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GMAT - Critical Reasoning - Test 2

in Critical Reasoning

Read the passage and choose the option that best answer the question.

1. Most scientists agree that new lines of interdisciplinary research are the need of the hour. Even government committees on science have stressed the need for more interdisciplinary projects. Yet, of ten proposals for new interdisciplinary projects last year, only one was successfully funded. Some have suggested that this means that as yet researchers are not coming up with sufficiently persuasive projects, or that their proposals are not of high enough quality, or even that the reputations of these researchers is not high enough. However, the real reason probably lies in the way funding is organized. Funding is still allocated according to the old categories and there are no funds specifically for research that overlaps different subject areas.1.

The two parts in bold-face are related to each other in which of the following ways?

A. The first is a finding that the author finds unacceptable; the second is the author?s own position
B. The first is a finding that the author attempts to account for; the second is a finding that contradicts the author?s main conclusion.
C. The first is a fact that the author attempts to account for. The second is data that explicitly supports the author?s main conclusion.
D. The first is a position that the author opposes; the second is the author?s main position.
E. The first is a situation that the author finds paradoxical; the second is an assumption that the author uses to reinforce the paradox.

2. Susan: Those who oppose experimentation on animals do not properly value the preservation of human life. Although animal suffering is unfortunate, it is justifiable if it can lead to cures for human ailments. Melvin: But much animal experimentation involves testing of ordinary consumer products such as soaps, dyes, and cosmetics. Susan: These experiments are justifiable on the same grounds, since cleanliness, convenience, and beauty are worthwhile human values deserving of support. Which of the following is the best statement of the logical flaw in Susan's argument?

A. Her claim that animal experimentation is justifiable if it supports human values contradicts her claim that such experimentation is justifiable only if it leads to cures for human ailments.
B. She places a higher value on human cleanliness, convenience, and beauty than she does on the preservation of animal life.
C. She uses the word ?value? in two different senses.
D. She assumes that all ordinary consumer products aid in the preservation of human life.
E. She fails to show how mere support for human values actually preserves human lives.

3. Informed people generally assimilate information from several divergent sources before coming to an opinion. However, most popular news organizations view foreign affairs solely through the eyes of our State Department. In reporting the political crisis in foreign country B, news organizations must endeavor to find alternative sources of information. Which of the following inferences can be drawn from the argument above?

A. To the degree that a news source gives an account of another country that mirrors that of our State Department, that reporting is suspect.
B. To protect their integrity, news media should avoid the influence of State Department releases in their coverage of foreign affairs.
C. Reporting that is not influenced by the State Department is usually more accurate than are other accounts.
D. The alternative sources of information mentioned in the passage would probably not share the same views as the State Department.
E. A report cannot be seen as influenced by the State Department if it accurately depicts the events in a foreign country.

4. In 1985 state border colleges in Texas lost the enrollment of more than half, on average, of the Mexican nationals they had previously served each year. Teaching faculties have alleged that this extreme drop resulted from a rise in tuition for international and out-of-state students from $40 to $120 per credit hour. Which of the following, if feasible, offers the best prospects for alleviating the problem of the drop in enrollment of Mexican nationals as the teaching faculties assessed it?

A. Providing grants-in-aid to Mexican nationals to study in Mexican universities
B. Allowing Mexican nationals to study in Texas border colleges and to pay in-state tuition rates, which are the same as the previous international rate
C. Reemphasizing the goals and mission of the Texas state border colleges as serving both in-state students and Mexican nationals
D. Increasing the financial resources of Texas colleges by raising the tuition for in-state students attending state institutions
E. Offering career counseling for those Mexican nationals who graduate from state border colleges and intend to return to Mexico

5. Researchers have found that when very overweight people, who tend to have relatively low metabolic rates, lose weight primarily through dieting, their metabolisms generally remain unchanged. They will thus burn significantly fewer calories at the new weight than do people whose weight is normally at that level. Such newly thin persons will, therefore, ultimately regain weight until their body size again matches their metabolic rate. The conclusion of the argument above depends on which of the following assumptions?

A. Relatively few very overweight people who have dieted down to a new weight tend to continue to consume substantially fewer calories than do people whose normal weight is at that level.
B. The metabolisms of people who are usually not overweight are much more able to vary than the metabolisms of people who have been very overweight.
C. The amount of calories that a person usually burns in a day is determined more by the amount that is consumed that day than by the current weight of the individual.
D. Researchers have not yet determined whether the metabolic rates of formerly very overweight individuals can be accelerated by means of chemical agents.
E. Because of the constancy of their metabolic rates, people who are at their usual weight normally have as much difficulty gaining weight as they do losing it.

6. In the suburbs surrounding Middletown, there is an average of 2.4 automobiles per family, and thus very few suburban residents use public buses. The suburban communities, therefore, would derive little benefit from continuing to subsidize the portion of Middletown's public bus system that serves the suburbs. Which of the following, if true, casts the most serious doubt on the conclusion drawn above?

A. The real-estate tax rate in Middletown is higher than it is in the suburbs.
B. Last year voters in the suburban communities defeated by a narrow margin a bill designed to increase subsidies for public bus routes.
C. Many suburban shops can attract enough employees to remain in business only because subsidized public transportation from Middletown is available.
D. Public buses operated with less than a 35 percent occupancy rate produce more pollution per passenger mile than would the operation of private automobiles for each passenger.
E. Most voters in Middletown's suburban communities are unwilling to continue subsidies for public buses next year if ridership on those buses drops below current levels.

7. In a study of the effect of color on productivity, 50 of 100 factory workers were moved from their drab workroom to a brightly colored workroom. Both these workers and the 50 who remained in the drab workroom increased their productivity, probably as a result of the interest taken by researchers in the work of both groups during the study. Which of the following, if true, would cast most doubt upon the author's interpretation of the study results given above?

A. The 50 workers moved to the brightly colored room performed precisely the same manufacturing task as the workers who remained in the drab workroom.
B. The drab workroom was designed to provide adequate space for at most 65 workers.
C. The 50 workers who moved to the brightly colored workroom were matched as closely as possible in age and level of training to the 50 workers who remained in the drab work-room.
D. Nearly all the workers in both groups had volunteered to move to the brightly colored workroom.
E. Many of the workers who moved to the brightly colored workroom reported that they liked the drab workroom as well as or better than they liked the brightly colored workroom.

8. A study of marital relationships in which one partner's sleeping and waking cycles differ from those of the other partner reveals that such couples share fewer activities with each other and have more violent arguments than do couples in a relationship in which both partners follow the same sleeping and waking patterns. Thus, mismatched sleeping and waking cycles can seriously jeopardize a marriage. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

A. Married couples in which both spouses follow the same sleeping and waking patterns also occasionally have arguments than can jeopardize the couple's marriage.
B. The sleeping and waking cycles of individuals tend to vary from season to season.
C. The individuals who have sleeping and waking cycles that differ significantly from those of their spouses tend to argue little with colleagues at work.
D. People in unhappy marriages have been found to express hostility by adopting a different sleeping and waking cycle from that of their spouses.
E. According to a recent study, most people's sleeping and waking cycles can be controlled and modified easily.

9. Between 1975 and 1985, nursing-home occupancy rates averaged 87 percent of capacity, while admission rates remained constant, at an average of 95 admissions per 1,000 beds per year. Between 1985 and 1988, however, occupancy rates rose to an average of 92 percent of capacity, while admission rates declined to 81 per 1,000 beds per year. If the statements above are true, which of the following conclusions can be most properly drawn?

A. The average length of time nursing-home residents stayed in nursing homes increased between 1985 and 1988.
B. The proportion of older people living in nursing homes was greater in 1988 than in 1975.
C. Nursing home admission rates tend to decline whenever occupancy rates rise.
D. Nursing homes built prior to 1985 generally had fewer beds than did nursing homes built between 1985 and 1988.
E. The more beds a nursing home has, the higher its occupancy rate is likely to be.

10. An experimental microwave clothes dryer heats neither air nor cloth. Rather, it heats water on clothes, thereby saving electricity and protecting delicate fibers by operating at a lower temperature. Microwaves are waves that usually heat metal objects, but developers of a microwave dryer are perfecting a process that will prevent thin metal objects such as hairpins from heating up and burning clothes. Which of the following, if true, most strongly indicates that the process, when perfected, will be insufficient to make the dryer readily marketable?

A. Metal snap fasteners on clothes that are commonly put into drying machines are about the same thickness as most hairpins.
B. Many clothes that are currently placed into mechanical dryers are not placed there along with hairpins or other thin metal objects.
C. The experimental microwave dryer uses more electricity than future, improved models would be expected to use.
D. Drying clothes with the process would not cause more shrinkage than the currently used mechanical drying process causes.
E. Many clothes that are frequently machine-dried by prospective customers incorporate thick metal parts such as decorative brass studs or buttons.