GMAT Test M-O.docx

GMAT TEST M-O TEST M 30 Minutes 20 Questions 1. Rural households have more purchasing power than do urban or suburban households at the same income level, since some of the income urban and suburban households use for food and shelter can be used by rural households for other needs. Which of the following inferences is best supported by the statement made above? (A) The average rural household includes more people than does the average urban or suburban household. (B) Rural households have lower food and housing costs than do either urban or suburban households. (C) Suburban households generally have more purchasing power than do either rural or urban households. (D) The median income of urban and suburban households is generally higher than that of rural households.?B? (E) All three types of households spend more of their income on food and housing than on all other purchases combined. 2. In 1985 state border colleges in Texas lost the enrollment of more than half, on average, of the Mexican nationals they had previously served each year. Teaching faculties have alleged that this extreme drop resulted from a rise in tuition for international and out-of-state students from $40 to $120 per credit hour. Which of the following, if feasible, offers the best prospects for alleviating the problem of the drop in enrollment of Mexican nationals as the teaching faculties assessed it? (A) Providing grants-in-aid to Mexican nationals to study in Mexican universities (B) Allowing Mexican nationals to study in Texas border colleges and to pay in-state tuition rates, which are the same as the previous international rate (C) Reemphasizing the goals and mission of the Texas state border colleges as serving both in-state students and Mexican nationals (D) Increasing the financial resources of Texas colleges by raising the tuition for in-state students attending state institutions?B? (E) Offering career counseling for those Mexican nationals who graduate from state border colleges and intend to return to Mexico 3. Affirmative action is good business. So asserted the National Association of Manufacturers while urging retention of an executive order requiring some federal contractors to set numerical goals for hiring minorities and women. “Diversity in work force participation has produced new ideas in management, product development, and marketing,” the association claimed. The association’s argument as it is presented in the passage above would be most strengthened if which of the following were true? (A) The percentage of minority and women workers in business has increased more slowly than many minority and women’s groups would prefer. (B) Those businesses with the highest percentages of minority and women workers are those that have been the most innovative and profitable. (C) Disposable income has been rising as fast among minorities and women as among the population as a whole. (D) The biggest growth in sales in the manufacturing sector has come in industries that market the most innovative products.?B? (E) Recent improvements in management practices have allowed many manufacturers to experience enormous gains in worker productivity. Questions 4-5 refer to the following. If the airspace around centrally located airports were restricted to commercial airliners and only those private planes equipped with radar, most of the private-plane traffic would be forced to use outlying airfields. Such a reduction in the amount of private-plane traffic would reduce the risk of midair collision around the centrally located airports. 4. The conclusion drawn in the first sentence depends on which of the following assumptions? (A) Outlying airfields would be as convenient as centrally located airports for most pilots of private planes. (B) Most outlying airfields are not equipped to handle commercial-airline traffic. (C) Most private planes that use centrally located airports are not equipped with radar. (D) Commercial airliners are at greater risk of becoming involved in midair collisions than are private planes.?C? (E) A reduction in the risk of midair collision would eventually lead to increases in commercial-airline traffic. 5. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn in the second sentence? (A) Commercial airliners are already required by law to be equipped with extremely sophisticated radar systems. (B) Centrally located airports are experiencing over-crowded airspace primarily because of sharp increases in commercial-airline traffic. (C) Many pilots of private planes would rather buy radar equipment than be excluded from centrally located airports. (D) The number of midair collisions that occur near centrally located airports has decreased in recent years.?E? (E) Private planes not equipped with radar systems cause a disproportionately large number of midair collisions around centrally located airports. 6. Which of the following best completes the passage below? Established companies concentrate on defending what they already have. Consequently, they tend not to be innovative themselves and tend to underestimate the effects of the innovations of others. The clearest example of this defensive strategy is the fact that______ (A) ballpoint pens and soft-tip markers have eliminated the traditional market for fountain pens, clearing the way for the marketing of fountain pens as luxury or prestige items (B) a highly successful automobile was introduced by the same company that had earlier introduced a model that had been a dismal failure (C) a once-successful manufacturer of slide rules reacted to the introduction of electronic calculators by trying to make better slide rules (D) one of the first models of modern accounting machines, designed for use in the banking industry, was purchased by a public library as well as by banks?C? (E) the inventor of a commonly used anesthetic did not intend the product to be used by dentists, who currently account for almost the entire market for that drug 7. Most archaeologists have held that people first reached the Americas less than 20,000 years ago by crossing a land bridge into North America. But recent discoveries of human shelters in South America dating from 32,000 years ago have led researchers to speculate that people arrived in South America first, after voyaging across the Pacific, and then spread northward. Which of the following, if it were discovered, would be pertinent evidence against the speculation above? (A) A rock shelter near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, contains evidence of use by human beings 19,000 years ago. (B) Some North American sites of human habitation predate any sites found in South America. (C) The climate is warmer at the 32,000-year-old south American site than at the oldest known North American site. (D) The site in South America that was occupied 32,000 years ago was continuously occupied until 6,000 years ago.?B? (E) The last Ice Age, between 11,500 and 20,000 years ago, considerably lowered worldwide sea levels. 8. In Asia, where palm trees are non-native, the trees’ flowers have traditionally been pollinated by hand, which has kept palm fruit productivity unnaturally low. When weevils known to be efficient pollinators of palm flowers were introduced into Asia in 1980, palm fruit productivity increased—by up to fifty percent in some areas—but then decreased sharply in 1984. Which of the following statements, if true, would best explain the 1984 decrease in productivity? (A) Prices for palm fruit fell between 1980 and 1984 following the rise in production and a concurrent fall in demand. (B) Imported trees are often more productive than native trees because the imported ones have left behind their pests and diseases in their native lands. (C) Rapid increases in productivity tend to deplete trees of nutrients needed for the development of the fruit-producing female flowers. (D) The weevil population in Asia remained at approximately the same level between 1980 and 1984.?C? (E) Prior to 1980 another species of insect pollinated the Asian palm trees, but not as efficiently as the species of weevil that was introduced in 1980. 9. Since the mayor’s publicity campaign for Greenville’s bus service began six months ago, morning automobile traffic into the midtown area of the city has decreased seven percent. During the same period, there has been an equivalent rise in the number of persons riding buses into the midtown area. Obviously, the mayor’s publicity campaign has convinced many people to leave their cars at home and ride the bus to work. Which of the following, if true, casts the most serious doubt on the conclusion drawn above? (A) Fares for all bus routes in Greenville have risen an average of five percent during the past six months. (B) The mayor of Greenville rides the bus to City Hall in the city’s midtown area. (C) Road reconstruction has greatly reduced the number of lanes available to commuters in major streets leading to the midtown area during the past six months. (D) The number of buses entering the midtown area of Greenville during the morning hours is exactly the same now as it was one year ago.?C? (E) Surveys show that longtime bus riders are no more satisfied with the Greenville bus service than they were before the mayor’s publicity campaign began. 10. In the aftermath of a worldwide stock-market crash, Country T claimed that the severity of the stock-market crash it experienced resulted from the accelerated process of denationalization many of its industries underwent shortly before the crash. Which of the following, if it could be carried out, would be most useful in an evaluation of Country T’s assessment of the causes of the severity of its stock-market crash? (A) Calculating the average loss experienced by individual traders in Country T during the crash (B) Using economic theory to predict the most likely date of the next crash in Country T (C) Comparing the total number of shares sold during the worst days of the crash in Country T to the total number of shares sold in Country T just prior to the crash (D) Comparing the severity of the crash in Country T to the severity of the crash in countries otherwise economically similar to Country T that have not experienced recent denationalization?D? (E) Comparing the long-term effects of the crash on the purchasing power of the currency of Country T to the immediate, more severe short-term effects of the crash on the purchasing power of the currency of Country T 11. With the emergence of biotechnology companies, it was feared that they would impose silence about proprietary results on their in-house researchers and their academic consultants. This constraint, in turn, would slow the development of biological science and engineering. Which of the following, if true, would tend to weaken most seriously the prediction of scientific secrecy described above? (A) Biotechnological research funded by industry has reached some conclusions that are of major scientific importance. (B) When the results of scientific research are kept secret, independent researchers are unable to build on those results. (C) Since the research priorities of biotechnology companies are not the same as those of academic institutions, the financial support of research by such companies distorts the research agenda. (D) To enhance the companies’ standing in the scientific community, the biotechnology companies encourage employees to publish their results, especially results that are important.?D? (E) Biotechnology companies devote some of their research resources to problems that are of fundamental scientific importance and that are not expected to produce immediate practical applications. 12. Some people have questioned the judge’s objectivity in cases of sex discrimination against women. But the record shows that in sixty percent of such cases, the judge has decided in favor of the women. This record demonstrates that the judge has not discriminated against women in cases of sex discrimination against women. The argument above is flawed in that it ignores the possibility that (A) a large number of the judge’s cases arose out of allegations of sex discrimination against women (B) many judges find it difficult to be objective in cases of sex discrimination against women (C) the judge is biased against women defendants or plaintiffs in cases that do not involve sex discrimination (D) the majority of the cases of sex discrimination against women that have reached the judge’s court have been appealed from a lower court?E? (E) the evidence shows that the women should have won in more than sixty percent of the judge’s cases involving sex discrimination against women 13. The tobacco industry is still profitable and projections are that it will remain so. In the United States this year, the total amount of tobacco sold by tobacco-farmers has increased, even though the number of adults who smoke has decreased. Each of the following, if true, could explain the simultaneous increase in tobacco sales and decrease in the number of adults who smoke EXCEPT: (A) During this year, the number of women who have begun to smoke is greater than the number of men who have quit smoking. (B) The number of teen-age children who have begun to smoke this year is greater than the number of adults who have quit smoking during the same period. (C) During this year, the number of nonsmokers who have begun to use chewing tobacco or snuff is greater than the number of people who have quit smoking. (D) The people who have continued to smoke consume more tobacco per person than they did in the past.?A? (E) More of the cigarettes made in the United States this year were exported to other countries than was the case last year. 14. Kale has more nutritional value than spinach. But since collard greens have more nutritional value than lettuce, it follows that kale has more nutritional value than lettuce. Any of the following, if introduced into the argument as an additional premise, makes the argument above logically correct EXCEPT: (A) Collard greens have more nutritional value than kale. (B) Spinach has more nutritional value than lettuce. (C) Spinach has more nutritional value than collard greens. (D) Spinach and collard greens have the same nutritional value.?A? (E) Kale and collard greens have the same nutritional value. 15. On the basis of a decrease in the college-age population, many colleges now anticipate increasingly smaller freshman classes each year. Surprised by a 40 percent increase in qualified applicants over the previous year, however, administrators at Nice College now plan to hire more faculty for courses taken by all freshmen. Which of the following statements about Nice College’s current qualified applicants, if true, would strongly suggest that the administrators’ plan is flawed? (A) A substantially higher percentage than usual plan to study for advanced degrees after graduation from college. (B) According to their applications, their level of participation in extracurricular activities and varsity sports is unusually high. (C) According to their applications, none of them lives in a foreign country. (D) A substantially lower percentage than usual rate Nice College as their first choice among the colleges to which they are applying.?D? (E) A substantially lower percentage than usual list mathematics as their intended major. Questions 16-17 are based on the following. A researcher discovered that people who have low levels of immune-system activity tend to score much lower on tests of mental health than do people with normal or high immune-system activity. The researcher concluded from this experiment that the immune system protects against mental illness as well as against physical disease. 16. The researcher’s conclusion depends on which of the following assumptions? (A) High immune-system activity protects against mental illness better than normal immune-system activity does. (B) Mental illness is similar to physical disease in its effects on body system. (C) People with high immune-system activity cannot develop mental illness. (D) Mental illness does not cause people’s immune-system activity to decrease.?D? (E) Psychological treatment of mental illness is not as effective as is medical treatment. 17. The researcher’s conclusion would be most seriously weakened if it were true that (A) there was a one-year delay between the completion of a pilot study for the experiment and the initiation of the experiment itself (B) people’s levels of immune-system activity are not affected by their use of medications (C) a few people with high immune-system activity had scores on the test of mental health that were similar to the scores of people who had normal immune-system activity (D) people who have low immune-system activity tend to contract more viral infections than do people with normal or high immune-system activity?E? (E) high levels of stress first cause mental illness and then cause decreased immune-system activity in normal individuals 18. The value of a product is determined by the ratio of its quality to its price. The higher the value of a product, the better will be its competitive position. Therefore, either increasing the quality or lowering the price of a given product will increase the likelihood that consumer will select that product rather than a competing one. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn above? (A) It is possible to increase both the quality and the price of a product without changing its competitive position. (B) For certain segments of the population of consumers, higher-priced brands of some product lines are preferred to the lower-priced brands. (C) Competing products often try to appeal to different segments of the population of consumers. (D) The competitive position of a product can be affected by such factors as advertising and brand loyalty.?E? (E) Consumers’ perceptions of the quality of a product are based on the actual quality of the product. 19. In January there was a large drop in the number of new houses sold, because interest rates for mortgages were falling and many consumers were waiting to see how low the rates would go. This large sales drop was accompanied by a sharp rise in the average price of new houses sold. Which of the following, if true, best explains the sharp rise in the average price of new houses? (A) Sales of higher-priced houses were unaffected by the sales drop because their purchasers have fewer constraints limiting the total amount they pay. (B) Labor agreements of builders with construction unions are not due to expire until the next January. (C) The prices of new houses have been rising slowly over the past three years because there is an increasing shortage of housing. (D) There was a greater amount of moderate-priced housing available for resale by owners during January than in the preceding three months.?A? (E) Interest rates for home mortgages are expected to rise sharply later in the year if predictions of increased business activity in general prove to be accurate. 20. Seven countries signed a treaty binding each of them to perform specified actions on a certain fixed date, with the actions of each conditional on simultaneous action taken by the other countries. Each country was also to notify the six other countries when it had completed its action. The simultaneous-action provision of the treaty leaves open the possibility that (A) the compliance date was subject to postponement, according to the terms of the treaty (B) one of the countries might not be required to make any changes or take any steps in order to comply with the treaty, whereas all the other countries are so required (C) each country might have a well-founded excuse, based on the provision, for its own lack of compliance (D) the treaty specified that the signal for one of the countries to initiate action was notification by the other countries that they had completed action?C? (E) there was ambiguity with respect to the date after which all actions contemplated in the treaty are to be complete TEST N 30 Minutes 20 Questions 1. A milepost on the towpath read “21” on the side facing the hiker as she approached it and “23” on its back. She reasoned that the next milepost forward on the path would indicate that she was halfway between one end of the path and the other. However, the milepost one mile further on read “20” facing her and “24” behind. Which of the following, if true, would explain the discrepancy described above? (A) The numbers on the next milepost had been reversed. (B) The numbers on the mileposts indicate kilometers, not miles. (C) The facing numbers indicate miles to the end of the path, not miles from the beginning. (D) A milepost was missing between the two the hiker encountered.?C? (E) The mileposts had originally been put in place for the use of mountain bikers, not for hikers. 2. Airline: Newly developed collision-avoidance systems, although not fully tested to discover potential malfunctions, must be installed immediately in passenger planes. Their mechanical warnings enable pilots to avoid crashes. Pilots: Pilots will not fly in planes with collision-avoidance systems that are not fully tested. Malfunctioning systems could mislead pilots, causing crashes. The pilots’ objection is most strengthened if which of the following is true? (A) It is always possible for mechanical devices to malfunction. (B) Jet engines, although not fully tested when first put into use, have achieved exemplary performance and safety records. (C) Although collision-avoidance systems will enable pilots to avoid some crashes, the likely malfunctions of the not-fully-tested systems will cause even more crashes. (D) Many airline collisions are caused in part by the exhaustion of overworked pilots.?C? (E) Collision-avoidance systems, at this stage of development, appear to have worked better in passenger planes than in cargo planes during experimental flights made over a six-month period. 3. Guitar strings often go “dead”—become less responsive and bright in tone—after a few weeks of intense use. A researcher whose son is a classical guitarist hypothesized that dirt and oil, rather than changes in the material properties of the string, were responsible. Which of the following investigations is most likely to yield significant information that would help to evaluate the researcher’s hypothesis? (A) Determining if a metal alloy is used to make the strings used by classical guitarists (B) Determining whether classical guitarists make their strings go dead faster than do folk guitarists (C) Determining whether identical lengths of string, of the same gauge, go dead at different rates when strung on various brands of guitars (D) Determining whether a dead string and a new string produce different qualities of sound?E? (E) Determining whether smearing various substances on new guitar strings causes them to go dead 4. Most consumers do not get much use out of the sports equipment they purchase. For example, seventeen percent of the adults in the United States own jogging shoes, but only forty-five percent of the owners jog more than once a year, and only seventeen percent jog more than once a week. Which of the following, if true, casts most doubt on the claim that most consumers get little use out of the sports equipment they purchase? (A) Joggers are most susceptible to sports injuries during the first six months in which they jog. (B) Joggers often exaggerate the frequency with which they jog in surveys designed to elicit such information. (C) Many consumers purchase jogging shoes for use in activities other than jogging. (D) Consumers who take up jogging often purchase an athletic shoe that can be used in other sports.?C? (E) Joggers who jog more than once a week are often active participants in other sports as well. 5. Two decades after the Emerald River Dam was built, none of the eight fish species native to the Emerald River was still reproducing adequately in the river below the dam. Since the dam reduced the annual range of water temperature in the river below the dam from 50 degrees to 6 degrees, scientists have hypothesized that sharply rising water temperatures must be involved in signaling the native species to begin the reproductive cycle. Which of the following statements, if true, would most strengthen the scientists’ hypothesis? (A) The native fish species were still able to reproduce only in side streams of the river below the dam where the annual temperature range remains approximately 50 degrees. (B) Before the dam was built, the Emerald River annually overflowed its banks, creating backwaters that were critical breeding areas for the native species of fish. (C) The lowest recorded temperature of the Emerald River before the dam was built was 34 degrees, whereas the lowest recorded temperature of the river after the dam was built has been 43 degrees. (D) Nonnative species of fish, introduced into the Emerald River after the dam was built, have begun competing with the declining native fish species for food and space.?A? (E) Five of the fish species native to the Emerald River are not native to any other river in North America. 6. It is true that it is against international law to sell plutonium to countries that do not yet have nuclear weapons. But if United States companies do not do so, companies in other countries will. Which of the following is most like the argument above in its logical structure? (A) It is true that it is against the police department’s policy to negotiate with kidnappers. But if the police want to prevent loss of life, they must negotiate in some cases. (B) It is true that it is illegal to refuse to register for military service. But there is a long tradition in the United States of conscientious objection to serving in the armed forces. (C) It is true that it is illegal for a government official to participate in a transaction in which there is an apparent conflict of interest. But if the facts are examined carefully, it will clearly be seen that there was no actual conflict of interest in the defendant’s case. (D) It is true that it is against the law to burglarize people’s homes. But someone else certainly would have burglarized that house if the defendant had not done so first.?D? (E) It is true that company policy forbids supervisors to fire employees without two written warnings. But there have been many supervisors who have disobeyed this policy. 7. In recent years many cabinetmakers have been winning acclaim as artists. But since furniture must be useful, cabinetmakers must exercise their craft with an eye to the practical utility of their product. For this reason, cabinetmaking is not art. Which of the following is an assumption that supports drawing the conclusion above from the reason given for that conclusion? (A) Some furniture is made to be placed in museums, where it will not be used by anyone. (B) Some cabinetmakers are more concerned than others with the practical utility of the products they produce. (C) Cabinetmakers should be more concerned with the practical utility of their products than they currently are. (D) An object is not an art object if its maker pays attention to the object’s practical utility.?D? (E) Artists are not concerned with the monetary value of their products. 8. Although custom prosthetic bone replacements produced through a new computer-aided design process will cost more than twice as much as ordinary replacements, custom replacements should still be cost-effective. Not only will surgery and recovery time be reduced, but custom replacements should last longer, thereby reducing the need for further hospital stays. Which of the following must be studied in order to evaluate the argument presented above? (A) The amount of time a patient spends in surgery versus the amount of time spent recovering from surgery (B) The amount by which the cost of producing custom replacements has declined with the introduction of the new technique for producing them (C) The degree to which the use of custom replacements is likely to reduce the need for repeat surgery when compared with the use of ordinary replacements (D) The degree to which custom replacements produced with the new technique are more carefully manufactured than are ordinary replacements?C? (E) The amount by which custom replacements produced with the new technique will drop in cost as the production procedures become standardized and applicable on a larger scale 9. Extinction is a process that can depend on a variety of ecological, geographical, and physiological variables. These variables affect different species of organisms in different ways, and should, therefore, yield a random pattern of extinctions. However, the fossil record shows that extinction occurs in a surprisingly definite pattern, with many species vanishing at the same time. Which of the following, if true, forms the best basis for at least a partial explanation of the patterned extinctions revealed by the fossil record? (A) Major episodes of extinction can result from widespread environmental disturbances that affect numerous different species. (B) Certain extinction episodes selectively affect organisms with particular sets of characteristics unique to their species. (C) Some species become extinct because of accumulated gradual changes in their local environments. (D) In geologically recent times, for which there is no fossil record, human intervention has changed the pattern of extinctions.?A? (E) Species that are widely dispersed are the least likely to become extinct. 10. Neither a rising standard of living nor balanced trade, by itself, establishes a country’s ability to compete in the international marketplace. Both are required simultaneously since standards of living can rise because of growing trade deficits and trade can be balanced by means of a decline in a country’s standard of living. If the facts stated in the passage above are true, a proper test of a country’s ability to be competitive is its ability to (A) balance its trade while its standard of living rises (B) balance its trade while its standard of living falls (C) increase trade deficits while its standard of living rises (D) decrease trade deficits while its standard of living falls?A? (E) keep its standard of living constant while trade deficits rise 11. Certain messenger molecules fight damage to the lungs from noxious air by telling the muscle cells encircling the lungs’ airways to contract. This partially seals off the lungs. An asthma attack occurs when the messenger molecules are activated unnecessarily, in response to harmless things like pollen or household dust. Which of the following, if true, points to the most serious flaw of a plan to develop a medication that would prevent asthma attacks by blocking receipt of any messages sent by the messenger molecules referred to above? (A) Researchers do not yet know how the body produces the messenger molecules that trigger asthma attacks. (B) Researchers do not yet know what makes one person’s messenger molecules more easily activated than another’s. (C) Such a medication would not become available for several years, because of long lead times in both development and manufacture. (D) Such a medication would be unable to distinguish between messages triggered by pollen and household dust and messages triggered by noxious air.?D? (E) Such a medication would be a preventative only and would be unable to alleviate an asthma attack once it had started. 12. Since the routine use of antibiotics can give rise to resistant bacteria capable of surviving antibiotic environments, the presence of resistant bacteria in people could be due to the human use of prescription antibiotics. Some scientists, however, believe that most resistant bacteria in people derive from human consumption of bacterially infected meat. Which of the following statements, if true, would most significantly strengthen the hypothesis of the scientists? (A) Antibiotics are routinely included in livestock feed so that livestock producers can increase the rate of growth of their animals. (B) Most people who develop food poisoning from bacterially infected meat are treated with prescription antibiotics. (C) The incidence of resistant bacteria in people has tended to be much higher in urban areas than in rural areas where meat is of comparable quality. (D) People who have never taken prescription antibiotics are those least likely to develop resistant bacteria.?A? (E) Livestock producers claim that resistant bacteria in animals cannot be transmitted to people through infected meat. 13. The recent decline in the value of the dollar was triggered by a prediction of slower economic growth in the coming year. But that prediction would not have adversely affected the dollar had it not been for the government’s huge budget deficit, which must therefore be decreased to prevent future currency declines. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion about how to prevent future currency declines? (A) The government has made little attempt to reduce the budget deficit. (B) The budget deficit has not caused a slowdown in economic growth. (C) The value of the dollar declined several times in the year prior to the recent prediction of slower economic growth. (D) Before there was a large budget deficit, predictions of slower economic growth frequently caused declines in the dollar’s value.?D? (E) When there is a large budget deficit, other events in addition to predictions of slower economic growth sometimes trigger declines in currency value. 14. Which of the following best completes the passage below? At a recent conference on environmental threats to the North Sea, most participating countries favored uniform controls on the quality of effluents, whether or not specific environmental damage could be attributed to a particular source of effluent. What must, of course, be shown, in order to avoid excessively restrictive controls, is that______ (A) any uniform controls that are adopted are likely to be implemented without delay (B) any substance to be made subject to controls can actually cause environmental damage (C) the countries favoring uniform controls are those generating the largest quantities of effluents (D) all of any given pollutant that is to be controlled actually reaches the North Sea at present?B? (E) environmental damage already inflicted on the North Sea is reversible 15. Traditionally, decision-making by managers that is reasoned step-by-step has been considered preferable to intuitive decision-making. However, a recent study found that top managers used intuition significantly more than did most middle- or lower-level managers. This confirms the alternative view that intuition is actually more effective than careful, methodical reasoning. The conclusion above is based on which of the following assumptions? (A) Methodical, step-by-step reasoning is inappropriate for making many real-life management decisions. (B) Top managers have the ability to use either intuitive reasoning or methodical, step-by-step reasoning in making decisions. (C) The decisions made by middle- and lower-level managers can be made as easily by using methodical reasoning as by using intuitive reasoning. (D) Top managers use intuitive reasoning in making the majority of their decisions.?E? (E) Top managers are more effective at decision-making than middle- or lower-level managers. 16. The imposition of quotas limiting imported steel will not help the big American steel mills. In fact, the quotas will help “mini-mills” flourish in the United States. Those small domestic mills will take more business from the big American steel mills than would have been taken by the foreign steel mills in the absence of quotas. Which of the following, if true, would cast the most serious doubt on the claim made in the last sentence above? (A) Quality rather than price is a major factor in determining the type of steel to be used for a particular application. (B) Foreign steel mills have long produced grades of steel comparable in quality to the steel produced by the big American mills. (C) American quotas on imported goods have often induced other countries to impose similar quotas on American goods. (D) Domestic “mini-mills” consistently produce better grades of steel than do the big American mills.?E? (E) Domestic “mini-mills” produce low-volume, specialized types of steels that are not produced by the big American steel mills. 17. Correctly measuring the productivity of service workers is complex. Consider, for example, postal workers: they are often said to be more productive if more letters are delivered per postal worker. But is this really true? What if more letters are lost or delayed per worker at the same time that more are delivered? The objection implied above to the productivity measure described is based on doubts about the truth of which of the following statements? (A) Postal workers are representative of service workers in general. (B) The delivery of letters is the primary activity of the postal service. (C) Productivity should be ascribed to categories of workers, not to individuals. (D) The quality of services rendered can appropriately be ignored in computing productivity.?D? (E) The number of letters delivered is relevant to measuring the productivity of postal workers. 18. Male bowerbirds construct elaborately decorated nests, or bowers. Basing their judgment on the fact that different local populations of bowerbirds of the same species build bowers that exhibit different building and decorative styles, researchers have concluded that the bowerbirds’ building styles are a culturally acquired, rather than a genetically transmitted, trait. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn by the researchers? (A) There are more common characteristics than there are differences among the bower-building styles of the local bowerbird population that has been studied most extensively. (B) Young male bowerbirds are inept at bower-building and apparently spend years watching their elders before becoming accomplished in the local bower style. (C) The bowers of one species of bowerbird lack the towers and ornamentation characteristic of the bowers of most other species of bowerbird. (D) Bowerbirds are found only in New Guinea and Australia, where local populations of the birds apparently seldom have contact with one another.?B? (E) It is well known that the song dialects of some songbirds are learned rather than transmitted genetically. 19. A greater number of newspapers are sold in Town S than in Town T. Therefore, the citizens of Town S are better informed about major world events than are the citizens of Town T. Each of the following, if true, weakens the conclusion above EXCEPT: (A) Town S has a larger population than Town T. (B) Most citizens of Town T work in Town S and buy their newspapers there. (C) The average citizen of Town S spends less time reading newspapers than does the average citizen of Town T. (D) A weekly newspaper restricted to the coverage of local events is published in Town S.?E? (E) The average newsstand price of newspapers sold in Town S is lower than the average price of newspapers sold in Town T. 20. One analyst predicts that Hong Kong can retain its capitalist ways after it becomes part of mainland China in 1997 as long as a capitalist Hong Kong is useful to China; that a capitalist Hong Kong will be useful to China as long as Hong Kong is prosperous; and that Hong Kong will remain prosperous as long as it retains its capitalist ways. If the predictions above are correct, which of the following further predictions can logically be derived from them? (A) If Hong Kong fails to stay prosperous, it will no longer remain part of mainland China. (B) If Hong Kong retains its capitalist ways until 1997, it will be allowed to do so afterward. (C) If there is a world economic crisis after 1997, it will not adversely affect the economy of Hong Kong. (D) Hong Kong will be prosperous after 1997.?B? (E) The citizens of Hong Kong will have no restrictions placed on them by the government of mainland China. TEST O 30 Minutes 20 Questions 1. A drug that is highly effective in treating many types of infection can, at present, be obtained only from the bark of the ibora, a tree that is quite rare in the wild. It takes the bark of 5,000 trees to make one kilogram of the drug. It follows, therefore, that continued production of the drug must inevitably lead to the ibora’s extinction. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above? (A) The drug made from ibora bark is dispensed to doctors from a central authority. (B) The drug made from ibora bark is expensive to produce. (C) The leaves of the ibora are used in a number of medical products. (D) The ibora can be propagated from cuttings and grown under cultivation.?E? (E) The ibora generally grows in largely inaccessible places. 2. High levels of fertilizer and pesticides, needed when farmers try to produce high yield of the same crop year after year, pollute water supplies. Experts therefore urge farmers to diversify their crops and to rotate their plantings yearly. To receive governmental price-support benefits for a crop, farmers must have produced that same crop for the past several years. The statements above, if true, best support which of the following conclusions? (A) The rules for governmental support of farm prices work against efforts to reduce water pollution. (B) The only solution to the problem of water pollution from fertilizers and pesticides is to take farmland out of production. (C) Farmers can continue to make a profit by rotating diverse crops, thus reducing costs for chemicals, but not by planting the same crop each year. (D) New farming techniques will be developed to make it possible for farmers to reduce the application of fertilizers and pesticides.?A? (E) Governmental price supports for farm products are set at levels that are not high enough to allow farmers to get out of debt. 3. Shelby Industries manufactures and sells the same gauges as Jones Industries. Employee wages account for forty percent of the cost of manufacturing gauges at both Shelby Industries and Jones Industries. Shelby Industries is seeking a competitive advantage over Jones Industries. Therefore, to promote this end, Shelby Industries should lower employee wages. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above? (A) Because they make a small number of precision instruments, gauge manufacturers cannot receive volume discounts on raw materials. (B) Lowering wages would reduce the quality of employee work, and this reduced quality would lead to lowered sales. (C) Jones Industries has taken away twenty percent of Shelby Industries’ business over the last year. (D) Shelby Industries pays its employees, on average, ten percent more than does Jones Industries.?B? (E) Many people who work for manufacturing plants live in areas in which the manufacturing plant they work for is the only industry. 4. Some communities in Florida are populated almost exclusively by retired people and contain few, if any, families with small children. Yet these communities are home to thriving businesses specializing in the rental of furniture for infants and small children. Which of the following, if true, best reconciles the seeming discrepancy described above? (A) The businesses specializing in the rental of children’s furniture buy their furniture from distributors outside of Florida. (B) The few children who do reside in these communities all know each other and often make overnight visits to one another’s houses. (C) Many residents of these communities who move frequently prefer renting their furniture to buying it outright. (D) Many residents of these communities must provide for the needs of visiting grandchildren several weeks a year.?D? (E) Children’s furniture available for rental is of the same quality as that available for sale in the stores. 5. Large national budget deficits do not cause large trade deficits. If they did, countries with the largest budget deficits would also have the largest trade deficits. In fact, when deficit figures are adjusted so that different countries are reliably comparable to each other, there is no such correlation. If the statements above are all true, which of the following can properly be inferred on the basis of them? (A) Countries with large national budget deficits tend to restrict foreign trade. (B) Reliable comparisons of the deficit figures of one country with those of another are impossible. (C) Reducing a country’s national budget deficit will not necessarily result in a lowering of any trade deficit that country may have. (D) When countries are ordered from largest to smallest in terms of population, the smallest countries generally have the smallest budget and trade deficits.?C? (E) Countries with the largest trade deficits never have similarly large national budget deficits. 6. “Fast cycle time” is a strategy of designing a manufacturing organization to eliminate bottlenecks and delays in production. Not only does it speed up production, but it also assures quality. The reason is that the bottlenecks and delays cannot be eliminated unless all work is done right the first time. The claim about quality made above rests on a questionable presupposition that (A) any flaw in work on a product would cause a bottleneck or delay and so would be prevented from occurring on a “fast cycle” production line (B) the strategy of “fast cycle time” would require fundamental rethinking of product design (C) the primary goal of the organization is to produce a product of unexcelled quality, rather than to generate profits for stockholders (D) “fast cycle time” could be achieved by shaving time off each of the component processes in production cycle?A? (E) “fast cycle time” is a concept in business strategy that has not yet been put into practice in a factory 7. Many breakfast cereals are fortified with vitamin supplements. Some of these cereals provide 100 percent of the recommended daily requirement of vitamins. Nevertheless, a well-balanced breakfast, including a variety of foods, is a better source of those vitamins than are such fortified breakfast cereals alone. Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support the position above? (A) In many foods, the natural combination of vitamins with other nutrients makes those vitamins more usable by the body than are vitamins added in vitamin supplements. (B) People who regularly eat cereals fortified with vitamin supplements sometimes neglect to eat the foods in which the vitamins occur naturally. (C) Foods often must be fortified with vitamin supplements because naturally occurring vitamins are removed during processing. (D) Unprocessed cereals are naturally high in several of the vitamins that are usually added to fortified breakfast cereals.?A? (E) Cereals containing vitamin supplements are no harder to digest than similar cereals without added vitamins. 8. Which of the following best completes the passage below? The more worried investors are about losing their money, the more they will demand a high potential return on their investment; great risks must be offset by the chance of great rewards. This principle is the fundamental one in determining interest rates, and it is illustrated by the fact that______ (A) successful investors are distinguished by an ability to make very risky investments without worrying about their money (B) lenders receive higher interest rates on unsecured loans than on loans backed by collateral (C) in times of high inflation, the interest paid to depositors by banks can actually be below the rate of inflation (D) at any one time, a commercial bank will have a single rate of interest that it will expect all of its individual borrowers to pay?B? (E) the potential return on investment in a new company is typically lower than the potential return on investment in a well-established company 9. A famous singer recently won a lawsuit against an advertising firm for using another singer in a commercial to evoke the famous singer’s well-known rendition of a certain song. As a result of the lawsuit, advertising firms will stop using imitators in commercials. Therefore, advertising costs will rise, since famous singers’ services cost more than those of their imitators. The conclusion above is based on which of the following assumptions? (A) Most people are unable to distinguish a famous singer’s rendition of a song from a good imitator’s rendition of the same song. (B) Commercials using famous singers are usually more effective than commercials using imitators of famous singers. (C) The original versions of some well-known songs are unavailable for use in commercials. (D) Advertising firms will continue to use imitators to mimic the physical mannerisms of famous singers.?E? (E) The advertising industry will use well-known renditions of songs in commercials. 10. A certain mayor has proposed a fee of five dollars per day on private vehicles entering the city, claiming that the fee will alleviate the city’s traffic congestion. The mayor reasons that, since the fee will exceed the cost of round-trip bus fare from many nearby points, many people will switch from using their cars to using the bus. Which of the following statements, if true, provides the best evidence that the mayor’s reasoning is flawed? (A) Projected increases in the price of gasoline will increase the cost of taking a private vehicle into the city. (B) The cost of parking fees already makes it considerably more expensive for most people to take a private vehicle into the city than to take a bus. (C) Most of the people currently riding the bus do not own private vehicles. (D) Many commuters opposing the mayor’s plan have indicated that they would rather endure traffic congestion than pay a five-dollar-per day fee.?B? (E) During the average workday, private vehicles owned and operated by people living within the city account for twenty percent of the city’s traffic congestion. 11. A group of children of various ages was read stories in which people caused harm, some of those people doing so intentionally, and some accidentally. When asked about appropriate punishments for those who had caused harm, the younger children, unlike the older ones, assigned punishments that did not vary according to whether the harm was done intentionally or accidentally. Younger children, then, do not regard people’s intentions as relevant to punishment. Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion above? (A) In interpreting these stories, the listeners had to draw on a relatively mature sense of human psychology in order to tell whether harm was produced intentionally or accidentally. (B) In these stories, the severity of the harm produced was clearly stated. (C) Younger children are as likely to produce harm unintentionally as are older children. (D) The older children assigned punishment in a way that closely resembled the way adults had assigned punishment in a similar experiment.?A? (E) The younger children assigned punishments that varied according to the severity of the harm done by the agents in the stories. 12. When hypnotized subjects are told that they are deaf and are then asked whether they can hear the hypnotist, they reply, “No.” Some theorists try to explain this result by arguing that the selves of hypnotized subjects are dissociated into separate parts, and that the part that is deaf is dissociated from the part that replies. Which of the following challenges indicates the most serious weakness in the attempted explanation described above? (A) Why does the part that replies not answer, “Yes”? (B) Why are the observed facts in need of any special explanation? (C) Why do the subjects appear to accept the hypnotist’s suggestion that they are deaf? (D) Why do hypnotized subjects all respond the same way in the situation described??A? (E) Why are the separate parts of the self the same for all subjects? Questions 13-14 are based on the following. The program to control the entry of illegal drugs into the country was a failure in 1987. If the program had been successful, the wholesale price of most illegal drugs would not have dropped substantially in 1987. 13. The argument in the passage depends on which of the following assumptions? (A) The supply of illegal drugs dropped substantially in 1987. (B) The price paid for most illegal drugs by the average consumer did not drop substantially in 1987. (C) Domestic production of illegal drugs increased at a higher rate than did the entry of such drugs into the country. (D) The wholesale price of a few illegal drugs increased substantially in 1987.?E? (E) A drop in demand for most illegal drugs in 1987 was not the sole cause of the drop in their wholesale price. 14. The argument in the passage would be most seriously weakened if it were true that (A) in 1987 smugglers of illegal drugs, as a group, had significantly more funds at their disposal than did the country’s customs agents (B) domestic production of illegal drugs increased substantially in 1987 (C) the author’s statements were made in order to embarrass the officials responsible for the drug-control program (D) in 1987 illegal drugs entered the country by a different set of routes than they did in 1986?B? (E) the country’s citizens spent substantially more money on illegal drugs in 1987 than they did in 1986 15. Excavation of the ancient city of Kourion on the island of Cyprus revealed a pattern of debris and collapsed buildings typical of towns devastated by earthquakes. Archaeologists have hypothesized that the destruction was due to a major earthquake known to have occurred near the island in A.D. 365. Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the archaeologists’ hypothesis? (A) Bronze ceremonial drinking vessels that are often found in graves dating from years preceding and following A.D. 365 were also found in several graves near Kourion. (B) No coins minted after A.D. 365 were found in Kourion, but coins minted before that year were found in abundance. (C) Most modern histories of Cyprus mention that an earthquake occurred near the island in A.D. 365. (D) Several small statues carved in styles current in Cyprus in the century between A.D. 300 and 400 were found in Kourion.?B? (E) Stone inscriptions in a form of the Greek alphabet that was definitely used in Cyprus after A.D. 365 were found in Kourion. 16. Sales of telephones have increased dramatically over the last year. In order to take advantage of this increase, Mammoth Industries plans to expand production of its own model of telephone, while continuing its already very extensive advertising of this product. Which of the following, if true, provides most support for the view that Mammoth Industries cannot increase its sales of telephones by adopting the plan outlined above? (A) Although it sells all of the telephones that it produces, Mammoth Industries’ share of all telephone sales has declined over the last year. (B) Mammoth Industries’ average inventory of telephones awaiting shipment to retailers has declined slightly over the last year. (C) Advertising has made the brand name of Mammoth Industries’ telephones widely known, but few consumers know that Mammoth Industries owns this brand. (D) Mammoth Industries’ telephone is one of three brands of telephone that have together accounted for the bulk of the last year’s increase in sales.?E? (E) Despite a slight decline in the retail price, sales of Mammoth Industries’ telephones have fallen in the last year. 17. Many institutions of higher education suffer declining enrollments during periods of economic slowdown. At two-year community colleges, however, enrollment figures boom during these periods when many people have less money and there is more competition for jobs. Each of the following, if true, helps to explain the enrollment increases in two-year community colleges described above EXCEPT: (A) During periods of economic slowdown, two-year community colleges are more likely than four-year colleges to prepare their students for the jobs that are still available. (B) During periods of economic prosperity, graduates of two-year community colleges often continue their studies at four-year colleges. (C) Tuition at most two-year community colleges is a fraction of that at four-year colleges. (D) Two-year community colleges devote more resources than do other colleges to attracting those students especially affected by economic slowdowns.?B? (E) Students at two-year community colleges, but not those at most four-year colleges, can control the cost of their studies by choosing the number of courses they take each term. Questions 18-19 are based on the following. Hardin argued that grazing land held in common (that is, open to any user) would always be used less carefully than private grazing land. Each rancher would be tempted to overuse common land because the benefits would accrue to the individual, while the costs of reduced land quality that results from overuse would be spread among all users. But a study comparing 217 million acres of common grazing land with 433 million acres of private grazing land showed that the common land was in better condition. 18. The answer to which of the following questions would be most useful in evaluating the significance, in relation to Hardin’s claim, of the study described above? (A) Did any of the ranchers whose land was studied use both common and private land? (B) Did the ranchers whose land was studied tend to prefer using common land over using private land for grazing? (C) Was the private land that was studied of comparable quality to the common land before either was used for grazing? (D) Were the users of the common land that was studied at least as prosperous as the users of the private land??C? (E) Were there any owners of herds who used only common land, and no private land, for grazing? 19. Which of the following, if true, and known by the ranchers, would best help explain the results of the study? (A) With private grazing land, both the costs and the benefits of overuse fall to the individual user. (B) The cost in reduced land quality that is attributable to any individual user is less easily measured with common land than it is with private land. (C) An individual who overuses common grazing land might be able to achieve higher returns than other users can, with the result that he or she would obtain a competitive advantage. (D) If one user of common land overuses it even slightly, the other users are likely to do so even more, with the consequence that the costs to each user outweigh the benefits.?D? (E) There are more acres of grazing land held privately than there are held in common. 20. In tests for pironoma, a serious disease, a false positive result indicates that people have pironoma when, in fact, they do not; a false negative result indicates that people do not have pironoma when, in fact, they do. To detect pironoma most accurately, physicians should use the laboratory test that has the lowest proportion of false positive results. Which of the following, if true, gives the most support to the recommendation above? (A) The accepted treatment for pironoma does not have damaging side effects. (B) The laboratory test that has the lowest proportion of false positive results causes the same minor side effects as do the other laboratory tests used to detect pironoma. (C) In treating pironoma patients, it is essential to begin treatment as early as possible, since even a week of delay can result in loss of life. (D) The proportion of inconclusive test results is equal for all laboratory tests used to detect pironoma.?E? (E) All laboratory tests to detect pironoma have the same proportion of false negative results. TEST M B B B C E C B C C D D E A A D D E E A C TEST N C C E C A D D C A A D A D B E E D B E B TEST O E A B D C A A B E B A A E B B E B C D E