30 Minutes 20 Questions
1. In 1985 in the country of Alissia, farmers brought to market a broccoli crop that was one-and-a-half times as large as the 1985 broccoli crop in its neighbor country, Barbera. Yet total quantities of broccoli available for sale to consumers in Alissia were smaller than were total quantities in Barbera in 1985.Which of the following, if true, in 1985, contributes most to an explanation of why there was less broccoli available for sale to consumers in Alissia than in Barbera?
(A) Barbera’s farmers produced much more cabbage than did Alissia’s farmers.
(B) Barbera’s farmers produced fewer heads of broccoli per acre than did Alissia’s farmers.
(C) Alissia exported a much higher proportion of its broccoli crop than did Barbera.
(D) Broccoli was much more popular among consumers in Alissia than in Barbera.
(E) Alissia had more land suitable for growing broccoli than did Barbera.
2. A manufacturer of men’s dress socks sought to increase profits by increasing sales. The size of its customer pool was remaining steady, with the average customer buying twelve pairs of dress socks per year. The company’s plan was to increase the number of promotional discount-sale periods to one every six months.Which of the following, if it is a realistic possibility, casts the most serious doubt on the viability of the company’s plan?
(A) New manufacturing capacity would not be required if the company were to increase the number of pairs of socks sold.
(B) Inventory stocks of merchandise ready for sale would be high preceding the increase in the number of discount-sale periods.
(C) The manufacturer’s competitors would match its discounts during sale periods, and its customers would learn to wait for those times to make their purchases.
(D) New styles and colors would increase customers’ consciousness of fashion in dress socks, but the customers’ requirements for older styles and colors would not be reduced.
(E) The cost of the manufacturer’s raw materials would remain steady, and its customers would have more disposable income.
3. Previous studies have indicated that eating chocolate increases the likelihood of getting heart disease. However, a new, more reliable study has indicated that eating chocolate does not increase the likelihood of getting heart disease. When the results of the new study become known, consumption of chocolate will undoubtedly increase.Which of the following is an assumption on which the conclusion above is based?
(A) Most people who eat a great deal of chocolate will not get heart disease.
(B) Although they believe that eating chocolate increases the likelihood of getting heart disease, some people still eat as much chocolate as they want.
(C) People who have heard that eating chocolate increases the likelihood of getting heart disease do not believe it.
(D) There are people who currently eat as much chocolate as they want because they have not heard that eating chocolate increases the likelihood of getting heart disease.
(E) There are people who currently limit their consumption of chocolate only because they believe that eating chocolate increases the likelihood of getting heart disease.
4. The fossil record shows that the climate of North America warmed and dried at the end of the Pleistocene period. Most of the species of large mammals then living on the continent became extinct, but the smaller mammalian species survived.Which of the following, if true, provides the best basis for an explanation of the contrast described above between species of large mammals and species of small mammals?
(A) Individual large mammals can, in general, travel further than small mammals and so are more able to migrate in search of a hospitable environment.
(B) The same pattern of comparative success in smaller, as opposed to larger, species that is observed in mammals is also found in bird species of the same period.
(C) The fossil record from the end of Pleistocene period is as clear for small mammals as it is for large mammals.
(D) Larger mammals have greater food and space requirements than smaller mammals and are thus less able to withstand environmental change.
(E) Many more of the species of larger mammals than of the species of smaller mammals living in North America in that period had originated in climates that were warmer than was that of North America before the end of the Pleistocene period.
5. Bonuses at DSR Industries cannot be awarded unless profits exceed a ten percent return on stockholders’ investments in the company. Higher profits mean higher bonuses. Therefore, bonuses in a year of general economic recession will be considerably lower than bonuses in a year of peak profits at DSR.The conclusion above depends on the assumption that
(A) the firm will have relatively low profits in recession years
(B) the amount represented by a ten percent return on stockholders’ investments in the company will increase from year to year
(C) profits rarely exceed a ten percent return on stockholders’ investments in the company
(D) profits in excess of a ten percent return on stockholders’ investments in the company are all distributed in the form of bonuses
(E) bonuses at DSR never drop to zero
Questions 6-7 are based on the following.
Suitable habitats for gray wolves have greatly diminished in area. In spite of this fact, the most sensible course would be to refrain from reestablishing gray wolves in places where previously they have been hunted out of existence. Striving to bring back these animals to places where they will only face lethal human hostility is immoral.
6. The argument above depends on
(A) an appeal to an authority
(B) a belief that gray wolves are dangerous to human beings and livestock
(C) an assumption that two events that occur together must be causally connected
(D) an assumption that the future will be like the past
(E) a threat of violence against those persons presenting the opposing view
7. The argument above would be most significantly weakened if which of the following were true?
(A) Effective laws against the hunting of gray wolves have been enacted.
(B) Ranchers, farmers, and hunters still have an ingrained bias against gray wolves.
(C) By the 1930’s bounty hunters had exterminated most of the gray wolves in the United States.
(D) Programs for increasing the gray wolf population are not aided by federal laws that require the licensing of hunters of certain predators.
(E) Suggested programs for increasing the gray wolf population have been criticized by environmentalists and biologists.
8. For the safety-conscious Swedish market, a United States manufacturer of desktop computers developed a special display screen that produces a much weaker electromagnetic field surrounding the user than do ordinary screens. Despite an advantage in this respect over its competitors, the manufacturer is introducing the screen into the United States market without advertising it as a safety improvement.Which of the following, if true, provides a rationale for the manufacturer’s approach to advertising the screen in the United States?
(A) Many more desktop computers are sold each year in the United States market than are sold in the Swedish market.
(B) The manufacturer does not want its competitors to become aware of the means by which the company has achieved this advance in technology.
(C) Most business and scientific purchasers of desktop computers expect to replace such equipment eventually as better technology becomes available on the market.
(D) An emphasis on the comparative safety of the new screen would call into question the safety of the many screens the manufacturer has already sold in the United States.
(E) Concern has been expressed in the United States over the health effects of the large electromagnetic fields surrounding electric power lines.
