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TEST II
30 Minutes 20 Questions
1. For over fifty years, the ocean-freight industry worked to make ocean freighters faster and to lower their fuel consumption. Despite considerable success, the economics of the industry grew worse, until the industry was almost dead. What was wrong was an incongruity between assumptions and realities. The real costs came, not from time spent at sea, but from time spent in port during loading and unloading.
Which of the following actions would be most likely to lead to a solution of the problem faced by the ocean-freight industry, as it is analyzed in the passage?
(A) Developing a ship’s engine that runs on a cheaper type of fuel than that traditionally used by ocean freighters
(B) Developing a ship with accessible cargo compartments that can be mechanically loaded and unloaded very rapidly
(C) Developing a ship whose freight capacity relative to the ship’s total volume is much larger than that of any existing ship
(D) Implementing a system to ensure that ocean freighters are loaded to capacity whenever they leave a port（B）
(E) Implementing a marketing plan that focuses on routes that are known to be least threatened by unfavorable weather, thus permitting rapid trips and reliable arrival times
2. The increased concentration of salt in the bay, which is the result of recent drought and high temperatures, will cause many fish to die. Shrimp, however, can tolerate high salt levels; the shrimp industry will not, therefore, be hurt by the increased concentration of salt.
Which of the following statements, if true, would weaken the argument above?
(A) Some fish will migrate to areas that have lower concentrations of salt.
(B) Lack of rainfall for extended periods of time lowers the water level of bays.
(C) The organisms on which young shrimp feed cannot survive in such salty waters.
(D) Increased water temperature often causes shrimp to multiply more quickly.（C）
(E) Shrimp are more abundant in areas of the bay that are sparsely populated by fish.
3. Currently people in the
Which of the following can be properly inferred from the passage above?
(A)
More than half of the current population of the
(B) The population has risen since 1980.
(C) Children below the age of 15 require, on the average, more food than do people over the age of 64.
(D) Before 1980 children below the age of 15 outnumbered people between the ages of 15 and 64.（E）
(E) Individuals between the ages of 15 and 64 consume, on the average, more food than do those younger or older.
4. Each increase of 1 percent in real disposable personal income per capita will increase the share of the electorate for an incumbent by about 2.2 percentage points, other things being equal. Since 1952 there has been a decline in real disposable income during only one presidential election year. The incumbent lost that election.
Which of the following conclusions can be properly drawn from the statements above?
(A) When an incumbent runs for office, he or she is likely to win.
(B) Political parties should take care to put forth a candidate who seems prosperous.
(C) Presidential candidates should put their greatest efforts into improving their public image.
(D) Because a presidential campaign requires the expenditure of large amounts of money, it frequently impoverishes a candidate and his or her supporters.（E）
(E) The outcome of a presidential election is substantially affected by factors other than the ideological positions of the candidates.
5. According to an independent computer-industry analyst, the new Regent microcomputer is of high quality, is fast, and costs less than any currently existing competing model. It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, as the manufacturer’s prospectus does, that the Regent will quickly establish itself as a fast-selling, low-priced alternative to currently available microcomputers.
Which of the following, if true, would LEAST weaken the argument above?
(A) Many retailers already carry one or more low-priced microcomputer models and are disinclined to carry another.
(B) Several faster and lower-priced models of microcomputers will soon be introduced by other computer manufacturers.
(C) The Regent Corporation’s microcomputer can be used in conjunction with higher-priced microcomputers manufactured by other companies.
(D) Most of those individuals and companies that could be expected to make up the potential market for the Regent microcomputer have already filled their microcomputer needs.（C）
(E) The independent computer-industry analyst whose assessment was incorporated in the prospectus has used measures of quality that are not universally accepted by the computer-buying public.
6. Which of the following is the most logical completion of the passage below?
Many companies have been pushing for a three-week extension of daylight saving time, which would mean that the sun would continue to set an hour later during the fall months. The owners of a chain of convenience stores, for example, expect to gain $15 million a year in additional sales, mostly from people who tend to______
(A) stay away from these stores after dark
(B) stay outdoors during the fall months
(C) spend more money in the fall
(D) spend less money in the fall（A）
(E) shop at these stores when they are pressed for time
7. Recent evidence appears to contradict earlier findings that suggested that those who are physically fit cope better with stressful real-life events. Of a group of healthy women, those randomly assigned to a ten-week program of aerobic exercises performed no better in laboratory tests simulating stressful situations than did the subgroup assigned to a program without exercise.
Which of the following, if true, provides evidence for determining whether physical fitness makes one react better to stress?
(A) Superior reaction to laboratory stress situations was found to be more prevalent among women than among men.
(B) Healthy men, after training six months in weight lifting, encountered fewer potentially stressful situations in the subsequent six months.
(C) Subjects following a regimen during which they perfected their skills in a variety of relaxation techniques found that their lives seemed calmer after they began the regimen.
(D) College students with previous high levels of stressful life events showed a markedly reduced reaction to such events after training in aerobics for six months.（D）
(E) Subjects with a high level of self-esteem more often engaged in physical-fitness regimens than did a control group of subjects with average levels of self-esteem.
Questions 8-9 are based on the following.
Now is an excellent time to invest in the catering business. A survey conducted by Weddings magazine found that 70 percent of the magazine’s readers want a catered wedding reception. An analysis of the catering industry, however, shows that the current number of caterers can serve only 55 percent of the weddings likely to occur each year.
8. Which of the following, if true, reveals a weakness in the evidence cited above?
(A) Catering is a highly labor-intensive business.
(B) Caterers are not evenly distributed across the country.
(C) The number of weddings with catered receptions has been growing each year for the past five years.
(D) Readers of Weddings magazine are more likely than most people to want a catered reception.（D）
(E) Weddings magazine includes both articles about catered receptions and articles about preparing food oneself for one’s wedding reception.
9. Which of the following, if true, would undermine the validity of the investment advice in the paragraph above?
(A) The average wedding reception involves between 50 and 100 guests.
(B) Approximately a quarter of all weddings take place without a reception.
(C) Approximately a quarter of all weddings and their associated receptions are paid for by the couples themselves.
(D) Only half of all catered wedding receptions include sit-down meals.（E）
(E) Only half of those who say they want a catered wedding reception actually have one.
10. The Commerce Department recently
put limits on machine-tool imports from two countries whose exports of machine
tools into the
Which of the following, if true, would be most likely to cause the analysts’ prediction to be inaccurate?
(A) A new tax bill that, if passed, would discourage investment in capital equipment such as machine tools is being studied and debated seriously in the United States Congress.
(B)
(C)
Worldwide orders for machine tools made in the
(D)
Substantial inventories of foreign-made machine tools were stockpiled in the
(E) Companies in the industrial sectors of many countries showed a significantly expanded demand for machine tools during the past year.
11. The cities with the densest population have the highest ratio of police officers to citizens. Such cities also have the lowest rates of property crime without contact between perpetrator and victim. Thus maintaining a high ratio of police officers to citizens can serve as an effective deterrent to at least certain kinds of property crime.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?
(A) The quality of training that police receive varies from city to city.
(B) High population density itself makes it difficult to commit a property crime that involves no contact between perpetrator and victim.
(C) Many nonviolent crimes in large cities are drug-related.
(D) A majority of the perpetrators of property crimes in densely populated cities are not apprehended by the police.（B）
(E) Property crimes without contact between perpetrator and victim represent only a small proportion of overall crime.
12. Approximately two hundred brands of personal computers are being manufactured, but we currently limit our inventory to only the eight most popular brands. We plan to increase greatly the number of computers we sell by expanding our inventory to include the ten best-selling brands.
Which of the following, if true, points out a major weakness of the plan above?
(A) The capabilities of three most popular personal computers add to be approximately equivalent, with no brand having consistent superiority in all respects.
(B) The seven most popular brands of personal computers account for almost all computers sold.
(C) As the users of personal computers become more sophisticated, they are more willing to buy less well-known brands of computers.
(D) Less popular brands of computers often provide less profit to the retailer because prices must be discounted to attract customers.（B）
(E) The leading brand of personal computer has been losing sales to less popular brands that offer similar capabilities for less money.
13. Of those person who became teachers in 1968 and who later left the profession, 30 percent today earn salaries above $35,000 a year: of those who became teachers in 1968 and have remained in the profession, only 15 percent today earn salaries above $35,000 a year. These figures indicate how underpaid teachers are today.
The argument above depends on which of the following assumptions about the persons for whom statistics are cited?
(A) At least one-third of the group of persons who have remained in teaching would today be earning more than $35,000 a year if they had left teaching.
(B) The group of persons who left teaching and the group who did not are comparable in terms of factors that determine how much people outside the teaching profession are paid.
(C) Most of those persons who left teaching did so entirely because of the low salaries teachers earn.
(D) As a group, those persons who have remained in teaching are abler and more dedicated than the group of persons who left teaching.（B）
(E) The group of persons who left teaching and who today earn more than $35,000 a year were more capable teachers than the group who remained in the profession.
14. Some analysts maintain that an embargo by country Litora on the export of a strategic metal to country Zenda, if imposed, would drive up the price of the metal in Zenda at least tenfold. They note that few other countries export the metal and that, with an embargo, Zenda might have to depend on as-yet-unexploited domestic sources of the metal.
Which of the following, if true, constitutes the most serious objection to the analysis above?
(A) Litora’s economy depends heavily on foreign currency earned by the export of the strategic metal to other countries.
(B) There are foreign-policy steps that Zenda could take to appease Litora and avoid being subjected to an embargo on the metal.
(C)
Geologists believe that additional deposits of the metal could possibly be found
within the
(D) Only a small proportion of Zenda’s import expenditures is devoted to the import of the metal from Litora.（E）
(E) In case of an embargo, Zenda could buy the metal indirectly from Litora on the world market at a less than one-third increase in cost.
15. The government should stop permitting tobacco companies to subtract advertising expenses from their revenues in calculating taxable income. Tobacco companies would then have to pay more taxes. As a consequence, they would raise the prices of their products and this price increase would raise the prices of their products and this price increase would discourage tobacco use.
Which of the following is an additional premise required by the argument above?
(A) Tobacco companies would not offset the payment of extra taxes by reducing costs in other areas.
(B) Tobacco companies would not continue to advertise if they were forced to pay higher taxes.
(C) People would not continue to buy tobacco products if these products were no longer advertised.
(D) The money the government would gain as a result of the increase in tobacco companies’ taxable income would be used to educate the public about the dangers of tobacco use.（A）
(E) The increase in taxes paid by tobacco companies would be equal to the additional income generated by raising prices.
16. Instead of blaming an airline accident on pilot error, investigators should find out why the error was made by analyzing airplane design, airline management, and pilot-training programs. For only then can changes be made to ensure that the same type of error does not recur and cause another accident.
Which of the following is a presupposition of the argument above?
(A) Pilot error is not a contributing factor in most airline accidents.
(B) Airline companies themselves should be the agents who investigate airline accidents.
(C) Stricter government regulation of airline companies will make air travel significantly safer.
(D) Investigators of airline accidents should contribute to the prevention of future accidents.（D）
(E) Most pilots who make errors in flying will repeat their errors unless they are retrained.
Questions 17-18 are based on the following.
Professor A: We must make a strong moral statement against Country X’s policies. Only total divestment—the sale of all stock in companies that have factories or business offices in X—can do this. Therefore, the university should divest totally.
Professor B: Our aim should be to encourage X to change its policies. Partial divestment is the best way to achieve this aim. Therefore, the university should sell its stock only in companies that either sell goods to X’s government, or do the majority of their business in X, or treat their workers in X unfairly.
17. Professor A’s and Professor B’s arguments differ in which of the following ways?
(A) They state the same goal but propose different ways of achieving it.
(B) They state different goals but propose the same way of achieving them.
(C) They state different goals and propose different ways of achieving them.
(D) They disagree about whether the university should sell any stock at all.（C）
(E) They disagree about whether X’s policies are objectionable.
18. Which of the following, if true, would be evidence that the university would not be harmed economically if it followed Professor A’s recommendation.
(A) Very few of the companies in which the university owns stocks sell goods to X’s government.
(B) Most companies that have factories or business offices in X and in which the university owns stock actually do little of their business in X.
(C) Some companies that have factories or business offices in X and in which the university owns stock have instituted fair treatment policies for their workers in X at very little additional cost to the companies.
(D) The expected financial return to the university from stocks that the university could own under a policy of total divestment is approximately the same as the expected financial return from the same as the expected financial.（D）
(E) If the university sold large blocks of stock under a policy of total divestment, the prices of the stocks of the companies whose stocks were sold would probably decrease somewhat.
19. In an effort to go beyond resumes as tools in its search for executives, one leading company has resorted to interviewing the top candidates for a position all together in a single group. This technique is supposed to afford a direct comparison of the candidates with respect to some personal qualities that cannot be gleaned from a resume.
Which of the following, if true, casts the most serious doubt on the value of the simultaneous interview technique?
(A) Resumes do sometimes allow reliable inferences to be made about a candidate’s personal qualities.
(B) The simultaneous interview could become cumbersome if there were a great many candidates for a position.
(C) The more perceptive the interviewer, the more revealing the simultaneous interview is apt to be.
(D) There are certain personal qualities that only an extended simultaneous interview can bring out.（E）
(E) The simultaneous interview distorts each candidate’s response style by inducing stresses unlike any an executive position induces.
20. The Asian American History Association receives approximately 1,000 proposals each year from individuals who wish to present papers at its annual meeting. The association’s officers would like to ensure constant standards of quality in the presentations from year to year. The officers have therefore decided to accept for presentation each year only the best 300 papers selected on the basis of the quality of the proposals submitted.
Of the following, the best criticism of the officers’ plan is that the plan assumes that
(A) Professional associations cannot accept all papers submitted for presentation at their annual meetings.
(B) The total number of proposals submitted to the association will remain at approximately 1,000 in future years.
(C) Each proposal submitted to the association deserves to be considered a serious candidate for presentation.
(D) It is difficult to judge the quality of a paper on the basis of the proposal alone.（E）
(E) The best 300 papers submitted to the association for presentation will be of the same quality from year to year.
TEST II
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1. B |
2. C |
3. E |
4. E |
5. C |
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6. A |
7. D |
8. D |
9. E |
10. D |
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11. B |
12. B |
13. B |
14. E |
15. A |
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16. D |
17. C |
18. D |
19. E |
20. E |
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