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Recently, highly skilled workers in Eastern Europe have left jobs in record numbers to emigrate to the West. It is therefore likely that skilled workers who remain in Eastern Europe are in high demand in their home countries. | 199206_1-LR1_4_5 | [
"Eastern European factories prefer to hire workers from their home countries rather than to import workers from abroad.",
"Major changes in Eastern European economic structures have led to the elimination of many positions previously held by the highly skilled emigrants.",
"Many Eastern European emigrants need to acquire new skills after finding work in the West.",
"Eastern European countries plan to train many new workers to replace the highly skilled workers who have emigrated.",
"Because of the departure of skilled workers from Eastern European countries, many positions are now unfilled."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument? |
Historian: Alexander the Great should not be judged by appeal to current notions of justice. Alexander, an ancient figure of heroic stature, should be judged by the standards of his own culture. That is, did he live up to his culture's ideals of leadership? Did Alexander elevate the contemporary standards of justice? Was he, in his day, judged to be a just and wise ruler? Student: But you cannot tell whether or not Alexander raised the contemporary standards of justice without invoking standards other than those of his own culture. | 199206_1-LR1_5_6 | [
"arguing that applying the historian's principle would require a knowledge of the past that is necessarily inaccessible to current scholarship",
"attempting to undermine the historian's principle by showing that some of its consequences are inconsistent with each other",
"showing that the principle the historian invokes, when applied to Alexander, does not justify the assertion that he was heroic",
"questioning the historian's motivation for determining whether a standard of behavior has been raised or lowered",
"claiming that one of the historian's criteria for judging Alexander is inconsistent with the principle that the historian has advanced"
]
| 4 | Which one of the following argumentative strategies does the student use in responding to the historian? |
Two paleontologists, Dr. Tyson and Dr. Rees, disagree over the interpretation of certain footprints that were left among other footprints in hardened volcanic ash at site G. Dr. Tyson claims they are clearly early hominid footprints since they show human characteristics: a squarish heel and a big toe immediately adjacent to the next toe. However, since the footprints indicate that if hominids made those prints they would have had to walk in an unexpected cross-stepping manner, by placing the left foot to the right of the right foot, Dr. Rees rejects Dr. Tyson's conclusion. | 199206_1-LR1_6_7 | [
"the relative significance of various aspects of the evidence",
"the assumption that early hominid footprints are distinguishable from other footprints",
"the possibility of using the evidence of footprints to determine the gait of the creature that made those footprints",
"the assumption that evidence from one paleontologic site is enough to support a conclusion",
"the likelihood that early hominids would have walked upright on two feet"
]
| 0 | The disagreement between the two paleontologists is over which one of the following? |
Two paleontologists, Dr. Tyson and Dr. Rees, disagree over the interpretation of certain footprints that were left among other footprints in hardened volcanic ash at site G. Dr. Tyson claims they are clearly early hominid footprints since they show human characteristics: a squarish heel and a big toe immediately adjacent to the next toe. However, since the footprints indicate that if hominids made those prints they would have had to walk in an unexpected cross-stepping manner, by placing the left foot to the right of the right foot, Dr. Rees rejects Dr. Tyson's conclusion. | 199206_1-LR1_6_8 | [
"The footprints showing human characteristics were clearly those of at least two distinct individuals.",
"Certain species of bears had feet very like human feet, except that the outside toe on each foot was the biggest toe and the innermost toe was the smallest toe.",
"Footprints shaped like a human's that do not show a cross-stepping pattern exist at site M, which is a mile away from site G, and the two sets of footprints are contemporaneous.",
"When the moist volcanic ash became sealed under additional layers of ash before hardening, some details of some of the footprints were erased.",
"Most of the other footprints at site G were of animals with hooves."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines Dr. Tyson's conclusion? |
It is not known whether bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), a disease of cattle invariably deadly to them, can be transmitted directly from one infected animal to another at all stages of the infection. If it can be, there is now a reservoir of infected cattle incubating the disease. There are no diagnostic tests to identify infected animals before the animals show overt symptoms. Therefore, if such direct transmission occurs, the disease cannot be eradicated by ____. | 199206_1-LR1_7_9 | [
"removing from the herd and destroying any diseased animal as soon as it shows the typical symptoms of advanced BSE",
"developing a drug that kills the agent that causes BSE, and then treating with that drug all cattle that might have the disease",
"destroying all cattle in areas where BSE occurs and raising cattle only in areas to which BSE is known not to have spread",
"developing a vaccine that confers lifelong immunity against BSE and giving it to all cattle, destroying in due course all those animals for which the vaccine protection came too late",
"developing a diagnostic test that does identify any infected animal and destroying all animals found to be infected"
]
| 0 | Which one of the following best completes the argument? |
Auto industry executive: Statistics show that cars that were built smaller after 1977 to make them more fuel-efficient had a higher incidence of accident-related fatalities than did their earlier, larger counterparts. For this reason we oppose recent guidelines that would require us to produce cars with higher fuel efficiency. | 199206_1-LR1_8_10 | [
"Even after 1977, large automobiles were frequently involved in accidents that caused death or serious injury.",
"Although fatalities in accidents involving small cars have increased since 1977, the number of accidents has decreased.",
"New computerized fuel systems can enable large cars to meet fuel efficiency standards established by the recent guidelines.",
"Modern technology can make small cars more fuel-efficient today than at any other time in their production history.",
"Fuel efficiency in models of large cars rose immediately after 1977 but has been declining ever since."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following, if true, would constitute the strongest objection to the executive's argument? |
No one who lacks knowledge of a subject is competent to pass judgment on that subject. Since political know-how is a matter, not of adhering to technical rules, but of insight and style learned through apprenticeship and experience, only seasoned politicians are competent to judge whether a particular political policy is fair to all. | 199206_1-LR1_9_11 | [
"relies on a generalization about the characteristic that makes someone competent to pass judgment",
"fails to give specific examples to illustrate how political know-how can be acquired",
"uses the term \"apprenticeship\" to describe what is seldom a formalized relationship",
"equates political know-how with understanding the social implications of political policies",
"assumes that when inexperienced politicians set policy they are guided by the advice of more experienced politicians"
]
| 3 | A major weakness of the argument is that it |
Impact craters caused by meteorites smashing into Earth have been found all around the globe, but they have been found in the greatest density in geologically stable regions. This relatively greater abundance of securely identified craters in geologically stable regions must be explained by the lower rates of destructive geophysical processes in those regions. | 199206_1-LR1_10_12 | [
"A meteorite that strikes exactly the same spot as an earlier meteorite will obliterate all traces of the earlier impact.",
"Rates of destructive geophysical processes within any given region vary markedly throughout geological time.",
"The rate at which the Earth is struck by meteorites has greatly increased in geologically recent times.",
"Actual meteorite impacts have been scattered fairly evenly over the Earth's surface in the course of Earth's geological history.",
"The Earth's geologically stable regions have been studied more intensively by geologists than have its less stable regions."
]
| 3 | The conclusion is properly drawn if which one of the following is assumed? |
That the policy of nuclear deterrence has worked thus far is unquestionable. Since the end of the Second World War, the very fact that there were nuclear armaments in existence has kept major powers from using nuclear weapons, for fear of starting a worldwide nuclear exchange that would make the land of the power initiating it uninhabitable. The proof is that a third world war between superpowers has not happened. | 199206_1-LR1_11_13 | [
"Maintaining a high level of nuclear armaments represents a significant drain on a country's economy.",
"From what has happened in the past, it is impossible to infer with certainty what will happen in the future, so an accident could still trigger a third world war between superpowers.",
"Continuing to produce nuclear weapons beyond the minimum needed for deterrence increases the likelihood of a nuclear accident.",
"The major powers have engaged in many smaller-scale military operations since the end of the Second World War, while refraining from a nuclear confrontation.",
"It cannot be known whether it was nuclear deterrence that worked, or some other factor, such as a recognition of the economic value of remaining at peace."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following, if true, indicates a flaw in the argument? |
A survey of alumni of the class of 1960 at Aurora University yielded puzzling results. When asked to indicate their academic rank, half of the respondents reported that they were in the top quarter of the graduating class in 1960. | 199206_1-LR1_12_14 | [
"A disproportionately large number of high-ranking alumni responded to the survey.",
"Few, if any, respondents were mistaken about their class rank.",
"Not all the alumni who were actually in the top quarter responded to the survey.",
"Almost all of the alumni who graduated in 1960 responded to the survey.",
"Academic rank at Aurora University was based on a number of considerations in addition to average grades."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following most helps account for the apparent contradiction above? |
M: It is almost impossible to find a person between the ages of 85 and 90 who primarily uses the left hand. Q: Seventy to ninety years ago, however, children were punished for using their left hands to eat or to write and were forced to use their right hands. | 199206_1-LR1_13_15 | [
"Being born right-handed confers a survival advantage.",
"Societal attitudes toward handedness differ at different times.",
"Forcing a person to switch from a preferred hand is harmless.",
"Handedness is a product of both genetic predisposition and social pressures.",
"Physical habits learned in school often persist in old age."
]
| 0 | Q's response serves to counter any use by M of the evidence about 85 to 90 year olds in support of which one of the following hypotheses? |
The seventeenth-century physicist Sir Isaac Newton is remembered chiefly for his treatises on motion and gravity. But Newton also conducted experiments secretly for many years based on the arcane theories of alchemy, trying unsuccessfully to transmute common metals into gold and produce rejuvenating elixirs. If the alchemists of the seventeenth century had published the results of their experiments, chemistry in the eighteenth century would have been more advanced than it actually was. | 199206_1-LR1_14_16 | [
"Scientific progress is retarded by the reluctance of historians to acknowledge the failures of some of the great scientists.",
"Advances in science are hastened when reports of experiments, whether successful or not, are available for review by other scientists.",
"Newton's work on motion and gravity would not have gained wide acceptance if the results of his work in alchemy had also been made public.",
"Increasing specialization within the sciences makes it difficult for scientists in one field to understand the principles of other fields.",
"The seventeenth-century alchemists could have achieved their goals only if their experiments had been subjected to public scrutiny. GO ONTO THE NEXT PAGE"
]
| 1 | Which one of the following assumptions would allow the conclusion concerning eighteenth-century chemistry to be properly drawn? |
Sedimentary rock hardens within the earth's crust as layers of matter accumulate and the pressure of the layers above converts the layers below into rock. One particular layer of sedimentary rock that contains an unusual amount of the element iridium has been presented as support for a theory that a meteorite collided with the earth some sixty million years ago. Meteorites are rich in iridium compared to the earth's crust, and geologists theorize that a meteorite's collision with the earth raised a huge cloud of iridium-laden dust. The dust, they say, eventually settled to earth where it combined with other matter, and as new layers accumulated above it, it formed a layer of iridium-rich rock. | 199206_1-LR1_15_17 | [
"The huge dust cloud described in the passage would have blocked the transmission of sunlight and lowered the earth's temperature.",
"A layer of sedimentary rock takes millions of years to harden.",
"Layers of sedimentary rock are used to determine the dates of prehistoric events whether or not they contain iridium.",
"Sixty million years ago there was a surge in volcanic activity in which the matter spewed from the volcanoes formed huge iridium-rich dust clouds.",
"The iridium deposit occurred at about the same time that many animal species became extinct and some scientists have theorized that mass dinosaur extinctions were caused by a meteorite collision."
]
| 3 | Which one of the following, if true, would counter the claim that the iridium-rich layer described in the passage is evidence for the meteorite collision theory? |
Mary, a veterinary student, has been assigned an experiment in mammalian physiology that would require her to take a healthy, anesthetized dog and subject it to a drastic blood loss in order to observe the physiological consequences of shock. The dog would neither regain consciousness nor survive the experiment. Mary decides not to do this assignment. | 199206_1-LR1_16_18 | [
"All other things being equal, gratuitously causing any animal to suffer pain is unjustified.",
"Taking the life of an animal is not justifiable unless doing so would immediately assist in saving several animal lives or in protecting the health of a person.",
"The only sufficient justification for experimenting on animals is that future animal suffering is thereby prevented.",
"Practicing veterinarians have a professional obligation to strive to prevent the unnecessary death of an animal except in cases of severely ill or injured animals whose prospects for recovery are dim.",
"No one is ever justified in acting with the sole intention of causing the death of a living thing, be it animal or human."
]
| 1 | Mary's decision most closely accords with which one of the following principles? |
A tree's age can be determined by counting the annual growth rings in its trunk. Each ring represents one year, and the ring's thickness reveals the relative amount of rainfall that year. Archaeologists successfully used annual rings to determine the relative ages of ancient tombs at Pazyryk. Each tomb was constructed from freshly cut logs, and the tombs' builders were constrained by tradition to use only logs from trees growing in the sacred Pazyryk Valley. | 199206_1-LR1_17_19 | [
"The Pazyryk tombs were all robbed during ancient times, but breakage of the tombs' seals allowed the seepage of water, which soon froze permanently, thereby preserving the tombs' remaining artifacts.",
"The Pazyryk Valley, surrounded by extremely high mountains, has a distinctive yearly pattern of rainfall, and so trees growing in the Pazyryk Valley have annual rings that are quite distinct from trees growing in nearby valleys.",
"Each log in the Pazyryk tombs has among its rings a distinctive sequence of twelve annual rings representing six drought years followed by three rainy years and three more drought years.",
"The archaeologists determined that the youngest tree used in any of the tombs was 90 years old and that the oldest tree was 450 years old.",
"All of the Pazyryk tombs contained cultural artifacts that can be dated to roughly 2300 years ago."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following, if true, contributes most to an explanation of the archaeologists' success in using annual rings to establish the relative ages of the tombs at the Pazyryk site? |
Experienced gardeners advise against planting snap peas after late April because peas do not develop properly in warm weather. This year, however, the weather was unusually cool into late June, and therefore the fact that these snap peas were planted in mid-May is unlikely to result in crop failure despite the experts' warnings. | 199206_1-LR1_18_20 | [
"According to many gardening authorities, tomatoes should not be planted near dill because doing so is likely to affect their taste adversely; however, since these tomatoes were grown near dill and taste fine, there is clearly no reason to pay much attention to the so-called experts' advice.",
"Since African violets do not thrive in direct sunlight, it is said that in this region these plants should be placed in windows facing north rather than south; however, since these south-facing windows are well shaded by evergreen trees, the African violets placed in them are likely to grow satisfactorily.",
"Where flowers are to be planted under shade trees, gardening experts often advise using impatiens since impatiens does well in conditions of shade; however, it is unlikely to do well under maple trees since maple tree roots are so near the surface that they absorb all available moisture.",
"Most seeds tend to germinate at much higher rates when planted in warm soil than when planted in cold soil; spinach seeds, however, are unlikely to germinate properly if the soil is too warm, and therefore experts advise that spinach should be planted earlier than most vegetables.",
"House plants generally grow best in pots slightly larger than their existing root systems, so the usual advice is to repot when roots first reach the sides of the pot; this rule should not be followed with amaryllis plants, however, because they are likely to do best with tightly compressed roots."
]
| 1 | The pattern of reasoning displayed above is most closely paralleled in which one of the following? |
Whenever a major political scandal erupts before an election and voters blame the scandal on all parties about equally, virtually all incumbents, from whatever party, seeking reelection are returned to office. However, when voters blame such a scandal on only one party, incumbents from that party are likely to be defeated by challengers from other parties. The proportion of incumbents who seek reelection is high and remarkably constant from election to election. | 199206_1-LR1_19_21 | [
"Whenever one incumbent is responsible for one major political scandal and another incumbent is responsible for another, the consequences for the two incumbents should be the same.",
"When a major political scandal is blamed on incumbents from all parties, that judgment is more accurate than any judgment that incumbents from only one party are to blame.",
"Incumbents who are rightly blamed for a major political scandal should not seek reelection, but if they do, they should not be returned to office.",
"Major political scandals can practically always be blamed on incumbents, but whether those incumbents should be voted out of office depends on who their challengers are.",
"When major political scandals are less the responsibility of individual incumbents than of the parties to which they belong, whatever party was responsible must be penalized when possible."
]
| 4 | If the voters' reactions are guided by a principle, which one of the following principles would best account for the contrast in reactions described above? |
Once people habitually engaged in conversation; now the television competes for their attention. When the television is on, communication between family members stops. Where there is no communication, family ties become frayed and eventually snap. Therefore, the only solution is to get rid of the television. | 199206_1-LR1_20_22 | [
"Once friendships thrived on shared leisure time. But contemporary economic pressures minimize the amount of free time people have and thus jeopardize many friendships.",
"Once people listened to the radio while pursuing other activities. Now they passively watch television. Therefore, radio was less distracting for most people than television is.",
"Once sports enthusiasts regularly engaged in sports, but now they watch spectator sports when they could be getting physical exercise. Without physical exercise, health deteriorates. Therefore, the only remedy is to eliminate spectator sports.",
"Once people were willing to tailor their day to the constraints of a bus or train schedule; now they are spoiled by the private car. The only solution is for government to offer financial incentives to encourage the use of public transportation.",
"Once people did their shopping in urban retail districts, where they combined their shopping with other errands. Now many people shop in suburban malls, where they concentrate on shopping exclusively. Therefore, shopping has become a leisure time activity."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following is most closely parallel in its reasoning to the flawed reasoning in the argument above? |
In essence, all rent-control policies involve specifying a maximum rent that a landlord may charge for a dwelling. The rationale for controlling rents is to protect tenants in situations where limited supply will cause rents to rise sharply in the face of increased demand. However, although rent control may help some tenants in the short run, it affects the rental-housing market adversely in the long run because landlords become reluctant to maintain the quality of their existing properties and even more reluctant to have additional rental-housing units built. | 199206_1-LR1_21_23 | [
"Tenants prefer low-quality accommodations with rent control to high-quality accommodations without it.",
"Rent control makes it very difficult for landlords to achieve reasonable returns on any investments in maintenance or in new construction.",
"Rent control is a common practice even though it does nothing to alleviate shortages in rental housing.",
"Rent control is generally introduced for political reasons and it takes political action to have it lifted again.",
"Tenants prefer rent control to the alternative of receiving direct government subsidies toward rents they cannot afford."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following, if true, best explains the landlords' reluctance described above? |
Certain minor peculiarities of language are used unconsciously by poets. If such peculiarities appear in the works of more than one poet, they are likely to reflect the language in common use during the poets' time. However, if they appear in the work of only one poet, they are likely to be personal idiosyncrasies. As such, they can provide a kind of "fingerprint" that allows scholars, by comparing a poem of previously unknown authorship to the work of a particular known poet, to identify the poem as the work of that poet. | 199206_1-LR1_22_24 | [
"The labor of analyzing peculiarities of language both in the work of a known poet and in a poem of unknown authorship would not be undertaken unless other evidence already suggested that the poem of unknown authorship was written by the known poet.",
"A peculiarity of language that might be used as an identifying mark is likely to be widely scattered in the work of a poet, so that a single poem not known to have been written by that poet might not include that peculiarity.",
"A peculiarity of language in a poem of unknown authorship could be evidence either that the poem was written by the one author known to use that peculiarity or that the peculiarity was not unique to that author.",
"Minor peculiarities of language contribute far less to the literary effect of any poem than such factors as poetic form, subject matter, and deliberately chosen wording.",
"A poet's use of some peculiarities of language might have been unconscious in some poems and conscious in other poems, and the two uses would be indistinguishable to scholars at a later date."
]
| 2 | For which one of the following reasons can the test described above never provide conclusive proof of the authorship of any poem? |
Because of the recent transformation of the market, Quore, Inc., must increase productivity 10 percent over the course of the next two years, or it will certainly go bankrupt. In fact, however, Quore's production structure is such that if a 10 percent productivity increase is possible, then a 20 percent increase is attainable. | 199206_1-LR1_23_25 | [
"It is only Quore's production structure that makes it possible for Quore to survive the transformation of the market.",
"Quore will not go bankrupt if it achieves a productivity increase of 20 percent over the next two years.",
"If the market had not been transformed, Quore would have required no productivity increase in order to avoid bankruptcy.",
"Because of the transformation of the market, Quore will achieve a productivity increase of 10 percent over the next two years.",
"If a 20 percent productivity increase is unattainable for Quore, then it must go bankrupt."
]
| 4 | If the statements above are true, which one of the following must on the basis of them also be true? |
Terry: If You want to get a decent job, you should go to college. Mark: That is not true. There are other reasons to go to college than wanting to get a good job. | 199206_3-LR2_1_1 | [
"college is one of many places to get trained for a job",
"decent jobs are obtained only by persons who have gone to college",
"wanting to get a decent job is the only reason for going to college",
"training for decent jobs is available only at colleges",
"all people who want decent jobs go to college"
]
| 2 | Mark's response shows that he interpreted Terry's remarks to mean that |
Several studies have shown that hospitals are not all equally successful: patients are much more likely to die in some of them than in others. Since the hospitals in the studies had approximately equal per-patient funding, differences in the quality of care provided by hospital staff are probably responsible for the differences in mortality rates. | 199206_3-LR2_2_2 | [
"The staff in some of the hospitals studied had earned more advanced degrees, on average, than the staff in the other hospitals.",
"Patient populations vary substantially in average severity of illness from hospital to hospital.",
"The average number of years that staff members stay on at a given job varies considerably from one hospital to another.",
"Approximately the same surgical procedures were performed in each of the hospitals covered in the studies.",
"Mortality rates for hospital patients do not vary considerably from one region of the country to another."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the conclusion drawn above? |
The United States government generally tries to protect valuable natural resources. But one resource has been ignored for too long. In the United States, each bushel of corn produced might result in the loss of as much as two bushels of topsoil. Moreover, in the last 100 years, the topsoil in many states, which once was about fourteen inches thick, has been eroded to only six or eight inches. Nonetheless, federal expenditures for nationwide soil conservation programs have remained at ridiculously low levels. Total federal expenditures for nationwide soil conservation programs have been less than the allocations of some individual states. | 199206_3-LR2_3_3 | [
"Corn is not a cost-effective product and substitutes should be found where possible.",
"A layer of topsoil only six to eight inches thick cannot support the continued cultivation of corn.",
"Soil conservation is a responsibility of the federal government, not the states.",
"The federal government's expenditures for soil conservation in the various states have been inequitable.",
"The federal government should spend much more on soil conservation than it has been spending."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following best expresses the main point of the argument? |
The United States government generally tries to protect valuable natural resources. But one resource has been ignored for too long. In the United States, each bushel of corn produced might result in the loss of as much as two bushels of topsoil. Moreover, in the last 100 years, the topsoil in many states, which once was about fourteen inches thick, has been eroded to only six or eight inches. Nonetheless, federal expenditures for nationwide soil conservation programs have remained at ridiculously low levels. Total federal expenditures for nationwide soil conservation programs have been less than the allocations of some individual states. | 199206_3-LR2_3_4 | [
"makes a detailed statistical projection of future topsoil loss",
"makes a generalization about total reduction in topsoil depth in all states",
"assumes that the United States government does not place a high value on its natural resources",
"refrains from using slanted language concerning the level of federal expenditures",
"compares state expenditures with federal expenditures"
]
| 4 | In stating the argument, the author does which one of the following? |
Animals with a certain behavioral disorder have unusually high levels of aluminum in their brain tissue. Since a silicon-based compound binds to aluminum and prevents it from affecting the brain tissue, animals can be cured of the disorder by being treated with the compound. | 199206_3-LR2_4_5 | [
"Animals with the disorder have unusually high but invariable levels of aluminum in their brain tissue.",
"Aluminum is the cause of the disorder rather than merely an effect of it.",
"Introducing the compound into the brain tissue has no side effects.",
"The amount of the compound needed to neutralize the aluminum in an animal's brain tissue varies depending upon the species.",
"Aluminum is never present in normal brain tissue."
]
| 1 | The argument is based on which one of the following assumptions? |
As air-breathing mammals, whales must once have lived on land and needed hind limbs capable of supporting the mammals' weight. Whales have the bare remnants of a pelvis. If animals have a pelvis, we expect them to have hind limbs. A newly discovered fossilized whale skeleton has very fragile hind limbs that could not have supported the animal's weight on land. This skeleton had a partial pelvis. | 199206_3-LR2_5_6 | [
"Whale bones older than the fossilized hind limbs confirm that ancient whales had full pelvises.",
"No skeletons of ancient whales with intact hind limbs capable of supporting the mammals' weight have ever been found.",
"Scientists are uncertain whether the apparently nonfunctioning limbs of other early mammals derived from once-functioning limbs of their ancestors.",
"Other large-bodied mammals like seals and sea lions maneuver on beaches and rocky coasts without fully functioning hind limbs.",
"Some smaller sea-dwelling mammals, such as modern dolphins, have no visible indications of hind limbs."
]
| 0 | If the statements above are true, which one of the following, if also true, would most strongly support the conclusion that the fragile hind limbs are remnants of limbs that land-dwelling whales once had? |
The stated goal of the government's funding program for the arts is to encourage the creation of works of artistic excellence. Senator Beton claims, however, that a government-funded artwork can never reflect the independent artistic conscience of the artist because artists, like anyone else who accepts financial support, will inevitably try to please those who control the distribution of that support. Senator Beton concludes that government funding of the arts not only is a burden on taxpayers but also cannot lead to the creation of works of true artistic excellence. | 199206_3-LR2_6_7 | [
"Most taxpayers have little or no interest in the creation of works of true artistic excellence.",
"Government funding of the arts is more generous than other financial support most artists receive.",
"Distribution of government funds for the arts is based on a broad agreement as to what constitutes artistic excellence.",
"Once an artist has produced works of true artistic excellence, he or she will never accept government funding.",
"A contemporary work of art that does not reflect the independent artistic conscience of the artist cannot be a work of true artistic excellence."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following is an assumption on which Senator Beton's argument is based? |
Older United States automobiles have been identified as contributing disproportionately to global air pollution. The requirement in many jurisdictions that automobiles pass emission-control inspections has had the effect of taking many such automobiles out of service in the United States, as they fail inspection and their owners opt to buy newer automobiles. Thus the burden of pollution such older United States automobiles contribute to the global atmosphere will be gradually reduced over the next decade. | 199206_3-LR2_7_8 | [
"It is impossible to separate the air of one country or jurisdiction from that of others, since air currents circle the globe.",
"When automobiles that are now new become older, they will, because of a design change, cause less air pollution than older automobiles do now.",
"There is a thriving market for used older United States automobiles that are exported to regions that have no emission-control regulations.",
"The number of jurisdictions in the United States requiring automobiles to pass emission-control inspections is no longer increasing.",
"Even if all the older automobiles in the United States were retired from service, air pollution from United States automobiles could still increase if the total number of automobiles in use should increase significantly."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument? |
The journalistic practice of fabricating remarks after an interview and printing them within quotation marks, as if they were the interviewee's own words, has been decried as a form of unfair misrepresentation. However, people's actual spoken remarks rarely convey their ideas as clearly as does a distillation of those ideas crafted, after an interview, by a skilled writer. Therefore, since this practice avoids the more serious misrepresentation that would occur if people's exact words were quoted but their ideas only partially expressed, it is entirely defensible. | 199206_3-LR2_8_9 | [
"answering an exaggerated charge by undermining the personal authority of those who made that charge",
"claiming that the prestige of a profession provides ample grounds for dismissing criticisms of that profession",
"offering as an adequate defense of a practice an observation that discredits only one of several possible alternatives to that practice",
"concluding that a practice is right on the grounds that it is necessary",
"using the opponent's admission that a practice is sometimes appropriate as conclusive proof that that practice is never inappropriate"
]
| 2 | Which one of the following is a questionable technique used in the argument? |
The reforms to improve the quality of public education that have been initiated on the part of suppliers of public education have been insufficient. Therefore, reforms must be demanded by consumers. Parents should be given government vouchers with which to pay for their children's education and should be allowed to choose the schools at which the vouchers will be spent. To attract students, academically underachieving schools will be forced to improve their academic offerings. | 199206_3-LR2_9_10 | [
"in selecting schools parents would tend to prefer a reasonable level of academic quality to greater sports opportunities or more convenient location",
"improvement in the academic offerings of schools will be enforced by the discipline of the job market in which graduating students compete",
"there is a single best way to educate students",
"children are able to recognize which schools are better and would influence their parents' decisions",
"schools would each improve all of their academic offerings and would not tend to specialize in one particular field to the exclusion of others"
]
| 0 | The argument assumes that |
Professor Smith published a paper arguing that a chemical found in minute quantities in most drinking water had an adverse effect on the human nervous system. Existing scientific theory held that no such effect was possible because there was no neural mechanism for bringing it about. Several papers by well-known scientists in the field followed, unanimously purporting to prove Professor Smith wrong. This clearly shows that the scientific establishment was threatened by Professor Smith's work and conspired to discredit it. | 199206_3-LR2_10_11 | [
"The author passes over the possibility that Professor Smith had much to gain should Professor Smith's discovery have found general acceptance.",
"The author fails to mention whether or not Professor Smith knew that the existence of the alleged new effect was incompatible with established scientific theory.",
"The author fails to show why the other scientists could not have been presenting evidence in order to establish the truth of the matter.",
"The author neglects to clarify what his or her relationship to Professor Smith is.",
"The author fails to indicate what, if any, effect the publication of Professor Smith's paper had on the public's confidence in the safety of most drinking water."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following is the central flaw in the argument given by the author of the passage? |
The number of North American children who are obese—that is, who have more body fat than do 85 percent of North American children their age—is steadily increasing, according to four major studies conducted over the past 15 years. | 199206_3-LR2_11_12 | [
"when four major studies all produce similar results, those studies must be accurate",
"North American children have been progressively less physically active over the past 15 years",
"the number of North American children who are not obese increased over the past 15 years",
"over the past 15 years, the number of North American children who are underweight has declined",
"the incidence of obesity in North American children tends to increase as the children grow older"
]
| 2 | If the finding reported above is correct, it can be properly concluded that |
Economist: Money, no matter what its form and in almost every culture in which it has been used, derives its value from its scarcity, whether real or perceived. Anthropologist: But cowrie shells formed the major currency in the Solomon Island economy of the Kwara'ae, and unlimited numbers of these shells washed up daily on the beaches to which the Kwara'ae had access. | 199206_3-LR2_12_13 | [
"During festivals they exchanged strings of cowrie-shell money with each other as part of a traditional ritual that honored their elders.",
"They considered porpoise teeth valuable, and these were generally threaded on strings to be worn as jewelry.",
"The shells used as money by men were not always from the same species of cowrie as those used as money by women.",
"They accepted as money only cowrie shells that were polished and carved by a neighboring people, and such shell preparation required both time and skilled labor.",
"After Western traders brought money in the form of precious-metal coins to the Solomon Islands, cowrie-shell money continued to be used as one of the major media of exchange for both goods and services."
]
| 3 | Which one of the following, if true about the Kwara'ae, best serves to resolve the apparently conflicting positions cited above? |
School superintendent: It is a sad fact that, until now, entry into the academically best high school in our district has been restricted to the children of people who were wealthy enough to pay the high tuition. Parents who were previously denied the option of sending their children to this school now have this option, since I am replacing the tuition requirement with a requirement that allows only those who live in the neighborhood of the school to attend. | 199206_3-LR2_13_14 | [
"the residents of the school's neighborhood tend to be wealthy",
"people other than those wealthy enough to have paid the old tuition are able to live in the neighborhood of the school",
"people less wealthy than those who were able to pay the old tuition are in the majority in the district",
"there are no high schools in the district other than the one referred to by the superintendent",
"there are many people not wealthy enough to have paid the old tuition who wish to have their children attend the school"
]
| 1 | The superintendent's claim about the effect of replacing the tuition requirement relies on the assumption that |
The Scorpio Miser with its special high-efficiency engine costs more to buy than the standard Scorpio sports car. At current fuel prices, a buyer choosing the Miser would have to drive it 60,000 miles to make up the difference in purchase price through savings on fuel. It follows that, if fuel prices fell, it would take fewer miles to reach the break-even point. | 199206_3-LR2_14_15 | [
"The true annual rate of earnings on an interest-bearing account is the annual rate of interest less the annual rate of inflation. Consequently, if the rate of inflation drops, the rate of interest can be reduced by an equal amount without there being a change in the true rate of earnings.",
"For retail food stores, the Polar freezer, unlike the Arctic freezer, provides a consistent temperature that allows the store to carry premium frozen foods. Though the Polar freezer uses more electricity, there is a bigger profit on premium foods. Thus, if electricity rates fell, a lower volume of premium-food sales could justify choosing the Polar freezer.",
"With the Roadmaker, a crew can repave a mile of decayed road in less time than with the competing model, which is, however, much less expensive. Reduced staffing levels made possible by the Roadmaker eventually compensate for its higher price. Therefore, the Roadmaker is especially advantageous where average wages are low.",
"The improved strain of the Northland apple tree bears fruit younger and lives longer than the standard strain. The standard strain does grow larger at maturity, but to allow for this, standard trees must be spaced farther apart. Therefore, new plantings should all be of the improved strain.",
"Stocks pay dividends, which vary from year to year depending on profits made. Bonds pay interest, which remains constant from year to year. Therefore, since the interest earned on bonds does not decrease when economic conditions decline, investors interested in a reliable income should choose bonds."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following arguments contains an error of reasoning similar to that in the argument above? |
Approximately 7.6 million women who earn incomes have preschool-age children, and approximately 6.4 million women are the sole income earners for their families. These figures indicate that there are comparatively few income-earning women who have preschool-age children but are not the sole income earners for their families. | 199206_3-LR2_15_16 | [
"relies on figures that are too imprecise to support the conclusion drawn",
"overlooks the possibility that there is little or no overlap between the two populations of women cited",
"fails to indicate whether the difference between the two figures cited will tend to remain stable over time",
"ignores the possibility that families with preschool-age children might also have older children",
"provides no information on families in which men are the sole income earners"
]
| 1 | A major flaw in the reasoning is that it |
Being articulate has been equated with having a large vocabulary. Actually, however, people with large vocabularies have no incentive for, and tend not to engage in, the kind of creative linguistic self-expression that is required when no available words seem adequate. Thus a large vocabulary is a hindrance to using language in a truly articulate way. | 199206_3-LR2_16_17 | [
"When people are truly articulate, they have the capacity to express themselves in situations in which their vocabularies seem inadequate.",
"People who are able to express themselves creatively in new situations have little incentive to acquire large vocabularies.",
"The most articulate people are people who have large vocabularies but also are able to express themselves creatively when the situation demands it.",
"In educating people to be more articulate, it would be futile to try to increase the size of their vocabularies.",
"In unfamiliar situations, even people with large vocabularies often do not have specifically suitable words available."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following is an assumption made in the argument? |
Dr. Schilling: Those who advocate replacing my country's private health insurance system with. nationalized health insurance because of the rising costs of medical care fail to consider the high human costs that consumers pay in countries with nationalized insurance: access to high-technology medicine is restricted. Kidney transplants and open-heart surgery-familiar life-saving procedures are rationed. People are denied their right to treatments they want and need. Dr. Laforte: Your country's reliance on private health insurance denies access even to basic, conventional medicine to the many people who cannot afford adequate health coverage. With nationalized insurance, rich and poor have equal access to life-saving medical procedures, and people's right to decent medical treatment regardless of income is not violated. | 199206_3-LR2_17_18 | [
"People's rights are violated less when they are denied an available medical treatment they need because they lack the means to pay for it than when they are denied such treatment on noneconomic grounds.",
"Where health insurance is provided by private insurance companies, people who are wealthy generally receive better health care than do people who are unable to afford health insurance.",
"In countries that rely primarily on private health insurance to pay for medical costs, most people who would benefit from a kidney transplant receive one.",
"In countries with nationalized health insurance, no one who needs a familiar medical treatment in order to stay alive is denied that treatment.",
"Anyone who wants a particular medical treatment has a right to receive that treatment."
]
| 0 | Dr. Schilling's and Dr. Laforte's statements provide the most support for holding that they would disagree about the truth of which one of the following? |
Dr. Schilling: Those who advocate replacing my country's private health insurance system with. nationalized health insurance because of the rising costs of medical care fail to consider the high human costs that consumers pay in countries with nationalized insurance: access to high-technology medicine is restricted. Kidney transplants and open-heart surgery-familiar life-saving procedures are rationed. People are denied their right to treatments they want and need. Dr. Laforte: Your country's reliance on private health insurance denies access even to basic, conventional medicine to the many people who cannot afford adequate health coverage. With nationalized insurance, rich and poor have equal access to life-saving medical procedures, and people's right to decent medical treatment regardless of income is not violated. | 199206_3-LR2_17_19 | [
"showing that the objections raised by Dr. Schilling have no bearing on the question of which of the two systems under consideration is the superior system",
"calling into question Dr. Schilling's status as an authority on the issue of whether consumers' access to medical treatments is restricted in countries with nationalized health insurance",
"producing counterexamples to Dr. Schilling's claims that nationalized health insurance schemes extract high human costs from consumers",
"demonstrating that Dr. Schilling's reasoning is persuasive only because of his ambiguous use of the key word \"consumer\"",
"showing that the force of Dr. Schilling's criticism depends on construing the key notion of access in a particular limited way"
]
| 4 | In responding to Dr. Schilling, Dr. Laforte employs which one of the following argumentative strategies? |
A certain viral infection is widespread among children, and about 30 percent of children infected with the virus develop middle ear infections. Antibiotics, although effective in treating bacterial infections, have no effect on the virus. Yet when middle ear infections in children infected with the virus are treated with antibiotics, the ear infections often clear up. | 199206_3-LR2_18_20 | [
"Although some types of antibiotics fail to clear up certain infections, other types of antibiotics might provide effective treatment for those infections.",
"Children infected with the virus are particularly susceptible to bacteria that infect the middle ear.",
"Many children who develop middle ear infections are not infected with the virus.",
"Most viral infections are more difficult to treat than are most bacterial infections.",
"Among children not infected with the virus, fewer than 30 percent develop middle ear infections."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following most helps to explain the success of the treatments with antibiotics? |
Naturalist: For decades we have known that the tuatara, a New Zealand reptile, have been approaching extinction on the South Island. But since South Island tuatara were thought to be of the same species as North Island tuatara there was no need to protect them. But new research indicates that the South Island tuatara are a distinct species, found only in that location. Because it is now known that if the South Island tuatara are lost an entire species will thereby be lost, human beings are now obliged to prevent their extinction, even if it means killing many of their unendangered natural predators. | 199206_3-LR2_19_21 | [
"In order to maximize the number of living things on Earth, steps should be taken to preserve all local populations of animals.",
"When an animal is in danger of dying, there is an obligation to help save its life, if doing so would not interfere with the health or well-being of other animals or people.",
"The threat of local extinction imposes no obligation to try to prevent that extinction, whereas the threat of global extinction does impose such an obligation.",
"Human activities that either intentionally or unintentionally threaten the survival of an animal species ought to be curtailed.",
"Species that are found in only one circumscribed geographical region ought to be given more care and attention than are other species because they are more vulnerable to extinction."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following principles most helps to justify the naturalists' argumentation? |
Nursing schools cannot attract a greater number of able applicants than they currently do unless the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions in the nursing profession are solved. If the pool of able applicants to nursing school does not increase beyond the current level, either the profession will have to lower its entrance standards, or there will soon be an acute shortage of nurses. It is not certain, however, that lowering entrance standards will avert a shortage. It is clear that with either a shortage of nurses or lowered entrance standards for the profession, the current high quality of health care cannot be maintained. | 199206_3-LR2_20_22 | [
"If the nursing profession solves the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions, it will attract able applicants in greater numbers than it currently does.",
"The nursing profession will have to lower its entrance standards if the pool of able applicants to nursing school does not increase beyond the current level.",
"If the nursing profession solves the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions, high quality health care will be maintained.",
"If the nursing profession fails to solve the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions, there will soon be an acute shortage of nurses.",
"The current high quality of health care will not be maintained if the problems of low wages and high-stress working conditions in the nursing profession are not solved."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the passage? |
There are about 75 brands of microwave popcorn on the market; altogether, they account for a little over half of the money from sales of microwave food products. It takes three minutes to pop corn in the microwave, compared to seven minutes to pop corn conventionally. Yet by weight, microwave popcorn typically costs over five times as much as conventional popcorn. Judging by the popularity of microwave popcorn, many people are willing to pay a high price for just a little additional convenience. | 199206_3-LR2_21_23 | [
"No single brand of microwave popcorn accounts for a large share of microwave food product sales.",
"There are more brands of microwave popcorn on the market than there are of any other microwave food product.",
"By volume, more microwave popcorn is sold than is conventional popcorn.",
"More money is spent on microwave food products that take three minutes or less to cook than on microwave food products that take longer to cook.",
"Of the total number of microwave food products on the market, most are microwave popcorn products."
]
| 3 | If the statements in the passage are true, which one of the following must also be true? |
There are about 75 brands of microwave popcorn on the market; altogether, they account for a little over half of the money from sales of microwave food products. It takes three minutes to pop corn in the microwave, compared to seven minutes to pop corn conventionally. Yet by weight, microwave popcorn typically costs over five times as much as conventional popcorn. Judging by the popularity of microwave popcorn, many people are willing to pay a high price for just a little additional convenience. | 199206_3-LR2_21_24 | [
"More than 50 percent of popcorn purchasers buy conventional popcorn rather than microwave popcorn.",
"Most people who prefer microwave popcorn do so because it is less fattening than popcorn that is popped conventionally in oil.",
"The price of microwave popcorn reflects its packaging more than it reflects the quality of the popcorn contained in the package.",
"The ratio of unpopped kernels to popped kernels is generally the same whether popcorn is popped in a microwave or conventionally in oil.",
"Because microwave popcorn contains additives not contained in conventional popcorn, microwave popcorn weighs more than an equal volume of conventional popcorn."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following statements, if true, would call into question the conclusion in the passage? |
Situation: In the island nation of Bezun, the government taxes gasoline heavily in order to induce people not to drive. It uses the revenue from the gasoline tax to subsidize electricity in order to reduce prices charged for electricity. Analysis: The greater the success achieved in meeting the first of these objectives, the less will be the success achieved in meeting the second. | 199206_3-LR2_22_25 | [
"A library charges a late fee in order to induce borrowers to return books promptly. The library uses revenue from the late fee to send reminders to tardy borrowers in order to reduce the incidence of overdue books.",
"A mail-order store imposes a stiff surcharge for overnight delivery in order to limit use of this option. The store uses revenue from the surcharge to pay the extra expenses it incurs for providing the overnight delivery service.",
"The park management charges an admission fee so that a park's users will contribute to the park's upkeep. In order to keep admission fees low, the management does not finance any new projects from them.",
"A restaurant adds a service charge in order to spare customers the trouble of individual tips. The service charge is then shared among the restaurant's workers in order to augment their low hourly wages.",
"The highway administration charges a toll for crossing a bridge in order to get motorists to use other routes. It uses the revenue from that toll to generate a reserve fund in order to be able one day to build a new bridge."
]
| 4 | The analysis provided for the situation above would be most appropriate in which one of the following situations? |
A law that is not consistently enforced does not serve its purpose. Law without enforcement is not law; it is merely statute—a promise of law. To institute real law is not merely to declare that such and such behavior is forbidden; it is also to punish those who violate that edict. Furthermore, those who enforce law must punish without favor for their friends or malice for their enemies. To punish only those one dislikes while forgiving others is not to enforce law but to engage in the arbitrary and unjust exercise of power. | 199210_2-LR1_1_1 | [
"the exercise of power",
"authorizing the enforcement of punishments",
"the unbiased punishment of prohibited behavior",
"understanding the purpose of law",
"clearly defining unacceptable behavior"
]
| 2 | The main point of the passage is that instituting real law consists in |
Physiological research has uncovered disturbing evidence linking a number of structural disorders to jogging. Among the ailments seemingly connected with this now-popular sport are spinal disk displacements, stress fractures of the feet and ankles, knee and hip joint deterioration, and tendonitis. Furthermore, these injuries do not occur exclusively among beginning runners—veteran joggers suffer an equal percentage of injuries. What the accumulating data suggest is that the human anatomy is not able to withstand the stresses of jogging. | 199210_2-LR1_2_2 | [
"The link between jogging and certain structural disorders appears to be a causal one.",
"Jogging causes more serious disorders than other sports.",
"The jogger's level of experience is a factor determining the likelihood of a jogging injury.",
"Some sports are safer for the human body than jogging.",
"The human species is not very durable."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following is an assumption of the argument? |
All students at Pitcombe College were asked to label themselves conservative, liberal, or middle-of-the-road politically. Of the students, 25 percent labeled themselves conservative, 24 percent labeled themselves liberal, and 51 percent labeled themselves middle-of-the-road. When asked about a particular set of issues, however, 77 percent of the students endorsed what is generally regarded as a liberal position. | 199210_2-LR1_3_3 | [
"All students who labeled themselves liberal endorsed what is generally regarded as a liberal position on that set of issues.",
"More students who labeled themselves middle-of-the-road than students who labeled themselves liberal opposed what is generally regarded as a liberal position on that set of issues.",
"The majority of students who labeled themselves middle-of-the-road opposed what is generally regarded as a liberal position on that set of issues.",
"Some students who labeled themselves conservative endorsed what is generally regarded as a liberal position on that set of issues.",
"Some students who labeled themselves liberal endorsed what is generally regarded as a conservative position on that set of issues."
]
| 3 | If all of the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true? |
Lenore: It is naive to think that historical explanations can be objective. In evaluating evidence, historians are always influenced by their national, political, and class loyalties. Victor: Still, the very fact that cases of biased thinking have been detected and sources of bias identified shows that there are people who can maintain objectivity. | 199210_2-LR1_4_4 | [
"displays the same kind of biased thinking as that against which Lenore's argument is directed",
"does not address the special case of historians who purposely distort evidence in order to promote their own political objectives",
"fails to provide examples of cases in which biased thinking has been detected and the source of that bias identified",
"does not consider sources of bias in historical explanation other than those that are due to national, political, and class loyalties.",
"overlooks the possibility that those who detect and identify bias are themselves biased in some way"
]
| 4 | Victor's response does not succeed as a rebuttal of Lenore's argument because his response |
The museum's night security guard maintains that the thieves who stole the portrait did not enter the museum at any point at or above ground level. Therefore, the thieves must have gained access to the museum from below ground level. | 199210_2-LR1_5_5 | [
"The rules stipulate the participants in the contest be judged on both form and accuracy. The eventual winner was judged highest in neither category, so there must be a third criterion that judges were free to invoke.",
"The store's competitors claim that the store, in selling off the shirts at those prices, neither made any profit nor broke even. Consequently, the store's customers must have been able to buy shirts there at less than the store's cost.",
"If the census is to be believed, the percentage of men who are married is higher than the percentage of women who are married. Thus, the census must show a higher number of men than of women overall.",
"The product label establishes that this insecticide is safe for both humans and pets. Therefore, the insecticide must also be safe for such wild mammals as deer and rabbits.",
"As had generally been expected, not all questionnaires were sent in by the official deadline. It follows that plans must have been made for the processing of questionnaires received late."
]
| 1 | The flawed pattern of reasoning in the argument above is most similar to that in which one of the following? |
High-technology medicine is driving up the nation's health care costs. Recent advances in cataract surgery illustrate why this is occurring. Cataracts are a major cause of blindness, especially in elderly people. Ten years ago, cataract surgery was painful and not always effective. Thanks to the new technology used in cataract surgery, the operation now restores vision dramatically and is less expensive. These two factors have caused the number of cataract operations performed to increase greatly, which has, in turn, driven up the total amount spent on cataract surgery. | 199210_2-LR1_6_6 | [
"Ten years ago, few people had successful cataract surgery.",
"In the long run, the advantages of advanced medical technology are likely to be outweighed by the disadvantages.",
"The total amount spent on cataract surgery has increased because the increased number of people electing to have the surgery more than offsets the decrease in cost per operation.",
"Huge increases in the nation's health care costs are due primarily to increased demand for surgery for older people.",
"Ten years ago, cataract surgery was affordable for more people than it was last year."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following can be inferred from the passage? |
High-technology medicine is driving up the nation's health care costs. Recent advances in cataract surgery illustrate why this is occurring. Cataracts are a major cause of blindness, especially in elderly people. Ten years ago, cataract surgery was painful and not always effective. Thanks to the new technology used in cataract surgery, the operation now restores vision dramatically and is less expensive. These two factors have caused the number of cataract operations performed to increase greatly, which has, in turn, driven up the total amount spent on cataract surgery. | 199210_2-LR1_6_7 | [
"The overall population of the nation has increased from what it was ten years ago.",
"Any one individual's chance of developing cataracts is greater than it was ten years ago.",
"The number of older people has increased during the last ten years.",
"Today, health insurance covers cataract surgery for more people than it did ten years ago.",
"People who have had unsuccessful cataract surgery are left with more seriously impaired vision than they had before the surgery."
]
| 4 | Each of the following, if true, would support a challenge to the author's explanation of the increase in the number of cataract operations EXCEPT: |
Some companies in fields where skilled employees are hard to find make signing an "agreement not to compete" a condition of employment. In such an agreement the employee promises not to go to work for a competing firm for a set period after leaving his or her current employer. Courts are increasingly ruling that these agreements are not binding. Yet paradoxically, for people who signed such agreements when working for competing firms, many firms are unwilling to consider hiring them during the period covered by the agreement. | 199210_2-LR1_7_8 | [
"Many companies will not risk having to become involved in lawsuits, even suits that they expect to have a favorable outcome, because of the associated costs and publicity.",
"In some industries, for example the broadcast media, companies' main source of new employees tends to be people who are already employed by competing firms.",
"Most companies that require their employees to sign agreements not to compete are aware that these documents are not legally binding.",
"Many people who have signed agreements not to compete are unwilling to renege on a promise by going to work for a competing firm.",
"Many companies consider their employees' established relationships with clients and other people outside the company to be valuable company assets."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the paradox? |
Mary Ann: Our country should, above all, be strong. Strength gains the respect of other countries and makes a country admirable. Inez: There are many examples in history of countries that were strong but used their strength to commit atrocities. We should judge a country by the morality of its actions, not by its strength. If the actions are morally good, the country is admirable. | 199210_2-LR1_8_9 | [
"At least one country is admirable.",
"Countries cannot be both strong and moral.",
"It is possible to assign moral weight to the actions of countries.",
"The citizens of any country believe that whatever their country does is good.",
"Countries should impose their standards of morality on other countries by whatever means necessary."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following is a presupposition that underlies Inez' argument? |
All of John's friends say they know someone who has smoked 40 cigarettes a day for the past 40 years and yet who is really fit and well. John does not know anyone like that and it is quite certain that he is not unique among his friends in this respect. | 199210_2-LR1_9_10 | [
"Smokers often lie about how much they smoke.",
"People often knowingly exaggerate without intending to lie.",
"All John's friends know the same lifelong heavy smoker.",
"Most of John's friends are not telling the truth.",
"Some of John's friends are not telling the truth."
]
| 4 | If the statements in the passage are true, then which one of the following must also be true? |
For democracy to survive, it is imperative that the average citizen be able to develop informed opinions about important policy issues. In today's society, this means that citizens must be able to develop informed opinions on many scientific subjects, from ecosystems to defense systems. Yet, as scientific knowledge advances, the average citizen is increasingly unable to absorb enough information to develop informed opinions on many important issues. | 199210_2-LR1_10_11 | [
"Scientists have a duty to educate the public.",
"The survival of democracy is threatened by the advance of scientific knowledge.",
"Every citizen has a duty to and can become scientifically literate.",
"The most effective democracy is one that is the most scientifically unsophisticated.",
"Democracy will survive if there are at least some citizens who are capable of developing informed opinions on important scientific issues."
]
| 1 | Of the following, which one follows logically from the passage? |
By dating fossils of pollen and beetles, which returned after an Ice Age glacier left an area, it is possible to establish an approximate date when a warmer climate developed. In one glacial area, it appears from the insect record that a warm climate developed immediately after the melting of the glacier. From the pollen record, however, it appears that the warm climate did not develop until long after the glacier disappeared. | 199210_2-LR1_11_12 | [
"Cold-weather beetle fossils can be mistaken for those of beetles that live in warm climates.",
"Warm-weather plants cannot establish themselves as quickly as can beetles in a new environment.",
"Beetles can survive in a relatively barren postglacial area by scavenging.",
"Since plants spread unevenly in a new climate, researchers can mistake gaps in the pollen record as evidence of no new overall growth.",
"Beetles are among the oldest insect species and are much older than many warm-weather plants."
]
| 4 | Each one of the following, if true, helps to explain the apparent discrepancy EXCEPT: |
Using clean-coal technologies to "repower" existing factories promises ultimately a substantial reduction of polluting emissions, and will affect the full range of pollutants implicated in acid rain. The strategy of using these technologies could cut sulfur dioxide emissions by more than 80 percent and nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 50 percent. The emission of a smaller quantity of nitrogen pollutants would in turn reduce the formation of noxious ozone in the troposphere. | 199210_2-LR1_12_13 | [
"Sulfur dioxide emissions are the most dangerous pollutants implicated in acid rain.",
"Noxious ozone is formed in factories by chemical reactions involving sulfur dioxide.",
"Twenty percent of the present level of sulfur dioxide emissions in the atmosphere is not considered a harmful level.",
"A substantial reduction of polluting emissions will be achieved by the careful design of new factories.",
"The choice of technologies in factories could reduce the formation of noxious ozone in the troposphere."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following statements is an inference that can be drawn from the information given in the passage? |
Joshua Smith's new novel was criticized by the book editor for The Daily Standard as implausible. That criticism, like so many other criticisms from the same source in the past, is completely unwarranted. As anyone who has actually read the novel would agree, each one of the incidents in which Smith's hero gets involved is the kind of incident that could very well have happened to someone or other. | 199210_2-LR1_13_14 | [
"It relies on the assumption that a criticism can legitimately be dismissed as unwarranted if it is offered by someone who had previously displayed questionable judgment.",
"It ignores the fact that people can agree about something even though what they agree about is not the case.",
"It calls into question the intellectual integrity of the critic in order to avoid having to address the grounds on which the criticism is based.",
"It takes for granted that a whole story will have a given characteristic if each of its parts has that characteristic.",
"It attempts to justify its conclusion by citing reasons that most people would find plausible only if they were already convinced that the conclusion was true."
]
| 3 | Which one of the following is the most serious error of reasoning in the argument? |
J. J. Thomson, the discoverer of the electron and a recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics, trained many physicists, among them seven Nobel Prize winners, 32 fellows of the Royal Society of London, and 83 professors of physics. This shows that the skills needed for creative research can be taught and learned. | 199210_2-LR1_14_15 | [
"J. J. Thomson was an internationally known physicist, and scientists came from all over the world to work with him.",
"All the scientists trained by J. J. Thomson were renowned for their creative scientific research.",
"At least one of the eminent scientists trained by J. J. Thomson was not a creative researcher before coming to study with him.",
"Creative research in physics requires research habits not necessary for creative research in other fields.",
"Scientists who go on to be the most successful researchers often receive their scientific education in classes taught by renowned research scientists."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends? |
The ancient Romans understood the principles of water power very well, and in some outlying parts of their empire they made extensive and excellent use of water as an energy source. This makes it all the more striking that the Romans made do without water power in regions dominated by large cities. | 199210_2-LR1_15_16 | [
"The ancient Romans were adept at constructing and maintaining aqueducts that could carry quantities of water sufficient to supply large cities over considerable distances.",
"In the areas in which water power was not used, water flow in rivers and streams was substantial throughout the year but nevertheless exhibited some seasonal variation.",
"Water power was relatively vulnerable to sabotage, but any damage could be quickly and inexpensively repaired.",
"In most areas to which the use of water power was not extended, other, more traditional sources of energy continued to be used.",
"In heavily populated areas the introduction of water power would have been certain to cause social unrest by depriving large numbers of people of their livelihood."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following, if true, contributes most to an explanation of the difference described above in the Romans' use of water power? |
From a book review: The authors blithely claim that there are "three basic ways to store energy: as heat, as electricity, or as kinetic energy." However, I cannot call to mind any effective ways to store energy as electricity, whereas any capable student of physics could readily suggest a few more ways to store energy: chemical, gravitational, nuclear. | 199210_2-LR1_16_17 | [
"There is no reason to consider any particular way to store energy any more basic than any other.",
"The list given of ways to store energy is possibly inaccurate and certainly not exhaustive.",
"It is overly limiting to treat basic ways to store energy as a question unrelated to the question of effective ways to use energy.",
"What needs to be considered is not whether various ways to store energy are basic but whether they are effective.",
"Except possibly for electricity, all ways to store energy are equally effective and therefore equally basic."
]
| 1 | The reviewer makes which one of the following criticisms of a claim that appears in the book under review? |
There is no mystery as to why figurative painting revived in the late 1970s. People want to look at recognizable images. Sorting out art theories reflected in abstract paintings is no substitute for the sense of empathy that comes from looking at a realistic painting of a figure in a landscape. Perhaps members of the art-viewing public resented abstract art because they felt that its lack of realistic subject matter was a rejection of the viewers and their world. | 199210_2-LR1_17_18 | [
"Abstract paintings often include shapes or forms that are suggestive of real objects or emotions.",
"The art-viewing public wished to see traditional subjects treated in a nontraditional manner.",
"Paintings that depict a recognizable physical world rather than the emotional world of the artist's life require more artistic talent to create.",
"The general public is unable to understand the theories on which abstract painting is based.",
"The artistic preferences of the art-viewing public stimulated the revival."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage? |
Valitania's long-standing practice of paying high salaries to its elected politicians has had a disastrous effect on the level of integrity among politicians in that country. This is because the prospect of earning a high salary is always attractive to anyone whose primary aim in life is to make money, so that inevitably the wrong people must have been attracted into Valitanian politics: people who are more interested in making money than in serving the needs of the nation. | 199210_2-LR1_18_19 | [
"Many Valitanian candidates for elected office spend some of their own money to finance their campaigns.",
"Most Valitanian elective offices have four-year terms.",
"No more people compete for elected office when officeholders are paid well than when they are paid poorly.",
"Only politicians who rely on their offices for income tend to support policies that advance their own selfish interests.",
"Most of those who are currently Valitanian politicians could have obtained better-paid work outside politics."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following, if true, would weaken the argument? |
Policy Adviser: Freedom of speech is not only a basic human right; it is also the only rational policy for this government to adopt. When ideas are openly aired, good ideas flourish, silly proposals are easily recognized as such, and dangerous ideas can be responded to by rational argument. Nothing is ever gained by forcing citizens to disseminate their thoughts in secret. | 199210_2-LR1_19_20 | [
"a circular justification of the idea of free speech as an idea that flourishes when free speech is allowed",
"advocating respect for basic rights of citizens for its own sake",
"a coupling of moral ideals with self-interest",
"a warning about the difficulty of suppressing the truth",
"a description of an ideal situation that cannot realistically be achieved"
]
| 2 | The policy adviser's method of persuasion, in recommending a policy of free speech to the government, is best described by which one of the following? |
Policy Adviser: Freedom of speech is not only a basic human right; it is also the only rational policy for this government to adopt. When ideas are openly aired, good ideas flourish, silly proposals are easily recognized as such, and dangerous ideas can be responded to by rational argument. Nothing is ever gained by forcing citizens to disseminate their thoughts in secret. | 199210_2-LR1_19_21 | [
"Most citizens would tolerate some limits on freedom of speech.",
"With or without a policy of freedom of speech, governments respond to dangerous ideas irrationally.",
"Freedom of religion and freedom of assembly are also basic human rights that governments must recognize.",
"Governments are less likely to be overthrown if they openly adopt a policy allowing freedom of speech.",
"Great ideas have flourished in societies that repress free speech as often as in those that permit it."
]
| 3 | Which one of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument? |
The trustees of the Avonbridge summer drama workshop have decided to offer scholarships to the top 10 percent of local applicants and the top 10 percent of nonlocal applicants as judged on the basis of a qualifying audition. They are doing this to ensure that only the applicants with the most highly evaluated auditions are offered scholarships to the program. | 199210_2-LR1_20_22 | [
"The best actors can also apply for admission to another program and then not enroll in the Avonbridge program.",
"Audition materials that produce good results for one actor may disadvantage another, resulting in inaccurate assessment.",
"The top 10 percent of local and nonlocal applicants might not need scholarships to the Avonbridge program.",
"Some of the applicants who are offered scholarships could have less highly evaluated auditions than some of the applicants who are not offered scholarships.",
"Dividing applicants into local and nonlocal groups is unfair because it favors nonlocal applicants."
]
| 3 | Which one of the following points out why the trustees' plan might not be effective in achieving its goal? |
Book Review: When I read a novel set in a city I know well, I must see that the writer knows the city at least as well as I do if I am to take that writer seriously. If the writer is faking, I know immediately and do not trust that writer. When a novelist demonstrates the required knowledge, I trust the storyteller, so I trust the tale. This trust increases my enjoyment of a good novel. Peter Lee's second novel is set in San Francisco. In this novel, as in his first, Lee passes my test with flying colors. | 199210_2-LR1_21_23 | [
"The book reviewer enjoys virtually any novel written by a novelist whom she trusts.",
"If the book reviewer trusts the novelist as a storyteller, the novel in question must be set in a city the book reviewer knows well.",
"Peter Lee's first novel was set in San Francisco.",
"The book reviewer does not trust any novel set in a city that she does not know well.",
"The book reviewer does not believe that she knows San Francisco better than Peter Lee does."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the passage? |
Someone's benefiting from having done harm to another person is morally justifiable only if the person who was harmed knew that what was done could cause that harm but consented to its being done anyway. | 199210_2-LR1_22_24 | [
"Attempting to avoid being kept after school as punishment for breaking a window, Sonia falsely claimed that her brother had broken it; Sonia's action was morally unjustifiable since it resulted in both children being kept after school for something only Sonia had done.",
"Since Ned would not have won the prize for best model airplane if Penny's brother had not inadvertently damaged her entry while playing with it, Ned is morally unjustified in accepting his prize.",
"Wesley, a doctor, persuaded Max to take part in a medical experiment in which a new drug was being tested; since Wesley failed to warn Max about the serious side effects of the drug and the drug proved to have no other effects, Wesley was morally unjustified in using the results obtained from Max in his report.",
"Because Roger's mother suffered severe complications as a result of donating a kidney to him for a lifesaving kidney transplant, it was morally unjustifiable for Roger to receive the transplant, even though his mother, herself a doctor, had been eager for the transplant to be performed.",
"For James, who was convicted of having defrauded a large number of people out of their savings and wrote a book about his scheme while in prison, to be denied the profits from his book would be morally unjustifiable since he has already been punished for his crime."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following judgments most closely conforms to the principle above? |
Certain governments subsidize certain basic agricultural products in order to guarantee an adequate domestic production of them. But subsidies encourage more intensive farming, which eventually leads to soil exhaustion and drastically reduced yields. | 199210_2-LR1_23_25 | [
"Certain governments subsidize theaters in order to attract foreign tourists. But tourists rarely choose a destination for the theatrical performances it has to offer.",
"Certain governments restrict imports in order to keep domestic producers in business. But, since domestic producers do not have to face the full force of foreign competition, some domestic producers are able to earn inordinately high profits.",
"Certain governments build strong armed forces in order to forestall armed conflict. But in order to maintain the sort of discipline and morale that keeps armed forces strong, those forces must be used in actual combat periodically.",
"Certain governments reduce taxes on businesses in order to stimulate private investment. But any investment is to some extent a gamble, and new business ventures are not always as successful as their owners hoped.",
"Certain governments pass traffic laws in order to make travel safer. But the population-driven growth in volumes of traffic often has the effect of making travel less safe despite the passage of new traffic laws."
]
| 2 | The situation above is most nearly similar to which one of the following situations with respect to the relationship between the declared intent of a governmental practice and a circumstance relevant to it? |
Roses always provide a stunning display of color, but only those flowers that smell sweet are worth growing in a garden. Some roses have no scent. | 199210_3-LR2_1_1 | [
"Some flowers which provide a stunning display of color are not worth growing in a garden.",
"All flowers with no scent provide a stunning display of color.",
"Some flowers which are worth growing in a garden have no scent.",
"Some roses which smell sweet are not worth growing in a garden.",
"No sweet-smelling flower is worth growing in a garden unless it provides a stunning display of color."
]
| 0 | Which one the following conclusions can be properly drawn from the passage? |
The use of money causes a civilization to decline. That this is true is shown by the way the troubles of Western civilization began with the invention of money. While real money (gold and silver) is bad enough, imitation money (paper money) is a horror. The decline of Western civilization exactly parallels the increasing use of money—both real money and worthless paper money—as a substitute for things of intrinsic value. | 199210_3-LR2_2_2 | [
"People prefer using money to having a system in which goods are bartered for other goods of equal intrinsic value.",
"Eastern cultures have used money, and Eastern civilizations have not declined.",
"The use of paper money encourages disregard for the value of work because the money itself has no intrinsic value.",
"The rate of exchange between gold and paper money has fluctuated greatly in Western civilization.",
"Some employers exchange goods for their employees' services in order to avoid the exchange of money."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following, if true, could contribute most to a refutation of the argument? |
Fire ants from Brazil now infest the southern United States. Unlike queen fire ants in Brazil, two queens in the United States share a nest. Ants from these nests are more aggressive than those from single-queen nests. By destroying virtually all insects in the nest area, these aggressive ants gain sole access to food sources, and the ant population skyrockets. Since certain predator insects in Brazil limit the fire-ant population there, importing such predator insects into the United States would be of overall benefit to the environment by stopping the increase of the fire-ant population in the United States. | 199210_3-LR2_3_3 | [
"The imported insects would not prove more damaging to the environment in the United States than are the fire ants themselves.",
"The predator insects from Brazil could survive in the ecological environment found in the United States.",
"The especially aggressive fire ants from the two-queen nests would not be able to destroy the Brazilian predator insects.",
"The predator insects would stop the increase of the ant population before the ants spread to states that are farther north.",
"The rate of increase of the fire-ant population would not exceed the rate at which the predator insects could kill the ants."
]
| 3 | Each of the following is an assumption made in the argument EXCEPT: |
In an attempt to counter complaints that a certain pesticide is potentially hazardous to humans if absorbed into edible plants, the pesticide manufacturer has advertised that "ounce for ounce, the active ingredient in this pesticide is less toxic than the active ingredient in mouthwash." | 199210_3-LR2_4_4 | [
"The ounce-for-ounce toxicity of the active ingredient in mouthwash is less than that of most products meant for external use by humans, such as nail polish or other cosmetics.",
"The quantity of toxins humans ingest by consuming plants treated with the pesticide is, on average, much higher than the quantity of toxins humans ingest by using mouthwash.",
"The container in which the pesticide is packaged clearly identifies the toxic ingredients and carries warnings about their potential danger to humans.",
"On average, the toxins present in the pesticide take longer than the toxins present in mouthwash to reach harmful levels in the human body.",
"Since the government began to regulate the pesticide industry over ten years ago, there has been a growing awareness of the dangers of toxins used in pesticides."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following, if true, indicates a weakness in the manufacturer's argument? |
Four randomly chosen market research companies each produced population estimates for three middle-sized cities; the estimates of each company were then compared with those of the other companies. Two of the cities had relatively stable populations, and for them estimates of current population and of projected population in five years varied little from company to company. However, for the third city, which was growing rapidly, estimates varied greatly from company to company. | 199210_3-LR2_5_5 | [
"It is more difficult to estimate the population of middle-sized cities than of smaller cities.",
"Population estimates for rapidly growing cities can be accurate enough to be useful for marketing.",
"The rate of change in population of rapidly growing cities does not fluctuate.",
"The market research companies are likely to be equally reliable in estimating the population of stable cities.",
"Estimates of a city's future population are likely to be more accurate than are estimates of that city's current population."
]
| 3 | The passage provides the most support for which one of the following? |
Four randomly chosen market research companies each produced population estimates for three middle-sized cities; the estimates of each company were then compared with those of the other companies. Two of the cities had relatively stable populations, and for them estimates of current population and of projected population in five years varied little from company to company. However, for the third city, which was growing rapidly, estimates varied greatly from company to company. | 199210_3-LR2_5_6 | [
"Population changes over time are more uniform from one district to another in the rapidly growing city than in the two other cities.",
"The population of the rapidly growing city is increasing largely as a result of a high birth rate.",
"The population of the rapidly growing city has a lower average age than the populations of either of the two other cities.",
"All population estimates of the rapidly growing city were produced first by estimating the current populations of the city's districts and then by adding those estimates.",
"Whereas the companies used different methods for estimating the current population of the rapidly growing city, the companies used the same method for the two other cities."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following, if true, would best help explain why estimates of the current population of the rapidly growing city varied more than did current population estimates for the two other cities? |
Head injury is the most serious type of injury sustained in motorcycle accidents. The average cost to taxpayers for medical care for nonhelmeted motorcycle-accident victims is twice that for their helmeted counterparts. Jurisdictions that have enacted motorcycle-helmet laws have reduced the incidence and severity of accident-related head injuries, thereby reducing the cost to taxpayers. Therefore, to achieve similar cost reductions, other jurisdictions should enact motorcycle-helmet laws. For the same reason jurisdictions should also require helmets for horseback riders, since horseback-riding accidents are even more likely to cause serious head injury than motorcycle accidents are. | 199210_3-LR2_6_7 | [
"Medical care for victims of horseback-riding accidents is a financial drain on tax funds.",
"The higher rate of serious head injury suffered by victims of horseback-riding accidents is due to the difference in size between horses and motorcycles.",
"The medical costs associated with treating head injuries are higher than those for other types of injury.",
"Most fatalities resulting from horseback-riding and motorcycle accidents could have been prevented if the victims had been wearing helmets.",
"When deciding whether to enact helmet laws for motorcyclists and horseback riders, the jurisdiction's primary concern is the safety of its citizens."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following is an assumption upon which the author's conclusion concerning helmets for horseback riders depends? |
The senator has long held to the general principle that no true work of art is obscene, and thus that there is no conflict between the need to encourage free artistic expression and the need to protect the sensibilities of the public from obscenity. When well-known works generally viewed as obscene are cited as possible counterexamples, the senator justifies accepting the principle by saying that if these works really are obscene then they cannot be works of art. | 199210_3-LR2_7_8 | [
"It seeks to persuade by emotional rather than intellectual means.",
"It contains an implicit contradiction.",
"It relies on an assertion of the senator's authority.",
"It assumes what it seeks to establish.",
"It attempts to justify a position by appeal to an irrelevant consideration."
]
| 3 | The senator's reasoning contains which one of the following errors? |
Until he was dismissed amid great controversy, Hastings was considered one of the greatest intelligence agents of all time. It is clear that if his dismissal was justified, then Hastings was either incompetent or else disloyal. Soon after the dismissal, however, it was shown that he had never been incompetent. Thus, one is forced to conclude that Hastings must have been disloyal. | 199210_3-LR2_8_9 | [
"Hastings's dismissal was justified.",
"Hastings was a high-ranking intelligence officer.",
"The dismissal of anyone who was disloyal would be justified.",
"Anyone whose dismissal was justified was disloyal.",
"If someone was disloyal or incompetent, then his dismissal was justified."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following states an assumption upon which the argument depends? |
Anyone who fails to answer a patient's questions cannot be a competent physician. That is why I feel confident about my physician's competence: she carefully answers every one of my questions, no matter how trivial. | 199210_3-LR2_9_10 | [
"Anyone who grows up in a large family is accustomed to making compromises. Meredith is accustomed to making compromises, so she might have grown up in a large family.",
"Anyone who is not in favor of this proposal is ill informed on the issue. Jeanne opposes the proposal, so she is ill informed on the issue.",
"No one who likes music misses a performance of the symphony. Paul likes music, yet last week he missed a performance of the symphony.",
"Anyone who works two or more jobs is unable to find a balance between professional and personal life. Maggie has only one job, so she can find a balance between her professional and personal life.",
"No one who is hot-tempered and strong-willed will succeed in this business. Jeremy is strong-willed, so he will not succeed in this business."
]
| 3 | Which one of the following most closely parallels the flawed reasoning in the argument above? |
The annual Journal for Publication, which often solicits articles, publishes only those articles that are both submitted before March 6 and written by certified psychoanalysts. Stevens, who publishes frequently in psychoanalytic literature, submitted an article to the Journal before March 6. This article was accepted for publication in the Journal. | 199210_3-LR2_10_11 | [
"Stevens is a psychoanalyst.",
"The Journal frequently accepts Stevens' articles.",
"Stevens is an authority on a large number of topics in psychoanalysis.",
"The Journal asked Stevens to write an article.",
"Stevens' recently accepted article will be interesting to Journal readers."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following conclusions follows logically from the statements above? |
Arguing that there was no trade between Europe and East Asia in the early Middle Ages because there are no written records of such trade is like arguing that the yeti, an apelike creature supposedly existing in the Himalayas, does not exist because there have been no scientifically confirmed sightings. A verifiable sighting of the yeti would prove that the creature does exist, but the absence of sightings cannot prove that it does not. | 199210_3-LR2_11_12 | [
"Evidence for the existence of trade between Europe and East Asia in the early Middle Ages is, like evidence for the existence of the yeti, not scientifically confirmed.",
"In order to prove that in the early Middle Ages there was trade between Europe and East Asia it is necessary to find both Asian and European evidence that such trade existed.",
"That trade between Europe and East Asia did not exist in the early Middle Ages cannot be established simply by the absence of a certain sort of evidence that this trade existed.",
"The view that there was trade between Europe and East Asia in the early Middle Ages can only be disproved by showing that no references to this trade exist in surviving records.",
"There is no more evidence that trade between Europe and East Asia existed in the early Middle Ages than there is that the yeti exists."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following best expresses the point of the argument? |
Arguing that there was no trade between Europe and East Asia in the early Middle Ages because there are no written records of such trade is like arguing that the yeti, an apelike creature supposedly existing in the Himalayas, does not exist because there have been no scientifically confirmed sightings. A verifiable sighting of the yeti would prove that the creature does exist, but the absence of sightings cannot prove that it does not. | 199210_3-LR2_11_13 | [
"Most of the evidence for the existence of trade between Europe and East Asia in the early Middle Ages is archaeological and therefore does not rely on written records.",
"Although written records of trade in East Asia in the early Middle Ages survived, there are almost no European documents from that period that mention trade at all.",
"Any trade between Europe and East Asia in the early Middle Ages would necessarily have been of very low volume and would have involved high-priced items, such as precious metals and silk.",
"There have been no confirmed sightings of the yeti, but there is indirect evidence, such as footprints, which if it is accepted as authentic would establish the yeti's existence.",
"There are surviving European and East Asian written records from the early Middle Ages that do not mention trade between the two regions but would have been very likely to do so if this trade had existed."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following considerations, if true, best counters the argument? |
When the economy is in a recession, overall demand for goods and services is low. If overall demand for goods and services is low, bank interest rates are also low. Therefore, if bank interest rates are not low, the economy is not in a recession. | 199210_3-LR2_12_14 | [
"If the restaurant is full, the parking lot will be full, and if the parking lot is full, the restaurant is full, so if the parking lot is not full, the restaurant is not full.",
"If the fish is ready, it is cooked all the way through, and if it is cooked through it will be white, so if the fish is not white, it is not ready.",
"If pterodactyls flew by flapping their wings, they must have been warm-blooded, so if they were cold-blooded, they must have flown only by gliding, if they flew at all.",
"If you want to put in pleats, you will have to double the amount of material for the skirt, and that means you will have none left for the top, so if you put in pleats you will not be able to make the top.",
"If economic forecasters are right, there will be inflation, and if there is inflation, the governing party will lose the election, so if it does lose the election, the economic forecasters were right."
]
| 1 | The reasoning in which one of the following most closely parallels the reasoning in the argument above? |
Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million tons of potatoes, but last year the harvest barely reached 60 million tons. Agricultural researchers, who have failed to develop new higher-yielding strains of potatoes, are to blame for this decrease, since they have been concerned only with their own research and not with the needs of Rosinia. | 199210_3-LR2_13_15 | [
"Any current attempts by agricultural researchers to develop higher-yielding potato strains are futile.",
"Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia could not have produced the yields last year that they once did.",
"Agricultural researchers often find concrete solutions to practical problems when investigating seemingly unrelated questions.",
"Wide fluctuations in the size of the potato crop over a twenty-year period are not unusual.",
"Agricultural research in Rosinia is funded by government grants."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends? |
An ancient Pavonian text describes how an army of one million enemies of Pavonia stopped to drink at a certain lake and drank the lake dry. Recently, archaeologists discovered that water-based life was suddenly absent just after the event was alleged by the text to have occurred. On the basis of reading the text and an account of the archaeological evidence, some students concluded that the events described really took place. | 199210_3-LR2_14_16 | [
"making a generalization about historical events on the basis of a single instance of that type of event",
"ignoring available, potentially useful counterevidence",
"rejecting a hypothesis because it is seemingly self-contradictory",
"considering people and locations whose existence cannot be substantiated by modern historians",
"taking evidence that a text has correctly described an effect to show that the text has correctly described the cause"
]
| 4 | Which one of the following is a questionable technique used by the students to reach their conclusion? |
Samples from the floor of a rock shelter in Pennsylvania were dated by analyzing the carbon they contained. The dates assigned to samples associated with human activities formed a consistent series, beginning with the present and going back in time, a series that was correlated with the depth from which the samples came. The oldest and deepest sample was dated at 19,650 years before the present, plus or minus 2,400 years. Skeptics, viewing that date as to early and inconsistent with the accepted date of human migration into North America, suggested that the samples could have been contaminated by dissolved "old carbon" carried by percolating groundwater from nearby coal deposits. | 199210_3-LR2_15_17 | [
"No likely mechanism of contamination involving percolating groundwater would have affected the deeper samples from the site without affecting the uppermost sample.",
"Not every application of the carbon-dating procedure has led to results that have been generally acceptable to scientists.",
"There is no evidence that people were using coal for fuel at any time when the deepest layer might have been laid down.",
"No sample in the series, when retested by the carbon-dating procedure, was assigned an earlier date than that assigned to a sample from a layer above it.",
"No North American site besides the one in Pennsylvania has ever yielded a sample to which the carbon-dating procedure assigned a date that was comparably ancient."
]
| 0 | Which of the following considerations, if true, argues most strongly against the suggestion of the skeptics? |
Those influenced by modern Western science take it for granted that a genuine belief in astrology is proof of a credulous and unscientific mind. Yet, in the past, people of indisputable intellectual and scientific brilliance accepted astrology as a fact. Therefore, there is no scientific basis for rejecting astrology. | 199210_3-LR2_16_18 | [
"A belief can be consistent with the available evidence and accepted scientific theories at one time but not with the accepted evidence and theories of a later time.",
"Since it is controversial whether astrology has a scientific basis, any argument that attempts to prove that it has will be specious.",
"Although the conclusion is intended to hold in all cultures, the evidence advanced in its support is drawn only from those cultures strongly influenced by modern Western science.",
"The implicit assumption that all practitioners of Western science believe in astrology is false.",
"The fact that there might be legitimate nonscientific reasons for rejecting astrology has been overlooked."
]
| 0 | The argument is most vulnerable to criticism on which one of the following grounds? |
Amy McConnell is considering running for election against the incumbent, Gregory Lutz. If Lutz has a large campaign fund, then he is already far ahead, and McConnell will not run against him. If Lutz does not have a large campaign fund, McConnell will scrutinize Lutz's record for any hints of scandal that she could use against him. Anything of a scandalous nature would increase McConnell's chances of winning, and she would campaign for election. If Lutz has a clean record, however, McConnell will not run against him. | 199210_3-LR2_17_19 | [
"Lutz does not have a large campaign fund, and McConnell does not run against him.",
"Lutz's record contains items that would increase McConnell's chances of winning, and she runs against him.",
"Lutz's record contains scandalous items, and McConnell does not run against him.",
"Lutz's record contains nothing that would increase McConnell's chances of winning, and she runs against him.",
"Lutz has a large campaign fund, and McConnell does not run against him."
]
| 3 | Given the information in the passage, which one of the following must be false? |
Psychotherapy has been described as a form of moral coercion. However, when people are coerced, their ability to make choices is restricted, and the goal of psychotherapy is to enhance people's ability to make choices. Hence, psychotherapy cannot possibly be a form of coercion. | 199210_3-LR2_18_20 | [
"The position being argued against is redefined unfairly in order to make it an easier target.",
"Psychotherapy is unfairly criticized for having a single goal, rather than having many complex goals.",
"No allowance is made for the fact that the practice or results of psychotherapy might run counter to its goals.",
"The goals of psychotherapy are taken to justify any means that are used to achieve those goals.",
"It offers no argument to show that moral coercion is always undesirable."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following describes a flaw in the argument? |
Joel: A myth is a narrative told to convey a community's traditional wisdom. Myths are not generally told in the modern world because there are no longer bodies of generally accepted truths that can be conveyed in this way. Giselle: Of course there are myths in the modern world. For example, there is the myth of the machine: we see the human body as a machine, to be fixed by mending defective parts. This may not be a narrative, but what medically trained specialist can deny the existence of that myth? | 199210_3-LR2_19_21 | [
"It offers a scientific explanation to a problem of literary theory.",
"It points out a weakness in Joel's position by advancing an analogous position.",
"It is based on an unsupported distinction between traditional societies and the modern world.",
"It assumes that Joel is a medically trained specialist.",
"It offers a counterexample that calls into question part of Joel's definition of myth."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following most accurately characterizes Giselle's response to Joel's statement? |
The true scientific significance of a group of unusual fossils discovered by the paleontologist Charles Walcott is more likely to be reflected in a recent classification than it was in Walcott's own classification. Walcott was, after all, a prominent member of the scientific establishment. His classifications are thus unlikely to have done anything but confirm what established science had already taken to be true. | 199210_3-LR2_20_22 | [
"It draws conclusions about the merit of a position and about the content of that position from evidence about the position's source.",
"It cites two pieces of evidence, each of which is both questionable and unverifiable, and uses this evidence to support its conclusions.",
"It bases a conclusion on two premises that contradict each other and minimizes this contradiction by the vagueness of the terms employed.",
"It attempts to establish the validity of a claim, which is otherwise unsupported, by denying the truth of the opposite of that claim.",
"It analyzes the past on the basis of social and political categories that properly apply only to the present and uses the results of this analysis to support its conclusion."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following most accurately describes a questionable technique used in the argument? |
Anthony: It has been established that over 80 percent of those who use heroin have a history of having used marijuana. Such evidence would seem to prove that smoking marijuana definitely leads to heroin use. Judith: Maybe smoking marijuana does lead to heroin use, but it is absurd to think that citing those statistics proves that it does. After all, 100 percent of the people who take up heroin had a previous history of drinking water. | 199210_3-LR2_21_23 | [
"offering evidence suggesting that the statistics Anthony cites in support of his conclusion are inaccurate",
"undermining the credibility of his conclusion by showing that it is a statement from which absurd consequences can be derived",
"providing an example to show that not everything that promotes heroin use is unsafe",
"demonstrating that Anthony's line of reasoning is flawed by showing that such reasoning can lead to clearly false conclusions",
"calling into question the possibility of ever establishing causal connections solely on the basis of statistical evidence"
]
| 3 | Judith's reply to Anthony's argument relies on which one of the following argumentative strategies? |
Rumored declines in automobile-industry revenues are exaggerated. It is true that automobile manufacturers' share of the industry's revenues fell from 65 percent two years ago to 50 percent today, but over the same period suppliers of automobile parts had their share increase from 15 percent to 20 percent and service companies (for example, distributors, dealers, and repairers) had their share increase from 20 percent to 30 percent. | 199210_3-LR2_22_24 | [
"The possibility is left open that the statistics for manufacturers' share of revenues come from a different source than the other statistics.",
"No matter what changes the automobile industry's overall revenues undergo, the total of all shares of these revenues must be 100 percent.",
"No explanation is given for why the revenue shares of different sectors of the industry changed.",
"Manufacturers and parts companies depend for their revenue on dealers' success in selling cars.",
"Revenues are an important factor but are not the only factor in determining profits."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following best indicates why the statistics given above provide by themselves no evidence for the conclusion they are intended to support? |
Proposals for extending the United States school year to bring it more in line with its European and Japanese counterparts are often met with the objection that curtailing the schools' three-month summer vacation would violate an established United States tradition dating from the nineteenth century. However, this objection misses its mark. True, in the nineteenth century the majority of schools closed for three months every summer, but only because they were in rural areas where successful harvests depended on children's labor. If any policy could be justified by those appeals to tradition, it would be the policy of determining the length of the school year according to the needs of the economy. | 199210_3-LR2_23_25 | [
"That a given social policy has traditionally been in force justifies maintaining that policy only if doing so does not conflict with more pressing social needs.",
"Appeals to its own traditions cannot excuse a country from the obligation to bring its practices in line with the legitimate expectations of the rest of the world.",
"Because appeals to tradition often serve to mask the real interests at issue, such appeals should be disregarded.",
"Traditional principles should be discarded when they no longer serve the needs of the economy.",
"The actual tradition embodied in a given practice can be accurately identified only by reference to the reasons that originally prompted that practice."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following principles, if accepted, would provide the strongest justification for the conclusion? |
Proposals for extending the United States school year to bring it more in line with its European and Japanese counterparts are often met with the objection that curtailing the schools' three-month summer vacation would violate an established United States tradition dating from the nineteenth century. However, this objection misses its mark. True, in the nineteenth century the majority of schools closed for three months every summer, but only because they were in rural areas where successful harvests depended on children's labor. If any policy could be justified by those appeals to tradition, it would be the policy of determining the length of the school year according to the needs of the economy. | 199210_3-LR2_23_26 | [
"providing evidence to show that the objection relies on a misunderstanding about the amount of time each year United States schools traditionally have been closed",
"calling into question the relevance of information about historical practices to current disputes about proposed social change",
"arguing for an alternative understanding of the nature of the United States tradition regarding the length of the school year",
"showing that those who oppose extending the school year have no genuine concern for tradition",
"demonstrating that tradition justifies bringing the United States school year in line with that of the rest of the industrialized world"
]
| 2 | The argument counters the objection by |
Parent 1: Ten years ago, children in communities like ours did not date until they were thirteen to fifteen years old. Now our nine to eleven year olds are dating. Obviously, children in communities like ours are becoming romantically interested in members of the opposite sex at an earlier age today than they did ten years ago. Parent 2: I disagree. Our nine to eleven year olds do not want to date, but they feel intense peer pressure to act grown up by dating. | 199212_2-LR1_1_1 | [
"draws a conclusion about a new phenomenon by comparing it to a phenomenon that is known and understood",
"refutes a generalization about nine to eleven-year-old children by means of an exceptional case overlooked by Parent 1",
"assumes that nine to eleven-year-old children are as interested in dating as thirteen to fifteen-year-old children",
"provides an alternative explanation for the changes in children's dating described by Parent 1",
"criticizes Parent 1 as a proponent of a claim rather than criticizing the claim itself"
]
| 3 | Parent 2, in responding to Parent 1, does which one of the following? |
All cattle ranchers dislike long winters. All ski resort owners like long winters because long winters mean increased profits. Some lawyers are cattle ranchers. | 199212_2-LR1_2_2 | [
"Some cattle ranchers are lawyers.",
"Some people who dislike long winters are not cattle ranchers.",
"All lawyers are cattle ranchers.",
"All people who dislike long winters are cattle ranchers.",
"All people with increasing profits own ski resorts."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following statements, if true and added to those above, most supports the conclusion that no ski resort owners are lawyers? |
Citizen of Mooresville: Mooresville's current city council is having a ruinous effect on municipal finances. Since a majority of the incumbents are running for reelection, I am going to campaign against all these incumbents in the upcoming city council election. The only incumbent I will support and vote for is the one who represents my own neighborhood, because she has the experience necessary to ensure that our neighborhood's interests are served. If everyone in Mooresville would follow my example, we could substantially change the council's membership. | 199212_2-LR1_3_3 | [
"at least some other voters in Mooresville do not make the same exception for their own incumbent in the upcoming election",
"most of the eligible voters in Mooresville vote in the upcoming election",
"few of the incumbents on the Mooresville city council have run for reelection in previous elections",
"all of the seats on the Mooresville city council are filled by incumbents whose terms are expiring",
"none of the challengers in the upcoming election for seats on Mooresville's city council are better able to serve the interests of their neighborhoods than were the incumbents"
]
| 0 | Assuming that each citizen of Mooresville is allowed to vote only for a city council representative from his or her own neighborhood, for the council's membership to be changed substantially, it must be true that |
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