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• Question 91:

  Two years ago all automobile dealers in Laurentia began instaling antitheft alarms in all the new cars they sold. Critics of this policy predicted that when thieves could no longer find new cars without alarms, a car alarm in a new car would not deter thieves to the degree it once did. Clearly, however, the critics were wrong: whereas in the last two years the annual number of car thefts in Laurentia has remained about the same as in previous years, last year the proportion of cars stolen that were recently purchased new cars was substantially smaller than it had been two years ago.

  In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following rotes?

  A. The first is a prediction that, according to the argument, has proved wrong; the second is evidence on which that assessment of the prediction is based.

  B. The first is a prediction that, according to the argument, has proved wrong; the second is evidence that has been used to argue that the prediction was accurate.

  C. The first is a claim that has been advanced in support of a position that the argument opposes; the second is evidence that has been used to support that position.

  D. The first is a criticism that has been directed against the position that the argument advocates; the second is evidence on which that criticism has been based. The first is a criticism of a position that the argument opposes; the second is evidence on which t^i criticism is based.

  Correct Answer: A

• Question 92:

  Which of the following most logically completes the passage below?

  Mayor: Commuters working in Ornville must cross either North Bridge or South Bridge. During impending repair work at the North Bridge toll plaza, North Bridge will remain open to traffic, but the usual 25 cent toll will not be collected. So as not to lose toll revenue overall, the city plans to temporarily raise the toll on South Bridge by 20 cents.

  The plan is likely to accomplish its objective, since more commuters currently use South Bridge, and ________.

  A. the current toll for South Bridge is 20 cents

  B. substantial amounts of toll revenue collected at South Bridge will go toward paying for the repairs at the North Bridge toll plaza

  C. very few commuters could switch from one bridge to the other without serious inconvenience to themselves

  D. the rates for commuters' monthly bridge toll passes will not increase

  E. at both bridges, tolls are currently collected not only on vehicles entering Ornville but also on vehicles leaving Ornville

  Correct Answer: C

• Question 93:

  As discussed in the passage, smoothing production is primarily concerned with

  A. using the most efficient production processes available in order to avoid bottlenecks

  B. absorbing into overhead expenses the cost of holding inventory

  C. keeping production lines running continuously without interruption for maintenance

  D. assuring that there are as few peaks and valleys as possible in demand for the products made

  E. maintaining production levels as constant as is practicable

  Correct Answer: D

  According to the production-smoothing buffer stock model, inventories of a firm's products allow it to supply unexpected demand without having to adjust output immediately. When costs per additional unit produced are increasing, using inventory to smooth production is efficient as long as the savings from not adjusting production exceed the cost of holding inventory. Inventory acts as a buffer stock, absorbing increases or decreases in demand while production remains relatively steady. If firms are smoothing production, then sales should vary more than production. If inventories are used as a buffer stock, then high-frequency changes in inventory should be in the opposite direction to sales. Empirical research using aggregate data does not confirm this expectation, however; production varies more than sales, and changes in inventory and sales tend to vary in the same direction. Thus either the production-smoothing buffer stock model is incorrect, or other factors are preventing empirical confirmation of the smoothing effect. Most of the research that finds contradictions of production smoothing uses seasonally adjusted aggregate data concerning inventory and sales. It is possible that firms actually do use inventory to smooth production, but the research has failed to detect signs of this activity because the data are too highly aggregated over many firms. But even research at the level of individual companies has failed to confirm the model.

• Question 94:

  Because of the positive correlation across animal species between body size and home range size, researchers suspected that body size of female mallards (a species of duck) may influence their home range size. The researchers also reasoned that younger females may be forced into less suitable habitats by older females competing with them for optimal areas, with the younger females compensating by having larger home ranges. However, their research supported neither suspicion. The failure to detect variation of range size according to body size may be due to other, undetermined mallard attributes (for example, body condition) that may have been a significant factor affecting home range size. The fact that most yearling females can breed may help to explain why the expected age effect was not confirmed, since home range size may be affected by breeding capability.

  The researchers did find, however, that home range size of females was Inversely related to the percentage of the study area composed of seasonal or semipermanent wetlands. This may have been because of reduced competition for breeding space within the species when more of the wetlands were present. They also found home range size to decrease somewhat as the percentage of wood-shrub habitat increased, suggesting that reduction in visual contact among mallard pairs may reduce interaction and thus reduce competition among breeding pairs.

  The author's purpose in making the statement that most yearling female mallards are able to breed is most likely in order to

  A. explain the lack of corroboration from the study for the prediction that younger females may have larger home ranges than older females

  B. help confirm that home range size is affected by breeding ability

  C. support the point that younger females do not tend to have larger home ranges than older females

  D. explain a finding that younger females tend to have smaller home ranges than older females

  E. help explain why yearling female mallards apparently have home ranges of the same size as those of older female mallards

  Correct Answer: A

• Question 95:

  Under laboratory conditions, fruit flies can learn to respond to odors that elicit no response from them in nature. Mutant fruit flies that cannot produce a certain enzyme are, however, incapable of such learning. These mutant flies respond to other odors just as ordinary fruit flies do. Thus it is unlikely that the enzyme's absence impairs the fruit flies' perception of odors, since presumably fruit flies would not have an enzyme that was needed only for the perception of odors that fruit flies do not respond to in nature. Given that many researchers believe that this enzyme is somehow involved in the process of forming memories, what the enzyme's absence probably impairs is the fruit flies' ability to learn.

  In the argument given, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?

  A. The first is a conclusion drawn about one possible explanation of the phenomenon at issue; the second presents an explicit assumption that is introduced to support that conclusion.

  B. The first is a hypothesis that the argument seeks to establish; the second is an alternative hypothesis, which the argument provides grounds for rejecting.

  C. The first is a hypothesis that the argument seeks to establish; the second presents an explicit assumption that has been used in arguing for the position that the argument opposes.

  D. The first provides evidence in support of the main conclusion of the argument; the second is a claim that has been advanced in order to undermine the force of that evidence.

  E. The first is an objection that has been raised against the position adopted in the argument; the second presents an explicit assumption that is introduced in order to meet that objection.

  Correct Answer: E

• Question 96:

  Based on the passage, which of the following planets would likely appear darkest to a human being standing on its surface?

  A. An airless planet illuminated exclusively by a star that emits much of its light as ultraviolet light

  B. A planet that has an atmosphere and is illuminated exclusively by an extremely hot star

  C. A planet that has an atmosphere and is illuminated exclusively by an extremely cool star

  D. An airless planet illuminated exclusively by an average temperature star that is not brightest at the yellow part of the spectrum

  E. A planet that has an atmosphere and is illuminated exclusively by a star that emits approximately half of its light at frequencies in the visible spectrum

  Correct Answer: C

  Light exists on a spectrum of frequencies extending from gamma rays at the highest frequencies to radio waves at the lowest, though human eyes are sensitive to only a narrow range of frequencies in the middle known as the visible spectrum. The different colors we see correspond to the different frequencies of light within that range. Given that there are so many frequencies of light, one might wonder why our eyes didnt evolve to be sensitive to more frequencies. Gamma rays from space collide with Earth's atmosphere, which converts some of their energy to heat and creates a distinctive cascade of subatomic particles down toward the ground. However, the rays themselves are entirety absorbed before they can reach Earth's surface. Thus, Earth would appear to be pitch black to eyes that were only sensitive to gamma rays. Similarly, the majority of frequencies of light that are higher or lower than those in the visible spectrum--such as ultraviolet and most infrared frequencies, respectively--are mostly or entirely absorbed by Earth's atmosphere. One reason we see the frequencies we do is that visible-spectrum light generally passes through our atmosphere without being absorbed or reflected. Another reason is that the Sun, in some respects an average star, emits most of its light at frequencies in the visible spectrum, whereas a hot star emits most of Its light at ultraviolet frequencies and a very cool star emits most of its light at infrared frequencies. Indeed, to remarkably high precision, the human eye to most sensitive to the exact frequency in the yellow part of the spectrum at which the Sun is the brightest Even if there are living beings on other planets, it is not likely that they would see mainly at very different frequencies than we do. Virtually all gases that are abundant in the cosmos tend to allow frequencies in the visible spectrum to pass through while absorbing other frequencies, and all but the coolest stars put out much, If not most, of their light in the visible spectrum. If there are Irving beings on other planets, they probably see at roughly the same frequencies as we do, though there may be occasional exceptions.

• Question 97:

  For a consumer product such as a television, careful pricing is a very important aspect of marketing, since pricing an item even slightly too high or too low can seriously reduce profits. By contrast, voter approval of government projects that benefit the public does not vary with small differences in estimates of their projected cost.

  The statements above, if true, best support which of the following as a conclusion?

  A. Most people are well informed about the prices of consumer products.

  B. The demand for projects that benefit the public is more closely tied to standard measures of the condition of the national economy than is the demand for consumer products.

  C. Anyone wishing to increase or decrease voter support for projects that benefit the public should not focus on small cost differences.

  D. Many people place higher priority on funding projects that benefit the public than on buying consumer products for their households.

  E. The purchase of consumer products such as televisions can be postponed more easily than can expenditures for projects that benefit the public.

  Correct Answer: C

• Question 98:

  The passage most clearly implies that the skeptics mentioned in the third paragraph assume that

  A. chariots and wagons were invented north of the Black Sea

  B. there would be evidence that chariots existed earlier than 5,500 years ago if

  C. they existed about 9,000 years ago

  D. many languages with similar vocabularies do not share recent common ancestors pastoralist speakers of proto-Indo-European did not spread into Anatolia

  E. the computer mentioned in the second paragraph based its calculations on inaccurate data

  Correct Answer: B

  The following is based on an article published in 2012. Most linguists believe proto-Indo- European, the ancestor of all Indo-European languages, was the language of chariot-driving pastoralists who spread through Eurasia from steppes north of the Black Sea about 4,000 years ago. But a competing theory is that proto-Indo-European was spoken by farmers in Anatolia (Asia Minor) about 9,000 years ago, and spread from there along with agriculture. To evaluate these hypotheses, researchers statistically compared IndoEuropean languages' vocabularies. Languages with more similar vocabularies are probably more closely related, sharing more recent common ancestors. Combining the vocabulary statistics with the known dates when certain languages split, and with their known geographical ranges, a computer calculated the most likely relationships among all Indo-European languages and concluded that protoIndo- European probably originated in Anatolia 9,000 years ago. Disputing this conclusion, skeptics argue that most Indo-European languages are similar in their words pertaining to chariots and wagons, suggesting protoIndo- European split into daughter languages only after chariots and wagons were invented. No archaeological evidence indicates that chariots and wagons existed before 5,500 years ago. Furthermore, proto-Indo-European had words for "horse" and "bee" and lent many words to proto-Uralic, the mother language of Finnish and Hungarian. The steppes north of the Black Sea were far closer than Anatolia to areas where proto-Uralic was spoken, and had more abundant wild horses and bees.

• Question 99:

  I It is said of parasitic forms of life that, although they burden their hosts, they do not kill them, since a parasite cannot survive unless its host does. Mr. Craig's prize-winning lilies, however, were invaded by dodder, a parasitic plant, and every one of the lilies died soon after. Plainly, therefore, a parasite can be deadly.

  The argument above depends on which of the following assumptions?

  A. Mr. Craig did nothing to control the dodder that was invading his lilies.

  B. Mr. Craig's lilies were not infected with a virus deadly to lilies before being invaded by................

  C. Dodder is not usually a parasite of lilies.

  D. Lilies are especially susceptible to being weakened by invading parasites.

  E. Mr. Craig's lilies were invaded by an unusually vigorous strain of dodder.

  Correct Answer: B

• Question 100:

  According to the passage, the majority of the pairings observed in Sommer's study exhibited postconflict affinity under what conditions?

  A. Only when one member of the pair was markedly stronger than the other

  B. Only during certain times of the year, such as mating season

  C. More often in the form of huddling than in the form of grooming

  D. More often while held in captivity than when interacting in the wild

  E. At no time whatsoever

  Correct Answer: D

  Members of many primate species approach an opponent shortly after conflict and initiate behaviors such as embracing, grooming, or huddling--a phenomenon researchers call postconflict reconciliation. Existing research, however, suffers from several shortcomings. The variability between groups of the same species is rarely addressed; the majority of studies investigate only a small fraction of the pairings that exist in a given group; and almost all reports are restricted to animals in captivity. In an attempt to address some of these shortcomings, Sommer et al. recentfy conducted a study of postconflict reconciliation in wild Hanuman langurs, a species of colobine monkey. They observed rates of postconflict reconciliation much lower than would be expected based on previous research, and found that over 80 percent of all pairings exhibited no postconflict affinity whatsoever. The rarity of friendly postconflict reunion in wild langurs draws attention to the possibility that conflicts are modulated through avoidance. The option of temporarily avoiding contact with opponents is not easily available to captive primates, and certainly not to the extent present in the wild. Still, studies of postconflict behavior of primates in captivity remain valuable: above all, they demonstrate the flexibility of nonhuman primates in various environments. It is likely, however, that the reported frequency of reconciliation among primates is artificially inflated by the conditions of captivity.