11. Which of the following, if true, would provide most support for concluding from the survey results described above that the use of illegal drugs by people below the age of 20 is declining?
(A) Changes in the level of drug use by high school seniors are seldom matched by changes in the level of drug use by other people below the age of 20.
(B) In the past, high school seniors were consistently the population group most likely to use illegal drugs and most likely to use them heavily.
(C) The percentage of high school seniors who use illegal drugs is consistently very similar to the percentage of all people below the age of 20 who use illegal drugs.
(D) The decline revealed by the surveys is the result of drug education programs specifically targeted at those below the age of 20.(C)
(E) The number of those surveyed who admit to having sold illegal drugs has declined even faster than has the number who have used drugs.
12. President of the United States: I have received over 2,000 letters on this issue, and the vast majority of them support my current position. These letters prove that most of the people in the country agree with me.
Which of the following, if true, most weakens the President’s conclusion?
(A) The issue is a very divisive one on which many people have strong opinions.
(B) Some members of Congress disagree with the President’s position.
(C) People who disagree with the President feel more strongly about the issue than do people who agree with him.
(D) People who agree with the President are more likely to write to him than are people who disagree with him.(D)
(E) During the presidential campaign, the President stated a position on this issue that was somewhat different from his current position.
13. Some governments have tried to make alcohol and tobacco less attractive to consumers by regulating what can be shown in advertisements for these products, rather than by banning advertising of them altogether. However, the need to obey the letter of these restrictions has actually stimulated advertisers to create advertisements that are more inventive and humorous than they were prior to the restrictions’ introduction.
which of the following, if true, would, in conjunction with the statements above, best support the conclusion that the government policy described above fails to achieve its objective?
(A) Because of the revenues gained from the sale of alcohol and tobacco, governments have no real interest in making these products less attractive to consumers.
(B) Advertisers tend to create inventive and humorous advertisements only if they have some particular reason to do so.
(C) Banning advertising of alcohol and tobacco is a particularly effective way of making these products less attractive to consumers.
(D) With the policy in place, advertisements for alcohol and tobacco have become far more inventive and humorous than advertisements for other kinds of products.(E)
(E) The more inventive an advertisement is, the more attractive it makes the advertised product appear.
14. Which of the following, if true, best completes the argument below?
Comparisons of the average standards of living of the citizens of two countries should reflect the citizens’ comparative access to goods and services. Reliable figures in a country’s own currency for the average income of its citizens are easily obtained. But it is difficult to get an accurate comparison of average standards of living from these figures, because______
(A) there are usually no figures comparing how much of two different currencies must be spent in order to purchase a given quantity of goods and services
(B) wage levels for the same job vary greatly from country to country, depending on cultural as well as on purely economic factors
(C) these figures must be calculated by dividing the gross national product of a country by the size of its population
(D) comparative access to goods and services is only one of several factors relevant in determining quality of life(A)
(E) the wealth, and hence the standard of living, of a country’s citizens is very closely related to their income
15. The level of lead contamination in United States rivers declined between 1975 and 1985. Federal regulations requiring a drop in industrial discharges of lead went into effect in 1975, but the major cause of the decline was a 75 percent drop in the use of leaded gasoline between 1975 and 1985.
Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim that the major cause of the decline in the level of lead contamination in United States rives was the decline in the use of leaded gasoline?
(A) The level of lead contamination in United States rivers fell sharply in both 1975 and 1983.
(B) Most of the decline in industrial discharges of lead occurred before 1976, but the largest decline in the level of river contamination occurred between 1980 and 1985.
(C) Levels of lead contamination in rivers fell sharply in 1975-1976 and rose very slightly over the next nine years.
(D) Levels of lead contamination rose in those rivers where there was reduced river flow due to drought.(B)
(E) Although the use of leaded gasoline declined 75 percent between 1975 and 1985, 80 percent of the decline took place in 1985.
16. George Bernard Shaw wrote: “That any sane nation, having observed that you could provide for the supply of bread by giving bakers a pecuniary interest in baking for you, should go on to give a surgeon a pecuniary interest in cutting off your leg is enough to make one despair of political humanity.”
Shaw’s statement would best serve as an illustration in an argument criticizing which of the following?
(A) Dentists who perform unnecessary dental work in order to earn a profit
(B) Doctors who increase their profits by specializing only in diseases that affect a large percentage of the population
(C) Grocers who raise the price of food in order to increase their profit margins
(D) Oil companies that decrease the price of their oil in order to increase their market share(A)
(E) Bakers and surgeons who earn a profit by supplying other peoples’ basic needs
