CR Question 48, 49

48). Black Americans are, on the whole, about twice as likely as White Americans to develop high blood pressure. This likelihood also holds for westernized Black Africans when compared to White Africans.
Researchers have hypothesized that this predisposition in westernized Blacks may reflect an interaction between western high-salt diets and genes that adapted to an environmental scarcity of salt.

Which of the following statements about present-day, westernized Black Africans, if true, would most tend to confirm the researchers' hypothesis?

(A) The blood pressures of those descended from peoples situated throughout their history in Senegal and Gambia, where salt was always available, are low.

(B) The unusually high salt consumption in certain areas of Africa represents a serious health problem.

(C) Because of their blood pressure levels, most White Africans have markedly decreased their salt consumption.

(D) Blood pressures are low among the Yoruba, who, throughout their history, have been situated far inland from sources of sea salt and far south of Saharan salt mines

(E) No significant differences in salt metabolism have been found between those people who have had salt available throughout their history and those who have not.

49). The spacing of the four holes on a fragment of a bone flute excavated at a Neanderthal campsite is just what is required to play the third through sixth notes of the diatonic scale—the seven-note musical scale used in much of Western music since the Renaissance. Musicologists therefore hypothesize that the diatonic musical scale was developed and used thousands of years before it was adopted by Western musicians.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the hypothesis?

(A) Bone flutes were probably the only musical instrument made by Neanderthals.

(B) No musical instrument that is known to have used a diatomic scale is of an earlier date than the flute found at the Neanderthal campsite.

(C) The flute was made from a cave-bear bone and the campsite at which the flute fragment was excavated was in a cave that also contained skeletal remains of cave bears.

(D) Flutes are the simplest wind instrument that can be constructed to allow playing a diatonic scale.

(E) The cave-bear leg bone used to make the Neanderthal flute would have been long enough to make a flute capable of playing a complete diatonic scale

Answers:

48). OA - A
http://forum.prachipareekh.net/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=556

49). OA - E
http://forum.prachipareekh.net/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=138

CR Question 46, 47

46). For the past 13 years, high school guidance counselors nationwide have implemented an aggressive program to convince high school students to select careers requiring college degrees. The government reported that the percentage of last year's high school graduates who went on to college was 15 percent greater than the percentage of those who graduated 10 years ago and did so. The counselors concluded from this report that the program had been successful.

The guidance counselors' reasoning depends on which one of the following assumptions about high school graduates?

(A) The number of graduates who went on to college remained constant each year during the 10-year period.

(B) Any college courses that the graduates take will improve their career prospects.

(C) Some of the graduates who went on to college never received guidance from a high school counselor.

(D) There has been a decrease in the number of graduates who go on to college without career plans.

(E) Many of last year's graduates who went on to college did so in order to prepare for careers requiring college degrees

47). Frobisher, a sixteenth-century English explorer, had soil samples from Canada's Kodlunarn Island examined for gold content. Because high gold content was reported, Elizabeth I funded two mining expeditions. Neither expedition found any gold there. Modern analysis of the island's soil indicates a very low gold content. Thus the methods used to determine the gold content of Frobisher's samples must have been inaccurate.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

(A) The gold content of the soil on Kodlunarn Island is much lower today than it was in the sixteenth century.

(B) The two mining expeditions funded by Elizabeth I did not mine the same part of Kodlunarn Island.

(C) The methods used to assess gold content of the soil samples provided by Frobisher were different from those generally used in the sixteenth century.

(D) Frobisher did not have soil samples from any other Canadian island examined for gold content.

(E) Gold was not added to the soil samples collected by Frobisher before the samples were examined.


Answers:

Best approach for such questions is to negate the assumption and then look what effect this creates on the conclusion

46). OA - E

1st Premise: High school guidance counselors nationwide have implemented an aggressive program to convince high school students to select careers requiring college degrees

2nd Premise: The government reported that the percentage of last year's high school graduates who went on to college was 15 percent greater than the percentage of those who graduated 10 years ago and did so.

Conclusion:The counselors concluded from this report that the program had been successful.

Using deniel test: Many of last year's graduates who went on to college did not prepare for careers requiring college degrees - if this was true can we draw the conclusion that the program was successful - No, because then the very purpose of the program gets defeated(high school guidance counselors nationwide have implemented an aggressive program to convince high school students to select careers requiring college degrees), hence the program would have not been a success


47). OA - E

Using deniel test: Gold WAS added to the soil samples collected by Frobisher before the samples were examined.

If the above statement was true, can we draw the conclusion that method was inaccurate -- No, hence E must be the answer

Why not C: Methods were different. So what? Does it prove or deny the conclusion that method was inaccurate? No ..hence ruled out.

CR Question 45

Nearly all mail that is correctly addressed arrives at its destination within two business days of being sent. In fact, correctly addressed mail takes longer than this only when it is damaged in transit. Overall, however, most mail arrives three business days or more after being sent.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following must be true?

A) A large proportion of the mail that is correctly addressed is damaged in transit

B) No incorrectly addressed mail arrives within two business days of being sent

C) Most mail that arrives within two business days of being sent is correctly addressed

D) A large proportion of mail is incorrectly addressed.

E) More mail arrives within two business days of being sent than arrives between two and three business days after being sent


Answer: D

OE: This is a tricky question because it asks the test taker to come to a conclusion that is obviously false in real-life (but standardized tests aren't real life).
The question tells us that nearly all mail that is correctly addressed arrives within two business days. The only mail that doesn't arrive within two business days must be damaged mail and incorrectly addressed mail. Because we know that nearly all correctly addressed mail is not damaged, the fact that most mail arrives three business days or more after being sent can be read to indicate that there is a very large number of incorrectly addressed mail, which is answer (D).

A - incorrect - because the question states that 'overall, most mail arrives within three days,' indicating that a small amount of mail was lost.

B - incorrect - the passage contains no information to rule this possibility out.

C - incorrect - the passage tells us that if a piece of mail is correctly addressed that it will arrive within two days, assuming that there is no damage. But, if a large proportion of mail is incorrectly addressed (see D), then it is possible that (C) is not true since a large proportion is not correctly addressed.

E - incorrect - There is no evidence of this in the statement or way to deduce it.

CR Question 44

The fact that several of the largest senior citizens’ organizations are constituted almost exclusively of middle-class elderly people has led critics to question the seriousness of those organizations’ commitment to speaking out on behalf of the needs of economically disadvantaged elderly people.

Which of the following generalizations, if true, would help to substantiate the criticism implicit in the statement above?

(A) The ideology of an organization tends reflect the traditional political climate of its locale.

(B) The needs of disadvantaged elderly people differ in some ways from those of other disadvantaged groups within contemporary society.

(C) Organized groups are better able to publicize their problems and seek redress than individuals acting alone.

(D) Middle-class elderly people are more likely to join organizations than are economically disadvantaged elderly people.

(E) People usually join organizations whose purpose is to further the economic, political, or social interests of their members


Answer: E

OA - E

1st Premise: Organizations consist of more elderly middle class citizens
2nd Premise: Organizations' are committed to speak out on behalf of the needs of economically disadvantaged elderly people.

Conclusion: If organization doesn't speaks out on behalf of the needs of economically disadvantaged elderly people then its members are probably not economically disadvantaged

Option strengthening the conclusion

E - People usually join organizations whose purpose is to further the
economic, political, or social interests of their members => least bothered about the economically disadvantaged people, so will not speak out for them.. just the interest of middle class elderly reigns

(A) The ideology of an organization tends reflect the traditional political climate of its locale. - political climate ?? irrelevant

(B) The needs of disadvantaged elderly people differ in some ways from those of other disadvantaged groups within contemporary society. - out of scope - not interested in other disadvantaged groups

(C) Organized groups are better able to publicize their problems and seek redress than individuals acting alone. - is this affecting our conclusion in any way ? No - irrelevant

(D) Middle-class elderly people are more likely to join organizations than are economically disadvantaged elderly people. - more likely to join ?? - may be - but is this affecting our conclusion in any way? No - irrelevant

CR Questions 42, 43

42). Toddlers are not being malicious when they bite people. For example, a child may want a toy, and feel that the person he or she bites is preventing him or her from having it.

The situation as described above most closely conforms to which one of the following generalizations?

(A) Biting people is sometimes a way for toddlers to try to solve problems.

(B) Toddlers sometimes engage in biting people in order to get attention from adults.

(C) Toddlers mistakenly believe that biting people is viewed as acceptable behavior by adults.

(D) Toddlers do not recognize that by biting people they often thwart their own ends.

(E) Resorting to biting people is in some cases an effective way for toddlers to get what they want.

43). Psychiatrist: We are learning that neurochemical imbalances can cause behavior ranging from extreme mental illness to less serious but irritating behavior such as obsessive fantasizing, petulance, or embarrassment. These findings will promote compassion and tolerance when looking at a mental illness, quirk, or mere difference between two persons, since being mentally healthy can now begin to be seen as simply having the same neurochemical balances as most people.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the psychiatrist's argument?

(A) Understanding the role of the neurochemical in behavior will foster empathy toward others.

(B) Neurochemical imbalances can cause mental illness and other behaviors.

(C) Neurochemical balances and imbalances are the main determinants of mental behavior.

(D) Being mentally healthy is a matter of having the same neurochemical balances as most people.

(E) Advances in neurochemistry enhance our theories of mental illness


Answers:

42). OA - A

Conclusion: Toddlers are not malicious when they bite other people. The stated example tells the fact that why the toddler feels his act of biting is acceptable and that he would get what he wants by biting

A - correct - similar to reasoning above - toddler bites to get a toy ..thus in a way solves his problems
B - incorrect - irrelevant - nowhere adults are mentioned in the argument
C - incorrect - irrelevant - no feelings of Toddlers towards adult is stated in the argument
D - incorrect - does not relates to the argument though can be true
E - incorrect - how do we know it is an effective way..it is not stated in the argument

43). OA - A

We are suppose to identify the conclusion

A - correct - expresses the conclusion: These findings will promote compassion and tolerance....
B - incorrect - this is not a conclusion but simply a fact.
C - incorrect - main determinants - nowhere stated
D - incorrect - this is same as a fact
E - incorrect - close call but too broad to conclude..A is better than E

CR Question 40, 41

40). A researcher discovered that people who have low levels of immune-system activity tend to score much lower on tests of mental health than do people with normal or high immune-system activity. The researcher concluded from this experiment that the immune system protects against mental illness as well as against physical disease.

The researcher's conclusion depends on which of the following assumptions?

A. High immune-system activity protects against mental illness better than normal immune-system activity does.

B. Mental illness is similar to physical disease in its effects on body systems.

C. People with high immune-system activity cannot develop mental illness.

D. Mental illness does not cause people's immune-system activity to decrease.

E. Psychological treatment of mental illness is not as effective as is medical treatment

41). Twenty years ago the Republic of Rosinia produced nearly 100 million tons of potatoes, but last year the harvest barely reached 60 million tons. Agricultural researchers, who have failed to develop new higher yielding strains of potatoes, are to blame for this decrease, since they have been concerned only with their own research and not with the needs of Rosinia.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

(A) Any current attempts by agricultural researchers to develop higher-yielding potato strains are futile.

(B) Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia could not have produced the yields last year that they once did.

(C) Agricultural researchers often find concrete solutions to practical problems when investigating seemingly unrelated questions.

(D) Wide fluctuations in the size of the potato crop over a twenty-year period are not unusual.

(E) Agricultural research in Rosinia is funded by government grants.


Answers:

40). OA - D

Best approach for such questions is to negate the assumption and then look what effect this creates on the conclusion

Conclusion: immune system protects against mental illness
Negate the assumption: Mental illness causes people's immune-system activity to decrease.

Argument is shattered

Why not B:

Mental illness is similar to physical disease in its effects on body systems. - Assumption. Mental illness is similar to physical.

Now if you negate this assumption then the conclusion that "Protects against mental AND physical" falls ---- the similarity b/w the two diseases needs not be true for the immune system to work as claimed. The immune system can protect against two mutually exclusive diseases and still be effective. It's like saying that tylenol protects against headaches and depression. Are the two similar? Not at all. Yet, tylenol can still protect people against the two.

41). OA - B

Follow denial technique for assumption questions -

Negate : Strains of potatoes most commonly grown in Rosinia could have produced the yields last year that they once did. If this is true, then there could be some other reason for the reduced harvest. However, since the strains could not produce the same yields last year, the researchers are to blame for the poor quality of the strain

CR Question - 39

39). The media claim that the economy is entering a phase of growth and prosperity. They point to lower unemployment rates and increased productivity. Their analysis is false, though. The number of people filing for bankruptcy has increased every month for the last six months and bankruptcy lawyers report that they are busier than they have been in years.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. Unemployment rates are not useful indicators of growth and prosperity.
B. Economic growth cannot be measured in terms of productivity.
C. Legislation has not been recently passed to make legal bankruptcy easier to obtain.
D. There has not been an increase in the number of bankruptcy lawyers.
E. The media often misrepresent the current state of economic affairs.

OA and OE : From MGMAT CAT1

OE: The conclusion of the argument is that the media are wrong in saying that the economy is entering a phase of growth and prosperity. The basis for that claim is that the number of people filing for bankruptcy has increased every month for the last six months and that bankruptcy lawyers are busier than they have been in years. In order for this argument to be valid, however, the author has to assume that the increase in the number of bankruptcies is a result of the state of the economy and not the result of something unrelated.

(A) This does not have to be true for the claim that the media are wrong about the economy to hold. It is possible that unemployment rates are useful indicators of growth and prosperity and that media is still wrong about the economy (i.e. if there are other indicators that show problems in other areas).

(B) This does not have to be true for the claim that the media are wrong about the economy to hold. It is possible that productivity is a good measure of economic growth and that media is still wrong about the economy (i.e. if there are other indicators that show problems in other areas).

(C) CORRECT. This has to be true for the claim that the media are wrong about the economy to hold. If legislation has recently been passed that makes it easier to obtain bankruptcy, this would explain away the counterevidence to the media's argument. The increased number of bankruptcies could have been the result of the easier process rather than of a poor economy.

(D) This does not have to be true for the claim that the media are wrong about the economy to hold. An increase in the number of bankruptcy lawyers would not explain the increase in the number of bankruptcy filings.

(E) This does not have to be true for the claim that the media are wrong about the economy to hold. Even if the media did not often misrepresent the current state of economic affairs, the argument that the media are wrong might still hold.

The correct answer is C.