1. The school board has determined that it is necessary to reduce the number of teachers on the staff. Rather than deciding which teachers will be laid off on the basis of seniority, the school board plans to lay off the least effective teachers first.
The school board’s plan assumes that
(A) there is a way of determining the effectiveness of teachers
(B) what one individual defines as effective teaching will not be defined as effective teaching by another individual
(C) those with the most experience teaching are the best teachers
(D) those teachers who are paid the most are generally the most qualified
(E) some teachers will be more effective working with some students than with other students
2. Since applied scientific research is required for technological advancement, many have rightly urged an increased emphasis in universities on applied research. But we must not give too little attention to basic research, even though it may have no foreseeable application, for tomorrow’s applied research will depend on the basic research of today.
If the statements above are true, which of the following can be most reliably inferred?
(A) If future technological advancement is desired, basic research should receive greater emphasis than applied research.
(B) If basic research is valued in universities, applied research should be given less emphasis than it currently has.
(C) If future technological advancement is desired, research should be limited to that with some foreseeable application.
(D) If too little attention is given to basic research today, future technological advancement will be jeopardized.
(E) If technological advancement is given insufficient emphasis, basic research will also receive too little attention.
3. The First Banking Group’s decision to invest in an electronic network for transferring funds was based on a cost advantage over a nonelectronic system of about ten dollars per transaction in using an electronic system. Executives reasoned further that the system would give them an advantage over competitors.
Which of the following, if it is a realistic possibility, most seriously weakens the executives’ projection of an advantage over competitors?
(A) The cost advantage of using the electronic system will not increase sufficiently to match the pace of inflation.
(B) Competitors will for the same reasons install electronic systems, and the resulting overcapacity will lead to mutually damaging price wars.
(C) The electronic system will provide a means for faster transfer of funds, if the First Banking Group wishes to provide faster transfer to its customers.
(D) Large banks from outside the area served by the First Banking Group have recently established branches in that area as competitors to the First Banking Group.
(E) Equipment used in the electronic network for transferring funds will be compatible with equipment used in other such networks.
4. Which of the following best completes the argument below?
One effect of the introduction of the electric refrigerator was a collapse in the market for ice. Formerly householders had bought ice to keep their iceboxes cool and the food stored in the iceboxes fresh. Now the iceboxes cool themselves. Similarly, the introduction of crops genetically engineered to be resistant to pests will______
(A) increase the size of crop harvests
(B) increase the cost of seeds
(C) reduce demand for chemical pesticides
(D) reduce the value of farmland
(E) reduce the number of farmers keeping livestock
5. In 1985 the city’s Fine Arts Museum sold 30,000 single-entry tickets. In 1986 the city’s Folk Arts and Interior Design museums opened, and these three museums together sold over 80,000 such tickets that year. These museums were worth the cost, since more than twice as many citizens are now enjoying the arts.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the author’s assertion that more than twice as many citizens are now enjoying the arts?
(A) Most visitors to one museum also visit the other two.
(B) The cost of building the museums will not be covered by revenues generated by the sale of museum tickets.
(C) As the two new museums become better known, even more citizens will visit them.
(D) The city’s Fine Arts Museum did not experience a decrease in single-entry tickets sold in 1986.
(E) Fewer museum entry tickets were sold in 1986 than the museum planners had hoped to sell.
6. F: We ought not to test the safety of new drugs on sentient animals, such as dogs and rabbits. Our benefit means their pain, and they are equal to us in the capacity to feel pain.
G: We must carry out such tests; otherwise, we would irresponsibly sacrifice the human lives that could have been saved by the drugs.
Which of the following, if true, is the best objection that could be made from F’s point of view to counter G’s point?
(A) Even though it is not necessary for people to use cosmetics, cosmetics are also being tested on sentient animals.
(B) Medical science already has at its disposal a great number of drugs and other treatments for serious illnesses.
(C) It is not possible to obtain scientifically adequate results by testing drugs in the test tube, without making tests on living tissue.
(D) Some of the drugs to be tested would save human beings from great pain.
(E) Many tests now performed on sentient animals can be performed equally well on fertilized chicken eggs that are at a very early stage of development.
7. Which of the following best completes the passage below?
The unemployment rate in the United States fell from 7.5 percent in 1981 to 6.9 percent in 1986. It cannot, however, be properly concluded from these statistics that the number of unemployed in 1986 was lower than it had been in 1981 because______
(A) help-wanted advertisements increased between 1981 and 1986
(B) many of the high-paying industrial jobs available in 1981 were replaced by low-wage service jobs in 1986, resulting in displacements of hundreds of thousands of workers
(C) in some midwestern industrial states, the unemployment rate was much higher in 1986 than it had been in 1981
(D) the total available work force, including those with and without employment, increased between 1981 and 1986
(E) the average time that employees stay in any one job dropped during the period 1981 to 1986
8. To reduce costs, a company is considering a drastic reduction in the number of middle-level managers. This reduction would be accomplished by first offering early retirement to those 50 years of age or older with 15 years of service, and then by firing enough of the others to bring the overall reduction to 50 percent.
Each of the following, assuming that it is a realistic possibility, is a possible disadvantage to the company of the plan EXCEPT:
(A) Loyalty to the company will be reduced among those surviving the reduction, because they will perceive the status of even good managers as uncertain.
(B) The restructuring of managerial jobs will allow business units to be adapted to fit a changing business environment.
(C) The company will have a smaller pool of managers from which to choose in selecting future senior managers.
(D) Some of the best managers, unsure of their security against being fired, will choose early retirement.
(E) The increased workload of managers remaining with the company will subject them to stress that will eventually affect their performance.
9. In order to relieve congestion in the airspace near the airports of a certain country, transportation officials propose sending passengers by new rapid trains between the country’s major airport and several small cities within a 300-mile radius of it. This plan was proposed even though the officials realized that it is the major airport that is congested, not those in the small cities.
The plan to relieve congestion would work best if which of the following were true about the major airport?
(A) Rail tickets between the airport and the small cities will most likely cost more than the current air tickets for those routes.
(B) Most passengers who frequently use the airport prefer to reach their cities of destination exclusively by air, even if they must change planes twice.
(C) There are feasible changes in the airport’s traffic control system which would significantly relieve congestion.
(D) Some of the congestion the airport experiences could be relieved if more flights were scheduled at night and at other off-peak hours.
(E) A significant proportion of the airport’s traffic consists of passengers transferring between international flights and flights to the small cities.
Questions 10-11 are based on the following.
An annually conducted, nationwide survey shows a continuing marked decline in the use of illegal drugs by high school seniors over the last three years.
10. Which of the following, if true, casts most doubt on the relevance of the survey results described above for drawing conclusions about illegal drug use in the teen-age population as a whole?
(A) Because of cuts in funding, no survey of illegal drug use by high school seniors will be conducted next year.
(B) The decline uncovered in the survey has occurred despite the decreasing cost of illegal drugs.
(C) Illegal drug use by teen-agers is highest in those areas of the country where teen-agers are least likely to stay in high school for their senior year.
(D) Survey participants are more likely now than they were three years ago to describe as “heroic” people who were addicted to illegal drugs and have been able to quit.
(E) The proportion of high school seniors who say that they strongly disapprove of illegal drug use has declined over the last three years.
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.
(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.
(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) 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
(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.
(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
(E) Bakers and surgeons who earn a profit by supplying other peoples’ basic needs
17. Since 1975 there has been in the United States a dramatic decline in the incidence of traditional childhood diseases such as measles. This decline has been accompanied by an increased incidence of Peterson’s disease, a hitherto rare viral infection, among children. Few adults, however, have been affected by the disease.
Which of the following, if true, would best help to explain the increased incidence of Peterson’s disease among children?
(A) Hereditary factors determine in part the degree to which a person is susceptible to the virus that causes Peterson’s disease.
(B) The decrease in traditional childhood diseases and the accompanying increase in Peterson’s disease have not been found in any other country.
(C) Children who contract measles develop an immunity to the virus that causes Peterson’s disease.
(D) Persons who did not contract measles in childhood might contract measles in adulthood, in which case the consequences of the disease would generally be more severe.
(E) Those who have contracted Peterson’s disease are at increased risk of contracting chicken pox.
18. Many plant varieties used in industrially developed nations to improve cultivated crops come from less developed nations. No compensation is paid on the grounds that the plants used are “the common heritage of humanity.” Such reasoning is, however, flawed. After all, no one suggests that coal, oil, and ores should be extracted without payment.
Which of the following best describes an aspect of the method used by the author in the argument above?
(A) The author proceeds from a number of specific observations to a tentative generalization.
(B) The author applies to the case under discussion facts about phenomena assumed to be similar in some relevant respect.
(C) A position is strengthened by showing that the opposite of that position would have logically absurd consequences.
(D) A line of reasoning is called into question on the grounds that it confuses cause and effect in a causal relation.
(E) An argument is analyzed by separating statements of fact from individual value judgments.
19. It is widely assumed that a museum is helped financially when a generous patron donates a potential exhibit. In truth, however, donated objects require storage space, which is not free, and routine conservation, which is rather expensive. Therefore, such gifts exacerbate rather than lighten the demands made on a museum’s financial resources.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?
(A) To keep patrons well disposed, a museum will find it advisable to put at least some donated objects on exhibit rather than merely in storage.
(B) The people who are most likely to donate valuable objects to a museum are also the people who are most likely to make cash gifts to it.
(C) A museum cannot save money by resorting to cheap storage under less than adequate conditions, because so doing would drive up the cost of conservation.
(D) Patrons expect a museum to keep donated objects in its possession rather than to raise cash by selling them.
(E) Objects donated by a patron to a museum are often of such importance that the museum would be obliged to add them to its collection through purchase if necessary.
20. Despite the approach of winter, oil prices to industrial customers are exceptionally low this year and likely to remain so. Therefore, unless the winter is especially severe, the price of natural gas to industrial customers is also likely to remain low.
Which of the following, if true, provides the most support for the conclusion above?
(A) Long-term weather forecasts predict a mild winter.
(B) The industrial users who consume most natural gas can quickly and cheaply switch to using oil instead.
(C) The largest sources of supply for both oil and natural gas are in subtropical regions unlikely to be affected by winter weather.
(D) The fuel requirements of industrial users of natural gas are not seriously affected by the weather.
(E) Oil distribution is more likely to be affected by severe winter weather than is the distribution of natural gas.