GMAT Critical Reasoning Practice Test 1.

It is often thought that our own modern age is unique in having a large number o f people who live into old age. It has frequently been assumed that plagues, war s, and harsh working conditions killed off most people in previous ages before t hey could reach old age. However, recent research shows that in 17th century Eur ope, for example, people over sixty comprised 10 percent of the population. The studies also revealed that although infant mortality remained high until the 20t h century in Europe, people who survived to adulthood could expect to live to be old. The portions in boldface play which of the following roles in the argument above ? A. The first is a conclusion that the author supports. The second is data that c ontradicts that conclusion. B. The first is a finding that the author contests. The second is a finding that the author accepts. C. The first is an assumption that the author thinks is invalid. The second is d ata that validates that assumption. D. The first is a position that the author opposes. The second is a finding that supports the author s position. E. The first is a position that the author opposes. The second is an assumption which, if valid, negates the author s view. 2. A marriage counselor noted that couples who have occasional violent arguments ar e less likely to divorce within the next six months than those who have frequent but less violent arguments. He concluded that frequent arguing is a major facto r in the causation of severe marital disharmony. The counselor s conclusion is most weakened by which of the following observations ? A. Couples who have already come to the point of divorce argue continuously over small matters. B. People who have recently divorced are more likely to argue violently when the y meet. C. Many people in happy marriages have occasional violent arguments. D. Recently divorced people rarely cite frequent arguments as a cause of marital disharmony E. A significant fraction of couples close to divorce do not talk to each other. 3. The Dean claimed that, as a result of continued cutbacks in the budget for pure science research, fewer students are choosing a career in physics, and therefore the number of postgraduate students studying physics is likely to decline. Which of the following, if true, casts most doubt on the Dean s conclusion? A. The number of students majoring in physics at the undergraduate level has bee n increasing steadily over the years, a trend that is expected to continue.

B. The number of students studying chemistry declined even before cutbacks in re search funding were noted. C. Most postgraduate students of physics move to careers in computer science and engineering. D. The Dean s own university has recently increased the number of staff members te aching physics. E. The budget cutbacks are less severe for the pure sciences than for applied sc iences. 4. A nature conservancy expert found little support for his campaign to protect toa ds. He suggested that, even thought the campaign highlighted the vital role the toads played in the ecology of the region, people were unenthusiastic about savi ng toads as these animals are perceived as unpleasant creatures, and people seld om feel passionate about animals with which they have no positive feelings. The expert s opinion would be most strengthened by which of the following observat ions? A. Ecological conservation is an increasingly important concern in the region. B. A recent campaign to save bats achieved a measure of success only after a car toon bat was adopted as the mascot of the local football team. C. Snakes and lizards also need protection in this region as a result of human a ctivity. D. The campaign to protect toads has been in existence for over five years and y et the toad population continues to decline. E. The children in the local schools were found to have a greater aversion to to ads than to snakes. 5. Many people report that exposure to certain foods such as cheese, red wine, and chocolate, are associated with the onset of migraine headaches. Other people rep ort that exposure to certain smells (especially strong perfumes) seems to trigge r a migraine headache, and some note that exposure to bright and flickering ligh ts can be followed by a migraine. It would seem that a person with a tendency to get migraines should try to find which of these situations is associated with t he onset of the headache and then avoid this stimulus. All of the following, if true, would indicate potential problems with the recomm endation above except A. the time delay between the trigger and the onset of the headache can make it exceptionally difficult to identify the trigger B. the presence of a known trigger doesn t always cause a migraine C. in many cases an internal hormonal change triggers a migraine D. in a high proportion of cases the patients report multiple triggers for their headaches E. most of the known triggers are common and almost unavoidable features of mode rn life 6. It is strange that in Sentacity there are so many corner shops selling food item s. After all there are many supermarkets in the city which sell food at cheaper prices, and many of these supermarkets are open 24-hours.

Which of the following, if true, would be of least help in explaining the parado xical observation? A. The corner shops are selling specialist food items not available in the super markets. B. The supermarkets are mostly located on the outskirts of the city and require residents to use cars or public transport to reach them. C. The main business of the local shops is newspaper distribution and food items represent a small part of their turnover. D. The corner shops are mainly family-owned businesses and have been there for m uch longer than the supermarkets and are perceived as an important feature of th e community. E. The corner shops are willing to make home deliveries. In regard to propaganda the early advocates of universal literacy and a free press envisaged only two possibilities: the propaganda might be true, or it might be false. They did not foresee what in fact has happened, above all in our 5 Western capitalist democracies - the development of a vast mass communications industry, concerned in the main neither with the true nor the false, but with the unreal, the more or less totally irrelevant. In a word, they failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions. 10 In the past most people never got a chance of fully satisfying this appetite. They might long for distractions, but the distractions were not provided. Christmas came but once a year, feasts were "solemn and rare," there were few readers and very little to read, and the nearest approach 15 to a neighborhood movie theater was the parish church, where the performances, though infrequent, were somewhat monotonous. For conditions even remotely comparable to those now prevailing we must return to imperial Rome, where the populace was kept in good humor by frequent, gratuitous doses of many kinds of 20 entertainment - from poetical dramas to gladiatorial fights, from recitations of Virgil to all-out boxing, from concerts to military reviews and public executions. But even in Rome there was nothing like the non-stop distraction now provided by newspapers and magazines, by radio, television and the 25 cinema. In Brave New World non-stop distractions of the most fascinating nature (the feelies, orgy-porgy, centrifugal bumblepuppy) are deliberately used as instruments of policy, for the purpose of preventing people from paying too much attention to the realities of the social and political 30 situation. The other world of religion is different from the other world of entertainment; but they resemble one another in being most decidedly "not of this world." Both are distractions and, if lived in too continuously, both can become, in Marx's phrase, "the opium of the people" 35 and so a threat to freedom. Only the vigilant can maintain their liberties, and only those who are constantly and intelligently on the spot can hope to govern themselves effectively by democratic procedures. A society, most of whose members spend a great part of their time, not on the 40 spot, not here and now and in the calculable future, but somewhere else, in the irrelevant other worlds of sport and soap opera, of mythology and metaphysical fantasy, will find it hard to resist the encroachments of those who would manipulate and control it.

45 In their propaganda today's dictators rely for the most part on repetition, suppression and rationalization - the repetition of catchwords which they wish to be accepted as true, the suppression of facts which they wish to be ignored, the arousal and rationalization of passions which may be 50 used in the interests of the Party or the State. As the art and science of manipulation come to be better understood, the dictators of the future will doubtless learn to combine these techniques with the non-stop distractions which, in the West, are now threatening to drown in a sea of 55 irrelevance the rational propaganda essential to the maintenance of individual liberty and the survival of democratic institutions. Adapted from the introduction to Brave New World, A Huxley (1931) 1. The author would be most likely to agree that propaganda A. B. C. D. E. can serve a vital function in democracy is concerned mainly with the irrelevant is now combined with entertainment is universally recognized as a danger needs constant vigilance to avoid early advocates of universal literacy (line 1) are mentioned as

2. The A. B. C. D. E.

advocates of propaganda opponents of an idea that the author thinks is correct proponents of an idea that the author wishes to counter people who made wrong predictions about freedom of the press social commentators unaware of man s appetite for distractions Brave New World as a fictional example of a society in whi

3. The author refers to ch A. B. C. D. E.

non-stop distractions are the main instrument of government policy people are totally unaware of political realities entertainment is used to keep people from full awareness of social realities entertainment resembles religion in its effects on the masses non-stop entertainment is provided as it was in Rome (line 37) the author apparently means

4. By intelligently on the spot A. B. C. D. E.

alert to the dangers of propaganda in a particular society at a particular time in a specific time and place conscious of political and social realities deeply aware of current trends

The principle of selection solved the riddle as to how what was purposive could conceivably be brought about without the intervention of a directing power, the riddle which animate nature presents to our intelligence at every turn, and in 5 face of which the mind of a Kant could find no way out, for he regarded a solution of it as not to be hoped for. For, even if we were to assume an evolutionary force that is continually transforming the most primitive and the simplest forms of life into ever higher forms, and the homogeneity of 10 primitive times into the infinite variety of the present, we should still be unable to infer from this alone how each of

the numberless forms adapted to particular conditions of life should have appeared precisely at the right moment in the history of the earth to which their adaptations were 15 appropriate, and precisely at the proper place in which all the conditions of life to which they were adapted occurred: the humming-birds at the same time as the flowers; the trichina at the same time as the pig; the bark-coloured moth at the same time as the oak, and the wasp-like moth at the 20 same time as the wasp which protects it. Without processes of selection we should be obliged to assume a "pre-established harmony" after the famous Leibnitzian model, by means of which the clock of the evolution of organisms is so regulated as to strike in exact synchronism with that 25 of the history of the earth! All forms of life are strictly adapted to the conditions of their life, and can persist under these conditions alone. There must therefore be an intrinsic connection between the conditions and the structural adaptations of the organism, 30 and, since the conditions of life cannot be determined by the animal itself, the adaptations must be called forth by the conditions. The selection theory teaches us how this is conceivable, since it enables us to understand that there is a continual production of what is non-purposive as well 35 as of what is purposive, but the purposive alone survives, while the non-purposive perishes in the very act of arising. This is the old wisdom taught long ago by Empedocles. Adapted from an essay by A Weismann (1889) 5. It can be inferred that the author believes that the ) is A. B. C. D. E. ingenious and worthy of serious consideration untenable by all rational people an acceptable solution to Kant s dilemma unworthy of further consideration an alternative that might still be valid Leibnitzian model (line 22

6. The author s primary purpose in this extract is to A. suggest that a particular theory explains otherwise puzzling phenomena B. describe the details of the selection theory for a lay audience C. justify a particularly controversial model of the origins of life D. persuade the reader that Empedocles was right E. prove that selection is the only possible way of looking at evolutionary biol ogy 7. The examples in lines 17 - 19 are intended to A. reinforce the author s point that is difficult to explain adaptation B. show that adaptations must take place only at specific times and in specific places C. give specific illustration of organisms that are particularly well-adapted to their conditions D. show organisms that have evolved synchronously in a predestined manner E. demonstrate that intelligent design is needed for purposive evolution 1. A teacher at the school acknowledged that, despite government sponsored endea vors to improve classroom performance, an extraordinary high percentage of their students fail to gain admission to higher education.

A. an extraordinary high percentage of their students fail to gain admission to higher education B. an extraordinarily high percentage of its students fail to gain admission to higher education C. an extraordinary high percentage of its students fails to gain admission to h igher education D. the percentage of their students failing to gain admission to higher educatio n is extraordinarily high E. a high percentage of its students, extraordinarily high in fact, fails to gai n admission to higher education 2. Wordsworth was one of the first European poet to consider the lowliest member s of society to be valid subjects for poetry. A. B. C. D. E. European poet to consider the lowliest members of society to be of European poets to consider the lowliest members of society to be European poets to consider the lowliest members of society as among European poets to consider the lowliest members of society as European poets to consider the lowliest members of society

3. A course of cognitive behavior therapy can be as effective, if not more so, t han drug therapy and without the side effects, in helping the elderly to overcom e insomnia. A. as effective, if not more so, than drug therapy and without the side effects, in helping the elderly to overcome insomnia B. more effective than drug therapy and without the side effects, in helping the elderly to overcome insomnia C. at least as effective in helping the elderly overcome insomnia as drug therap y, and is without the side effects of drug treatment D. at least as effective as drug therapy in helping the elderly to overcome inso mnia without side effects E. equally effective as drug therapy in helping the elderly to overcome insomnia without side effects 4. Moule s review served as a welcome encouragement to the author: Hardy set to wo rk with renewed vigor and finished the serial ahead of time. A. B. C. D. E. served as a welcome encouragement to the author: Hardy served a welcome encouragement to Hardy, and the author was welcome as an encouragement to Hardy, the author was a welcome encouragement to the author, Hardy served as a welcome encouragement to the author, Hardy

5. Until the European Convention on Human Rights came into effect in 2000, no la w of privacy was as yet acknowledged by British courts. A. B. C. D. E. no law of privacy was as yet acknowledged by British courts British courts did not acknowledge a law of privacy the courts in Britain had not acknowledged a law of privacy a law of privacy was not acknowledged by the courts in Britain there had been no acknowledged law of privacy in Britain

6. Galton s claim that fingerprints are unique is almost universally accepted desp ite using less than one hundred samples for his initial investigation and statis tical methods that are not entirely convincing. A. Galton s claim that fingerprints are unique is almost universally accepted desp ite using less than one hundred samples for his initial investigation and statis tical methods that are not entirely convincing.

B. Galton s claim that fingerprints are unique is almost universally accepted desp ite his using statistical methods that are not entirely convincing and less than one hundred samples for his initial investigation. C. Even though Galton used one hundred samples or less, for his initial investig ation, and used statistical methods that are not entirely convincing, his claim for fingerprints that are unique is almost universally accepted. D. Even though Galton used less than one hundred samples for his initial investi gation, and used statistical methods that are not entirely convincing, his claim that fingerprints are unique is almost universally accepted. E. Even though Galton used less than one hundred samples for his initial investi gation, his claim that fingerprints are unique is almost universally accepted, d espite the fact that he used statistical methods that are not entirely convincin g.

Format of your essay Part I - Introduction Write an introduction explaining in your own words what the issue is about. Try to generate interest in the topic under discussion, and make it clear why the to pic is controversial. End your paragraph with a thesis statement. (A thesis stat ement is a clear summation of your point of view.) Part II - The body of the essay Write 2-3 paragraphs to support your thesis. Each paragraph should introduce one point. Explain the point and give a specific example wherever possible. You can also give reasons why the point is important or relevant. Be sure to give conne cting words and phrases (links) at the beginning of each paragraph to give a sen se of logical flow. Part III - Qualification Since the issue is never entirely black or white, you do not want to sound too d ogmatic, and so you qualify (moderate) your position (i.e. you usually explain tha t under certain circumstances the other side of the issue might be correct). Thi s may involve a sentence beginning with "but" or "however"... Part IV - Conclusion You cannot leave the essay without reinforcing your thesis. If you have introduc ed a qualification into your argument, you will need to draw the essay back to y our thesis. Try to avoid simply repeating what you have said; find something gen eral to say that makes it clear that you have finished.