform within the system.
(C) A system of justice should not require any legal expertise on the part of the people selected to serve on juries.
(D) Changes in a system of justice in response to some undesirable feature of the system should be made as soon as possible once that feature has been recognized as undesirable.（E）
(E) Changes in a system of justice that produce undesirable consequences should be reversed only if it is not feasible to ameliorate those undesirable consequences through further modification.
16. Researchers studying artificial sweeteners have long claimed that the perception of sweetness is determined by the activation of a single type of receptor on the tongue, called a sweetness receptor. They have also claimed that any given individual molecule of substance can activate at most one sweetness receptor and that the fewer molecules that are required to activate a receptor, the sweeter that substance will be perceived to be. Now the researchers claim to have discovered a substance of which only one molecule is needed to activate any sweetness receptor.
Which one of the following conclusions is most strongly supported by the researchers’ claims, if all of those claims are true?
(A) The more sweetness receptors a person has on his or her tongue, the more likely it is that that person will find sweet sensations pleasurable.
(B) In sufficient quantity, the molecules of any substance can activate a sweetness receptor.
(C) No substance will be found that is perceived to be sweeter than the substance the researchers have discovered.
(D) A substance that does not activate a sweetness receptor will activate a taste receptor of another type.（C）
(E) The more molecules of a substance that are required to activate a single sweetness receptor, the more bitter that substance will be perceived to be.
17. An editorial in the Grandburg Daily Herald claims that Grandburg’s voters would generally welcome the defeat of the political party now in control of the Grandburg City Council. The editorial bases its claim on a recent survey that found that 59 percent of Grandburg’s registered voters think that the party will definitely be out of power after next year’s city council elections.
Which one of the following is a principle that, if established, would provide the strongest justification for the editorial’s conclusion?
(A) The way voters feel about a political party at a given time can reasonably be considered a reliable indicator of the way they will continue to feel about that party, barring unforeseeable political developments.
(B) The results of surveys that gauge current voter sentiment toward a given political party can legitimately be used as the basis for making claims about the likely future prospects of that political party.
(C) An increase in ill-feeling toward a political party that is in power can reasonably be expected to result in a corresponding increase in support for rival political parties.
(D) The proportion of voters who expect a given political possibility to be realized can legitimately be assumed to approximate the proportion of voters who are in favor of that possibility being realized.（D）
(E) It can reasonably be assumed that registered voters who respond to a survey regarding the outcome of a future election will exercise their right to vote in that election.
18. Prolonged exposure to nonionizing radiation—electromagnetic radiation at or below the frequency of visible light—increases a person’s chances of developing soft-tissue cancer. Electric power lines as well as such electrical appliances as electric blankets and video-display terminals are sources of nonionizing radiation.
Which one of the following conclusions is best supported by the statements above?
(A) People with short-term exposure to nonionizing radiation are not at risk of developing soft-tissue cancers.
(B) Soft-tissue cancers are more common than other cancers.
(C) Soft-tissue cancers are frequently cured spontaneously when sources of nonionizing radiation are removed from the patient’s home.
(D) Certain electrical devices can pose health risks for their users.（D）
(E) Devices producing electromagnetic radiation at frequencies higher than that of visible light do not increase a person’s risk of developing soft-tissue cancers.
19. In the first decade following the founding of the British Labour party, the number of people regularly voting for Labour increased fivefold. The number of committed Labour voters increased a further fivefold during the party’s second decade. Since the increase was thus the same in the first as in the second decade, the often-made claim that the Labour party gained move voters in the party’s second decade than in its first is clearly false.
The reasoning in the argument is flawed because the argument
(A) fails to specify dates necessary to evaluate the truth of the conclusion, even though the argument depends on distinguishing between two time periods
(B) draws a conclusion that cannot be true if all the data advanced in its support are true
(C) relies on statistical evidence that, strictly speaking, is irrelevant to establishing the conclusion drawn
(D) fails to allow for the possibility that the policy positions advocated by the Labour party changed during the period in question（B）
(E) overlooks the possibility that more elections were held in one of the two decades than were held in the other
Questions 20-21
A number of seriously interested amateur astronomers have tested the new Exodus refractor telescope. With it, they were able to observe in crisp detail planetary features that were seen only as fuzzy images in their 8-inch (approximately 20-centimeter) Newtonian telescopes, even though the 8-inch telescopes, with their wider apertures, gather more light than the 4-inch (approximately 10-centimeter) Exodus. Given these amateur astronomers’ observational findings, any serious amateur astronomers ought to choose the Exodus if she or he is buying a telescope for planetary observation.
20. The argument proceeds by
(A) evaluating the credibility of claims made by a particular group
(B) detailing the ways in which a testing situation approximates the conditions of ordinary use
(C) placing a phenomenon in a wider context in order to explain it
(D) supporting a recommendation to a group on the basis of the experience of a subset of that group（D）
(E) distinguishing between the actual reasons why a certain group did a particular thing and the best reasons for doing that thing
21. Which one of the following most seriously weakens the argument?
(A) Telescopes of certain types will not perform well unless they have been precisely collimated, a delicate adjustment requiring deftness.
(B) Image quality is only one of several different factors that, taken together, should determine the choice of a telescope for planetary observation.
(C) Many serious amateur astronomers have no intention of buying a telescope for planetary observation.
(D) The comparisons made by the amateur astronomers were based on observations made during several different observation sessions.（B）
(E) The substance used to make the lenses of Exodus telescopes differs from that used in the lenses of other telescopes.
22. Anatomical bilateral symmetry is a common trait. It follows, therefore, that it confers survival advantages on organisms. After all, if bilateral symmetry did not confer such advantages, it would not be common.
The pattern of reasoning in which one of the following arguments is most similar to that in the argument above?
(A) Since it is Sawyer who is negotiating for the city government, it must be true that the city takes the matter seriously. After all, if Sawyer had not been available, the city would have insisted that the negotiations be deferred.
(B) Clearly, no candidate is better qualified for the job than Trumbull. In fact, even to suggest that there might be a more highly qualified candidate seems absurd to those who have seen Trumbull at work.
(C) If Powell lacked superior negotiating skills, she would not have been appointed arbitrator in this case. As everyone knows, she is the appointed arbitrator, so her negotiating skills are, detractors notwithstanding, bound to be superior.
(D) Since Varga was away on vacation at the time, it must have been Rivers who conducted the secret negotiations. Any other scenario makes little sense, for Rivers never does the negotiating unless Varga is unavailable.（C）
(E) If Wong is appointed arbitrator, a decision will be reached promptly. Since it would be absurd to appoint anyone other than Wong as arbitrator, a prompt decision can reasonably be expected.
23. Electrical engineers have repeatedly demonstrated that the best solid-state amplifiers are indistinguishable from the best vacuum-tube amplifiers with respect to the characteristics commonly measured in evaluating the quality of an amplifier’s musical reproduction. Therefore, those music lovers who insist that recorded music sounds better when played with the best vacuum tube amplifier must be imagining the difference in quality that they claim to hear.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
(A) Many people cannot tell from listening to it whether a recording is being played with a very good solid-state amplifier or a very good vacuum-tube amplifier.
(B) The range of variation with respect to the quality of musical reproduction is greater for vacuum tube amplifiers than for solid-state amplifiers.
(C) Some of the characteristics that are important in determining how music sounds to a listener cannot be measured.
(D) Solid-state amplifiers are more compact, use less power, and generate less heat than vacuum-tube amplifiers that produce a comparable volume of sound.（C）
(E) Some vacuum-tube amplifiers are clearly superior to some solid-state amplifiers with respect to characteristics commonly measured in the laboratory to evaluate the quality of an amplifier’s musical reproduction.
24. Explanation must be distinguished from justification. Every human action potentially has an explanation, that is, with sufficient knowledge it would be possible to give an accurate description of the causes of that action. An action is justified only when the person performing the action has sufficient reasons for the action. According to many psychologists, even when there is a justification for an action, that justification often forms no part of the explanation. The general principle, however, is that only an action whose justification, that is, the reasons for the action, forms an essential part of its explanation is rational.
If the statements in the passage are correct, which one of the following can be properly concluded from them?
(A) When a human action is justified, that action has no explanation.
(B) If there are any reasons among the causes of an action, then that action rational.
(C) Some psychologists believe that the justification for an action never forms an essential part of its explanation.
(D) There are actions whose causes cannot be discovered.（E）
(E) If any human actions are rational, then reasons must sometimes be causes of actions.
25. At the company picnic, all of the employees who participated in more than four of the scheduled events, and only those employees were eligible for the raffle held at the end of the day. Since only a small proportion of the employees were eligible for the raffle, most of the employees must have participated in fewer than four of the scheduled events.
Which one of the following arguments exhibits a flawed pattern of reasoning most like that exhibited by the argument above?
(A) Only third-and fourth-year students are allowed to keep cars on campus. Since one quarter of the third-year students keep cars on campus and one half of the fourth-year students keep cars on campus, it must be that fewer third-year students than fourth-year students keep cars on campus.
(B) Only those violin students who attended extra rehearsal sessions were eligible for selection as soloists. Since two of the violin students were selected as soloists, those two must have been the only violin students who attended the extra sessions.
(C) The only students honored at a special banquet were the band members who made the dean’s list last semester. Since most the band members were honored, most of the band members must have made the dean’s list.
(D) All of the members of the service club who volunteered at the hospital last summer were biology majors. Since ten of the club members are biology majors, those ten members must have volunteered at the hospital last summer.（E）
(E) All of the swim team members who had decreased their racing times during the season were given awards that no other members were given. Since fewer than half the team members were given such awards, the racing times of more than half the team members must have increased during the season.
TEST 20
SECTION II
|
1. B |
2. C |
3. B |
4. D |
5. C |
|
6. B |
7. B |
8. E |
9. E |
10. A |
|
11. C |
12. B |
13. D |
14. C |
15. A |
|
16. E |
17. C |
18. A |
19. C |
20. D |
|
21. A |
22. E |
23. B |
24. A |
25. E |
SECTION III
|
1. E |
2. A |
3. E |
4. A |
5. C |
|
6. C |
7. D |
8. C |
9. B |
10. D |
|
11. C |
12. B |
13. A |
14. D |
15. E |
|
16. C |
17. D |
18. D |
19. B |
20. D |
|
21. B |
22. C |
23. C |
24. E |
25. E |
Where's My Stuff? |
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