CyberPrep for GMAT: Reading Comprehension Drill

15 Questions
Time--25 minutes

Directions: The questions in this section require you to follow or evaluate the reasoning contained in brief statements or passages. In some questions, each of the choices is a conceivable solution to the particular problem posed. However, you are to select the one that answers the question best; that is, the one that does not require you to make what are by common-sense standards implausible, superfluous, or incompatible assumptions.

Questions 1–2

Studies have clearly shown that negative commercial advertising tends to alienate consumers. The net result of a particularly nasty ad war between two competing brands of coffee, in which each severely criticized the other, was a sharp drop in the total amount of coffee purchased. Similarly, we should expect then that after viewing political attack ads, people's expressed intention to vote will drop sharply. It appears, then, that negative political advertising is self-defeating.

1. The speaker above argues by

(A) drawing an analogy

(B) defining a term

(C) challenging an authority

(D) proving a premise

(E) refuting a theory

2. Which of the following points out a logical weakness in the argument above?

(A) Consumers can choose to save money rather than spend it on a product they don't want or need, but a vote is valid only for a particular election and must be used or lost.

(B) In an exchange of negative campaign ads, it is possible for a candidate to run a negative ad attacking an opponent for running negative ads.

(C) A business is hurt as much by an overall drop in the total market as by loss of market share, but a majority of votes wins an election regardless of the number of votes cast.

(D) A consumer can switch to the product of a company that uses only positive advertising, but an election campaign may not include a candidate who refuses to use negative ads.

(E) Demand for a product can often be stimulated by a decrease in the price of the product, but each vote cast in an election has exactly the same value as every other vote.

3. The company's sales force would be more productive with Ann Marie as its head instead of Clifford because her organizational skills are superior and her conciliatory style of management is less likely to hurt morale than Clifford's aggressive style.

Which of the following most closely parallels the pattern of reasoning in the argument above?

(A) The soccer team would probably win more games if Edward were replaced by Tim as head coach because Edward's experience with older children causes him to use coaching techniques that are not suited to younger children.

(B) It would be less expensive for Joan to repair her old car than to buy a new one, since the cost of repairs would be $1,000 while the cost of a new car would be at least $10,000.

(C) Peter would be better off taking Psychology 102 instead of Economics 405 since he is already familiar with some of the material and Dr. Martin, unlike Dr. Kraft, is an easy grader.

(D) Christine could benefit financially by taking advantage of the company's early retirement offer because she could take a lump-sum payment and still find another job.

(E) Even though both are well qualified, the trustees should choose Elvyn instead of Georgia to be the university system's next chancellor because Elvyn has a better relationship with the state legislature.

4. The used-car trade is the fastest-growing segment of the automobile market. Nowadays, about 6 out of every 10 cars and trucks sold are secondhand. This was bound to happen. Evidently, consumers are finally saying no to the ridiculously high and constantly rising new-car prices and are choosing instead to purchase used vehicles.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?

(A) Last year, sales of used vehicles totaled just over $18 million while sales of new vehicles totaled just under $16 million.

(B) Leasing a new vehicle for just two to four years has become very popular, so the number of available used vehicles is growing.

(C) A car dealer usually makes a profit of about $300 to $500 on a used car but only $100 or even less on a new vehicle.

(D) High-priced luxury import vehicles are significantly less likely to be found in the used-car market than less expensive vehicles.

(E) Many states have so-called "lemon laws" that require used-vehicle dealers to warrant vehicles that they sell for one to three months.

5. Ms. Ingres has filed a lawsuit against the firm claiming that she is the victim of gender-based discrimination because she was not promoted to partner. The firm has reviewed her personnel records and concluded that she had an excellent work record that was superior to the records of several men with fewer years of service who were promoted to partner. Additionally, there are no negative entries in her file. Nonetheless, we feel justified in refusing to make her a partner because this lawsuit shows that she is not a team player.

The reasoning of the speaker is most similar to which of the following?

(A) An elected official who is charged with corruption but refuses to resign from office pending a full investigation into the matter

(B) A contractor who acknowledges that faulty materials were used in a building but claims that he was defrauded by a supplier

(C) A young man who admits killing both of his parents who pleads for a judge to show him mercy because he is an orphan

(D) A teacher who gives a student a failing mark on a term paper after the student admits to plagiarizing the paper

(E) A soldier who refuses to follow orders from a superior officer and argues that the orders were immoral and therefore invalid

Bill: The newspaper discontinued Dr. Andrews' weekly humor column because the editor said that he had plagiarized the work of another humorist. Dr. Andrews explained, however, that much of the column's material was from stories submitted by readers and that he had no idea that the offending items had been written by another humorist. Since his use of the items was innocent, Dr. Andrews' column should be reinstated.

Kathy: That's not the point. No one accused Dr. Andrews of violating another author's copyright. The offense was that he passed off material as his own that he had not actually written. And so it was plagiarism even though the owner of the copyrighted material wrote to the newspaper to say that he did not think that Dr. Andrews had intentionally stolen from him.

6. Which one of the following principles best justifies Bill's defense of Dr. Andrews?

(A) A writer can quote without attribution if it appears that the material is in common circulation.

(B) An author is entitled to quote without attribution if the copyright owner will later grant permission.

(C) A humorist can retell anecdotes submitted by readers only after doing a thorough search for the source.

(D) An author has an absolute right to quote hers or his previously published work without need of attribution.

(E) Literary works that are no longer under copyright protection can be freely quoted by any writer.

7. The Avary Company hired a consulting firm to advise it on how to improve retention of new employees. Avary implemented several of the consulting firm's recommendations, and, as a result, only 5 percent of newly hired clerical staff left within twelve months of hiring, but fully 10 percent of newly hired professional staff left during the same period. The result of the new policy is that Avary is now losing more professional employees than clerical employees.

The argument above can be criticized because it fails to consider the possibility that

(A) prior to adoption of the new policy more newly hired clericals left than newly hired professionals

(B) Avary Company is not sincere in its efforts to retain professional as well as clerical employees

(C) the consulting firm's recommendations took into account the different needs of professionals and clericals

(D) the number of newly hired professionals is substantially less than the number of newly hired clericals

(E) a company may not be able to exercise meaningful control over the number of newly hired employees who leave

8.. Aristotle believed that human decision-making takes the form of a practical syllogism:

Major Premise: Sweet deserts are tasty.

Minor Premise: This is a piece of cake on my plate.

Conclusion: I'll eat this piece of cake.

But Aristotle was not able to account for the problem of the akratic, someone who has knowledge of both the major premise and the minor premise and yet fails to act in accordance with this knowledge.

Which of the following best exemplifies the idea of the akratic?

(A) A doctor who prescribes an experimental drug because it is the only possible treatment for a condition

(B) A musician who practices diligently in order to become a better performer

(C) A smoker who is aware of the adverse consequences of tobacco smoke but smokes anyway

(D) A truck driver who forgets to activate a turn signal and causes an accident

(E) A person who enjoys musical theater and so attends a production of the musical Cats

9. Historically, protectionism has been the bane of the South. In the 19th century, the Solid South voted democratic not just because of Abe Lincoln but because its farmers desperately wanted to sell in international markets, and the Republican economic policies blocked them. Southerners also know that free trade won't send jobs out of the country. There are, after all, no trade barriers between Mississippi and Michigan.

The main point of the argument is that

(A) a free trade policy would benefit all regions of the country

(B) Southerners are not, in principle, opposed to free trade policies

(C) the labor pool in Mississippi is less skilled than that in Michigan

(D) many Southerners are likely to continue to vote for the Democratic party

(E) Republicans have traditionally opposed free trade policy

Neither Barbara nor any of the other members of the Classical Music Club think that the newly released CD recording of Handel sonatas by Burkmeyer is as well-played as the vinyl recording of the same sonatas by Gerhart. The members of the Classical Music Club, however, may not be as sophisticated as they think they are because Dr. Franiack, an engineer who designs stereo equipment, says that the Burkmeyer recording is vastly superior to the Gerhart recording.

10. The reasoning above is flawed because it

(A) distorts the position of the members of the Classical Music Club

(B) attacks the character of the opponent rather than the point at issue

(C) fails to set forth the basis for the opinion of the members of the Classical Music Club

(D) offers no proof for the claim that the Gerhart recording is superior

(E) cites the opinion of an expert who is not an authority on the issue

11. An efficiency expert studied an accounting firm to determine what factors are most important in determining employee productivity. Using criteria such as caseload and average dollar value per case, the expert determined that the most important determinant of productivity is physical surroundings. Those employees who ranked highest on the productivity criteria were also those employees with the largest offices with the most light.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion above?

(A) The more productive employees identified by the criteria used by the expert are likely to be more senior and allocated the more desirable office space.

(B) On the average, the more productive employees were found to spend just about the same amount of time per day in their workspace as less productive employees.

(C) Darker work spaces tend to depress employee energy levels, making it more difficult to concentrate on complex problem-solving tasks.

(D) A greater percentage of the less productive employees studied responded that they were "entirely satisfied" with their home lives than did more productive employees.

(E) The overall profitability of the firm was determined to depend upon the ratio of more productive workers to less productive workers.

12. The National Centers for Disease Control looked at death certificates from 1980 to 1992 and found a 58 percent increase in infectious disease deaths. Yet, the United States gets new drugs to market more slowly than any other major industrial nation. Total drug approval times have jumped from eight years in 1960 to more than 15 years today. If the United States seriously wants to reverse the rising trend of infectious disease deaths, it should reform the procedures used by the Food and Drug Administration to approve drugs.

The argument above assumes that

(A) there was not an overall increase in the number of non-infectious disease deaths from 1980 to 1992

(B) the cost of manufacturing drugs in the United States is the highest of any industrial nation

(C) some drugs awaiting approval by the Food and Drug Administration would prevent infectious disease deaths

(D) an eight year drug approval time by the Food and Drug Administration is optimal

(E) accelerating Food and Drug Administration approvals would not impair the agency's effectiveness

13. The eastern pipistrelle bats leave their caves to hunt for food only on nights when the air is filled with insects. When insects are scarce, the bats remain in their roost. Of course, insects, being cold-blooded, prefer warm weather while cold weather makes them sluggish and unable to fly. So it might be theorized that the bats use air temperature as a guide to hunting conditions. But the bats roost a quarter-mile inside the cave, so temperature changes in the air outside the cave don't register on them.

Which of the following, if true, best explains the seeming paradox described above?

(A) The eastern pipistrelle bats are not the only bats that exhibit the ability to know when hunting conditions will be good and when they will be bad.

(B) Insects are likely to be more active during warm weather conditions even though it is true that predators are also more active.

(C) Bats that do not roost in caves demonstrate the ability to distinguish even slight changes in the ambient air temperature.

(D) On those days on which hunting conditions are likely to be mediocre, some of the bats leave the cave to hunt but others do not.

(E) Even deep in the cave, the bats are able to detect the changes in barometric pressure that are associated with different weather conditions.

14. Advertising for weight-loss products manipulates people by arbitrarily defining key terms in ways that will serve the weight-loss industry's goal of making money. Consider the word "overweight." At what point does a normal person weighing x pounds become "overweight," at x + 1 pounds, or x + 2 pounds, or x + 3 pounds? The decision to say x + 4 or whatever is purely arbitrary. The word "overweight" is totally meaningless.

Which of the following is most similar to the reasoning above?

(A) Laws that set minimum ages for certain activities such as driving a car are not intended to legislate a distinction between "child" and "adult." Some "children" could begin to drive at 14; others not until 20 or older. But it would be prohibitively expensive to take applications on a case-by-case basis, so it is necessary to draw the line somewhere.

(B) Advertising for the hair-replacement industry doesn't generally use terms like "bald" in an absolute sense. Instead, the ads use phrases like "hair loss." That way anyone who began with x hairs and now has x - 1 hairs can seem to be in need of a hair-replacement technique.

(C) In the legend, Theseus is adrift in the middle of the ocean on a raft. As he salvages floating timber, he one-by-one replaces each of the timbers of the raft until none of the original timbers remain. Since it is impossible to say when the old raft became the new raft, it makes no sense to talk about the raft of Theseus.

(D) The typical school system is divided into grades, the assumption being that a student in a higher level grade is working at a more advanced level than a student in a lower level grade. But we know from experience that sixth-grade work at School X may be taught in the fifth-grade at School Y. So grade comparisons should be made only within a school.

(E) The medical practice of triage was developed by Napoleon. It divides battle casualties into three groups: Those likely to survive, those not likely to survive, and those in the middle. Surgeons then concentrate on those in the middle. The theory is that those likely to survive don't need immediate medical attention, and those unlikely to survive won't benefit from medical attention.

15. Today, the president of the Megabiz Company, L.J. Bacon, announced that the current management had turned aside a takeover bid by Engulf and Devour. Bacon explained that the vote, which was conducted by mail, was 53 percent to 47 percent against the resolution endorsing the takeover and he interpreted the result as a vote of confidence in present management.

Which of the following, if true, would most undermine Bacon's conclusion?

(A) According to the company's bylaws, the resolution required a two-thirds "yes" vote to pass.

(B) In accordance with the company's bylaws, the president of the company was not permitted to vote on the resolution.

(C) In accordance with the company's bylaws, the 34 percent of the ballots that were not returned counted as "no" votes.

(D) After a successful takeover bid, the acquiring company usually replaces the management of the acquired company.

(E) The failure of the attempted takeover does not prevent other companies from attempting the same move in the future.

Answer Key

1. A
2. C
3. C
4. B
5. C

6. B
7. D
8. C
9. B
10. E

11. A
12. C
13. E
14. C
15. C

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