GRE Preparation Kit 8 - Section 5

[Samuel]

SECTION 5

Time – 30 minutes

25 Questions

1. Chris : Hundreds of traffic accidents annually are attributable to the poor condition of our city's streets. The streets must
               therefore be repaired to save lives.
    Leslie: For less than the cost of those repairs, the city could improve its mass transit system and thus dramatically reduce 
               traffic congestion, which contributes significantly to those traffic accidents. The city cannot afford to do both, so it 
               should improve mass transit, because reduced traffic congestion has additional advantages.
    Which of the following best describes the point at issue between Chris and Leslie?
    (A) Whether a certain problem in fact exists
    (B) How a certain problem came into being
    (C) Who is responsible for addressing a certain problem
    (D) Whether the city has sufficient financial resources to address a certain problem
    (E) How the city can best address a certain problem

2. According to ancient records, the first tax that the government of Selea imposed on a basic commodity was a tax of two
    centima coins on every jar of cooking oil sold in Selea. Tax records show that despite a stable population and strict
    enforcement of tax laws, revenues from the oil tax declined steeply over the first two years that the tax was in effect.
    Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the decline in Selean oil-tax revenues?
    (A) During the decade following the implementation of the tax, the average household income in Selea rose steadily.
    (B) Two years after implementing the tax on cooking oil, the Selean government began to implement taxes on numerous
         other basic commodities.
    (C) Jars of cooking oil were traditionally bought as wedding gifts in Selea at the time the tax went into effect, and gifts of
         cooking oil increased after the implementation of the tax.
    (D) After the tax was imposed., Selean merchants began selling cooking oil in larger jars than before.
    (E) Few Selean households began to produce their own cooking oil after the tax was imposed.

Questions 3-8

A small ski resort's ski patrol has exactly six members –--- F, G, J, K, M, and O –--- who communicate with each other by means of one-way and two-way radios. Each patrol member has a oneway radio capable of transmitting signals to exactly one other patrol member:
F signals G, G signals J, J signals K, K signals M, M signals O, and O signals F.
In addition, F and K have two-way radios enabling each to signal the other, and J and O have two-way radios enabling each to signal the other.
No other transmissions of signals between ski patrol members are possible.
No patrol member can transmit a particular message more than once.
Transmission of a message ceases once the intended recipient receives the message.

3. Which of the following patrol members can signal M directly?
    (A) F   (B) G     (C) J     (D) K     (E) O

4. If O wishes to send a communication to G using the fewest possible intermediaries, the person O signals directly must be
     (A) F   (B) G    (C) J    (D) K    (E) M

5. Which of the following communications would require a minimum of two intermediaries?
     (A) From F to K    (B) From G to K    (C) From J to F    (D) From K to G    (E) From M to K

6. If a communication is to be sent from K to G via the fewest possible intermediaries, that communication must be sent
    (A) from K to F to G
    (B) from K to J to G
    (C) from K to O to G
    (D) from K to O to J to G
    (E) from K to M to O to F to G

7. A message could be sent by either of two different routes, each using the same number of intermediaries, from
    (A) F to O
    (B) G to M
    (C) G to K
    (D) J to O
    (E) M to G

8. A message could be sent by any of three different routes from
    (A) F to M   (B) G to F    (C) G to O   (D) J to K   (E) K to G

9. Housing construction materials give off distinctive sounds when exposed to high temperatures. Acoustic sensors accurately
    detect such sounds and fire alarms incorporating acoustic sensors can provide an early warning of house fires, allowing 
    inhabitants to escape before being overcome by smoke. Since smoke inhalation is the most common cause of fatalities in
    house fires, mandating acoustic -sensor-based alarms instead of smoke detectors will eliminate house fire as a major 
    cause of death. Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument given?
    (A) The present high cost of acoustic-sensorbased alarm systems will decline if their use becomes widespread.
    (B) When fully ignited, many materials used in housing construction give off sounds that are audible even from several
          hundred yards away.
    (C) Many fires begin in cushions or in mattresses, producing large amounts of smoke without giving off any sounds.
    (D) Two or more acoustic -sensor-based alarms would be needed to provide adequate protection in some larger houses.
    (E) Smoke detectors have been responsible for saving many lives since their use became widespread.

10. In December 1992 Tideville Shopping Mall repaired and improved the lighting in the mall's parking lots, and in 1993 car
      thefts and attempted car thefts from those lots decreased by 76 percent from the previous year. Since potential car   
      thieves are generally deterred by good lighting, the decrease can be attributed to these improvements.
      Which of the following, if true, most helps to strengthen the argument above?
       (A) Both in 1992 and in 1993, most of the cars stolen from the mall's parking lots were relatively new and expensive
             luxury models.
       (B) Most of the cars that were stolen from the mall in 1992 were stolen between 11 A. M. and 4 P.M.
       (C) Tideville Shopping Mall is one of only three shopping malls in the Tideville area.
       (D) In the town of Tideville, where the mall is located, the number of car thefts was about the same in 1993 as in 1992.
       (E) In 1993 the number of security officers patrolling the mall's parking lots at night was doubled.

11. Legislator: We should not waste any more of the taxpayers' money on the government's job-creation program. The
      unemployment rate in this country has actually risen since the program was begun, so the program has clearly been a
      failure. Which of the following is an assumption on which the legislator's argument depends?
      (A) The budget of the job-creation program has typically increased every year.
      (B) The unemployment rate would not have risen even more than it has if the jobcreationprogram had not been in
            existence.
      (C) The unemployment rate is higher now than at any time before the inception of the job-creation program.
      (D) If the job-creation program had been run more efficiently, it could have better served its purpose.
      (E) Other government programs are no more effective in reducing unemployment than is the job-creation program.

12. Which of the following most logically completes the argument? Each year a consumer agency ranks all domestic airlines
      for on-time performance during the previous year, using as its sole criterion the percentage of each airline's flights that
      left no more than fifteen minutes late. The agency does not count delays due to mechanical reasons, but the fact that the
      percentage of delayed flights hat were delayed for mechanical reasons was approximately the same for all domestic
      airlines last year means that ----- .
      (A) including delays for mechanical reasons in calculating the airline rankings for ontime performance would have had 
            little, if any, effect on last year's rankings
      (B) airlines would work harder to reduce  delays if delays for mechanical reasons were included in the determination of   
            ontime performance rankings
      (C) the agency's rankings do not give consumers an accurate idea of how a given airline compares to other airlines with
            respect to the percentage of flights delayed last year
      (D) those airlines with the best on-time performance record last year also had the greatest number of delays for
            mechanical reasons
      (E) on-time performance was approximately the same for all domestic airlines last year

Questions 13-18

Four types of vines – ---F, G, H, and I ---– are indigenous to an area that contains a small forest. The forest has three habitats – 1, 2, and 3 – which are located so that 1 is adjacent to 2 and 2 is adjacent to 3, but 1 is not adjacent to 3. In the forest, the nature of the habitats and of the vines causes the growth of the vines to conform to the following conditions:
Each habitat has either F vines or H vines or both.
G vines do not grow in habitat 2.
If F vines grow in a habitat, then G vines also grow in that habitat.
If H vines grow in a habitat, then I vines do not grow in any adjacent habitat.
If I vines grow in a habitat, then F vines grow in at least one adjacent habitat.

13. Which of the following can be a distribution of vine types in habitats?
      Habitat 1 Habitat 2 Habitat 3
     (A) F, G F, H F, G, H
     (B) F, G G, H G, H
     (C) F, G, I H, I F, G
     (D) G, H, I H F, G, H
     (E) H H F, G, H

14. Which of the following CANNOT be true?
       (A) F vines grow in habitat 2.
       (B) F vines grow in habitat 3.
       (C) G vines grow in habitat 1.
       (D) G vines grow in habitat 3.
       (E) I vines grow in habitat 2.

15. Which of the following must be true?
      (A) F vines grow in habitat 1.
      (B) F vines grow in habitat 3.
      (C) H vines grow in habitat 1.
      (D) H vines grow in habitat 2.
      (E) H vines grow in habitat 3.

16. Which of the following is a complete and accurate list of the habitats in which I vines can grow?
      (A) 2
      (B) 3
      (C) 1,2
      (D) 2,3
      (E) 1,2,3

17. If I vines grow in habitat 2, which of the following must be true?
      (A) F vines grow in 1.
      (B) F vines grow in 2.
      (C) H vines grow in 1.
      (D) H vines grow in 3.
      (E) I vines grow in 1.

18. If F vines do not grow in any of the habitats, which of the following must be true? 
      (A) G vines grow in habitat 1.
      (B) G vines grow in habitat 3.
      (C) H vines grow in habitat 1.
      (D) H vines do not grow in any habitat.
      (E) I vines grow in exactly one of the habitats.

Questions 19-22

A team consisting of seven members – Fran, Irma, Jean, Karen, Lois, Maria, and Ruth – is scheduled to hold a special practice session in which four team members are to be assigned as players, one as the umpire,and two as spectators. The assignments
will hold throughout the session and are to be made in accordance with the following conditions:
If Fran is a player, Irma must be a player.
Karen and Lois cannot both be players.
Neither Jean nor Lois nor Ruth can be the umpire.
Jean and Karen cannot both be spectators.

19. If Karen is a spectator, which of the following must be true?
      (A) Irma is a player.
      (B) Jean is a player.
      (C) Lois is a player.
      (D) Maria is the umpire.
      (E)  Ruth is a spectator.

20. If Karen is among the players, the two spectators can be
      (A) Fran and Irma
      (B) Fran and Jean
      (C) Irma and Jean
      (D) Irma and Lois
      (E) Maria and Ruth

21. Which of the following can be assigned as the group of players?
       (A) Fran, Irma, Karen, and Lois
       (B) Fran, Irma, Karen, and Maria
       (C) Fran, Jean, Lois, and Maria
       (D) Jean, Karen, Lois, and Ruth
       (E) Jean, Karen, Maria, and Ruth

22. If Maria is the umpire, the spectators can be
      (A) Fran and Irma
      (B) Fran and Jean
      (C) Irma and Karen
      (D) Jean and Ruth
      (E) Karen and Lois

23. No one can be licensed as an electrician in Parker County without first completing a certain course in electrical safety
      procedures. All students majoring in computer technology at Parker County Technical College must complete that course
      before graduating. Therefore, any of the college's graduates in computer technology can be licensed as an electrician in
      Parker County. The answer to which of the following would be most helpful in evaluating the argument?
      (A) Is a college degree a requirement for being licensed as an electrician in Parker County?
      (B) Do all students majoring in computer technology who complete the course in electrical safety procedures at Parker
           County Technical College eventually graduate?
      (C) Is completion of a course in electrical safety procedures the only way a person licensed as an electrician in Parker
            County can have learned those procedures?
      (D) Is a period of practical apprenticeship a requirement for becoming a licensed electrician in Parker County but not for
            graduating from the college in computer technology?
      (E) Do any of the students at Parker County Technical College who are not majoring in computer technology take the
           course in electrical safety procedures?

24. Pollutants in the atmosphere can cause acid rain (rain with high acidity levels). While acid rain in itself cannot significantly 
      affect the acidity of bodies of water into which it falls, it can greatly increase the acidity of nearby lakes by increasing the
      amount of decaying matter on a forest floor. A recent increase in the acidity of the water in Forest Lake, therefore, surely
      indicates that the rain falling nearby has become more acid. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the
      argument?
      (A) Even in areas without significant amounts of acid rain, most lakes in regions with vegetation similar to the vegetation
            around Forest Lake have acidity levels higher than those of other lakes.
      (B) Recent air-quality tests in the region around  Forest Lake have revealed a slight increase in the amount of pollutants
            in the air.
      (C) Large-scale logging, which was recently begun in the forest surrounding Forest Lake, has increased the amount of
            decaying matter on the forest floor.
      (D) There is some disagreement among scientists about exactly how pollutants in the atmosphere cause acid rain.
      (E) Decaying matter exists on all forest floors and is an important factor in maintaining the healthy growth of the forests.

25. Most of Earth's surface is ocean. The ocean floor is inaccessible for extensive research without equipment of greater
      technological sophistication than is currently available. It must therefore be true that scientists know less about the ocean
      floor environment than about almost any other environment on Earth. Which of the following, if true, provides the most
      support for the conclusion?
      (A) Many mountain ranges lie entirely beneath the ocean surface, yet new underwater surveying equipment has produced
            three-dimensional charts of them that are as accurate as those available for mountain ranges on land.
      (B) Strong water currents circulate on the ocean floor, but the general pattern of their movement is not so well
            understood as is the pattern of air currents that circulate over land.
      (C) In contrast to most land environments, temperature conditions at the ocean floor are generally stable and uniform,
            since sunlight does not penetrate far below the ocean surface.
      (D) Very few people have seen detailed maps of extended regions of the ocean floor, even though such maps are 
            available in almost all large libraries.
      (E)  Animals living on the ocean floor must be able to withstand water pres sure that is far greater than the atmospheric
            pressure with which land animals live.