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Marianna: The problem of drunk driving has been somewhat ameliorated by public education and stricter laws. Additional measures are nevertheless needed. People still drive after drinking, and when they do the probability is greatly increased that they will cause an accident involving death or serious injury. David: I think you exaggerate the dangers of driving while drunk. Actually, a driver who is in an automobile accident is slightly less likely to be seriously injured if drunk than if sober. | 199212_2-LR1_4_4 | [
"He contradicts himself.",
"He assumes what he is seeking to establish.",
"He contradicts Marianna's conclusion without giving any evidence for his point of view.",
"He argues against a point that is not one that Marianna was making.",
"He directs his criticism against the person making the argument rather than directing it against the argument itself."
]
| 3 | In responding to Marianna's argument, David makes which one of the following errors of reasoning? |
From a magazine article: Self-confidence is a dangerous virtue: it often degenerates into the vice of arrogance. The danger of arrogance is evident to all who care to look. How much more humane the twentieth century would have been without the arrogant self-confidence of a Hitler or a Stalin! | 199212_2-LR1_5_5 | [
"using extreme cases to evoke an emotional response",
"introducing value-laden terms, such as \"vice\"",
"illustrating the danger of arrogance",
"appealing to authority to substantiate an assertion",
"implying that Hitler's arrogance arose from self-confidence"
]
| 3 | The author attempts to persuade by doing all of the following EXCEPT |
A study was designed to establish what effect, if any, the long-term operation of offshore oil rigs had on animal life on the bottom of the sea. The study compared the sea-bottom communities near rigs with those located in control sites several miles from any rig and found no significant differences. The researchers concluded that oil rigs had no adverse effect on sea-bottom animals. | 199212_2-LR1_6_6 | [
"Commercially important fish depend on sea-bottom animals for much of their food, so a drop in catches of those fish would be evidence of damage to sea-bottom communities.",
"The discharge of oil from offshore oil rigs typically occurs at the surface of the water, and currents often carry the oil considerable distances before it settles on the ocean floor.",
"Contamination of the ocean floor from sewage and industrial effluent does not result in the destruction of all sea-bottom animals but instead reduces species diversity as well as density of animal life.",
"Only part of any oil discharged into the ocean reaches the ocean floor: some oil evaporates, and some remains in the water as suspended drops.",
"Where the ocean floor consists of soft sediment, contaminating oil persists much longer than where the ocean floor is rocky."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the researchers' conclusion? |
Scientists are sometimes said to assume that something is not the case until there is proof that it is the case. Now suppose the question arises whether a given food additive is safe. At that point, it would be neither known to be safe nor known not to be safe. By the characterization above, scientists would assume the additive not to be safe because it has not been proven safe. But they would also assume it to be safe because it has not been proven otherwise. But no scientist could assume without contradiction that a given substance is both safe and not safe; so this characterization of scientists is clearly wrong. | 199212_2-LR1_7_7 | [
"A general statement is argued to be false by showing that it has deliberately been formulated to mislead.",
"A statement is argued to be false by showing that taking it to be true leads to implausible consequences.",
"A statement is shown to be false by showing that it directly contradicts a second statement that is taken to be true.",
"A general statement is shown to be uninformative by showing that there are as many specific instances in which it is false as there are instances in which it is true.",
"A statement is shown to be uninformative by showing that it supports no independently testable inferences."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following describes the technique of reasoning used above? |
During the 1980s the homicide rate in Britain rose by 50 percent. The weapon used usually was a knife. Potentially lethal knives are sold openly and legally in many shops. Most homicide deaths occur as a result of unpremeditated assaults within the family. Even if these are increasing, they would probably not result in deaths if it were not for the prevalence of such knives. Thus the blame lies with the permissiveness of the government that allows such lethal weapons to be sold. | 199212_2-LR1_8_8 | [
"There are other means besides knives, such as guns or poison, that can be used to accomplish homicide by a person who intends to cause the death of another.",
"It is impossible to know how many unpremeditated assaults occur within the family, since many are not reported to the authorities.",
"Knives are used in other homicides besides those that result from unpremeditated assaults within the family.",
"The argument assumes without justification that the knives used to commit homicide are generally purchased as part of a deliberate plan to commit murder or to inflict grievous harm on a family member.",
"If the potentially lethal knives referred to are ordinary household knives, such knives were common before the rise in the homicide rate; but if they are weaponry, such knives are not generally available in households."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following is the strongest criticism of the argument above? |
Nutritionist: Vitamins synthesized by chemists are exactly the same as vitamins that occur naturally in foods. Therefore, it is a waste of money to pay extra for brands of vitamin pills that are advertised as made of higher-quality ingredients or more natural ingredients than other brands are. | 199212_2-LR1_9_9 | [
"It is a waste of money for people to supplement their diets with vitamin pills.",
"Brands of vitamin pills made of natural ingredients always cost more money than brands that contain synthesized vitamins.",
"All brands of vitamin pills contain some synthesized vitamins.",
"Some producers of vitamin pills are guilty of false advertising.",
"There is no nonvitamin ingredient in vitamin pills whose quality makes one brand worth more money than another brand."
]
| 4 | The nutritionist's advice is based on which one of the following assumptions? |
Most people are indignant at the suggestion that they are not reliable authorities about their real wants. Such self-knowledge, however, is not the easiest kind of knowledge to acquire. Indeed, acquiring it often requires hard and even potentially risky work. To avoid such effort, people unconsciously convince themselves that they want what society says they should want. | 199212_2-LR1_10_10 | [
"acquiring self-knowledge can be risky",
"knowledge of what one really wants is not as desirable as it is usually thought to be",
"people cannot really want what they should want",
"people usually avoid making difficult decisions",
"people are not necessarily reliable authorities about what they really want"
]
| 4 | The main point of the argument is that |
Since 1945 pesticide use in the United States has increased tenfold despite an overall stability in number of acres planted. During the same period, crop loss from insects has approximately doubled, from about seven to thirteen percent. | 199212_2-LR1_11_11 | [
"Extension agents employed by state governments to advise farmers have recently advocated using smaller amounts of pesticide, though in past years they promoted heavy pesticide use.",
"While pesticide-resistant strains of insects were developing, crop rotation, which for insects disrupts a stable food supply, was gradually abandoned because farmers' eligibility to receive government crop subsidies depended on continuing to plant the same crop.",
"Since 1970 the pesticides most lethal to people have generally been replaced by less-lethal chemicals that are equally effective against insects and have a less-damaging effect on the fish in streams fed by water that runs off from treated agricultural fields.",
"Because farmers' decisions about how much land to plant are governed by their expectations about crop prices at harvest time, the amount of pesticide they apply also depends in part on expected crop prices.",
"Although some pesticides can be removed from foodstuffs through washing, others are taken up into the edible portion of plants, and consumers have begun to boycott foods containing pesticides that cannot be washed off."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following, if true, contributes most to explaining the paradoxical findings above? |
In discussing the pros and cons of monetary union among several European nations, some politicians have claimed that living standards in the countries concerned would first have to converge if monetary union is not to lead to economic chaos. This claim is plainly false, as is demonstrated by the fact that living standards diverge widely between regions within countries that nevertheless have stable economies. | 199212_2-LR1_12_12 | [
"argues that those making the claim are mistaken about a temporal relationship that has been observed",
"presents an earlier instance of the action being considered in which the predicted consequences did not occur",
"argues that the feared consequence would occur regardless of what course of action was followed",
"gives an example of a state of affairs, assumed to be relevantly similar, in which the allegedly incompatible elements coexist",
"points out that if an implicit recommendation is followed, the claim can be neither shown to be true nor shown to be false"
]
| 3 | In attempting to refute the politicians' claim, the author does which one of the following? |
Because some student demonstrations protesting his scheduled appearance have resulted in violence, the president of the Imperialist Society has been prevented from speaking about politics on campus by the dean of student affairs. Yet to deny anyone the unrestricted freedom to speak is to threaten everyone's right to free expression. Hence, the dean's decision has threatened everyone's right to free expression. | 199212_2-LR1_13_13 | [
"Dr. Pacheco saved a child's life by performing emergency surgery. But surgery rarely involves any risk to the surgeon. Therefore, if an act is not heroic unless it requires the actor to take some risk, Dr. Pacheco's surgery was not heroic.",
"Because anyone who performs an act of heroism acts altruistically rather than selfishly, a society that rewards heroism encourages altruism rather than pure self-interest.",
"In order to rescue a drowning child, Isabel jumped into a freezing river. Such acts of heroism performed to save the life of one enrich the lives of all. Hence, Isabel's action enriched the lives of all.",
"Fire fighters are often expected to perform heroically under harsh conditions. But no one is ever required to act heroically. Hence, fire fighters are often expected to perform actions they are not required to perform.",
"Acts of extreme generosity are usually above and beyond the call of duty. Therefore, most acts of extreme generosity are heroic, since all actions that are above and beyond the call of duty are heroic."
]
| 2 | The pattern of reasoning displayed above is most closely paralleled in which one of the following? |
Professor: Members of most species are able to communicate with other members of the same species, but it is not true that all communication can be called "language." The human communication system unquestionably qualifies as language. In fact, using language is a trait without which we would not be human. Student: I understand that communication by itself is not language, but how do you know that the highly evolved communication systems of songbirds, dolphins, honeybees, and apes, for example, are not languages? | 199212_2-LR1_14_14 | [
"different species can have similar defining traits",
"every human trait except using language is shared by at least one other species",
"not all languages are used to communicate",
"using language is a trait humans do not share with any other species",
"humans cannot communicate with members of other species"
]
| 3 | The student has interpreted the professor's remarks to mean that |
Environmentalist: An increased number of oil spills and the consequent damage to the environment indicate the need for stricter safety standards for the oil industry. Since the industry refuses to take action, it is the national government that must regulate industry safety standards. In particular, the government has to at least require oil companies to put double hulls on their tankers and to assume financial responsibility for accidents. Industry representative: The industry alone should be responsible for devising safety standards because of its expertise in handling oil and its understanding of the cost entailed. Implementing the double-hull proposal is not currently feasible because it creates new safety issues. Furthermore, the cost would be burdensome to the industry and consumers. | 199212_2-LR1_15_15 | [
"The only effective sources of increased stringency in safety standards for oil tankers are action by the industry itself or national government regulation.",
"The requirement of two hulls on oil tankers, although initially costly, will save money over time by reducing cleanup costs.",
"The oil industry's aging fleet of tankers must either be repaired or else replaced.",
"Government safety regulations are developed in a process of negotiation with industry leaders and independent experts.",
"Environmental concerns outweigh all financial considerations when developing safety standards."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument of the environmentalist depends? |
Environmentalist: An increased number of oil spills and the consequent damage to the environment indicate the need for stricter safety standards for the oil industry. Since the industry refuses to take action, it is the national government that must regulate industry safety standards. In particular, the government has to at least require oil companies to put double hulls on their tankers and to assume financial responsibility for accidents. Industry representative: The industry alone should be responsible for devising safety standards because of its expertise in handling oil and its understanding of the cost entailed. Implementing the double-hull proposal is not currently feasible because it creates new safety issues. Furthermore, the cost would be burdensome to the industry and consumers. | 199212_2-LR1_15_16 | [
"Recently a double-hulled tanker loaded with oil was punctured when it ran aground, but no oil was released.",
"Proposed government regulation would mandate the creation of regional response teams within the Coast Guard to respond to oil spills and coordinate cleanup activities.",
"Proposed legislation requires that new tankers have double hulls but that existing tankers either be refitted with double hulls in the next 20 years or else be retired.",
"Fumes can become trapped between the two hull layers of double-hulled tankers, and the risk of explosions that could rupture the tanker's hull is thereby increased.",
"From now on, the oil industry will be required by recent legislation to finance a newly established oil-spill cleanup fund."
]
| 3 | Which one of the following, if true, most strongly supports the industry representative's position against the environmentalist's position? |
Biographer: Arnold's belief that every offer of assistance on the part of his colleagues was a disguised attempt to make him look inadequate and that no expression of congratulations on his promotion should be taken at face value may seem irrational. In fact, this belief was a consequence of his early experiences with an admired older sister who always made fun of his ambitions and achievements. In light of this explanation, therefore, Arnold's stubborn belief that his colleagues were duplicitous emerges as clearly justified. | 199212_2-LR1_16_17 | [
"The fact that top executives generally have much larger vocabularies than do their subordinates explains why Sheldon's belief, instilled in him during his childhood, that developing a large vocabulary is the way to get to the top in the world of business is completely justified.",
"Emily suspected that apples are unhealthy ever since she almost choked to death while eating an apple when she was a child. Now, evidence that apples treated with certain pesticides can be health hazards shows that Emily's long held belief is fully justified.",
"As a child, Joan was severely punished whenever she played with her father's prize Siamese cat. Therefore, since this information makes her present belief that cats are not good pets completely understandable, that belief is justified.",
"Studies show that when usually well-behaved children become irritable, they often exhibit symptoms of viral infections the next day. The suspicion, still held by many adults, that misbehavior must always be paid for is thus both explained and justified.",
"Sumayia's father and mother were both concert pianists, and as a child, Sumayia knew several other people trying to make careers as musicians. Thus Sumayia's opinion that her friend Anthony lacks the drive to be a successful pianist is undoubtedly justified."
]
| 2 | The flawed reasoning in the biographer's argument is most similar to that in which one of the following? |
The television documentary went beyond the save-the-wildlife pieties of some of those remote from East Africa and showed that in a country pressed for food, the elephant is a pest, and an intelligent pest at that. There appears to be no way to protect East African farms from the voracious foraging of night-raiding elephant herds. Clearly this example illustrates that ____. | 199212_2-LR1_17_18 | [
"the preservation of wildlife may endanger human welfare",
"it is time to remove elephants from the list of endangered species",
"television documentaries are incapable of doing more than reiterating accepted pieties",
"farmers and agricultural agents should work closely with wildlife conservationists before taking measures to control elephants",
"it is unfair that people in any country should have to endure food shortages"
]
| 0 | Which one of the following most logically completes the paragraph? |
Oxygen-18 is a heavier-than-normal isotope of oxygen. In a rain cloud, water molecules containing oxygen-18 are rarer than water molecules containing normal oxygen. But in rainfall, a higher proportion of all water molecules containing oxygen-18 than of all water molecules containing ordinary oxygen descends to earth. Consequently, scientists were surprised when measurements along the entire route of rain clouds' passage from above the Atlantic Ocean, the site of their original formation, across the Amazon forests, where it rains almost daily, showed that the oxygen-18 content of each of the clouds remained fairly constant. | 199212_2-LR1_18_19 | [
"Rain clouds above tropical forests are poorer in oxygen-18 than rain clouds above unforested regions.",
"Like the oceans, tropical rain forests can create or replenish rain clouds in the atmosphere above them.",
"The amount of rainfall over the Amazon rain forests is exactly the same as the amount of rain originally collected in the clouds formed above the Atlantic Ocean.",
"The amount of rain recycled back into the atmosphere from the leaves of forest vegetation is exactly the same as the amount of rain in river runoffs that is not recycled into the atmosphere.",
"Oxygen-18 is not a good indicator of the effect of tropical rain forests on the atmosphere above them."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following statements, if true, best helps to resolve the conflict between scientists' expectations, based on the known behavior of oxygen-18, and the result of their measurements of the rain clouds' oxygen-18 content? |
Oxygen-18 is a heavier-than-normal isotope of oxygen. In a rain cloud, water molecules containing oxygen-18 are rarer than water molecules containing normal oxygen. But in rainfall, a higher proportion of all water molecules containing oxygen-18 than of all water molecules containing ordinary oxygen descends to earth. Consequently, scientists were surprised when measurements along the entire route of rain clouds' passage from above the Atlantic Ocean, the site of their original formation, across the Amazon forests, where it rains almost daily, showed that the oxygen-18 content of each of the clouds remained fairly constant. | 199212_2-LR1_18_20 | [
"Once it is formed over the Atlantic, the rain cloud contains more ordinary oxygen than oxygen-18.",
"Once it has passed over the Amazon, the rain cloud contains a greater-than-normal percentage of oxygen-18.",
"The cloud's rainfall contains more oxygen-18 than ordinary oxygen.",
"During a rainfall, the cloud must surrender the same percentage of its ordinary oxygen as of its oxygen-18.",
"During a rainfall, the cloud must surrender more of its oxygen-18 than it retains."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following inferences about an individual rain cloud is supported by the passage? |
It is very difficult to prove today that a painting done two or three hundred years ago, especially one without a signature or with a questionably authentic signature, is indubitably the work of this or that particular artist. This fact gives the traditional attribution of a disputed painting special weight, since that attribution carries the presumption of historical continuity. Consequently, an art historian arguing for a deattribution will generally convince other art historians only if he or she can persuasively argue for a specific reattribution. | 199212_2-LR1_19_21 | [
"Art dealers have always been led by economic self-interest to attribute any unsigned paintings of merit to recognized masters rather than to obscure artists.",
"When a painting is originally created, there are invariably at least some eyewitnesses who see the artist at work, and thus questions of correct attribution cannot arise at that time.",
"There are not always clearly discernible differences between the occasional inferior work produced by a master and the very best work produced by a lesser talent.",
"Attribution can shape perception inasmuch as certain features that would count as marks of greatness in a master's work would be counted as signs of inferior artistry if a work were attributed to a minor artist.",
"Even though some masters had specialists assist them with certain detail work, such as depicting lace, the resulting works are properly attributed to the masters alone."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following, if true, most strongly supports the position that the traditional attribution of a disputed painting should not have special weight? |
Much of the best scientific research of today shows that many of the results of earlier scientific work that was regarded in its time as good are in fact mistaken. Yet despite the fact that scientists are above all concerned to discover the truth, it is valuable for today's scientists to study firsthand accounts of earlier scientific work. | 199212_2-LR1_20_22 | [
"Many firsthand accounts of earlier, flawed scientific work are not generally known to be mistaken.",
"Lessons in scientific methodology can be learned by seeing how earlier scientific work was carried out, sometimes especially when the results of that work are known to be incorrect.",
"Scientists can make valuable contributions to the scientific work of their time even if the results of their work will later be shown to be mistaken.",
"There are many scientists today who are not thoroughly familiar with earlier scientific research.",
"Some of the better scientific research of today does not directly address earlier scientific work."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following, if true, would best reconcile the two statements above? |
Teachers are effective only when they help their students become independent learners. Yet not until teachers have the power to make decisions in their own classrooms can they enable their students to make their own decisions. Students' capability to make their own decisions is essential to their becoming independent learners. Therefore, if teachers are to be effective, they must have the power to make decisions in their own classrooms. | 199212_2-LR1_21_23 | [
"Their students have not become independent learners.",
"They are not effective teachers.",
"They are effective teachers.",
"They have the power to make decisions in their own classrooms.",
"They do not have the power to make decisions in their own classrooms."
]
| 4 | According to the argument, each of the following could be true of teachers who have enabled their students to make their own decisions EXCEPT: |
Dr. Ruiz: Dr. Smith has expressed outspoken antismoking views in public. Even though Dr. Smith is otherwise qualified, clearly she cannot be included on a panel that examines the danger of secondhand cigarette smoke. As an organizer of the panel, I want to ensure that the panel examines the issue in an unbiased manner before coming to any conclusion. | 199212_2-LR1_22_24 | [
"A panel composed of qualified people with strong but conflicting views on a particular topic is more likely to reach an unbiased conclusion than a panel composed of people who have kept their views, if any, private.",
"People who hold strong views on a particular topic tend to accept new evidence on that topic only if it supports their views.",
"A panel that includes one qualified person with publicly known strong views on a particular topic is more likely to have lively discussions than a panel that includes only people with no well-defined views on that topic.",
"People who have expressed strong views in public on a particular topic are better at raising funds to support their case than are people who have never expressed strong views in public.",
"People who have well-defined strong views on a particular topic prior to joining a panel are often able to impose their views on panel members who are not committed at the outset to any conclusion."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following, if true, provides the strongest basis for countering Dr. Ruiz' argument that Dr. Smith should not be included on the panel? |
Biotechnology companies say that voluntary guidelines for their industry are sufficient to ensure that no harm will result when a genetically altered organism is released into the environment. It is foolish, however, to rely on assurances from producers of genetically altered organisms that their products will not be harmful. Therefore, a biotechnology company should be required to apply to an independent regulatory board composed of scientists outside the biotechnology industry for the right to sell newly created organisms. | 199212_4-LR2_1_1 | [
"Voluntary guidelines are sufficient to regulate activities that pose little danger to the environment.",
"People who engage in an activity and have a financial stake in that activity should not be the sole regulators of that activity.",
"Methods that result in harm to the environment must sometimes be used in order to avoid even greater harm.",
"A company is obligated to ensure the effectiveness of its products but not their environmental safety.",
"Issues of environmental protection are so important that they should not be left to scientific experts."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following principles, if accepted, most strongly justifies drawing the conclusion above? |
Zoo director: The city is in a financial crisis and must reduce its spending. Nevertheless, at least one reduction measure in next year's budget, cutting City Zoo's funding in half, is false economy. The zoo's current budget equals less than 1 percent of the city's deficit, so withdrawing support from the zoo does little to help the city's financial situation. Furthermore, the zoo, which must close if its budget is cut, attracts tourists and tax dollars to the city. Finally, the zoo adds immeasurably to the city's cultural climate and thus makes the city an attractive place for business to locate. | 199212_4-LR2_2_2 | [
"Reducing spending is the only means the city has of responding to the current financial crisis.",
"It would be false economy for the city to cut the zoo's budget in half.",
"City Zoo's budget is only a very small portion of the city's entire budget.",
"The zoo will be forced to close if its budget is cut.",
"The city's educational and cultural climate will be irreparably damaged if the zoo is forced to close."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following is the main conclusion of the zoo director's argument? |
A cat will not be affectionate toward people unless it is handled when it is a kitten. Since the cat that Paula plans to give to her friend was handled when it was a kitten, that cat will be affectionate toward people. | 199212_4-LR2_3_3 | [
"Tulip bulbs will not produce flowers unless they are chilled for two months. Since the tulip bulbs in the clay pot were not chilled for two months, these bulbs will not produce flowers.",
"Beets do not grow well unless the soil in which they are grown contains trace amounts of boron. Since the beets in this plot are growing well, the soil in the plot must contain trace amounts of boron.",
"Fruit trees will not produce much fruit unless they are pruned properly. That the fruit trees at the local orchard produce a large amount of fruit proves that they have been pruned properly.",
"Cranberries will not thrive unless they are grown in bogs. Since the cranberries in this area are not grown in bogs, these cranberries will not thrive.",
"Grass seeds will not germinate well unless they are pressed firmly into the ground. The grass seeds sown in this yard were pressed firmly into the ground, so they will germinate well."
]
| 4 | The flawed reasoning in the argument above most closely parallels that in which one of the following? |
Until recently, anthropologists generally agreed that higher primates originated about 30 million years ago in the Al Fayyum region of Egypt. However, a 40-million-year-old fossilized fragment of a lower jawbone discovered in Burma (now called Myanmar) in 1978 was used to support the theory that the earliest higher primates originated in Burma. However, the claim is premature, for ____. | 199212_4-LR2_4_4 | [
"there are no more primate species in Burma than there are in Egypt",
"several anthropologists, using different dating methods, independently confirmed the estimated age of the jawbone fragment",
"higher primates cannot be identified solely by their lower jawbones",
"several prominent anthropologists do not believe that higher primates could have originated in either Egypt or Burma",
"other archaeological expeditions in Burma have unearthed higher-primate fossilized bone fragments that are clearly older than 40 million years"
]
| 2 | Which one of the following, if true, is the most logical completion of the paragraph above? |
The ends of modern centuries have been greeted with both apocalyptic anxieties and utopian fantasies. It is not surprising that both reactions have consistently proven to be misplaced. After all, the precise time when a century happens to end cannot have any special significance, since the Gregorian calendar, though widely used, is only one among many that people have devised. | 199212_4-LR2_5_5 | [
"It is logically impossible for both reactions to be correct at the same time.",
"What is a utopian fantasy to one group of people may well be, for another group of people, a realization of their worst fears.",
"The number system based on the number ten, in the absence of which one hundred years would not have the appearance of being a significant period of time, is by no means the only one that people have created.",
"The firm expectation that something extraordinary is about to happen can make people behave in a manner that makes it less likely that something extraordinary will happen.",
"Since a century far exceeds the normal human life span, people do not live long enough to learn from mistakes that they themselves made one hundred years before."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following, if true, could be substituted for the reason cited above while still preserving the force of the argument? |
People who listen to certain recordings of music are in danger of being unduly influenced by spoken messages that have been recorded backwards on the records or tapes. | 199212_4-LR2_6_6 | [
"the spoken messages must be louder than the music on the recordings",
"backwards messages can be added to a recording while still preserving all the musical qualities of the recorded performance",
"the recordings on which such messages appear are chosen for this purpose either because they are especially popular or because they induce a trancelike state",
"if such messages must be comprehended to exert influence, then people must be able to comprehend spoken messages recorded backwards",
"when people listen to recorded music, they pay full attention to the music as it plays"
]
| 3 | A consequence of the view above is that |
Advertisement: Over 80 percent of the people who test-drive a Zenith car end up buying one. So be warned: you should not test-drive a Zenith unless you are prepared to buy one, because if you so much as drive a Zenith around the block, there is a better than 80 percent chance you will choose to buy it. | 199212_4-LR2_7_7 | [
"Test-drives of Zenith cars are, according to Zenith sales personnel, generally more extensive than a drive around the block and encounter varied driving conditions.",
"Usually dealers have enough Zenith models in stock that prospective purchasers are able to test-drive the exact model that they are considering for purchase.",
"Those who take test-drives in cars are, in overwhelming proportions, people who have already decided to buy the model driven unless some fault should become evident.",
"Almost 90 percent of the people who purchase a car do not do so on the day they take a first test-drive but do so after another test-drive.",
"In some Zenith cars, a minor part has broken within the first year, and Zenith dealers have issued notices to owners that the dealers will replace the part with a redesigned one at no cost to owners."
]
| 2 | If the advertisement is interpreted as implying that the quality of the car is unusually impressive, which one of the following, if true, most clearly casts doubt on that implication? |
In Malsenia sales of classical records are soaring. The buyers responsible for this boom are quite new to classical music and were drawn to it either by classical scores from television commercials or by theme tunes introducing major sports events on television. Audiences at classical concerts, however, are continually shrinking in Malsenia. It can be concluded from this that the new Malsenian converts to classical music, having initially experienced this music as recorded music, are most comfortable with classical music as recorded music and really have no desire to hear live performances. | 199212_4-LR2_8_8 | [
"To sell well in Malsenia, a classical record must include at least one piece familiar from television.",
"At least some of the new Malsenian buyers of classical records have available to them the option of attending classical concerts.",
"The number of classical concerts performed in Malsenia has not decreased in response to smaller audiences.",
"The classical records available in Malsenia are, for the most part, not recordings of actual public concerts.",
"Classical concerts in Malsenia are not limited to music that is readily available on recordings."
]
| 2 | The argument assumes which one of the following? |
Brain scans of people exposed to certain neurotoxins reveal brain damage identical to that found in people suffering from Parkinson's disease. This fact shows not only that these neurotoxins cause this type of brain damage, but also that the brain damage itself causes Parkinson's disease. Thus brain scans can be used to determine who is likely to develop Parkinson's disease. | 199212_4-LR2_9_9 | [
"It fails to establish that other methods that can be used to diagnose Parkinson's disease are less accurate than brain scans.",
"It overestimates the importance of early diagnosis in determining appropriate treatments for people suffering from Parkinson's disease.",
"It mistakes a correlation between the type of brain damage described and Parkinson's disease for a causal relation between the two.",
"It assumes that people would want to know as early as possible whether they were likely to develop Parkinson's disease.",
"It neglects to specify how the information provided by brain scans could be used either in treating Parkinson's disease or in monitoring the progression of the disease."
]
| 1 | The argument contains which one of the following reasoning errors? |
Almost all of the books published in the past 150 years were printed on acidic paper. Unfortunately, every kind of acidic paper gradually destroys itself due to its very acidity. This process of deterioration can be slowed if the books are stored in a cool, dry environment. Techniques, which are now being developed, to deacidify books will probably be applied only to books with historical significance. | 199212_4-LR2_10_10 | [
"If a book was published in the past 150 years and is historically insignificant, it will probably deteriorate completely.",
"Almost all of the books published in the past 150 years will gradually destroy themselves.",
"Almost all of the books that gradually deteriorate are made of acidic paper.",
"If a book is of historical significance and was printed before 150 years ago, it will be deacidified.",
"Books published on acidic paper in 1900 should now all be at about the same state of deterioration."
]
| 0 | If all of the statements in the passage above are true, which one of the following must also be true? |
Civil libertarian: The categorical prohibition of any nonviolent means of expression inevitably poisons a society's intellectual atmosphere. Therefore, those advocating censorship of all potentially offensive art are pursuing a course that is harmful to society. Censorship advocate: You're wrong, because many people are in agreement about what constitutes potentially offensive art. | 199212_4-LR2_11_11 | [
"attempts to extract a general rule from a specific case",
"extracts an erroneous principle from a commonly held belief",
"attacks the civil libertarian's character instead of the argument",
"relies on an irrelevant reason for rejecting the civil libertarian's argument",
"uses hyperbolic, inflammatory language that obscures the issue at hand"
]
| 3 | The censorship advocate's rebuttal is flawed because it |
Although most species of nondomestic mammals in Australia are marsupials, over 100 species—including seals, bats, and mice—are not marsupials but placentals. It is clear, however, that these placentals are not native to this island continent: all nonhuman placentals except the dingo, a dog introduced by the first humans that settled Australia, are animals whose ancestors could swim long distances, fly, or float on driftwood. | 199212_4-LR2_12_12 | [
"Some marsupials now found in Australia might not be native to that continent, but rather might have been introduced to Australia by some other means.",
"Humans who settled Australia probably introduced many of the placental mammal species now present on that continent.",
"The only Australian placentals that could be native to Australia would be animals whose ancestors could not have reached Australia from elsewhere.",
"No marsupials now found in Australia can swim long distances, fly, or float on driftwood.",
"Seals, bats, and mice are typically found only in areas where there are no native marsupials."
]
| 2 | The conclusion above is properly drawn if which one of the following is assumed? |
I. Room air conditioners produced by Japanese manufacturers tend to be more reliable than those produced by United States manufacturers. II. The average lifetime of room air conditioners produced by United States manufacturers is about fifteen years, the same as that of room air conditioners produced by Japanese manufacturers. | 199212_4-LR2_13_13 | [
"Reliability is a measure of how long a product functions without needing repair.",
"Production facilities of firms designated as United States manufacturers are not all located in the United States.",
"Damage to room air conditioners during shipping and installation does not occur with great frequency in the United States or in Japan.",
"Room air conditioners have been manufactured for a longer time in the United States than in Japan.",
"Japanese manufacturers often use more reliable components in their room air conditioners than do United States manufacturers."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following, if true, would best reconcile the two statements above? |
In 1980 there was growing concern that the protective ozone layer over the Antarctic might be decreasing and thereby allowing so much harmful ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth that polar marine life would be damaged. Some government officials dismissed these concerns, since statistics indicated that global atmospheric ozone levels remained constant. | 199212_4-LR2_14_14 | [
"most species of plant and animal life flourish in warm climates rather than in the polar regions",
"decreases in the amount of atmospheric ozone over the Antarctic ice cap tend to be seasonal rather than constant",
"decreases in the amount of atmospheric ozone were of little concern before 1980",
"quantities of atmospheric ozone shifted away from the polar caps, correspondingly increasing ozone levels in other regions",
"even where the amount of atmospheric ozone is normal, some ultraviolet light reaches the Earth's surface"
]
| 3 | The relevance of the evidence cited by the government officials in support of their position would be most seriously undermined if it were true that |
Goodbody, Inc., is in the process of finding tenants for its newly completed Parrot Quay commercial development, which will make available hundreds of thousands of square feet of new office space on what was formerly derelict property outside the financial center of the city. Surprisingly enough, the coming recession, though it will hurt most of the city's businesses, should help Goodbody to find tenants. | 199212_4-LR2_15_15 | [
"Businesses forced to economize by the recession will want to take advantage of the lower rents available outside the financial center.",
"Public transportation links the financial center with the area around Parrot Quay.",
"The area in which the Parrot Quay development is located became derelict after the heavy industry that used to be there closed down in a previous recession.",
"Many of Goodbody's other properties are in the financial center and will become vacant if the recession is severe enough to force Goodbody's tenants out of business.",
"The recession is likely to have the most severe effect not on service industries, which require a lot of office space, but on manufacturers."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following, if true, does most to help resolve the apparent paradox? |
Dr. Kim: Electronic fetal monitors, now routinely used in hospital delivery rooms to check fetal heartbeat, are more intrusive than ordinary stethoscopes and do no more to improve the chances that a healthy baby will be born. Therefore, the additional cost of electronic monitoring is unjustified and such monitoring should be discontinued. Dr. Anders: I disagree. Although you and I know that both methods are capable of providing the same information, electronic monitoring has been well worth the cost. Doctors now know the warning signs they need to listen for with stethoscopes, but only because of what was learned from using electronic monitors. | 199212_4-LR2_16_16 | [
"Hospitals should discontinue the routine use of a monitoring method whenever an alternative method that provides more information becomes available.",
"Monitoring procedures should be routinely used in delivery rooms only if they provide information of a kind that is potentially useful in ensuring that a healthy baby will be born.",
"When two methods available to hospitals provide the same kind of information, the more intrusive method should not be used.",
"When the use of a medical device has enabled doctors to learn something that improves the chances that babies will be born healthy, that device is well worth its cost.",
"Routinely used medical procedures should be reevaluated periodically to be sure that these procedures provide reliable information."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following principles, if accepted, would provide the most support for Dr. Kim's contention that the use of electronic fetal monitors should be discontinued? |
Dr. Kim: Electronic fetal monitors, now routinely used in hospital delivery rooms to check fetal heartbeat, are more intrusive than ordinary stethoscopes and do no more to improve the chances that a healthy baby will be born. Therefore, the additional cost of electronic monitoring is unjustified and such monitoring should be discontinued. Dr. Anders: I disagree. Although you and I know that both methods are capable of providing the same information, electronic monitoring has been well worth the cost. Doctors now know the warning signs they need to listen for with stethoscopes, but only because of what was learned from using electronic monitors. | 199212_4-LR2_16_17 | [
"misses the point at issue",
"assumes what it sets out to prove",
"confuses high cost with high quality",
"overestimates the importance of technology to modern medicine",
"overlooks the fact that a procedure can be extensively used without being the best procedure available"
]
| 0 | As a reply to Dr. Kim's argument, Dr. Anders' response is inadequate because it |
Professor Hartley's new book on moral philosophy contains numerous passages that can be found verbatim in an earlier published work by Hartley's colleague, Professor Lawrence. Therefore, in view of the fact that these passages were unattributed in Hartley's book, Hartley has been dishonest in not acknowledging the intellectual debt owed to Lawrence. | 199212_4-LR2_17_18 | [
"Hartley could not have written the new book without the passages in question.",
"While writing the new book, Hartley had access to the manuscript of Lawrence's book.",
"A book on moral philosophy should contain only material representing the author's own convictions.",
"Lawrence did not get the ideas in the passages in question or did not get their formulations originally from Hartley.",
"Hartley considered the passages in question to be the best possible expressions of the ideas they contain."
]
| 3 | Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument is based? |
People who receive unsolicited advice from someone whose advantage would be served if that advice is taken should regard the proffered advice with skepticism unless there is good reason to think that their interests substantially coincide with those of the advice giver in the circumstance in question. | 199212_4-LR2_18_19 | [
"After learning by chance that Harriet is looking for a secure investment for her retirement savings, Floyd writes to her recommending the R&M Company as an especially secure investment. But since Floyd is the sole owner of R&M, Harriet should reject his advice out of hand and invest her savings elsewhere.",
"While shopping for a refrigerator, Ramon is approached by a salesperson who, on the basis of her personal experience, warns him against the least expensive model. However, the salesperson's commission increases with the price of the refrigerator sold, so Ramon should not reject the least expensive model on the salesperson's advice alone.",
"Mario wants to bring pastry to Yvette's party, and when he consults her Yvette suggests that he bring his favorite chocolate fudge brownies from the local bakery. However, since Yvette also prefers those brownies to any other pastry, Mario would be wise to check with others before following her recommendation.",
"Sara overhears Ron talking about a course he will be teaching and interrupts to recommend a textbook for his course. However, even though Sara and Ron each wrote a chapter of this textbook, since the book's editor is a personal friend of Sara's, Ron should investigate further before deciding whether it is the best textbook for his course.",
"Mei is buying fish for soup. Joel, who owns the fish market where Mei is a regular and valued customer, suggests a much less expensive fish than the fish Mei herself prefers. Since if Mei follows Joel's advice, Joel will make less profit on the sale than he would have otherwise, Mei should follow his recommendation."
]
| 1 | This principle, if accepted, would justify which one of the following judgments? |
Last year the county park system failed to generate enough revenue to cover its costs. Any business should be closed if it is unprofitable, but county parks are not businesses. Therefore, the fact that county parks are unprofitable does not by itself justify closing them. | 199212_4-LR2_19_20 | [
"A prime-time television series should be canceled if it fails to attract a large audience, but the small audience attracted by the documentary series is not sufficient reason to cancel it, since it does not air during prime time.",
"Although companies that manufacture and market automobiles in the United States must meet stringent air-quality standards, the OKESA company should be exempt from these standards since it manufactures bicycles in addition to automobiles.",
"Although the province did not specifically intend to prohibit betting on horse races when it passed a law prohibiting gambling, such betting should be regarded as being prohibited because it is a form of gambling.",
"Even though cockatiels are not, strictly speaking, members of the parrot family, they should be fed the same diet as most parrots since the cockatiel's dietary needs are so similar to those of parrots.",
"Since minors are not subject to the same criminal laws as are adults, they should not be subject to the same sorts of punishments as those that apply to adults."
]
| 0 | The pattern of reasoning in the argument above is most closely paralleled in which one of the following? |
Jane: Professor Harper's ideas for modifying the design of guitars are of no value because there is no general agreement among musicians as to what a guitar should sound like and, consequently, no widely accepted basis for evaluating the merits of a guitar's sound. Mark: What's more, Harper's ideas have had enough time to be adopted if they really resulted in superior sound. It took only ten years for the Torres design for guitars to be almost universally adopted because of the improvement it makes in tonal quality. | 199212_4-LR2_20_21 | [
"Mark's argument shows how a weakness in Jane's argument can be overcome",
"Mark's argument has a premise in common with Jane's argument.",
"Mark and Jane use similar techniques to argue for different conclusions.",
"Mark's argument restates Jane's argument in other terms.",
"Mark's argument and Jane's argument are based on conflicting suppositions."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following most accurately describes the relationship between Jane's argument and Mark's argument? |
Doctors in Britain have long suspected that patients who wear tinted eyeglasses are abnormally prone to depression and hypochondria. Psychological tests given there to hospital patients admitted for physical complaints like heart pain and digestive distress confirmed such a relationship. Perhaps people whose relationship to the world is psychologically painful choose such glasses to reduce visual stimulation, which is perceived as irritating. At any rate, it can be concluded that when such glasses are worn, it is because the wearer has a tendency to be depressed or hypochondriacal. | 199212_4-LR2_21_22 | [
"Depression is not caused in some cases by an organic condition of the body.",
"Wearers do not think of the tinted glasses as a means of distancing themselves from other people.",
"Depression can have many causes, including actual conditions about which it is reasonable for anyone to be depressed.",
"For hypochondriacs wearing tinted glasses, the glasses serve as a visual signal to others that the wearer's health is delicate.",
"The tinting does not dim light to the eye enough to depress the wearer's mood substantially."
]
| 4 | The argument assumes which one of the following? |
Doctors in Britain have long suspected that patients who wear tinted eyeglasses are abnormally prone to depression and hypochondria. Psychological tests given there to hospital patients admitted for physical complaints like heart pain and digestive distress confirmed such a relationship. Perhaps people whose relationship to the world is psychologically painful choose such glasses to reduce visual stimulation, which is perceived as irritating. At any rate, it can be concluded that when such glasses are worn, it is because the wearer has a tendency to be depressed or hypochondriacal. | 199212_4-LR2_21_23 | [
"Some people wear tinted glasses not because they choose to do so but because a medical condition of their eyes forces them to do so.",
"Even a depressed or hypochondriacal person can have valid medical complaints, so a doctor should perform all the usual objective tests in diagnosing such persons.",
"The confirmatory tests were not done for places such as western North America where the usual quality of light differs from that prevailing in Britain.",
"Fashions with respect to wearing tinted glasses differ in different parts of the world.",
"At the hospitals where the tests were given, patients who were admitted for conditions less ambiguous than heart pain or digestive distress did not show the relationship between tinted glasses and depression or hypochondria ."
]
| 1 | Each of the following, if true, weakens the argument EXCEPT: |
The only fossilized bones of large prey found in and around settlements of early humans bear teeth marks of nonhuman predators on areas of the skeleton that had the most meat, and cut marks made by humans on the areas that had the least meat. The predators that hunted large prey invariably ate the meatiest parts of the carcasses, leaving uneaten remains behind. | 199212_4-LR2_22_24 | [
"Early humans were predators of small prey, not of large prey.",
"Early humans ate fruits and edible roots as well as meat.",
"Early humans would have been more effective hunters of large prey if they had hunted in large groups rather than individually.",
"Early humans were not hunters of large prey but scavenged the uneaten remains of prey killed by other predators.",
"Early humans were nomadic, and their settlements followed the migratory patterns of predators of large prey."
]
| 3 | If the information above is true, it provides the most support for which one of the following? |
George: A well-known educator claims that children who are read to when they are very young are more likely to enjoy reading when they grow up than are children who were not read to. But this claim is clearly false. My cousin Emory was regularly read to as a child and as an adult he seldom reads for pleasure, whereas no one read to me and reading is now my favorite form of relaxation. Ursula: You and Emory prove nothing in this case. Your experience is enough to refute the claim that all avid adult readers were read to as children, but what the educator said about reading to children is not that sort of claim. | 199212_4-LR2_23_25 | [
"He treats his own experience and the experiences of other members of his own family as though they have more weight as evidence than do the experiences of other people.",
"He does not distinguish between the quality and the quantity of the books that adults read to Emory when Emory was a child.",
"He overlooks the well-known fact that not all reading is equally relaxing.",
"He fails to establish that the claim made by this particular educator accurately reflects the position held by the majority of educators.",
"He attempts to refute a general claim by reference to nonconforming cases, although the claim is consistent with the occurrence of such cases."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following describes a flaw in George's reasoning? |
Before the printing press, books could be purchased only in expensive manuscript copies. The printing press produced books that were significantly less expensive than the manuscript editions. The public's demand for printed books in the first years after the invention of the printing press was many times greater than demand had been for manuscript copies. This increase demonstrates that there was a dramatic jump in the number of people who learned how to read in the years after publishers first started producing books on the printing press. | 199302_1-LR1_1_1 | [
"During the first years after the invention of the printing press, letter writing by people who wrote without the assistance of scribes or clerks exhibited a dramatic increase.",
"Books produced on the printing press are often found with written comments in the margins in the handwriting of the people who owned the books.",
"In the first years after the printing press was invented, printed books were purchased primarily by people who had always bought and read expensive manuscripts but could afford a greater number of printed books for the same money.",
"Books that were printed on the printing press in the first years after its invention often circulated among friends in informal reading clubs or libraries.",
"The first printed books published after the invention of the printing press would have been useless to illiterate people, since the books had virtually no illustrations."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following statements, if true, casts doubt on the argument? |
Bevex, an artificial sweetener used only in soft drinks, is carcinogenic for mice, but only when it is consumed in very large quantities. To ingest an amount of Bevex equivalent to the amount fed to the mice in the relevant studies, a person would have, to drink 25 cans of Bevex-sweetened soft drinks per day. For that reason, Bevex is in fact safe for people. | 199302_1-LR1_2_2 | [
"Cancer from carcinogenic substances develops more slowly in mice than it does in people.",
"If all food additives that are currently used in foods were tested, some would be found to be carcinogenic for mice.",
"People drink fewer than 25 cans of Bevex-sweetened soda per day.",
"People can obtain important health benefits by controlling their weight through the use of artificially sweetened soft drinks.",
"Some of the studies done on Bevex were not relevant to the question of whether or not Bevex is carcinogenic for people."
]
| 2 | In order for the conclusion that Bevex is safe for people to he properly drawn, which one of the following must be true? |
Harry: Airlines have made it possible for anyone to travel around the world in much less time than was formerly possible. Judith: That is not true. Many nights are too expensive for all but the rich. | 199302_1-LR1_3_3 | [
"the majority of people are rich",
"everyone has an equal right to experience world travel",
"world travel is only possible via routes serviced by airlines",
"most forms of world travel are not affordable for most people",
"anyone can afford to travel long distances by air"
]
| 4 | Judith's response shows that she interprets Harry's statement to imply that |
Nutritionists have recommended that people eat more fiber. Advertisements for a new fiber-supplement pill state only that it contains "44 percent fiber." | 199302_1-LR1_4_4 | [
"There are other products on the market that are advertised as providing fiber as a dietary supplement.",
"Nutritionists base their recommendation on medical findings that dietary fiber protects against some kinds of cancer.",
"It is possible to become addicted to some kinds of advertised pills, such as sleeping pills and painkillers.",
"The label of the advertised product recommends taking 3 pills every day.",
"The recommended daily intake of fiber is 20 to 30 grams, and the pill contains one-third gram."
]
| 4 | The advertising claim is misleading in its selection of information on which to focus if which one of the following is true? |
Many environmentalists have urged environmental awareness on consumers, saying that if we accept moral responsibility for our effects on the environment, then products that directly or indirectly harm the environment ought to be avoided. Unfortunately it is usually impossible for consumers to assess the environmental impact of a product, and thus impossible for them to consciously restrict their purchases to environmentally benign products. Because of this impossibility there can be no moral duty to choose products in the way these environmentalists urge, since ____. | 199302_1-LR1_5_5 | [
"a moral duty to perform an action is never based solely on the effects the action will have on other people",
"a person cannot possibly have a moral duty to do what he or she is unable to do",
"moral considerations should not be the sole determinants of what products are made available to consumers",
"the morally right action is always the one whose effects produce the least total harm",
"where a moral duty exists, it supersedes any legal duty and any other kind of duty"
]
| 1 | Which one of the following principles provides the most appropriate completion for the argument? |
Advertisement: Anyone who exercises knows from firsthand experience that exercise leads to better performance of such physical organs as the heart and the lungs, as well as to improvement in muscle tone. And since your brain is a physical organ, your actions can improve its performance, too. Act now. Subscribe to Stimulus: read the magazine that exercises your brain. | 199302_1-LR1_6_6 | [
"It cites experimental evidence that subscribing to the product being advertised has desirable consequences.",
"It ridicules people who do not subscribe to Stimulus by suggesting that they do not believe that exercise will improve brain capacity.",
"It explains the process by which the product being advertised brings about the result claimed for its use.",
"It supports its recommendation by a careful analysis of the concept of exercise.",
"It implies that brains and muscle are similar in one respect because they are similar in another respect."
]
| 4 | The advertisement employs which one of the following argumentative strategies? |
Coherent solutions for the problem of reducing health-care costs cannot be found within the current piecemeal system of paying these costs. The reason is that this system gives health-care providers and insurers every incentive to shift, wherever possible, the costs of treating illness onto each other or any other party, including the patient. That clearly is the lesson of the various reforms of the 1980s: push in on one part of this pliable spending balloon and an equally expensive bulge pops up elsewhere. For example, when the government health-care insurance program for the poor cut costs by disallowing payments for some visits to physicians, patients with advanced illness later presented themselves at hospital emergency rooms in increased numbers. | 199302_1-LR1_7_7 | [
"showing that shifting costs onto the patient contradicts the premise of health-care reimbursement",
"attributing without justification fraudulent intent to people",
"employing an analogy to characterize interrelationships",
"denying the possibility of a solution by disparaging each possible alternative system",
"demonstrating that cooperation is feasible by citing an instance"
]
| 2 | The argument proceeds by |
Coherent solutions for the problem of reducing health-care costs cannot be found within the current piecemeal system of paying these costs. The reason is that this system gives health-care providers and insurers every incentive to shift, wherever possible, the costs of treating illness onto each other or any other party, including the patient. That clearly is the lesson of the various reforms of the 1980s: push in on one part of this pliable spending balloon and an equally expensive bulge pops up elsewhere. For example, when the government health-care insurance program for the poor cut costs by disallowing payments for some visits to physicians, patients with advanced illness later presented themselves at hospital emergency rooms in increased numbers. | 199302_1-LR1_7_8 | [
"Under the conditions in which the current system operates, the overall volume of health-care costs could be shrunk, if at all, only by a comprehensive approach.",
"Relative to the resources available for health-care funding, the income of the higher-paid health-care professionals is too high.",
"Health-care costs are expanding to meet additional funds that have been made available for them.",
"Advances in medical technology have raised the expected standards of medical care but have proved expensive.",
"Since unfilled hospital beds contribute to overhead charges on each patient's bill, it would be unwise to hold unused hospital capacity in reserve for large-scale emergencies."
]
| 0 | The argument provides the most support for which one of the following? |
The commercial news media emphasize exceptional events such as airplane crashes at the expense of those such as automobile accidents, which occur far more frequently and represent a far greater risk to the public. Yet the public tends to interpret the degree of emphasis the news media give to these occurrences as indicating the degree of risk they represent. | 199302_1-LR1_8_9 | [
"Print media, such as newspapers and magazines, are a better source of information than are broadcast media.",
"The emphasis given in the commercial news media to major catastrophes is dictated by the public's taste for the extraordinary.",
"Events over which people feel they have no control are generally perceived as more dangerous than those which people feel they can avert or avoid.",
"Where commercial news media constitute the dominant source of information, public perception of risk does not reflect actual risk.",
"A massive outbreak of cholera will be covered more extensively by the news media than will the occurrence of a rarer but less serious disease."
]
| 3 | If the statements above are true, which one of the following conclusions is most strongly supported by them? |
A large group of hyperactive children whose regular diets included food containing large amounts of additives was observed by researchers trained to assess the presence or absence of behavior problems. The children were then placed on a low-additive diet for several weeks, after which they were observed again. Originally nearly 60 percent of the children exhibited behavior problems; after the change in diet, only 30 percent did so. On the basis of these data, it can be concluded that food additives can contribute to behavior problems in hyperactive children. | 199302_1-LR1_9_10 | [
"there is no evidence that the reduction in behavior problems was proportionate to the reduction in food-additive intake",
"there is no way to know what changes would have occurred without the change of diet, since only children who changed to a low-additive diet were studied",
"exactly how many children exhibited behavior problems after the change in diet cannot be determined, since the size of the group studied is not precisely given",
"there is no evidence that the behavior of some of the children was unaffected by additives",
"the evidence is consistent with the claim that some children exhibit more frequent behavior problems after being on the low-additive diet than they had exhibited when first observed"
]
| 1 | The evidence cited fails to establish the conclusion because |
In 1990 major engine repairs were performed on 10 percent of the cars that had been built by the National Motor Company in the 1970s and that were still registered. However, the corresponding figure for the cars that the National Motor Company had manufactured in the 1960s was only five percent. | 199302_1-LR1_10_11 | [
"Government motor vehicle regulations generally require all cars, whether old or new, to be inspected for emission levels prior to registration.",
"Owners of new cars tend to drive their cars more carefully than do owners of old cars.",
"The older a car is, the more likely it is to be discarded for scrap rather than repaired when major engine work is needed to keep the car in operation.",
"The cars that the National Motor Company built in the 1970s incorporated simplified engine designs that made the engines less complicated than those of earlier models.",
"Many of the repairs that were performed on the cars that the National Motor Company built in the 1960s could have been avoided if periodic routine maintenance had been performed."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the discrepancy? |
No mathematician today would flatly refuse to accept the results of an enormous computation as an adequate demonstration of the truth of a theorem. In 1976, however, this was not the case. Some mathematicians at that time refused to accept the results of a complex computer demonstration of a very simple mapping theorem. Although some mathematicians still hold a strong belief that a simple theorem ought to have a short, simple proof, in fact, some simple theorems have required enormous proofs. | 199302_1-LR1_11_12 | [
"Today, some mathematicians who believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof would consider accepting the results of an enormous computation as a demonstration of the truth of a theorem.",
"Some individuals who believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof are not mathematicians.",
"Today, some individuals who refuse to accept the results of an enormous computation as a demonstration of the truth of a theorem believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof.",
"Some individuals who do not believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof would not be willing to accept the results of an enormous computation as proof of a complex theorem.",
"Some nonmathematicians do not believe that a simple theorem ought to have a simple proof."
]
| 0 | If all of the statements in the passage are true, which one of the following must also be true? |
If you climb mountains, you will not live to a ripe old age. But you will be bored unless you climb mountains. Therefore, if you live to a ripe old age, you will have been bored. | 199302_1-LR1_12_13 | [
"If you do not try to swim, you will not learn how to swim. But you will not be safe in boats if you do not learn how to swim. Therefore, you must try to swim.",
"If you do not play golf, you will not enjoy the weekend. But you will be tired next week unless you relax during the weekend. Therefore, to enjoy the weekend, you will have to relax by playing golf.",
"If you work for your candidate, you will not improve your guitar playing. But you will neglect your civic duty unless you work for your candidate. Therefore, if you improve your guitar playing, you will have neglected your civic duty.",
"If you do not train, you will not be a good athlete. But you will become exhausted easily unless you train. Therefore, if you train, you will not have become exhausted easily.",
"If you spend all of your money, you will not become wealthy. But you will become hungry unless you spend all of your money. Therefore, if you become wealthy, you will not become hungry."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following most closely parallels the reasoning in the argument above? |
Marine biologists had hypothesized that lobsters kept together in lobster traps eat one another in response to hunger. Periodic checking of lobster traps, however, has revealed instances of lobsters sharing traps together for weeks. Eight lobsters even shared one trap together for two months without eating one another. The marine biologists' hypothesis, therefore, is clearly wrong. | 199302_1-LR1_13_14 | [
"Lobsters not caught in lobster traps have been observed eating one another.",
"Two months is the longest known period during which eight or more lobsters have been trapped together.",
"It is unusual to find as many as eight lobsters caught together in one single trap.",
"Members of other marine species sometimes eat their own kind when no other food sources are available.",
"Any food that the eight lobsters in the trap might have obtained was not enough to ward off hunger."
]
| 4 | The argument against the marine biologists' hypothesis is based on which one of the following assumptions? |
Eight years ago hunting was banned in Greenfield County on the grounds that hunting endangers public safety. Now the deer population in the county is six times what it was before the ban. Deer are invading residential areas, damaging property and causing motor vehicle accidents that result in serious injury to motorists. Since there were never any hunting-related injuries in the county, clearly the ban was not only unnecessary but has created a danger to public safety that would not otherwise exist. | 199302_1-LR1_14_15 | [
"In surrounding counties, where hunting is permitted, the size of the deer population has not increased in the last eight years.",
"Motor vehicle accidents involving deer often result in damage to the vehicle, injury to the motorist, or both.",
"When deer populations increase beyond optimal size, disease and malnutrition become more widespread among the deer herds.",
"In residential areas in the county, many residents provide food and salt for deer.",
"Deer can cause extensive damage to ornamental shrubs and trees by chewing on twigs and saplings."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following, if true, provides the strongest additional support for the conclusion above? |
Comets do not give off their own light but reflect light from other sources, such as the Sun. Scientists estimate the mass of comets by their brightness: the greater a comet's mass, the more light that comet will reflect. A satellite probe, however, has revealed that the material of which Halley's comet is composed reflects 60 times less light per unit of mass than had been previously thought. | 199302_1-LR1_15_16 | [
"Some comets are composed of material that reflects 60 times more light per unit of mass than the material of which Halley's comet is composed.",
"Previous estimates of the mass of Halley's comet which were based on its brightness were too low.",
"The total amount of light reflected from Halley's comet is less than scientists had previously thought.",
"The reflective properties of the material of which comets are composed vary considerably from comet to comet.",
"Scientists need more information before they can make a good estimate of the mass of Halley's comet."
]
| 1 | The statements above, if true, give the most support to which one of the following? |
Office manager: I will not order recycled paper for this office. Our letters to clients must make a good impression, so we cannot print them on inferior paper. Stationery supplier: Recycled paper is not necessarily inferior. In fact, from the beginning, the finest paper has been made of recycled material. it was only in the 1850s that paper began to be made from wood fiber, and then only because there were no longer enough rags to meet the demand for paper. | 199302_1-LR1_16_17 | [
"It does not recognize that the office manager's prejudice against recycled paper stems from ignorance.",
"It uses irrelevant facts to justify a claim about the quality of the disputed product.",
"It assumes that the office manager is concerned about environmental issues.",
"It presupposes that the office manager understands the basic technology of paper manufacturing.",
"It ignores the office manager's legitimate concern about quality."
]
| 1 | In which one of the following ways does the stationer's response fail to address the office manager's objection to recycled paper? |
When Alicia Green borrowed a neighbor's car without permission, the police merely gave her a warning. However, when Peter Foster did the same thing, he was charged with automobile theft. Peter came to the attention of the police because the car he was driving was hit by a speeding taxi. Alicia was stopped because the car she was driving had defective taillights. It is true that the car Peter took got damaged and the car Alicia took did not, but since it was the taxi that caused the damage this difference was not due to any difference in the blameworthiness of their behavior. Therefore Alicia should also have been charged with automobile theft. | 199302_1-LR1_17_18 | [
"It presents a reason that directly supports the conclusion.",
"It justifies the difference in the actual outcome in the two cases.",
"It demonstrates awareness of a fact on which a possible objection might be based.",
"It illustrates a general principle on which the argument relies.",
"It summarizes a position against which the argument is directed."
]
| 2 | The statement that the car Peter took got damaged and the car Alicia took did not plays which one of the following roles in the argument? |
When Alicia Green borrowed a neighbor's car without permission, the police merely gave her a warning. However, when Peter Foster did the same thing, he was charged with automobile theft. Peter came to the attention of the police because the car he was driving was hit by a speeding taxi. Alicia was stopped because the car she was driving had defective taillights. It is true that the car Peter took got damaged and the car Alicia took did not, but since it was the taxi that caused the damage this difference was not due to any difference in the blameworthiness of their behavior. Therefore Alicia should also have been charged with automobile theft. | 199302_1-LR1_17_19 | [
"The interests of justice would have been better served if the police had released Peter Foster with a warning.",
"Alicia Green had never before driven a car belonging to someone else without first securing the owner's permission.",
"Peter Foster was hit by the taxi while he was running a red light, whereas Alicia Green drove with extra care to avoid drawing the attention of the police to the car she had taken.",
"Alicia Green barely missed hitting a pedestrian when she sped through a red light ten minutes before she was stopped by the police for driving a car that had defective taillights.",
"Peter Foster had been cited for speeding twice in the preceding month, whereas Alicia Green had never been cited for a traffic violation."
]
| 2 | If all of the claims offered in support of the conclusion are accurate, each of the following could be true EXCEPT: |
According to sources who can be expected to know, Dr. Maria Esposito is going to run in the mayoral election. But if Dr. Esposito runs, Jerome Krasman will certainly not run against her. Therefore Dr. Esposito will be the only candidate in the election. | 199302_1-LR1_18_20 | [
"According to its management, Brown's Stores will move next year. Without Brown's being present, no new large store can be attracted to the downtown area. Therefore the downtown area will no longer be viable as a shopping district.",
"The press release says that the rock group Rollercoaster is playing a concert on Saturday. It won't be playing on Friday if it plays on Saturday. So Saturday will be the only day this week on which Rollercoaster will perform.",
"Joshua says the interviewing panel was impressed by Marilyn. But if they were impressed by Marilyn, they probably thought less of Sven. Joshua is probably right, and so Sven will probably not get the job.",
"An informant says that Rustimann was involved in the bank robbery. If Rustimann was involved, Jones was certainly not involved. Since these two are the only people who could have been involved, Rustimann is the only person the police need to arrest.",
"The review said that this book is the best one for beginners at programming. If this book is the best, that other one can't be as good. So this one is the book we should buy."
]
| 1 | The flawed reasoning in the argument above most closely parallels that in which one of the following? |
The initial causes of serious accidents at nuclear power plants have not so far been flaws in the advanced-technology portion of the plants. Rather, the initial causes have been attributed to human error, as when a worker at the Browns Mills reactor in the United States dropped a candle and started a fire, or to flaws in the plumbing, exemplified in a recent incident in Japan. Such everyday events cannot be thought unlikely to occur over the long run. | 199302_1-LR1_19_21 | [
"Now that nuclear power generation has become a part of everyday life, an ever-increasing yearly incidence of serious accidents at the plants can be expected.",
"If nuclear power plants continue in operation, a serious accident at such a plant is not improbable.",
"The likelihood of human error at the operating consoles of nuclear power generators cannot be lessened by thoughtful design of dials, switches, and displays.",
"The design of nuclear power plants attempts to compensate for possible failures of the materials used in their construction.",
"No serious accident will be caused in the future by some flaw in the advanced-technology portion of a nuclear power plant."
]
| 1 | Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the statements above? |
There is a widespread belief that people can predict impending earthquakes from unusual animal behavior. Skeptics claim that this belief is based on selective coincidence: people whose dogs behaved oddly just before an earthquake will be especially likely to remember that fact. At any given time, the skeptics say, some of the world's dogs will be behaving oddly. | 199302_1-LR1_20_22 | [
"Which is larger, the number of skeptics or the number of people who believe that animal behavior can foreshadow earthquakes?",
"Are there means other than the observation of animal behavior that nonscientists can use to predict earthquakes?",
"Are there animals about whose behavior people know too little to be able to distinguish unusual from everyday behavior?",
"Are the sorts of behavior supposedly predictive of earthquakes as pronounced in dogs as they are in other animals?",
"Is the animal behavior supposedly predictive of earthquakes specific to impending earthquakes or can it be any kind of unusual behavior?"
]
| 4 | Clarification of which one of the following issues would be most important to an evaluation of the skeptics' position? |
Defendants who can afford expensive private defense lawyers have a lower conviction rate than those who rely on court-appointed public defenders. This explains why criminals who commit lucrative crimes like embezzlement or insider trading are more successful at avoiding conviction than are street criminals. | 199302_1-LR1_21_23 | [
"Many street crimes, such as drug dealing, are extremely lucrative and those committing them can afford expensive private lawyers.",
"Most prosecutors are not competent to handle cases involving highly technical financial evidence and have more success in prosecuting cases of robbery or simple assault.",
"The number of criminals convicted of street crimes is far greater than the number of criminals convicted of embezzlement or insider trading.",
"The percentage of defendants who actually committed the crimes of which they are accused is no greater for publicly defended than for privately defended defendants.",
"Juries, out of sympathy for the victims of crimes, are much more likely to convict defendants accused of violent crimes than they are to convict defendants accused of \"victimless\" crimes or crimes against property."
]
| 3 | The explanation offered above would be more persuasive if which one of the following were true? |
Many major scientific discoveries of the past were the product of serendipity, the chance discovery of valuable findings that investigators had not purposely sought. Now, however, scientific research tends to be so costly that investigators are heavily dependent on large grants to fund their research. Because such grants require investigators to provide the grant sponsors with clear projections of the outcome of the proposed research, investigators ignore anything that does not directly bear on the funded research. Therefore, under the prevailing circumstances, serendipity can no longer play a role in scientific discovery. | 199302_1-LR1_22_24 | [
"Only findings that an investigator purposely seeks can directly bear on that investigator's research.",
"In the past few scientific investigators attempted to make clear predictions of the outcome of their research.",
"Dependence on large grants is preventing investigators from conducting the type of scientific research that those investigators would personally prefer.",
"All scientific investigators who provide grant sponsors with clear projections of the outcome of their research receive at least some of the grants for which they apply.",
"In general the most valuable scientific discoveries are the product of serendipity."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends? |
Police statistics have shown that automobile antitheft devices reduce the risk of car theft, but a statistical study of automobile theft by the automobile insurance industry claims that cars equipped with antitheft devices are, paradoxically, more likely to be stolen than cars that are not so equipped. | 199302_1-LR1_23_25 | [
"Owners of stolen cars almost invariably report the theft immediately to the police but tend to delay notifying their insurance company, in the hope that the vehicle will be recovered.",
"Most cars that are stolen are not equipped with antitheft devices, and most cars that are equipped with antitheft devices are not stolen.",
"The most common automobile antitheft devices are audible alarms, which typically produce ten false alarms for every actual attempted theft.",
"Automobile owners who have particularly theft-prone cars and live in areas of greatest incidence of car theft are those who are most likely to have antitheft devices installed.",
"Most automobile thefts are the work of professional thieves against whose efforts antitheft devices offer scant protection."
]
| 3 | Which one of the following, if true, does the most to resolve the apparent paradox? |
In 1974 the speed limit on highways in the United States was reduced to 55 miles per hour in order to save fuel. In the first 12 months after the change, the rate of highway fatalities dropped 15 percent, the sharpest one-year drop in history. Over the next 10 years, the fatality rate declined by another 25 percent. It follows that the 1974 reduction in the speed limit saved many lives. | 199302_4-LR2_1_1 | [
"The 1974 fuel shortage cut driving sharply for more than a year.",
"There was no decline in the rate of highway fatalities during the twelfth year following the reduction in the speed limit.",
"Since 1974 automobile manufacturers have been required by law to install lifesaving equipment, such as seat belts, in all new cars.",
"The fatality rate in highway accidents involving motorists driving faster than 55 miles per hour is much higher than in highway accidents that do not involve motorists driving at such speeds.",
"Motorists are more likely to avoid accidents by matching their speed to that of the surrounding highway traffic than by driving at faster or slower speeds."
]
| 3 | Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument? |
Some legislators refuse to commit public funds for new scientific research if they cannot be assured that the research will contribute to the public welfare. Such a position ignores the lessons of experience. Many important contributions to the public welfare that resulted from scientific research were never predicted as potential outcomes of that research. Suppose that a scientist in the early twentieth century had applied for public funds to study molds: who would have predicted that such research would lead to the discovery of antibiotics—one of the greatest contributions ever made to the public welfare? | 199302_4-LR2_2_2 | [
"The committal of public funds for new scientific research will ensure that the public welfare will be enhanced.",
"If it were possible to predict the general outcome of a new scientific research effort, then legislators would not refuse to commit public funds for that effort.",
"Scientific discoveries that have contributed to the public welfare would have occurred sooner if public funds had been committed to the research that generated those discoveries.",
"In order to ensure that scientific research is directed toward contributing to the public welfare, legislators must commit public funds to new scientific research.",
"Lack of guarantees that new scientific research will contribute to the public welfare is not sufficient reason for legislators to refuse to commit public funds to new scientific research."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the argument? |
When workers do not find their assignments challenging, they become bored and so achieve less than their abilities would allow. On the other hand, when workers find their assignments too difficult, they give up and so again achieve less than what they are capable of achieving. It is, therefore, clear that no worker's full potential will ever be realized. | 199302_4-LR2_3_3 | [
"mistakenly equating what is actual and what is merely possible",
"assuming without warrant that a situation allows only two possibilities",
"relying on subjective rather than objective evidence",
"confusing the coincidence of two events with a causal relation between the two",
"depending on the ambiguous use of a key term"
]
| 1 | Which one of the following is an error of reasoning contained in the argument? |
Our tomato soup provides good nutrition: for instance, a warm bowl of it contains more units of vitamin C than does a serving of apricots or fresh carrots! | 199302_4-LR2_4_4 | [
"Few people depend exclusively on apricots and carrots to supply vitamin C to their diets.",
"A liquid can lose vitamins if it stands in contact with the air for a protracted period of time.",
"Tomato soup contains important nutrients other than vitamin C.",
"The amount of vitamin C provided by a serving of the advertised soup is less than the amount furnished by a serving of fresh strawberries.",
"Apricots and fresh carrots are widely known to be nutritious, but their contribution consists primarily in providing a large amount of vitamin A, not a large amount of vitamin C."
]
| 4 | The advertisement is misleading if which one of the following is true? |
The government provides insurance for individuals' bank deposits, but requires the banks to pay the premiums for this insurance. Since it is depositors who primarily benefit from the security this insurance provides, the government should take steps to ensure that depositors who want this security bear the cost of it and thus should make depositors pay the premiums for insuring their own accounts. | 199302_4-LR2_5_5 | [
"The people who stand to benefit from an economic service should always be made to bear the costs of that service.",
"Any rational system of insurance must base the size of premiums on the degree of risk involved.",
"Government-backed security for investors, such as bank depositors, should be provided only when it does not reduce incentives for investors to make responsible investments.",
"The choice of not accepting an offered service should always be available, even if there is no charge for the service.",
"The government should avoid any actions that might alter the behavior of corporations and individuals in the market."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following principles, if established, would do most to justify drawing the conclusion of the argument on the basis of the reasons offered in its support? |
The government provides insurance for individuals' bank deposits, but requires the banks to pay the premiums for this insurance. Since it is depositors who primarily benefit from the security this insurance provides, the government should take steps to ensure that depositors who want this security bear the cost of it and thus should make depositors pay the premiums for insuring their own accounts. | 199302_4-LR2_5_6 | [
"Banks are not insured by the government against default on the loans the banks make.",
"Private insurance companies do not have the resources to provide banks or individuals with deposit insurance.",
"Banks do not always cover the cost of the deposit-insurance premiums by paying depositors lower interest rates on insured deposits than the banks would on uninsured deposits.",
"The government limits the insurance protection it provides by insuring accounts up to a certain legally defined amount only.",
"The government does not allow banks to offer some kinds of accounts in which deposits are not insured."
]
| 2 | Which one of the following is assumed by the argument? |
When individual students are all treated equally in that they have identical exposure to curriculum material, the rate, quality, and quantity of learning will vary from student to student. If all students are to master a given curriculum, some of them need different types of help than others, as any experienced teacher knows. | 199302_4-LR2_6_7 | [
"Unequal treatment, in a sense, of individual students is required in order to ensure equality with respect to the educational tasks they master.",
"The rate and quality of learning, with learning understood as the acquiring of the ability to solve problems within a given curriculum area, depend on the quantity of teaching an individual student receives in any given curriculum.",
"The more experienced the teacher is, the more the students will learn.",
"All students should have identical exposure to learn the material being taught in any given curriculum.",
"Teachers should help each of their students to learn as much as possible."
]
| 0 | If the statements above are both true, which one of the following conclusions can be drawn on the basis of them? |
George: Some scientists say that global warming will occur because people are releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning trees and fossil fuels. We can see, though, that the predicted warming is occurring already. In the middle of last winter, we had a month of springlike weather in our area, and this fall, because of unusually mild temperatures, the leaves on our town's trees were three weeks late in turning color. | 199302_4-LR2_7_8 | [
"whether carbon dioxide is the only cause of global warming",
"when leaves on the trees in the town usually change color",
"what proportion of global emissions of carbon dioxide is due to the burning of trees by humans",
"whether air pollution is causing some trees in the area to lose their leaves",
"whether unusually warm weather is occurring elsewhere on the globe more frequently than before"
]
| 4 | Which one of the following would it be most relevant to investigate in evaluating the conclusion of George's argument? |
Student representative: Our university, in expelling a student who verbally harassed his roommate, has erred by penalizing the student for doing what he surely has a right to do: speak his mind! Dean of students: But what you're saying is that our university should endorse verbal harassment. Yet surely if we did that, we would threaten the free flow of ideas that is the essence of university life. | 199302_4-LR2_8_9 | [
"challenging the student representative's knowledge of the process by which the student was expelled",
"invoking a fallacious distinction between speech and other sorts of behavior",
"misdescribing the student representative's position, thereby making it easier to challenge",
"questioning the motives of the student representative rather than offering reasons for the conclusion defended",
"relying on a position of power to silence the opposing viewpoint with a threat"
]
| 2 | Which one of the following is a questionable technique that the dean of students uses in attempting to refute the student representative? |
Famous personalities found guilty of many types of crimes in well-publicized trials are increasingly sentenced to the performance of community service, though unknown defendants convicted of similar crimes almost always serve prison sentences. However, the principle of equality before the law rules out using fame and publicity as relevant considerations in the sentencing of convicted criminals. | 199302_4-LR2_9_10 | [
"The principle of equality before the law is rigorously applied in only a few types of criminal trials.",
"The number of convicted celebrities sentenced to community service should equal the number of convicted unknown defendants sentenced to community service.",
"The principle of equality before the law can properly be overridden by other principles in some cases.",
"The sentencing of celebrities to community service instead of prison constitutes a violation of the principle of equality before the law in many cases.",
"The principle of equality before the law does not allow for leniency in sentencing."
]
| 3 | The statements above, if true, most strongly support which one of the following conclusions? |
Scientific research at a certain university was supported in part by an annual grant from a major foundation. When the university's physics department embarked on weapons-related research, the foundation, which has a purely humanitarian mission, threatened to cancel its grant. The university then promised that none of the foundation's money would be used for the weapons research, whereupon the foundation withdrew its threat, concluding that the weapons research would not benefit from the foundation's grant. | 199302_4-LR2_10_11 | [
"It overlooks the possibility that the availability of the foundation's money for humanitarian uses will allow the university to redirect other funds from humanitarian uses to weapons research.",
"It overlooks the possibility that the physics department's weapons research is not the only one of the university's research activities with other than purely humanitarian purposes.",
"It overlooks the possibility that the university made its promise specifically in order to induce the foundation to withdraw its threat.",
"It confuses the intention of not using a sum of money for a particular purpose with the intention of not using that sum of money at all.",
"It assumes that if the means to achieve an objective are humanitarian in character, then the objective is also humanitarian in character."
]
| 0 | Which one of the following describes a flaw in the reasoning underlying the foundation's conclusion? |
To suit the needs of corporate clients, advertising agencies have successfully modified a strategy originally developed for political campaigns. This strategy aims to provide clients with free publicity and air time by designing an advertising campaign that is controversial, thus drawing prime-time media coverage and evoking public comment by officials. | 199302_4-LR2_11_12 | [
"The usefulness of an advertising campaign is based solely on the degree to which the campaign's advertisements persuade their audiences.",
"Only a small percentage of eligible voters admit to being influenced by advertising campaigns in deciding how to vote.",
"Campaign managers have transformed political campaigns by making increasing use of strategies borrowed from corporate advertising campaigns.",
"Corporations are typically more concerned with maintaining public recognition of the corporate name than with enhancing goodwill toward the corporation.",
"Advertising agencies that specialize in campaigns for corporate clients are not usually chosen for political campaigns."
]
| 0 | The statements above, if true, most seriously undermine which one of the following assertions? |
The National Association of Fire Fighters says that 45 percent of homes now have smoke detectors, whereas only 30 percent of homes had them 10 years ago. This makes early detection of house fires no more likely, however, because over half of the domestic smoke detectors are either without batteries or else inoperative for some other reason. | 199302_4-LR2_12_13 | [
"Fifteen percent of domestic smoke detectors were installed less than 10 years ago.",
"The number of fires per year in homes with smoke detectors has increased.",
"Not all of the smoke detectors in homes are battery operated.",
"The proportion of domestic smoke detectors that are inoperative has increased in the past ten years.",
"Unlike automatic water sprinklers, a properly functioning smoke detector cannot by itself increase fire safety in a home."
]
| 3 | In order for the conclusion above to be properly drawn, which one of the following assumptions would have to be made? |
Advertisement: HomeGlo Paints, Inc., has won the prestigious Golden Paintbrush Award given to the one paint manufacturer in the country that has increased the environmental safety of its product most over the past three years for HomeGlo Exterior Enamel. The Golden Paintbrush is awarded only on the basis of thorough tests by independent testing laboratories. So when you choose HomeGlo Exterior Enamel, you will know that you have chosen the most environmentally safe brand of paint manufactured in this country today. | 199302_4-LR2_13_14 | [
"The ZXC audio system received the overall top ranking for looks, performance, durability, and value in Listeners' Report magazine's ratings of currently produced systems. Therefore, the ZXC must have better sound quality than any other currently produced sound system.",
"Morning Sunshine breakfast cereal contains, ounce for ounce, more of the nutrients needed for a healthy diet than any other breakfast cereal on the market today. Thus, when you eat Morning Sunshine, you will know you are eating the most nutritious food now on the market.",
"The number of consumer visits increased more at Countryside Market last year than at any other market in the region. Therefore, Countryside's profits must also have increased more last year than those of any other market in the region.",
"Jerrold's teachers recognize him as the student who has shown more academic improvement than any other student in the junior class this year. Therefore, if Jerrold and his classmates are ranked according to their current academic performance, Jerrold must hold the highest ranking.",
"Margaret Durring's short story \"The Power Lunch\" won three separate awards for best short fiction of the year. Therefore, any of Margaret Durring's earlier stories certainly has enough literary merit to be included in an anthology of the best recent short fiction."
]
| 3 | The flawed reasoning in the advertisement most closely parallels that in which one of the following? |
The consistency of ice cream is adversely affected by even slight temperature changes in the freezer. To counteract this problem, manufacturers add stabilizers to ice cream. Unfortunately, stabilizers, though inexpensive, adversely affect flavor. Stabilizers are less needed if storage temperatures are very low. However, since energy costs are constantly going up, those costs constitute a strong incentive in favor of relatively high storage temperatures. | 199302_4-LR2_14_15 | [
"Even slight deviations from the proper consistency for ice cream sharply impair its flavor.",
"Cost considerations favor sacrificing consistency over sacrificing flavor.",
"It would not be cost-effective to develop a new device to maintain the constancy of freezer temperatures.",
"Stabilizers function well only at very low freezer temperatures.",
"Very low, stable freezer temperatures allow for the best possible consistency and flavor of ice cream."
]
| 4 | Which one of the following can be properly inferred from the passage? |
Edwina: True appreciation of Mozart's music demands that you hear it exactly as he intended it to be heard; that is, exactly as he heard it. Since he heard it on eighteenth-century instruments, it follows that so should we. Alberto: But what makes you think that Mozart ever heard his music played as he had intended it to be played? After all, Mozart was writing at a time when the performer was expected, as a matter of course, not just to interpret but to modify the written score. | 199302_4-LR2_15_16 | [
"He appeals to an academic authority in order to challenge the factual basis of her conclusion.",
"He attacks her judgment by suggesting that she does not recognize the importance of the performer's creativity to the audience's appreciation of a musical composition.",
"He defends a competing view of musical authenticity.",
"He attacks the logic of her argument by suggesting that the conclusion she draws does not follow from the premises she sets forth.",
"He offers a reason to believe that one of the premises of her argument is false."
]
| 4 | Alberto adopts which one of the following strategies in criticizing Edwina's position? |
Since the introduction of the Impanian National Health scheme, Impanians (or their private insurance companies) have had to pay only for the more unusual and sophisticated medical procedures. When the scheme was introduced, it was hoped that private insurance to pay for these procedures would be available at modest cost, since the insurers would no longer be paying for the bulk of health care costs, as they had done previously. Paradoxically, however, the cost of private health insurance did not decrease but has instead increased dramatically in the years since the scheme's introduction. | 199302_4-LR2_16_17 | [
"The National Health scheme has greatly reduced the number of medical claims handled annually by Impania's private insurers, enabling these firms to reduce overhead costs substantially.",
"Before the National Health scheme was introduced, more than 80 percent of all Impanian medical costs were associated with procedures that are now covered by the scheme.",
"Impanians who previously were unable to afford regular medical treatment now use the National Health scheme, but the number of Impanians with private health insurance has not increased.",
"Impanians now buy private medical insurance only at times when they expect that they will need care of kinds not available in the National Health scheme.",
"The proportion of total expenditures within Impania that is spent on health care has declined since the introduction of the National Health scheme."
]
| 3 | Which one of the following, if true, does most to explain the apparently paradoxical outcome? |
In clinical trials of new medicines, half of the subjects receive the drug being tested and half receive a physiologically inert substance—a placebo. Trials are designed with the intention that neither subjects nor experimenters will find out which subjects are actually being given the drug being tested. However, this intention is frequently frustrated because ____. | 199302_4-LR2_17_18 | [
"often the subjects who receive the drug being tested develop symptoms that the experimenters recognize as side effects of the physiologically active drug",
"subjects who believe they are receiving the drug being tested often display improvements in their conditions regardless of whether what is administered to them is physiologically active or not",
"in general, when the trial is intended to establish the experimental drug's safety rather than its effectiveness, all of the subjects are healthy volunteers",
"when a trial runs a long time, few of the experimenters will work on it from inception to conclusion",
"the people who are subjects for clinical trials must, by law, be volunteers and must be informed of the possibility that they will receive a placebo"
]
| 0 | Which one of the following, if true, most appropriately completes the explanation? |
It takes 365.25 days for the Earth to make one complete revolution around the Sun. Long-standing convention makes a year 365 days long, with an extra day added every fourth year, and the year is divided into 52 seven-day weeks. But since 52 times 7 is only 364, anniversaries do not fall on the same day of the week each year. Many scheduling problems could be avoided if the last day of each year and an additional day every fourth year belonged to no week, so that January 1 would be a Sunday every year. | 199302_4-LR2_18_19 | [
"people who have birthdays or other anniversaries on December 30 or 31",
"employed people whose strict religious observances require that they refrain from working every seventh day",
"school systems that require students to attend classes a specific number of days each year",
"employed people who have three-day breaks from work when holidays are celebrated on Mondays or Fridays",
"people who have to plan events several years before those events occur"
]
| 1 | The proposal above, once put into effect, would be most likely to result in continued scheduling conflicts for which one of the following groups? |
Graphologists claim that it is possible to detect permanent character traits by examining people's handwriting. For example, a strong cross on the "t" is supposed to denote enthusiasm. Obviously, however, with practice and perseverance people can alter their handwriting to include this feature. So it seems that graphologists must hold that permanent character traits can be changed. | 199302_4-LR2_19_20 | [
"citing apparently incontestable evidence that leads to absurd consequences when conjoined with the view in question",
"demonstrating that an apparently controversial and interesting claim is really just a platitude",
"arguing that a particular technique of analysis can never be effective when the people analyzed know that it is being used",
"showing that proponents of the view have no theoretical justification for the view",
"attacking a technique by arguing that what the technique is supposed to detect can be detected quite readily without it"
]
| 0 | The argument against graphology proceeds by |
Historian: There is no direct evidence that timber was traded between the ancient nations of Poran and Nayal, but the fact that a law setting tariffs on timber imports from Poran was enacted during the third Nayalese dynasty does suggest that during that period a timber trade was conducted. Critic: Your reasoning is flawed. During its third dynasty, Nayal may well have imported timber from Poran, but certainly on today's statute books there remain many laws regulating activities that were once common but in which people no longer engage. | 199302_4-LR2_20_21 | [
"It implies an analogy between the present and the past.",
"It identifies a general principle that the historian's reasoning violates.",
"It distinguishes between what has been established as a certainty and what has been established as a possibility.",
"It establishes explicit criteria that must be used in evaluating indirect evidence.",
"It points out the dissimilar roles that law plays in societies that are distinct from one another."
]
| 0 | The critic's response to the historian's reasoning does which one of the following? |
Historian: There is no direct evidence that timber was traded between the ancient nations of Poran and Nayal, but the fact that a law setting tariffs on timber imports from Poran was enacted during the third Nayalese dynasty does suggest that during that period a timber trade was conducted. Critic: Your reasoning is flawed. During its third dynasty, Nayal may well have imported timber from Poran, but certainly on today's statute books there remain many laws regulating activities that were once common but in which people no longer engage. | 199302_4-LR2_20_22 | [
"produces evidence that is consistent with there not having been any timber trade between Poran and Nayal during the third Nayalese dynasty",
"cites current laws without indicating whether the laws cited are relevant to the timber trade",
"fails to recognize that the historian's conclusion was based on indirect evidence rather than direct evidence",
"takes no account of the difference between a law's enactment at a particular time and a law's existence as part of a legal code at a particular time",
"accepts without question the assumption about the purpose of laws that underlies the historian's argument"
]
| 3 | The critic's response to the historian is flawed because it |
The workers at Bell Manufacturing will shortly go on strike unless the management increases their wages. As Bell's president is well aware, however, in order to increase the workers' wages, Bell would have to sell off some of its subsidiaries. So, some of Bell's subsidiaries will be sold. | 199302_4-LR2_21_23 | [
"Bell Manufacturing will begin to suffer increased losses.",
"Bell's management will refuse to increase its workers' wages.",
"The workers at Bell Manufacturing will not be going on strike.",
"Bell's president has the authority to offer the workers their desired wage increase.",
"Bell's workers will not accept a package of improved benefits in place of their desired wage increase."
]
| 2 | The conclusion above is properly drawn if which one of the following is assumed? |
One sure way you can tell how quickly a new idea— for example, the idea of "privatization" —is taking hold among the population is to monitor how fast the word or words expressing that particular idea are passing into common usage. Professional opinions of whether or not words can indeed be said to have passed into common usage are available from dictionary editors, who are vitally concerned with this question. | 199302_4-LR2_22_24 | [
"Dictionary editors are not professionally interested in words that are only rarely used.",
"Dictionary editors have exact numerical criteria for telling when a word has passed into common usage.",
"For a new idea to take hold, dictionary editors have to include the relevant word or words in their dictionaries.",
"As a word passes into common usage, its meaning does not undergo any severe distortions in the process.",
"Words denoting new ideas tend to be used before the ideas denoted are understood."
]
| 3 | The method described above for determining how quickly a new idea is taking hold relies on which one of the following assumptions? |
Because migrant workers are typically not hired by any one employer for longer than a single season, migrant workers can legally be paid less than the minimum hourly wage that the government requires employers to pay all their permanent employees. Yet most migrant workers work long hours each day for eleven or twelve months a year and thus are as much full-time workers as are people hired on a year-round basis. Therefore, the law should require that migrant workers be paid the same minimum hourly wage that other full-time workers must be paid. | 199302_4-LR2_23_25 | [
"Because day-care facilities are now regulated at the local level, the quality of care available to children in two different cities can differ widely. Since such differences in treatment clearly are unfair, day care should be federally rather than locally regulated.",
"Because many rural areas have few restrictions on development, housing estates in such areas have been built where no adequate supply of safe drinking water could be ensured. Thus, rural areas should adopt building codes more like those large cities have.",
"Because some countries regulate gun sales more strictly than do other countries, some people can readily purchase a gun, whereas others cannot. Therefore, all countries should cooperate in developing a uniform international policy regarding gun sales.",
"Because it is a democratic principle that laws should have the consent of those affected by them, liquor laws should be formulated not by politicians but by club and restaurant owners, since such laws directly affect the profitability of their businesses.",
"Because food additives are not considered drugs, they have not had to meet the safety standards the government applies to drugs. But food additives can be as dangerous as drugs. Therefore, food additives should also be subject to safety regulations as stringent as those covering drugs."
]
| 4 | The pattern of reasoning displayed above most closely parallels that displayed in which one of the following arguments? |
Of all the surgeons practicing at the city hospital, the chief surgeon has the worst record in terms of the percentage of his patients who die either during or immediately following an operation performed by him. Paradoxically, the hospital's administrators claim that he is the best surgeon currently working at the hospital. | 199306_1-LR1_1_1 | [
"Since the hospital administrators appoint the chief surgeon, the administrators are strongly motivated to depict the chief surgeon they have chosen as a wise choice.",
"In appointing the current chief surgeon, the hospital administrators followed the practice, well established at the city hospital, of promoting one of the surgeons already on staff.",
"Some of the younger surgeons on the city hospital's staff received part of their training from the current chief surgeon.",
"At the city hospital those operations that inherently entail the greatest risk to the life of the patient are generally performed by the chief surgeon.",
"The current chief surgeon has a better record of patients' surviving surgery than did his immediate predecessor."
]
| 3 | Which one of the following, if true, goes farthest toward showing that the administrators' claim and the statistic cited might both be correct? |
Between 1971 and 1975, the government office that monitors drug companies issued an average of 60 citations a year for serious violations of drug-promotion laws. Between 1976 and 1980, the annual average for issuance of such citations was only 5. This decrease indicates that the government office was, on average, considerably more lax in enforcing drug-promotion laws between 1976 and 1980 than it was between 1971 and 1975. | 199306_1-LR1_2_2 | [
"The decrease in the number of citations was not caused by a decrease in drug companies' violations of drug-promotion laws.",
"A change in enforcement of drug-promotion laws did not apply to minor violations.",
"The enforcement of drug-promotion laws changed in response to political pressure.",
"The government office should not issue more than an average of 5 citations a year to drug companies for serious violations of drug-promotion laws.",
"Before 1971 the government office issued more than 60 citations a year to drug companies for serious violations of drug-promotion laws."
]
| 0 | The argument assumes which one of the following? |
Sheila: Health experts generally agree that smoking a tobacco product for many years is very likely to be harmful to the smoker's health. Tim: On the contrary, smoking has no effect on health at all: although my grandfather smoked three cigars a day from the age of fourteen, he died at age ninety-six. | 199306_1-LR1_3_3 | [
"attempts to refute a probabilistic conclusion by claiming the existence of a single counterexample",
"challenges expert opinion on the basis of specific information unavailable to experts in the field",
"describes an individual case that is explicitly discounted as an exception to the experts' conclusion",
"presupposes that longevity and health status are unrelated to each other in the general population",
"tacitly assumes that those health experts who are in agreement on this issue arrived at that agreement independently of one another"
]
| 0 | A major weakness of Tim's counterargument is that his counterargument |
The case of the French Revolution is typically regarded as the best evidence for the claim that societies can reap more benefit than harm from a revolution. But even the French Revolution serves this role poorly, since France at the time of the Revolution had a unique advantage. Despite the Revolution, the same civil servants and functionaries remained in office, carrying on the day-to-day work of government, and thus many of the disruptions that revolutions normally bring were avoided. | 199306_1-LR1_4_4 | [
"demonstrating that the claim argued against is internally inconsistent",
"supporting a particular position on the basis of general principles",
"opposing a claim by undermining evidence offered in support of that claim",
"justifying a view through the use of a series of persuasive examples",
"comparing two positions in order to illustrate their relative strengths and weaknesses"
]
| 2 | Which one of the following most accurately characterizes the argumentative strategy used in the passage? |
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