CR Questions 1 - 10

1. Many institutions of higher education suffer declining enrollments during periods of economic slowdown. At two-year community colleges, however, enrollment figures boom during these periods when many people have less money and there is more competition for jobs.

Each of the following, if true, helps to explain the enrollment increases in two-year community colleges described above EXCEPT:

(A) During periods of economic slowdown, two-year community colleges are more likely than four-year colleges to prepare their students for the jobs that are still available.

(B) During periods of economic prosperity, graduates of two-year community colleges often continue their studies at four-year colleges.

(C) Tuition at most two-year community colleges is a fraction of that at four-year colleges.

(D) Two-year community colleges devote more resources than do other colleges to attracting those students especially affected by economic slowdowns.

(E) Students at two-year community colleges, but not those at most four-year colleges, can control the cost of their studies by choosing the number of courses they take each term.

Question 2-3 are based on the following

Hardin argued that grazing land held in common (that is, open to any user) would always be used less carefully than private grazing land. Each rancher would be tempted to overuse common land because the benefits would accrue to the individual, while the costs of reduced land quality that results from overuse would be spread among all users. But a study comparing 217 million acres of common grazing land with 433 million acres of private grazing land showed that the common land was in better condition.

2. The answer to which of the following questions would be most useful in evaluating the significance, in relation to Hardin’s claim, of the study described above?

(A) Did any of the ranchers whose land was studied use both common and private land?

(B) Did the ranchers whose land was studied tend to prefer using common land over using private land for grazing?

(C) Was the private land that was studied of comparable quality to the common land before either was used for grazing?

(D) Were the users of the common land that was studied at least as prosperous as the users of the private land?

(E) Were there any owners of herds who used only common land, and no private land, for grazing?

3. Which of the following, if true and known by the ranchers, would best help explain the results of the study?

(A) With private grazing land, both the costs and the benefits of overuse fall to the individual user.

(B) The cost in reduced land quality that is attributable to any individual user is less easily measured with common land than it is with private land.

(C) An individual who overuses common grazing land might be able to achieve higher returns than other users can, with the result that he or she would obtain a competitive advantage.

(D) If one user of common land overuses it even slightly, the other users are likely to do so even more, with the consequence that the costs to each user outweigh the benefits.

(E)There are more acres of grazing land held privately than there are held in common.

4. In tests for pironoma, a serious disease, a false positive result indicates that people have pironoma when, in fact, they do not; a false negative result indicates that people do not have pironoma when, in fact, they do. To detect pironoma most accurately, physicians should use the laboratory test that has the lowest proportion of false positive results.

Which of the following, if true, gives the most support to the recommendation above?

(A) The accepted treatment for pironoma does not have damaging side effects.

(B) The laboratory test that has the lowest proportion of false positive results causes the same minor side effects as do the other laboratory tests used to detect pironoma.

(C) In treating pironoma patients, it is essential to begin treatment as early as possible, since even a week of delay can result in loss of life.

(D) The proportion of inconclusive test results is equal for all laboratory tests used to detect pironoma.

(E) All laboratory tests to detect pironoma have the same proportion of false negative results.

Questions 5-6 are based on the following.

In many corporations, employees are being replaced by automated equipment in order to save money. However,many workers who lose their jobs to automation will need government assistance to survive, and the same corporations that are laying people off will eventually pay for that assistance through increased taxes and unemployment insurance payments.

5. The author is arguing that

(A) higher taxes and unemployment insurance payments will discourage corporations from automating

(B) replacing people through automation to reduce production costs will result in increases of other costs to corporations.

(C) many workers who lose their jobs to automation will have to be retrained for new jobs

(D) corporations that are laying people off will eventually rehire many of them

(E) corporations will not save money by automating because people will be needed to run the new machines

6.Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the author's argument?

(A) Many workers who have already lost their jobs to automation have been unable to find new jobs.

(B) Many corporations that have failed to automate have seen their profits decline.

(C) Taxes and unemployment insurance are paid also by corporations that are not automating.

(D) Most of the new jobs created by automation pay less than the jobs eliminated by automation did.

(E) The initial investment in machinery for automation is often greater than the short-term savings in labor costs.

7. The sustained massive use of pesticides in farming has two effects that are especially pernicious. First, it often kills off the pests' natural enemies in the area. Second, it often unintentionally gives rise to insecticide-resistant pests, since those insects that survive a particular insecticide will be the ones most resistant to it, and they are the ones left to breed.

From the passage above, it can be properly inferred that the effectiveness of the sustained massive use of pesticides can be extended by doing which of the following, assuming that each is a realistic possibility?

(A) Using only chemically stable insecticides

(B) Periodically switching the type of insecticide used

(C) Gradually increasing the quantities of pesticides used

(D) Leaving a few fields fallow every year

(E) Breeding higher-yielding varieties of crop plants

8. When a polygraph test is judged inconclusive, this is no reflection on the examinee. Rather, such a judgment means that the test has failed to show whether the examinee was truthful or untruthful. Nevertheless, employers will sometimes refuse to hire a job applicant because of an inconclusive polygraph test result.

Which of the following conclusions can most properly be drawn from the information above?

(A) Most examinees with inconclusive polygraph test results are in fact untruthful.

(B) Polygraph tests should not be used by employers in the consideration of job applicants.

(C) An inconclusive polygraph test result is sometimes unfairly held against the examinee.

(D) A polygraph test indicating that an examinee is untruthful can sometimes be mistaken.

(E) Some employers have refused to consider the results of polygraph tests when evaluating job applicants.

9. According to the new office smoking regulations, only employees who have enclosed office may smoke at their desks. Virtually all employees with enclosed offices are at the professional level, and virtually all secretarial employees lack enclosed offices. Therefore, secretaries who smoke should be offered enclosed offices.

Which of the following is an assumption that enables the conclusion above to be properly drawn?

(A) Employees at the professional level who do not smoke should keep their enclosed offices.

(B) Employees with enclosed offices should not smoke at their desks, even though the new regulations permit them to do so.

(C) Employees at the secretarial level should be allowed to smoke at their desks, even if they do not have enclosed offices.

(D) The smoking regulations should allow all employees who smoke an equal opportunity to do so, regardless of an employee’s job level.

(E) The smoking regulations should provide equal protection from any hazards associated with smoking to all employees who do not smoke.

10. Dental researchers recently discovered that tooth-brushes can become contaminated wth bacterial that cause pneumonia and strep throat. They found that contamination usually occurs after toothbrushes have been used for four weeks. For that reason, people should replace their toothbrushes at least once a month.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion above?
(A) The dental researchers could not discover why toothbrush contamination usually occurred only after toothbrushes had been used for four weeks.

(B) The dental researchers failed to investigate contamination of toothbrushes by viruses, yeasts, and other pathogenic microorganisms.

(C) The dental researchers found that among people who used toothbrushes contaminated with bacterial that cause pneumonia and strep throat, the incidence of these diseases was no higher than among people who used uncontaminated toothbrushes.

(D) The dental researchers found that people who rinsed their toothbrushes thoroughly in hot water after each use were as likely to have contaminated toothbrushes as were people who only rinsed their toothbrushes hurriedly in cold water after each use.

(E) The dental researchers found that, after six weeks of use, greater length of use of a toothbrush did not correlate with a higher number of bacterial being present.

Official answers and official explanations..

1. Choice B, the best answer, might explain the decreased enrollment at four-year colleges during the slowdown,but because it deals with graduates of two-year colleges it cannot explain why enrollment at these colleges might increase
Four of the choices give reasons why, in an economic showdown, many people would choose a two-year college.
Choice A indicates that a two-year college education gives one a better chance of finding a job when economic conditions are poor.
Choice C and E indicate why people with less money might prefer two-year colleges.
Choice D suggests that more is being done to attract people whose lives are affected by the slowdown to two-year than to four-year colleges.

2. Hardin’s claim is that common grazing land deteriorates more quickly than private grazing land because of overuse. The study indicates that common grazing land is currently in better shape, but this would not
undermine Hardin’s claim if common grazing land was in far better shape before grazing began. Thus, choice C is the best answer.
Choices A and E are inappropriate since the study can undermine Hardin’s Claim whether or not some ranchers use both sorts of land, or use only common land.
Similarly, the study can undermine Hardin’s claim whether or not ranchers prefer to use common land, as B says.
Finally, D is inappropriate since the force of the study is not
diminished if users of common land are more or less prosperous.

3. The study indicates that common lands are in better shape than private lands. The best answer, D, indicates that,
contrary to Hardin’s claim, it is in each rancher’s self-interest not to overuse common land, which would explain why common lands are in relatively good shape.
Choices A and C can only explain why private land is in better shape than common land, not the reverse.
Neither the fact that it is more difficult to attribute deterioration of common land to any particular user (choice B) nor the
fact that the relative amounts of common and private land differ (choice E) gives a reason for farmers not to graze their herds on common land as much as possible.

4. The most accurate test for pironoma would be the one with the fewest false results. If all tests have the same proportion of false negatives, then the most accurate is the one that has the lowest proportion of false positives. Thus, E supports the recommendation and is the best answer.
Choice A and C deal with the treatment for pironoma and are irrelevant to the accuracy of tests pironoma.
Choice B deals with the side effects of tests for pironoma, and does not address their accuracy.
That the proportion of inconclusive test results is equal for all tests (choice D) leaves open the question of which test is
more accurate, since it does not indicate which test has fewest false results.

5. The author argues that replacing employees with automated equipment might lend to less savings for corporations than anticipated, since laying off workers will lead to other costs. Choice B states the author’s main points and thus is the best answer.
The author argues that corporations that automate might incur unexpected costs, but the author does not argue that these costs will discourage corporations from automating (choice A).
The author does not address the issues of retraining (choice C) and rehiring (choice D).
Although the author argues that some unanticipated costs might offsets savings resulting from automation, the cost of running the new machines (choice E) is clearly not one of these unanticipated costs.

6. The threat envisioned by the author to the economic survival of workers displaced by automation will be serious only if they cannot find new jobs. Choice A, the best answer, says that there are already many such workers unable to find new jobs, and so strengthens the author’s argument.
Since the causes for declining profits for corporations that fail to automate are not analyzed in the passage, B is
inappropriate.
By saying that costs associated with unemployment C weakens the argument.
Since the author
tacitly grants that, initially, automation will cut costs, the detail given in D provides us added support.
Choice E is
inappropriate because it concerns short-term rather than long-term results of automation.

7. Choice B gives a way of counteracting a serious drawback of the sustained massive use of pesticides. By periodically changing the pesticide used, pests resistant to one pesticide might be killed by the next pesticide, and those resistant to that pesticide might be killed by another, and so. Therefore, B is the best answer.
Choice A is inappropriate, since the effects of stable pesticides would simply be more persistent.
Gradually increasing pesticide amounts (choice C) will likely have no effect on pests already resistant to massive amounts.
Leaving a few fields fallow (choice D) is not relevant to the effectiveness of sustained use of pesticides.
Breeding higher-yielding crops (choice E) might temporarily increase yields, but not because of anything to do with pesticides.

8. The passage indicates that an inconclusive polygraph test tells nothing about the person who has taken the test, and yet employers sometimes refuse to hire someone whose results from such a test are inclusive. Treating lack of information as if it were unfavorable evidence about a person can reasonably be considered unfair. There, C is the best choice.
Choice A is not supported, since the passage says that an inconclusive polygraph test is no reflection on the examinee.
Neither B nor D is supported, since the information given includes nothing either implicit or explicit about polygraph tests that yield conclusive results.
Since the passage is consistent with both E and its denial, E is not supported.

9. The regulations allow some employees-those with enclosed offices-but not others the opportunity to smoke at their desks. If it is assumed that the regulations should allow all employees equal opportunity to smoke, those who are currently denied this opportunity should be given it, and so secretaries who smoke should be offered enclosed offices. Therefore, choice D is the best answer.
None of the other choices enables the conclusion to be properly drawn. Choice A tends to conflict with the conclusion, unless some enclosed offices are vacant.
Choice B supports no conclusion about how secretaries should be treated, Choice C undermines the conclusion.
Finally, nonsmokers already have equal protection from hazards, so choice E cannot be used to justify making any changes.

10. According to choice C, using a contaminated toothbrush does not increase the incidence of infection, so the recommendation to replace a toothbrush before it becomes contaminated is greatly undermined. Choice C is therefore the best answer.
Since the recommendation is based on the discovery that bacterial contamination occurs after about four weeks, the researchers’ inability to discover why contamination takes that long to appear does not weaken the recommendation (choice A), nor does their failure to investigate other forms of contamination (choice B), nor does the discovery that contamination does not worsen after six weeks (choice E). According to choice D, even thorough washing cannot prevent contamination, so replacing the toothbrush appears more essential, rather than less so.