1. the ice on the front windshield of the car had formed when moisture condensed during the night. the ice melted quickly after the car was warmed up the next morning BECause the defrosting vent, which blows only on the front windshield, was turned on full force.
which of the following, if true, most seriously jeopardizes the validity of the explanation for the speed with which the ice melted?
a) the side windows had no ice condensation on them
b) even though no attempt was made to defrost the back window, the ice there melted at the same rates as did the ice on the front windshield.
c) the speed at which ice on a window melts increases as the temperature of the air blown on the window increases.
d) the warm air from the defrosting vent for the front windshield cools rapidly as it dissipates through out the rest of the car.
e) the defrosting vent operates efficiently even when the heater, which blows warm air toward the feet or faces of the driver and passengers, is on.
2. pandas are rapidly disappearing from the wild. therefore, in order to preserve the species, existing pandas should be captured and placed in zoos around the world.
which of the following, if true, casts doubt on the conclusion drawn above?
a) when in captivity, pandas typically produce more young than they do in their native habitat
b) newborn pandas in zoos are not likely to die from infectious diseases, whereas newborn pandas in the wild are likely to die from these diseases.
c) sufficient quantities of bamboo, the panda’s only food cannot be made available outside the panda’s native habitat.
d) many zoos are eager to increase their stock of rare and exotic animals, but there are not enough pandas for all the zoos that want one.
e) pandas in zoos have as many offspring that survive to adulthood as do pandas in the wild.
3. over the past fifteen years, the largely urbanized northeastern united states has shown more and more the influence of the southwestern portion of the county. once, very few people in new york city could be found sorting cowboy boots and stetson hats, and no major radio station boasted twenty-four-hour-a-day programming of country and western music. the latest development is the rapid proliferation of restaurants serving chili, nachos, burritos, and other tex-mex dishes.
the passage above makes which of the following assumptions?
a) the lifestyle of people in the northeast has been enriched by the influence of the southwestern states.
b) most residents of the southwestern states regularly eat at tex-mex restaurants.
c) over the last fifteen years, residents of the southwestern united states have increasingly adopted lifestyles similar to those of the northeast.
d) tex-mex dishes are an element of the regional cuisine of the southwestern states.
e) people in the northeastern united states eat out more frequently than they did fifteen years ago.
4. popular culture in the united states has become europeanized to an extent unimaginable twenty-five years ago. not many people then drank wine with meals, and no one drank important mineral water. no idea would have been more astonishing than that americans would pay to watch soccer games. such thoughts arise because of a report that the american association of state highway and transportation officials has just adopted a proposal to develop the country’s first comprehensive interstate system of routes for bicycles.
which of the following inferences is best supported by the passage?
a) long-distance bicycle routes are used in europe.
b) drinking imported mineral water is a greater luxury than drinking imported wine.
c) united states culture has benefited from exposure to foreign ideas.
d) most europeans make regular use of bicycles.
e) the influence of the united states on european culture has assumed unprecedented proportions in the last twenty-five years.
5. “on the whole,” ms. winson remarked, “engineering students are lazier now than they used to be. i know because fewer and fewer of my students regularly do the work they are assigned.”
the conclusion drawn above depends on which of the following assumptions?
a) engineering students are working less because, in a booming market, they are spending more and more time investigating different job opportunities.
b) whether or not students do the work they are assigned is a good indication of how lazy they are.
c) engineering students should work harder than students in less demanding fields.
d) ms. winson’s students are doing less work because ms. winson is not as effective a teacher as she once was.
e) laziness is something most people do not outgrow.
6. the average life expectancy for the united states population as a whole is 73.9 years, but children born in hawaii will live an average of 77 years, and those born in louisiana, 71.7 years. if a newlywed couple from louisiana were to begin their family in hawaii, therefore, their children would be expected to live longer than would be the case if the family remained in louisiana.
which of the following statement, if true, would most significantly strengthen the conclusion drawn in the passage?
a) as population density increases in hawaii, life expectancy figures for that state are likely to be revised downward.
b) environmental factors tending to favor longevity are abundant in hawaii and less numerous in louisiana.
c) twenty-five percent of all louisianaians who move to hawaii live longer than 77 years.
d) over the last decade, average life expectancy has risen at a higher rate for louisianaians than for hawaiians.
e) studies show that average life expectancy for hawaiians who move permanently to louisiana is roughly equal to that of hawaiians who remain in hawaii.
7. a conservation group in the united states is trying to change the long-standing image of bats as frightening creatures. the group contends that bats are feared and persecuted solely because they are shy animals that are active only at night.
which of the following, if true, would cast the most serious doubt on the accuracy of the group’s contention?
a) bats are steadily losing natural roosting places such as caves and hollow trees and are thus turning to more developed areas for roosting.
b) bats are the chief consumers of nocturnal insects and thus can help make their hunting territory more pleasant for humans.
c) bats are regarded as frightening creatures not only in the united states but also in europe, africa, and south america.
d) raccoons and owls are shy and active only at night; yet they are not generally feared and persecuted.
e) people know more about the behavior of other greatly feared animal species, such as lions, alligators, and snakes, than they do about the behavior of bats.
8. in the aftermath of a worldwide stock-market crash, country t claimed that the severity of the stock-market crash it experienced resulted from the accelerated process of denationalization many of its industries underwent shortly before the crash.
which of the following, if it could be carried out, would be most useful in an evaluation of country t’s assessment of the causes of the severity of its stock-market crash?
a) calculating the average loss experienced by individual traders in country t during the crash.
b) using economic theory to predict the most likely date of the next crash in country t.
c) comparing the total number of shares sold during the worst days of the crash in country t to the total number of shares sold in country t just prior to the crash.
d) comparing the severity of the crash in country t to the severity of the crash in countries otherwise economically similar to country t that have not experienced recent denationalization.
e) comparing the long-term effects of the crash on the purchasing power of the currency of country t to the immediate, more severe short-term effects of the crash on the purchasing power of the currency of country t.
9. increase in the level of high-density lipoprotein (hdl) in the human bloodstream lower bloodstream-cholesterol levels by increasing the body’s capacity to rid itself of excess cholesterol. levels of hdl in the bloodstream of some individuals are significantly increased by a program of regular exercise and weight reduction.
which of the following can be correctly inferred from the statement above?
a) individuals who are underweight do not run any risk of developing high levels of cholesterol in the bloodstream.
b) individuals who do not exercise regularly have a high risk of developing high levels of cholesterol in the bloodstream late in life.
c) exercise and weight reduction are the most effective methods of lowering bloodstream cholesterol levels in humans.
d) a program of regular exercise and weight reduction lowers cholesterol levels in the bloodstream of some individuals.
e) only regular exercise is necessary to decrease cholesterol level in the bloodstream of individuals of average weight.
10. meteorite explosions in the earth’s atmosphere as large as the one that destroyed forests in siberia, with approximately the force of a twelve-megaton nuclear blast, occur about once a century. the response of highly automated systems controlled by complex computer programs to unexpected circumstances is unpredictable.
which of the following conclusions can most properly be drawn, if the statements above are true, about a highly automated nuclear-missile defense system controlled by a complex computer program?
a) within a century after its construction, the system would react inappropriately and might accidentally start a nuclear war.
b) the system would be destroyed if an explosion of a large meteorite occurred in the earth’s atmosphere.
c) it would be impossible for the system to distinguish the explosion of a large meteorite from the explosion of a nuclear weapon.
d) whether the system would respond inappropriately to the explosion of a large meteorite would depend on the location of the blast.
e) it is not certain what the system’s response to the explosion of a large meteorite would be, if its designers did not plan for such a contingency.
11. the cost of producing radios in the country q is ten percent less than the cost of producing radios in country y. even after transportation fees and tariff charges are added, it is still cheaper for a company to import radios from country q to country y than to produce radios in country y.
the statement above, if true, best support which of the following assertions?
a) labor costs in country q are ten percent below those in country y.
b) importing radios from country q to country y will eliminate ten percent of the manufacturing jobs in country y.
c) the tariff on a radio imported from country q to country y is less than ten percent of the cost of manufacturing the radio in country y.
d) the fee for transporting a radio from country q to country y is more than ten percent of the cost of manufacturing the radio in country q.
e) it takes ten percent less time to manufacture a radio in country q than it does in country y.
12. which of the following best completes the passage below?
at a recent conference on environmental threats to the north sea, most participating countries favored uniform controls on the quality of effluents, whether or not specific environmental damage could be attributed to a particular source of effluent.
what must, of course, be shown, in order to avoid excessively restrictive controls, is that_________________.
a) any uniform controls that are adopted are likely to be implemented without delay.
b) any substance to be made subject to controls can actually cause environmental damage.
c) the countries favoring uniform controls are those generating the largest quantities of effluents.
d) all of any given pollutant that is to be controlled actually reaches the north sea at present.
e) environmental damage already inflicted on the north sea is reversible.
13. as soon as any part of a person’s conduct affects prejudicially the interests of others, society has jurisdiction over it, and the question of whether the general welfare will or will not be promoted by interfering with it becomes open to discussion. if a person’s conduct does not affect prejudicially the interests of others, it should not come under the jurisdiction of society in the first place.
the author in the passage above argues that
a) society is independent of the actions of individuals
b) the general welfare of a society is promoted when a person’s conduct benefits others.
c) conduct that does not infringe on the interests of others should not be under the jurisdiction of society.
d) interference with the actions of individuals does not enhance the general welfare.
e) in general, the interests of persons are mutually exclusive.
14. a milepost on the towpath read “21”on the side facing the hiker as she approached it and “23” on its back. she reasoned that the next milepost forward on the path would indicate that she was halfway between one end of the path and the other. however, the milepost one mile further on read “20” facing her and “24” behind.
which of the following, if true, would explain the discrepancy described above?
a) the numbers on the next milepost had been reversed.
b) the numbers the mileposts indicate kilometers, not miles.
c) the facing numbers indicate miles to the end of the path, not miles from the beginning.
d) a milepost was missing between the two the hiker encountered.
e) the mileposts had originally been put in place for the use of mountain bikers, not for hikers.
15. a program instituted in a particular state allows parents to prepay their children’s future college tuition at current rates. the program then pays the tuition annually for the child at any of the state’s public colleges in which the child enrolls. parents should participate in the program as a means of decreasing the cost for their children’s college education.
which of the following, if true, is the most appropriate reason for parents not to participate in the program?
a) the parents are unsure about which public college in the state the child will attend.
b) the amount of money accumulated by putting the prepayment funds in an interest-bearing account today will be greater than the total cost of tuition for any of the public colleges when the child enrolls.
c) the annual cost of tuition at state’s public colleges is expected in the cost of living.
d) some of the state’s public colleges are contemplating large increases in tuition next year.
e) the prepayment plan would not cover the cost of board and lodging of the state’s public colleges.
