1.Editorial: the Intercontinental Bank Should Reallocate the Voting Shares Ofits. Membersin

1.Editorial: The Intercontinental Bank should reallocate the voting shares ofits. Membersin order to more effectively shape global economic policy. For example, China
comprises about 15 percent of the world's gross domestic product but has only a 3
percent voting share, whereas Belgium, with less than 1 percent of the global economy,
has a 2 percent share.
Which of the following ls an assumption upon which the editorial's authors depend
in suggesting a way to more effectively shape global economic policy?
(A) The United States has a larger voting share of the Intercontinental Bank than
does China or Belgium.
(B) The specific allocation of voting shares factors into the Intercontinental Bank's
effectiveness in shaping global economic policy.
(C) Only voting shares that are precisely proportional to each countty'scontrlbution
to the global economy are appropriate for the Intercontinental Bank.
(D) The Intercontinental Bank is necessary to the maintenance of a prosperous
global economy.
(E) As one of the fastest growing economies, China should have a larger voting
share in the Intercontinental Bank.

2. For a local government to outlaw all strikes by its workers is a costly mistake, because all its labour disputes must then be settled by binding arbitration, without any negotiated public-sector labour settlements guiding the arbitrators. Strikes should be outlawed only for categories of public-sector workers for whose services no acceptable substitute exists.
The statements above best support which of the following conclusions?
(A) Where public-service workers are permitted to strike, contract negotiations with those workers are typically settled without a strike.
(B) Where strikes by all categories of public-sector workers are outlawed, no acceptable substitutes for the services provided by any of those workers are available.
(C) Binding arbitration tends to be more advantageous for public-service workers where it is the only available means of settling labor disputes with such workers.
(D) Most categories of public-sector workers have no counterparts in the private sector.
(E) A strike by workers in a local government is unlikely to be settled without help from an arbitrator.

3.Advertisement: According to a recent research study, daily use of Fresh Start, a new
toothpaste, reduces the risk of developing dental cavities by over 20 percent. In
addition, as a result of a new formula, the use of Fresh Start results in whiter,
healthier-looking teeth. Clearly, Fresh Start not only gives your teeth a beautiful
look but also provides the most reliable protection against dental cavities.
Which of the following is an assumption in the argument above?
(A) No other toothpaste provides more reliable protection against dental cavities.
(B) Fresh Start's formula does a better job of whitening teeth than do competitors'
formulas. .
(C) People are just as interested in having beautiful teeth as they are in having
healthy teeth.
(0) Fresh Start also prevents other dental disorders, such as gingivitis.
(E) Reliable protection against dental cavities, combined with excellent aesthetic
properties, is likely to make Fresh Start a popular toothpaste on the market.

4.Student Advisor: One of our exchange students faced multiple arguments with her parents
over the course of the past year. Not surprisingly, her grade point average (GPA)over the same
period showed a steep decline. This is just one example ofageneral troth: problematic family
relationships can cause significant academic difficulties for our students.
Which of the following is an assumption underlying the general truism claimed by the Student
Advisor?
(A) Last year, the exchange student reduced the amount of time spent on academic work,
resulting in a lower GPA.
(B) The decline in the GPAof the. Exchange student was not the reason for the student's argumentswith her parents.
(C) School GPA is an accurate measure of a student's intellectual ability.
(D) If proper measures are not taken, the decline in thestudent's academic performance may
become irreversible.
(E) Fluctuations in academic performance are typical for many students,

5.Children born to older dads score lower on average on a range of tests, including concentration, memory, reasoning and reading, while the kids of older mothers score higher than those of younger mothers. Thats according to a University of Queensland study, which analysed data on more than 30,000 Australian children taken at 8 months and again at 4 years and 7 years, respectively.
Which of the following conclusions is least supported by the above finding?
A.Children born to older dads may have to pay a significant price- in intelligence.
B.It is better for women to conceive at older ages.
C.Older dads are financially well-established which ensures good nurturing of their children, leading to higher IQ.
D.Younger women will give birth to dull children.
6.All acts have consequences. Given this fact, we may wish to play it safe by never doing anything.
The speaker implies that
A.we may prefer to live safely.Ball acts have consequences.
Cconsequentially is not safe.D.not doing anything is not an act
7.The maximum time an athlete is able to continue climbing till exhaustion sets in, may be the only determinant of his/her performance. A new European study, the objective of which is to help trainers and climbers design training programmes for this type of sport, shows this to be the case.
Until now, performance indicators for climbing have been low body fat percentage and grip strength. Further, existing research was based on a comparison of amateur and expert climbers. Now, a new study carried out with 16 high level climbers reveals that the time an athlete takes to become exhausted is the only indicator of his/her performance.
From the passage it can be concluded that-
Athe new approach of determining performance indicators is better than the previous one.
Bthe objective of this study is to help trainers and climbers design training programs with a higher difficulty level.
Cthe level of performance can be judged by the time taken by an athlete till he gets too tired.
DAll of the above
8.Aristotle said that art represents general truths about human nature. Our city councilman is arguing in favour of the artistrya giant mural in front of a Jeep dealership, portraying a variety of four-wheel-drive vehicles. He cites Aristotles conception of art as his support.
The passage above raises which of the following questions?
ACan a city councilman understands Aristotle?
BWhich general truth about human nature does a four-wheel-drive mural not represents?
CCould Aristotle have predicted a modern society filled with sophisticated machines?
DWhat general truth about human nature does a mural of four-wheel-drive vehicles represent?
9.Consumers are not so easily manipulated as they are often painted. They may know what they want, and what they want may be greatly different from what other people believe they need.
Which of the following statements, if true, most weakens the above argument?
AMost people continue to buy the same brand of a product year after year.
BCompanies that advertise the most sell the most products.
CStore shelves packed with a variety of different brands have the potential to confuse the consumer.
DMost consumers know which brand they are going to buy before entering a store.
10.The department store owned by my competitor sells green necklaces that glow in the dark. Only those customers of mine wearing those necklaces must be giving business to the competition.
The conclusion could best be strengthened by
Adeleting that glow in the dark.
B. Changing sells to has sold.
C. Changing the competition to my competitor.
D.inserting only as the first word in sentence one.
11. All race-car lovers enjoy classical music.
No backgammon players enjoy classical music.
All those who enjoy classical music also enjoy fine wine.

If each of the above statements is true, which of the following must also be true?
AEveryone who plays backgammon enjoys fine wine.
BNo one who enjoys fine wine plays backgammon.
CNo backgammon players are race-car lovers.
DNo backgammon players enjoy fine wine.
12.It has been proven that the lie detector can be fooled. If one is truly unaware that one is lying, when in fact one is, then the lie detector is worthless.

Without contradicting his or her own statements, the author might present which of the following arguments as a strong point in favour of the lie detector?
AThe methodology used by investigative critics of the lie detector is itself highly flawed.
BLaw-enforcement agencies have purchased too many detectors to abandon them now.
CCircumstantial evidence might be more useful in a criminal case than is personal testimony.
DThe very threat of a lie-detector test has led a significant number of criminals to confess.
13.In parts of the world where the life spans are short, forty may be regarded as an advanced age. People who live longer are believed to possess special powers. These elders are sometimes treated with a deference based on fear rather than love.
The final statement in the passage is based on which of the following assumptions?
A. Deference is normally accorded based on love.
B. Few elders are treated with deference.
C. People who live shorter lives have no special powers.
D. People with special powers are not loved.

14.Samuel is obviously a bad fisherman. During the past season, in which he and the five members of his team spent four months on a boat together off Dutch Harbor, AK, he caught fewer fish than any of his teammates.
Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument above?
A)Two seasons ago, Samuel fished on another boat off Dutch Harbor and caught more fish than any other member of that boat.
B)Before becoming a fisherman, Samuel piloted a fishing boat whose members regularly caught record numbers of fish.
C)While fishing this past season, Samuel fell sick for a week and did not catch any fish during this time.
D)Unlike the other fishermen on his boat, at the order of the captain, Samuel fished this past season with experimental bait.
E)Amongst the fishing community in Dutch Harbor, Samuel has a reputation for being an especially bad fisherman.

15.For a local government to outlaw all strikes by its workers is a costly mistake, because all its labor disputes must then be settled by binding arbitration, without any negotiated public-sector labor settlements guiding the arbitrators. Strikes should be outlawed only for categories of public-sector workers for whose services no acceptable substitute exists.
The statements above best support which of the following conclusions?
(A) Where public-service workers are permitted to strike, contract negotiations with those workers are typically settled without a strike.
(B) Where strikes by all categories of public-sector workers are outlawed, no acceptable substitutes for the services provided by any of those workers are available.
(C) Binding arbitration tends to be more advantageous for public-service workers where it is the only available means of settling labor disputes with such workers.
(D) Most categories of public-sector workers have no counterparts in the private sector.
(E) A strike by workers in a local government is unlikely to be settled without help from an arbitrator.
16.Which of the following best completes the passage below?
People buy prestige when they buy a premium product. They want to be associated with something special. Mass-marketing techniques and price-reduction strategies should not be used because______
(A) affluent purchasers currently represent a shrinking portion of the population of all purchasers
(B) continued sales depend directly on the maintenance of an aura of exclusivity
(C) purchasers of premium products are concerned with the quality as well as with the price of the products
(D) expansion of the market niche to include a broader spectrum of consumers will increase profits
(E) manufacturing a premium brand is not necessarily more costly than manufacturing a standard brand of the same product
17.A researcher discovered that people who have low levels of immune-system activity tend to score much lower on tests of mental health than do people with normal or high immune-system activity. The researcher concluded from this experiment that the immune system protects against mental illness as well as against physical disease.
The researchers conclusion depends on which of the following assumptions?
(A) High immune-system activity protects against mental illness better than normal immune-system activity does.
(B) Mental illness is similar to physical disease in its effects on body system.
(C) People with high immune-system activity cannot develop mental illness.
(D) Mental illness does not cause peoples immune-system activity to decrease.
(E) Psychological treatment of mental illness is not as effective as is medical treatment.
18. In January there was a large drop in the number of new houses sold, because interest rates for mortgages were falling and many consumers were waiting to see how low the rates would go. This large sales drop was accompanied by a sharp rise in the average price of new houses sold.
Which of the following, if true, best explains the sharp rise in the average price of new houses?
(A) Sales of higher-priced houses were unaffected by the sales drop because their purchasers have fewer constraints limiting the total amount they pay.
(B) Labor agreements of builders with construction unions are not due to expire until the next January.
(C) The prices of new houses have been rising slowly over the past three years because there is an increasing shortage of housing.
(D) There was a greater amount of moderate-priced housing available for resale by owners during January than in the preceding three months.
(E) Interest rates for home mortgages are expected to rise sharply later in the year if predictions of increased business activity in general prove to be accurate.

18.Years ago, some in the government's intelligence community feared the work of telecommunications researchers at then-emerging private security firms. The government experts concluded that these private firms posed the biggest risk to successful government espionage. As the private security firms began publicly releasing and advertising encryption algorithms and other security products, these government experts saw support for their conclusion when an encryption algorithm that government experts could not break began appearing in countless emails.
Which of the following, if true, most weakens the conclusion of the government experts referred to above?
A) Shortly before the government experts reached their conclusions, two private security companies each claimed to have developed "the world's strongest email encryption algorithm"
B) The private security firms' decision to advertise their products and sell them publicly led to other members of the private sector and academia scrutinizing the encryption algorithms.
C) An open-source encryption algorithm, developed by an academic and freely available from popular websites, is recognized by numerous ex-government code breakers as the most unbreakable algorithm ever developed.
D) An enemy government recently succeeded in placing a spy within the government espionage operations referred to above.
E) To strengthen the reputation of the private security firms, employees of these firms publish information about the strength of their products and the benefits of using them.

19.One morning, George Petersen of Petersen's Garage watches as a 1995 DaVolo station wagon is towed onto his lot. Because he knows that nearly 90% of the 1995 DaVolo station wagons brought to his garage for work in the past were brought in because of malfunctioning power windows, he reasons that there is an almost 9 to 1 chance that the car he saw this morning has also been brought in to correct its faulty power windows. Which one of the following employs flawed reasoning most similar to that employed by George Petersen?
(1) Mayor Lieberman was re-elected by a majority of almost 75%. Since Janine Davis voted in that mayoral election, the chances are almost 3 to 1 that she voted for Mayor Lieberman.
(2) Each week nine out of 10 best-selling paperback books at The Reader's Nook are works of fiction. Since Nash's history of World War II was among the ten best-selling paperback books at The Reader's Nook this week, the chances are 9 to 1 that it is a work of fiction
(3) 90% of those who attempt to get into Myrmidon Military Academy are turned down. Since the previous 10 candidates to the academy were not accepted, Vladimir's application will almost certainly be approved.
(4) Only one out of 50 applications for bypassing zoning regulations and establishing a new business in the Gedford residential district is accepted. Since only 12 such applications were made last month, there is virtually no chance that any of them will be accepted.

20.Current farm policy is institutionalized penalization of consumers. It increases food prices for middle- and low-income families and costs the taxpayer billions of dollars a year.
Which of the following statements, if true, would provide support for the author's claims above?
I. Farm subsidies amount to roughly $20 billion a year in federal payouts and $12 billion more in higher food prices.
II. According to a study by the Department of Agriculture, each $1 of benefits provided to farmers for ethanol production costs consumers and taxpayers $4.
III. The average full-time farmers have an average net worth of over $300,000.
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) I and II only
(E) I, II, and III