LSAT Logical Reasoning Test 24.docx

LSAT Logical Reasoning Test 24 TEST 24 SECTION I Time 35 minutes 25 Questions Directions: The questions in this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or passages... 1. French divers recently found a large cave along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The cave is accessible only through an underwater tunnel. The interior of the cave is completely filled with seawater and contains numerous large stalagmites, which are stony pillars that form when drops of water fall repeatedly on a single spot on a cave floor, leaving behind mineral deposits that accumulate over time. The information above most strongly supports which one of the following? (A) The Mediterranean Sea was at a higher level in the past than it is now. (B) The water level within the cave is higher now than it once was. (C) The French divers were the first people who knew that the tunnel leading to the cave existed. (D) There was once an entrance to the cave besides the underwater tunnel.?B? (E) Seawater in the Mediterranean has a lower mineral content now than it had when the stalagmites were being formed. 2. A director of the Rexx Pharmaceutical Company argued that the development costs for new vaccines that the health department has requested should be subsidized by the government, since the marketing of vaccines promised to be less profitable than the marketing of any other pharmaceutical product. In support of this claim the director argued that sales of vaccines are likely to be lower since each vaccine is administered to a patient only once, whereas medicines that combat diseases and chronic illnesses are administered many times to each patient. Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the support offered by the company director for the claim concerning the marketing of vaccines? (A) Vaccines are administered to many more people than are most other pharmaceutical products. (B) Many of the diseases that vaccines are designed to prevent can be successfully treated by medicines. (C) Pharmaceutical companies occasionally market products that are neither medicines nor vaccines. (D) Pharmaceutical companies other than the Rexx Pharmaceutical Company produce vaccines.?A? (E) The cost of administering a vaccine is rarely borne by the pharmaceutical company that manufactures that vaccine. 3. Manager: Our new computer network, the purpose of which is to increase productivity, can be installed during the day, which would disrupt our employees’ work, or else at night, which would entail much higher installation charges. Since saving money is important, we should have the network installed during the day. The manager’s argument assumes which one of the following? (A) The monetary value of the network equipment would not exceed the cost of having the equipment installed at night. (B) The monetary value of any productivity lost during a daytime installation would be less than the difference between daytime and nighttime installation costs. (C) A daytime installation would be completed by no larger a crew and would take the crew no more time than would a nighttime installation. (D) Once the network has been installed, most of the company’s employees will be able to use it immediately to increase their productivity.?B? (E) Most of the company’s employees would be able to work productively while a daytime installation is in progress. 4. An ingredient in marijuana known as THC has been found to inactivate herpesviruses in experiments. In previous experiments researchers found that inactivated herpesviruses can convert healthy cells into cancer cells. It can be concluded that the use of marijuana can cause cancer. Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument? (A) Several teams of scientists performed the various experiments and all of the teams had similar results. (B) The carcinogenic effect of THC could be neutralized by the other ingredients found in marijuana. (C) When THC kills herpesviruses it weakens the immune system, and it might thus diminish the body’s ability to fight other viruses, including viruses linked to cancers. (D) If chemists modify the structure of THC, THC can be safely incorporated into medications to prevent herpes.?B? (E) To lessen the undesirable side effects of chemotherapy, the use of marijuana has been recommended for cancer patients who are free of the herpesvirus. 5. Archaeologist: A large corporation has recently offered to provide funding to restore an archaeological site and to construct facilities to make the site readily accessible to the general public. The restoration will conform to the best current theories about how the site appeared at the height of the ancient civilization that occupied it. This offer should be rejected, however, because many parts of the site contain unexamined evidence. Which one of the following principles, if valid, justifies the archaeologist’s argument? (A) The ownership of archaeological sites should not be under the control of business interests. (B) Any restoration of an archaeological site should represent only the most ancient period of that site’s history. (C) No one should make judgments about what constitutes the height of another civilization. (D) Only those with a true concern for an archaeological site’s history should be involved in the restoration of that site.?E? (E) The risk of losing evidence relevant to possible future theories should outweigh any advantages of displaying the results of theories already developed. 6. Besides laying eggs in her own nest, any female wood duck will lay an egg in the nest of another female wood duck if she sees the other duck leaving her nest. Under natural nesting conditions, this parasitic behavior is relatively rare because the ducks’ nests are well hidden. However, when people put up nesting boxes to help the ducks breed, they actually undercut the ducks’ reproductive efforts. These nesting boxes become so crowded with extra eggs that few, if any, of the eggs in those boxes hatch. The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following? (A) Female wood ducks will establish nests in nest boxes only when natural nesting sites are not available. (B) Nesting female wood ducks who often see other female wood ducks are the most successful in their breeding efforts. (C) The nesting boxes for wood ducks have less space for eggs than do natural nesting sites. (D) The nesting boxes would be more effective in helping wood ducks breed if they were less visible to other wood ducks than they currently are.?D? (E) Nesting boxes are needed to supplement the natural nesting sites of wood ducks because of the destruction of much of the ducks’ habitat. 7. The crux of creativity resides in the ability to manufacture variations on a theme. If we look at the history of science, for instance, we see that every idea is built upon a thousand related ideas. Careful analysis leads us to understand that what we choose to call a new theme or a new discovery is itself always and without exception some sort of variation, on a deep level, of previous themes. If all of the statements in the passage are true, each of the following must also be true EXCEPT: (A) A lack of ability to manufacture a variation on a previous theme connotes a lack of creativity. (B) No scientific idea is entirely independent of all other ideas. (C) Careful analysis of a specific variation can reveal previous themes of which it is a variation. (D) All great scientific discoverers have been able to manufacture a variation on a theme.?E? (E) Some new scientific discoveries do not represent, on a deep level, a variation on previous themes. 8. Millions of female bats rear their pups in Bracken Cave. Although the mothers all leave the cave nightly, on their return each mother is almost always swiftly reunited with her own pup. Since the bats’ calls are their only means of finding one another, and a bat pup cannot distinguish the call of its mother from that of any other adult bat, it is clear that each mother bat can recognize the call of her pup. The argument seeks to do which one of the following? (A) derive a general conclusion about all members of a group from facts known about representative members of that group (B) establish the validity of one explanation for a phenomenon by excluding alternative explanations (C) support, by describing a suitable mechanism, the hypothesis that a certain phenomenon can occur (D) conclude that members of two groups are likely to share a certain ability because of other characteristics they share?B? (E) demonstrate that a general rule applies in a particular case 9. Someone who gets sick from eating a meal will often develop a strong distaste for the one food in the meal that had the most distinctive flavor, whether or not that food caused the sickness. This phenomenon explains why children are especially likely to develop strong aversions to some foods. Which one of the following, if true, provides the strongest support for the explanation? (A) Children are more likely than adults to be given meals composed of foods lacking especially distinctive flavors. (B) Children are less likely than adults to see a connection between their health and the foods they eat. (C) Children tend to have more acute taste and to become sick more often than adults do. (D) Children typically recover more slowly than adults do from sickness caused by food.?C? (E) Children are more likely than are adults to refuse to eat unfamiliar foods. 10. Premiums for automobile accident insurance are often higher for red cars than for cars of other colors. To justify these higher charges, insurance companies claim that, overall, a greater percentage of red cars are involved in accidents than are cars of any other color. If this claim is true, then lives could undoubtedly be saved by banning red cars from the roads altogether. The reasoning in the argument is flawed because the argument (A) accepts without question that insurance companies have the right to charge higher premiums for higher-risk clients (B) fails to consider whether red cars cost the same to repair as cars of other colors (C) ignores the possibility that drivers who drive recklessly have a preference for red cars (D) does not specify precisely what percentage of red cars are involved in accidents?C? (E) makes an unsupported assumption that every automobile accident results in some loss of life 11. A certain credit-card company awards its customers bonus points for using its credit card. Customers can use accumulated points in the purchase of brand name merchandise by mail at prices lower than the manufacturers’ suggested retail prices. At any given time, therefore, customers who purchase merchandise using the bonus points spend less than they would spend if they purchased the same merchandise in retail stores. Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends? (A) The merchandise that can be ordered by mail using the bonus points is not offered at lower prices by other credit-card companies that award bonus points. (B) The bonus points cannot be used by the credit-card customers in the purchase of brand name merchandise that is not available for purchase in retail stores. (C) The credit-card company does not require its customers to accumulate a large number of bonus points before becoming eligible to order merchandise at prices lower than the manufacturers’ suggested retail price. (D) The amount credit-card customers pay for shipping the merchandise ordered by mail does not increase the amount customers spend to an amount greater than they would spend if they purchased the same merchandise in retail stores.?D? (E) The merchandise available to the company’s credit-card customers using the bonus points is frequently sold in retail stores at prices that are higher than the manufacturers’ suggested retail prices. 12. It is probably not true that colic in infants is caused by the inability of those infants to tolerate certain antibodies found in cow’s milk, since it is often the case that symptoms of colic are shown by infants that are fed breast milk exclusively. Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument? (A) A study involving 500 sets of twins has found that if one infant has colic, its twin will probably also have colic. (B) Symptoms of colic generally disappear as infants grow older, whether the infants have been fed breast milk exclusively or have been fed infant formula containing cow’s milk. (C) In a study of 5,000 infants who were fed only infant formula containing cow’s milk, over 4,000 of the infants never displayed any symptoms of colic. (D) When mothers of infants that are fed only breast milk eliminate cow’s milk and all products made from cow’s milk from their own diets, any colic symptoms that their infants have manifested quickly disappear.?D? (E) Infants that are fed breast milk develop mature digestive systems at an earlier age than do those that are fed infant formulas, and infants with mature digestive systems are better able to tolerate certain proteins and antibodies found in cow’s milk. Questions 13-14 Yolanda: Gaining access to computers without authorization and manipulating the data and programs they contain is comparable to joyriding in stolen cars; both involve breaking into private property and treating it recklessly. Joyriding, however, is the more dangerous crime because it physically endangers people, whereas only intellectual property is harmed in the case of computer crimes. Arjun: I disagree! For example, unauthorized use of medical records systems in hospitals could damage data systems on which human lives depend, and therefore computer crimes also cause physical harm to people. 13. An issue in dispute between Yolanda and Arjun is (A) whether joyriding physically endangers human lives (B) whether the unauthorized manipulation of computer data involves damage to private property (C) whether damage to physical property is more criminal than damage to intellectual property (D) whether the unauthorized use of computers is as dangerous to people as is joyriding?D? (E) whether treating private property recklessly is ever a dangerous crime 14. The reasoning in Arjun’s response is flawed because he (A) fails to maintain a distinction made in Yolanda’s argument (B) denies Yolanda’s conclusion without providing evidence against it (C) relies on the actuality of a phenomenon that he has only shown to be possible (D) mistakes something that leads to his conclusion for something that is necessary for his conclusion?C? (E) uses as evidence a phenomenon that is inconsistent with his own conclusion 15. A report of a government survey concluded that Center City was among the ten cities in the nation with the highest dropout rate from its schools. The survey data were obtained by asking all city residents over the age of 19 whether they were high school graduates and computing the proportion who were not. A city school official objected that the result did not seem accurate according to the schools’ figures. The school official can most properly criticize the reasoning by which the survey report reached its result for failure to do which one of the following? (A) take into account instances of respondents’ dropping out that occurred before the respondents reached high school (B) ask residents whether they had completed their high school work in fewer than the usual number of years (C) distinguish between residents who had attended the city’s schools and those who had received their schooling elsewhere (D) predict the effect of the information contained in the report on future high school dropout rates for the city?C? (E) consider whether a diploma from the city’s high schools signaled the same level of achievement over time 16. Brown dwarfs—dim red stars that are too cool to burn hydrogen—are very similar in appearance to red dwarf stars, which are just hot enough to burn hydrogen. Stars, when first formed, contain substantial amounts of the element lithium. All stars but the coolest of the brown dwarfs are hot enough to destroy lithium completely by converting it to helium. Accordingly, any star found that contains no lithium is not one of these coolest brown dwarfs. The argument depends on assuming which one of the following? (A) None of the coolest brown dwarfs has ever been hot enough to destroy lithium. (B) Most stars that are too cool to burn hydrogen are too cool to destroy lithium completely. (C) Brown dwarfs that are not hot enough to destroy lithium are hot enough to destroy helium. (D) Most stars, when first formed, contain roughly the same percentage of lithium.?A? (E) No stars are more similar in appearance to red dwarfs than are brown dwarfs. 17. Whenever a company loses a major product-liability lawsuit, the value of the company’s stocks falls significantly within hours after the announcement. Cotoy has long been involved in a major product-liability lawsuit, and its stocks fell significantly in value today. Therefore, we can be sure that an unfavorable judgment against Cotoy in that lawsuit was announced earlier today. Which one of the following contains flawed reasoning that most closely parallels that in the argument above? (A) Whenever a business treats its customers discourteously, its customers begin to shop elsewhere. Shopwell wants to keep all of its customers; therefore, its employees will never treat customers discourteously. (B) Whenever the large airlines decrease fares, the financial stability of smaller competing airlines is adversely affected. Therefore, the smaller competing airlines’ financial stability must be seriously threatened when the large airlines announce a large price decrease. (C) Whenever a country shows a lack of leadership on international issues, respect for the country’s policies begins to decline. Therefore, to gain respect for its policies, a country should show leadership on international issues. (D) Whenever an entering student at Cashman College wins the Performance Fellowship, he or she receives $10,000. Therefore, Eula, a student who has enrolled at Cashman, must have won the Performance Fellowship, because she just received $10,000 from the college.?D? (E) Whenever a company advertises its products effectively, the company’s sales increase. Oroco’s sales have not increased; therefore, it is likely that the company did not advertise its products effectively. 18. In recent years the climate has been generally cool in northern Asia. But during periods when the average daily temperature and humidity in northern Asia were slightly higher than their normal levels the yields of most crops grown there increased significantly. In the next century, the increased average daily temperature and humidity attained during those periods are expected to become the norm. Yet scientists predict that the yearly yields of most of the region’s crops will decrease during the next century. Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent paradox in the information above? (A) Crop yields in southern Asia are expected to remain constant even after the average daily temperature and humidity there increase from recent levels. (B) Any increases in temperature and humidity would be accompanied by higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, which is vital to plant respiration. (C) The climate in northern Asia has generally been too cool and dry in recent years for populations of many crop insect pests to become established. (D) In many parts of Asia, the increased annual precipitation that would result from warmer and wetter climates would cause most edible plant species to flourish.?C? (E) The recent climate of northern Asia prevents many crops from being farmed there during the winter. 19. No one in the French department to which Professor Alban belongs is allowed to teach more than one introductory level class in any one term. Moreover, the only language classes being taught next term are advanced ones. So it is untrue that both of the French classes Professor Alban will be teaching next term will be introductory level classes. The pattern of reasoning displayed in the argument above is most closely paralleled by that in which one of the following arguments? (A) The Morrison Building will be fully occupied by May and since if a building is occupied by May the new tax rates apply to it, the Morrison Building will be taxed according to the new rates. (B) The revised tax code does not apply at all to buildings built before 1900, and only the first section of the revised code applies to buildings built between 1900 and 1920, so the revised code does not apply to the Norton Building, since it was built in 1873. (C) All property on Overton Road will be reassessed for tax purposes by the end of the year and the Elnor Company headquarters is on Overton Road, so Elnor’s property taxes will be higher next year. (D) New buildings that include public space are exempt from city taxes for two years and all new buildings in the city’s Alton district are exempt for five years, so the building with the large public space that was recently completed in Alton will not be subject to city taxes next year.?D? (E) Since according to recent statute, a building that is exempt from property taxes is charged for city water at a special rate, and hospitals are exempt from property taxes, Founder’s Hospital will be charged for city water at the special rate. Questions 20-21 Some people have been promoting a new herbal mixture as a remedy for the common cold. The mixture contains, among other things, extracts of the plants purple cone-flower and goldenseal. A cold sufferer, skeptical of the claim that the mixture is an effective cold remedy, argued, “Suppose that the mixture were an effective cold remedy. Since most people with colds wish to recover quickly, it follows that almost everybody with a cold would be using it. Therefore, since there are many people who have colds but do not use the mixture, it is obviously not effective.” 20. Each of the following is an assumption required by the skeptical cold sufferer’s argument EXCEPT: (A) Enough of the mixture is produced to provide the required doses to almost everybody with a cold. (B) The mixture does not have side effects severe enough to make many people who have colds avoid using it. (C) The mixture is powerful enough to prevent almost everybody who uses it from contracting any further colds. (D) The mixture is widely enough known that almost everybody with a cold is aware of it.?C? (E) There are no effective cold remedies available that many people who have colds prefer to the mixture. 21. Which one of the following most accurately describes the method of reasoning the cold sufferer uses to reach the conclusion of the argument? (A) finding a claim to be false on the grounds that it would, if true, have consequences that are false (B) accepting a claim on the basis of public opinion of the claim (C) showing that conditions necessary to establish the truth of a claim are met (D) basing a generalization on a representative group of instances?A? (E) showing that a measure claimed to be effective in achieving a certain effect would actually make achieving the effect more difficult 22. To hold criminals responsible for their crimes involves a failure to recognize that criminal actions, like all actions, are ultimately products of the environment that forged the agent’s character. It is not criminals but people in the law-abiding majority who by their actions do most to create and maintain this environment. Therefore, it is law-abiding people whose actions, and nothing else, make them alone truly responsible for crime. The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that (A) it exploits an ambiguity in the term “environment” by treating two different meanings of the word as though they were equivalent (B) it fails to distinguish between actions that are socially acceptable and actions that are socially unacceptable (C) the way it distinguishes criminals from crimes implicitly denies that someone becomes a criminal solely in virtue of having committed a crime (D) its conclusion is a generalization of statistical evidence drawn from only a small minority of the population?E? (E) its conclusion contradicts an implicit principle on which an earlier part of the argument is based 23. Chronic back pain is usually caused by a herniated or degenerated spinal disk. In most cases the disk will have been damaged years before chronic pain develops, and in fact an estimated one in five people over the age of 30 has a herniated or degenerated disk that shows no chronic symptoms. If chronic pain later develops in such a case, it is generally brought about by a deterioration of the abdominal and spinal muscles caused by insufficient exercise. The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following? (A) Four out of five people over the age of 30 can be sure they will never develop chronic back pain. (B) People who exercise their abdominal and spinal muscles regularly are sure to be free from chronic back pain. (C) Patients rarely suffer even mild and fleeting back pain at the time that a spinal disk first becomes herniated or degenerated. (D) Doctors can accurately predict which people who do not have chronic back pain will develop it in the future.?E? (E) There is a strategy that can be effective in delaying or preventing the onset of pain from a currently asymptomatic herniated or degenerated spinal disk. 24. Each December 31 in Country Q, a tally is made of the country’s total available coal supplies—that is, the total amount of coal that has been mined throughout the country but not consumed. In 1991 that amount was considerably lower than it had been in 1990. Furthermore, Country Q has not imported or exported coal since 1970. If the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true on the basis of them? (A) In Country Q, more coal was mined in 1990 than was mined in 1991. (B) In Country Q, the amount of coal consumed in 1991 was greater than the amount of coal mined in 1991. (C) In Country Q, the amount of coal consumed in 1990 was greater than the amount of coal consumed in 1991. (D) In Country Q, the amount of coal consumed in 1991 was greater than the amount of coal consumed in 1990.?B? (E) In Country Q, more coal was consumed during the first half of 1991 than was consumed during the first half of 1990. 25. Tom: Employers complain that people graduating from high school too often lack the vocational skills required for full-time employment. Therefore, since these skills are best acquired on the job, we should require high school students to work at part-time jobs so that they acquire the skills needed for today’s job market. Mary: There are already too few part-time jobs for students who want to work, and simply requiring students to work will not create jobs for them. Which one of the following most accurately describes how Mary’s response is related to Tom’s argument? (A) It analyzes an undesirable result of undertaking the course of action that Tom recommends. (B) It argues that Tom has mistaken an unavoidable trend for an avoidable one. (C) It provides information that is inconsistent with an explicitly stated premise in Tom’s argument. (D) It presents a consideration that undercuts an assumption on which Tom’s argument depends.?D? (E) It defends an alternative solution to the problem that Tom describes. SECTION I B A B B E D E B C C D D D C C A D C D C A E E B D SECTION IV Time 35 minutes 26 Questions Directions: The questions in this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or passages... 1. Critic: People today place an especially high value on respect for others; yet, in their comedy acts, many of today’s most popular comedians display blatant disrespect for others. But when people fail to live up to the very ideals they hold in highest esteem, exaggeration of such failings often forms the basis of successful comedy. Thus the current popularity of comedians who display disrespect in their acts is hardly surprising. The critic’s argument depends on which one of the following assumptions? (A) People who enjoy comedians who display disrespect in their acts do not place a high value on respect for others. (B) Only comedians who display blatant disrespect in their acts are currently successful. (C) Many people disapprove of the portrayal of blatant disrespect for others in comedy acts. (D) People who value an ideal especially highly do not always succeed in living up to this ideal.?D? (E) People today fail to live up to their own ideals more frequently than was the case in the past. 2. The law firm of Sutherlin, Perez, and Associates is one of the most successful law firms whose primary specialization is in criminal defense cases. In fact, the firm has a better than 90 percent acquittal rate in such cases. Dalton is an attorney whose primary specialization is in divorce cases, so Dalton certainly cannot be a member of Sutherlin, Perez, and Associates. The reasoning in the argument is flawed because the argument (A) offers in support of its conclusion pieces of evidence that are mutually contradictory (B) overlooks the possibility that a person can practice law without being a member of a law firm (C) concludes that someone is not a member of a group on the grounds that that person does not have a characteristic that the group as a whole has (D) takes a high rate of success among the members of a group to indicate that the successes are evenly spread among the members?C? (E) states a generalization based on a selection that is not representative of the group about which the generalization is supposed to hold true 3. Opponents of allowing triple-trailer trucks to use the national highway system are wrong in claiming that these trucks are more dangerous than other commercial vehicles. In the western part of the country, in areas where triple-trailers are now permitted on some highways, for these vehicles the rate of road accident fatalities per mile of travel is lower than the national rate for other types of commercial vehicles. Clearly, triple-trailers are safer than other commercial vehicles. Which one of the following, if true, most substantially weakens the argument? (A) It takes two smaller semitrailers to haul as much weight as a single triple-trailer can. (B) Highways in the sparsely populated West are much less heavily traveled and consequently are far safer than highways in the national system as a whole. (C) Opponents of the triple-trailers also once opposed the shorter twin-trailers, which are now common on the nation’s highways. (D) In areas where the triple-trailers are permitted, drivers need a special license to operate them.?B? (E) For triple-trailers the rate of road accident fatalities per mile of travel was higher last year than in the two previous years. 4. Whittaker: There can be no such thing as the number of medical school students who drop out before their second year, because if they drop out, they never have a second year. Hudson: By your reasoning I cannot help but become rich, because there is similarly no such thing as my dying before my first million dollars is in the bank. Hudson responds to Whittaker by (A) showing that a relevantly analogous argument leads to an untenable conclusion (B) citing a specific example to counter Whittaker’s general claim (C) pointing out that Whittaker mistakes a necessary situation for a possible situation (D) claiming that what Whittaker says cannot be true because Whittaker acts as if it were false?A? (E) showing that Whittaker’s argument relies on analyzing an extreme and unrepresentative case 5. A newly developed light bulb is much more cost-effective than conventional light bulbs: it costs only about 3 times what a conventional light bulb costs but it lasts up to 10 times as long as a conventional light bulb. Despite the manufacturer’s intense efforts to publicize the advantages of the new bulb, one analyst predicts that these new bulbs will prove to sell very poorly. Each of the following, if true, provides support for the analyst’s prediction EXCEPT: (A) The light generated by the new bulb is in the yellow range of the spectrum, a type of artificial light most people find unappealing. (B) Most people who purchase light bulbs prefer to buy inexpensive light bulbs rather than more durable but expensive light bulbs. (C) A manufacturer of one brand of conventional light bulb has advertised claims that the new light bulb uses more electricity than do conventional light bulbs. (D) The new bulb is to be marketed in several different quantities, ranging from packages containing one bulb to packages containing four bulbs.?D? (E) A competing manufacturer is about to introduce a light bulb that lasts 10 times as long as a conventional bulb but costs less than a conventional bulb. 6. The Rienzi, a passenger ship, sank as a result of a hole in its hull, possibly caused by sabotage. Normally, when a holed ship sinks as rapidly as the Rienzi did, water does not enter the ship quickly enough for the ship to be fully flooded when it reaches the ocean floor. Full flooding can be achieved, however, by sabotage. Any ship that sinks deep into the ocean when not fully flooded will implode. Deep-sea photographs, taken of the sunken Rienzi where it rests on the ocean floor, reveal that the Rienzi did not implode. Which one of the following must be true on the basis of the information above? (A) The Rienzi was so constructed as to reduce the risk of sinking by impact. (B) If the Rienzi became fully flooded, it did so only after it reached the ocean floor. (C) If the Rienzi was not sunk by sabotage, water flooded into it unusually fast. (D) If the Rienzi had sunk more slowly, it would have imploded.?C? (E) The Rienzi was so strongly constructed as to resist imploding under deep-sea pressure. 7. For every 50 dogs that contract a certain disease, one will die from it. A vaccine exists that is virtually 100 percent effective in preventing this disease. Since the risk of death from complications of vaccination is one death per 5,000 vaccinations, it is therefore safer for a dog to receive the vaccine than not to receive it. Which one of the following would it be most helpful to know in order to evaluate the argument? (A) the total number of dogs that die each year from all causes taken together (B) whether the vaccine is effective against the disease in household pets other than dogs (C) the number of dogs that die each year from diseases other than the disease in question (D) the likelihood that a dog will contract another disease such as rabies?E? (E) the likelihood that an unvaccinated dog will contract the disease in question 8. The symptoms of mental disorders are behavioral, cognitive, or emotional problems. Some patients with mental disorders can be effectively treated with psychotherapy. But it is now known that in some patients mental disorders result from chemical imbalances affecting the brain. Thus these patients can be effectively treated only with medication that will reduce or correct the imbalance. The argument depends on assuming which one of the following? (A) Treatment by psychotherapy can produce no effective reduction in or correction of chemical imbalances that cause mental disorders. (B) Treatment with medication always shows faster results for patients with mental disorders than does treatment with psychotherapy. (C) Most mental disorders are not the result of chemical imbalances affecting the brain. (D) Medication is always more effective in treating patients with mental disorders than is psychotherapy.?A? (E) Treatment with psychotherapy has no effect on mental disorders other than a reduction of the symptoms. Questions 9-10 Curator: The decision to restore the cloak of the central figure in Veronese’s painting from its present red to the green found underneath is fully justified. Reliable x-ray and chemical tests show that the red pigment was applied after the painting had been completed, and that the red paint was not mixed in Veronese’s workshop. Hence it appears likely that an artist other than Veronese tampered with Veronese’s painting after its completion. Art critic: But in a copy of Veronese’s painting made shortly after Veronese died, the cloak is red. It is highly unlikely that a copyist would have made so major a change so soon after Veronese’s death. 9. The assertion that a later artist tampered with Veronese’s painting serves which one of the following functions in the curator’s argument? (A) It is the main point toward which the argument as a whole is directed. (B) It is a subsidiary conclusion that supports the argument’s main conclusion. (C) It is a clarification of a key term of the argument. (D) It is a particular instance of the general position to be defended.?B? (E) It is a reiteration of the main point that is made for the sake of emphasis. 10. The art critic’s response to the curator would provide the strongest support for which one of the following conclusions? (A) The copy of Veronese’s painting that was made soon after the painter’s death is indistinguishable from the original. (B) No painting should be restored before the painting is tested with technologically sophisticated equipment. (C) The proposed restoration will fail to restore Veronese’s painting to the appearance it had at the end of the artist’s lifetime. (D) The value of an artist’s work is not necessarily compromised when that work is tampered with by later artists.?C? (E) Veronese did not originally intend the central figure’s cloak to be green. 11. John works five days each week except when on vacation or during weeks in which national holidays occur. Four days a week he works in an insurance company; on Fridays he works as a blacksmith. Last week there were no holidays, and John was not on vacation. Therefore, he must have worked in the insurance company on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday last week. Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends? (A) John never takes a vacation of more than one week in length. (B) Every day last week that John worked, he worked for an entire workday. (C) John does not take vacations in weeks in which national holidays occur. (D) Last week John worked neither on Saturday nor on Sunday.?D? (E) There were no days last week on which John both worked in the insurance company and also worked as a blacksmith. 12. After several attempts to distract his young parrot from chewing on furniture, George reluctantly took an expert’s advice and gently hit the parrot’s beak whenever the bird started to chew furniture. The bird stopped chewing furniture, but it is now afraid of hands and will sometimes bite. Since chewing on the furniture would not have hurt the bird, George should not have hit it. When Carla’s puppy escaped from her yard, it bounded into a busy street. Although Carla does not generally approve of physical discipline, she hit the puppy sharply with her hand. Now the puppy enters the street only when accompanied by Carla, so Carla was justified in disciplining the puppy. Which one of the following principles, if established, would justify the judgments about George’s and Carla’s actions? (A) When disciplining an animal physically, a trainer should use an object such as a rolled up newspaper to avoid making the animal frightened of hands. (B) When training an animal, physical discipline should be used only when such discipline is necessary to correct behavior that could result in serious harm to the animal. (C) Using physical discipline to train an animal is justified only when all alternative strategies for correcting undesirable behavior have failed. (D) Physical discipline should not be used on immature animals.?B? (E) Physical discipline should not be used by an animal trainer except to correct persistent behavior problems. 13. Mature white pines intercept almost all the sunlight that shines on them. They leave a deep litter that dries readily, and they grow to prodigious height so that, even when there are large gaps in a stand of such trees, little light reaches the forest floor. For this reason white pines cannot regenerate in their own shade. Thus, when in a dense forest a stand of trees consists of nothing but mature white pines, it is a fair bet that______ Which one of the following most logically concludes the argument? (A) the ages of the trees in the stand do not differ from each other by much more than the length of time it takes a white pine to grow to maturity (B) the land on which the stand is now growing had been cleared of all trees at the time when the first of the white pines started growing (C) competition among the trees in the stand for sunlight will soon result in some trees’ dying and the stand thus becoming thinner (D) other species of trees will soon begin to colonize the stand, eventually replacing all of the white pines?A? (E) any differences in the heights of the trees in the stand are attributable solely to differences in the ages of the trees 14. Advertisement: A leading economist has determined that among people who used computers at their place of employment last year, those who also owned portable (“laptop”) computers earned 25 percent more on average than those who did not. It is obvious from this that owning a laptop computer led to a higher-paying job. Which one of the following identifies a reasoning error in the argument? (A) It attempts to support a sweeping generalization on the basis of information about only a small number of individuals. (B) Its conclusion merely restates a claim made earlier in the argument. (C) It concludes that one thing was caused by another although the evidence given is consistent with the first thing’s having caused the second. (D) It offers information as support for a conclusion when that information actually shows that the conclusion is false.?C? (E) It uncritically projects currently existing trends indefinitely into the future. 15. Rhonda will see the movie tomorrow afternoon only if Paul goes to the concert in the afternoon. Paul will not go to the concert unless Ted agrees to go to the concert. However, Ted refuses to go to the concert. So Rhonda will not see the movie tomorrow afternoon. The pattern of reasoning displayed above is most closely paralleled in which one of the following? (A) If Janice comes to visit, Mary will not pay the bills tomorrow. Janice will not come to visit unless she locates a babysitter. However, Janice has located a babysitter, so she will visit Mary. (B) Gary will do his laundry tomorrow only if Peter has to go to work. Unless Cathy is ill, Peter will not have to go to work. Since Cathy is not ill, Gary will not do his laundry tomorrow. (C) Kelly will barbecue fish tonight if it does not rain and the market has fresh trout. Although the forecast does not call for rain, the market does not have fresh trout. So Kelly will not barbecue fish tonight. (D) Lisa will attend the family reunion next week only if one of her brothers, Jared or Karl, also attends. Karl will not attend the reunion, but Jared will. So Lisa will attend the reunion.?B? (E) George will not go to the museum tomorrow unless Mark agrees to go. Mark will go to the museum only if he can postpone most of his appointments. Mark has postponed some of his appointments, so he will go to the museum. 16. Private industry is trying to attract skilled research scientists by offering them high salaries. As a result, most research scientists employed in private industry now earn 50 percent more than do comparably skilled research scientists employed by the government. So, unless government-employed research scientists are motivated more by a sense of public duty than by their own interests, the government is likely to lose its most skilled research scientists to private industry, since none of these scientists would have problems finding private-sector jobs. Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends? (A) Government research scientists are less likely to receive acknowledgment for their research contributions than are research scientists in the private sector. (B) None of the research scientists currently employed by the government earns more than the highest-paid researchers employed in the private sector. (C) The government does not employ as many research scientists who are highly skilled as does any large company in the private sector which employs research scientists. (D) The government does not provide its research scientists with unusually good working conditions or fringe benefits that more than compensate for the lower salaries they receive.?D? (E) Research scientists employed in the private sector generally work longer hours than do researchers employed by the government. 17. Using fossil energy more efficiently is in the interest of the nation and the global environment, but major improvements are unlikely unless proposed government standards are implemented to eliminate products or practices that are among the least efficient in their class. Objection: Decisions on energy use are best left to the operation of the market. Which one of the following, if true, most directly undermines the objection above? (A) It would be unrealistic to expect society to make the changes necessary to achieve maximum energy efficiency all at once. (B) There are products, such as automobiles, that consume energy at a sufficient rate that persons who purchase and use them will become conscious of any unusual energy inefficiency in comparison with other products in the same class. (C) Whenever a new mode of generating energy, such as a new fuel, is introduced, a number of support systems, such as a fuel-distribution system, must be created or adapted. (D) When energy prices rise, consumers of energy tend to look for new ways to increase energy efficiency, such as by adding insulation to their houses.?E? (E) Often the purchaser of a product, such as a landlord buying an appliance, chooses on the basis of purchase price because the purchaser is not the person who will pay for energy used by the product. 18. Dobson: Some historians claim that the people who built a ring of stones thousands of years ago in Britain were knowledgeable about celestial events. The ground for this claim is that two of the stones determine a line pointing directly to the position of the sun at sunrise at the spring equinox. There are many stones in the ring, however, so the chance that one pair will point in a celestially significant direction is large. Therefore, the people who built the ring were not knowledgeable about celestial events. Which one of the following is an error of reasoning in Dobson’s argument? (A) The failure of cited evidence to establish a statement is taken as evidence that that statement is false. (B) Dobson’s conclusion logically contradicts some of the evidence presented in support of it. (C) Statements that absolutely establish Dobson’s conclusion are treated as if they merely give some support to that conclusion. (D) Something that is merely a matter of opinion is treated as if it were subject to verification as a matter of fact.?A? (E) Dobson’s drawing the conclusion relies on interpreting a key term in two different ways. 19. Nearly all mail that is correctly addressed arrives at its destination within two business days of being sent. In fact, correctly addressed mail takes longer than this only when it is damaged in transit. Overall, however, most mail arrives three business days or more after being sent. If the statements above are true, which one of the following must be true? (A) A large proportion of the mail that is correctly addressed is damaged in transit. (B) No incorrectly addressed mail arrives within two business days of being sent. (C) Most mail that arrives within two business days of being sent is correctly addressed. (D) A large proportion of mail is incorrectly addressed.?D? (E) More mail arrives within two business days of being sent than arrives between two and three business days after being sent. 20. The report released by the interior ministry states that within the past 5 years the national land-reclamation program has resulted in a 19 percent increase in the amount of arable land within the country. If these figures are accurate, the program has been a resounding success. Senator Armand, a distinguished mathematician and a woman of indisputable brilliance, maintains, however, that the reclamation program could not possibly have been successful. Clearly, therefore, the figures cited in the report cannot be accurate. The argument above exhibits an erroneous pattern of reasoning most similar to that exhibited by which one of the following? (A) Albert’s father claims that Albert does not know where the spare car keys are hidden. Yesterday, however, Albert reported that he had discovered the spare car keys in the garage toolbox, so his father’s claim cannot be true. (B) Gloria’s drama teacher claims that her policy is to give each student the opportunity to act in at least one play during the year but, since Gloria, who attended every class, reports that she was not given such an opportunity, the teacher’s claim cannot be true. (C) Amos claims that he can hold his breath under water for a full hour. Dr. Treviso, a cardiopulmonary specialist, has stated that humans are physiologically incapable of holding their breath for even half that long; so Amos’ claim cannot be true. (D) Evelyn reports that she got home before midnight. Robert, who always knows the time, insists that she did not. If Robert is right, Evelyn could not possibly have listened to the late news; since she admits not having listened to the late news, her report cannot be true.?E? (E) Moira, after observing the finish of the 60-kilometer bicycle race, reports that Lee won with Adams a distant third. Lomas, a bicycle engineering expert, insists, however, that Lee could not have won a race in which Adams competed; so Moira’s report cannot be true. Questions 21-22 Wirth: All efforts to identify a gene responsible for predisposing people to manic-depression have failed. In fact, nearly all researchers now agree that there is no “manic-depression gene.” Therefore, if these researchers are right, any claim that some people are genetically predisposed to manic-depression is simply false. Chang: I do not dispute your evidence, but I take issue with your conclusion. Many of the researchers you refer to have found evidence that a set of several genes is involved and that complex interactions among these genes produce a predisposition to manic-depression. 21. The point at issue between Wirth and Chang is whether (A) efforts to identify a gene or set of several genes responsible for predisposing people to manic-depression have all failed (B) it is likely that researchers will ever be able to find a single gene that predisposes people to manic-depression (C) nearly all researchers now agree that there is no manic-depression gene (D) current research supports the claim that no one is genetically predisposed to manic-depression?D? (E) the efforts made to find a gene that can produce a predisposition to manic-depression were thorough 22. Which one of the following most accurately expresses Chang’s criticism of Wirth’s argument? (A) It presupposes only one possibility where more than one exists. (B) It depends on separate pieces of evidence that contradict each other. (C) It relies on the opinion of experts in an area outside the experts’ field of expertise. (D) It disallows in principle any evidence that would disconfirm its conclusion.?A? (E) It treats something that is merely unlikely as though it were impossible. 23. Garbage dumps do not harm wildlife. Evidence is furnished by the Masai-Mara reserve in Kenya, where baboons that use the garbage dumps on the reserve as a food source mature faster and have more offspring than do baboons on the reserve that do not scavenge on garbage. Each of the following statements, if true, casts doubt on the argument EXCEPT: (A) The baboons that feed on the garbage dump are of a different species from those that do not. (B) The life expectancy of baboons that eat garbage is significantly lower than that of baboons that do not eat garbage. (C) The cholesterol level of garbage-eating baboons is dangerously higher than that of baboons that do not eat garbage. (D) The population of hyenas that live near unregulated garbage landfills north of the reserve has doubled in the last two years.?D? (E) The rate of birth defects for the baboon population on the reserve has doubled since the first landfills were opened. Questions 24-25 Marianne is a professional chess player who hums audibly while playing her matches, thereby distracting her opponents. When ordered by chess officials to cease humming or else be disqualified from professional chess, Marianne protested the order. She argued that since she was unaware of her humming, her humming was involuntary and that therefore she should not be held responsible for it. 24. Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to support Marianne’s argument against the order? (A) Chess players who hum audibly while playing their matches should not protest if their opponents also hum. (B) Of a player’s actions, only those that are voluntary should be used as justification for disqualifying that player from professional chess. (C) A person should be held responsible for those involuntary actions that serve that person’s interests. (D) Types of behavior that are not considered voluntary in everyday circumstances should be considered voluntary if they occur in the context of a professional chess match.?B? (E) Chess players should be disqualified from professional chess matches if they regularly attempt to distract their opponents. 25. Which one of the following, if true, most undermines Marianne’s argument against the order? (A) The officials of chess have little or no authority to control the behavior of its professional players outside of matches. (B) Many of the customs of amateur chess matches are not observed by professional chess players. (C) Not all of a person’s involuntary actions are actions of which that person is unaware. (D) A person who hums involuntarily can easily learn to notice it and can thereby come to control it.?D? (E) Not all of Marianne’s opponents are distracted by her humming during chess matches. 26. Smoking in bed has long been the main cause of home fires. Despite a significant decline in cigarette smoking in the last two decades, however, there has been no comparable decline in the number of people killed in home fires. Each one of the following statements, if true, over the last two decades, helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy above EXCEPT: (A) Compared to other types of home fires, home fires caused by smoking in bed usually cause relatively little damage before they are extinguished. (B) Home fires caused by smoking in bed often break out after the home’s occupants have fallen asleep. (C) Smokers who smoke in bed tend to be heavy smokers who are less likely to quit smoking than are smokers who do not smoke in bed. (D) An increasing number of people have been killed in home fires that started in the kitchen.?B? (E) Population densities have increased, with the result that one home fire can cause more deaths than in previous decades. SECTION IV D C B A D C E A B C D B A C B D E A D E D A D B D B