GMAT - Critical Reasoning - Test 34

Read the passage and choose the option that best answer the question.

1. Questions 3-4 refer to the following:

Jay: We have too many people working on each of our computers in the office. The high frequency of breakdowns is due to too many people handling the same hardware.

Ada: We have just as many people working in our office, yet we hardly need any repairs to our systems. Our systems must be more robust than yours.

Ada?s argument would be most strengthened by providing data on the

A. actual number of people in the two offices
B. type of computers that are in both offices
C. ratio of computers to users in her office
D. number of visits by computer engineers to service the computers in Jay?s office
E. number of computers in Jay?s office

2. Mr. Janeck : I don't believe Stevenson will win the election for governor. Few voters are willing to elect a businessman with no political experience to such a responsible public office. Ms. Siuzdak : You're wrong. The experience of running a major corporation is a valuable preparation for the task of running a state government. M. Siuzdak's response shows that she has interpreted Mr. Janeck's remark to imply which of the following?

A. Mr. Janeck considers Stevenson unqualified for the office of governor.
B. No candidate without political experience has ever been elected governor of a state.
C. Mr. Janeck believes that political leadership and business leadership are closely analogous.
D. A career spent in the pursuit of profit can be an impediment to one's ability to run a state government fairly.
E. Voters generally overestimate the value of political experience when selecting a candidate.

3. Of those person who became teachers in 1968 and who later left the profession, 30 percent today earn salaries above $35,000 a year: of those who became teachers in 1968 and have remained in the profession, only 15 percent today earn salaries above $35,000 a year. These figures indicate how underpaid teachers are today. The argument above depends on which of the following assumptions about the persons for whom statistics are cited?

A. At least one-third of the group of persons who have remained in teaching would today be earning more than $35,000 a year if they had left teaching.
B. The group of persons who left teaching and the group who did not are comparable in terms of factors that determine how much people outside the teaching profession are paid.
C. Most of those persons who left teaching did so entirely because of the low salaries teachers earn.
D. As a group, those persons who have remained in teaching are abler and more dedicated than the group of persons who left teaching.
E. The group of persons who left teaching and who today earn more than $35,000 a year were more capable teachers than the group who remained in the profession.

4. When people predict that certain result will not take place unless a certain action is taken, they believe that they have learned that the prediction is correct when the action is taken and the result occurs. On reflection, however, it often becomes clear that the result admits of more than one interpretation. Which of the following, if true, best supports the claims above?

A. Judging the success of an action requires specifying the goal of the action.
B. Judging which action to take after a prediction is made requires knowing about other actions that have been successful in similar past situations.
C. Learning whether a certain predictive strategy is good requires knowing the result using that strategy through several trials.
D. Distinguishing a correct prediction and effective action from an incorrect prediction and ineffective action is often impossible.
E. Making a successful prediction requires knowing the facts about the context of that prediction.

5. Which of the following best completes the passage below? The computer industry's estimate that it loses millions of dollars when users illegally copy programs without paying for them is greatly exaggerated. Most of the illegal copying is done by people with no serious interest in the programs. Thus, the loss to the industry is much smaller than estimated because______

A. many users who illegally copy programs never find any use for them
B. most of the illegally copied programs would not be purchased even if purchasing them were the only way to obtain them
C. even if the computer industry received all the revenue it claims to be losing, it would still be experiencing financial difficulties
D. the total market value of all illegal copies is low in comparison to the total revenue of the computer industry
E. the number of programs that are frequently copied illegally is low in comparison to the number of programs available for sale

6. To prevent some conflicts of interest, Congress could prohibit high-level government officials from accepting positions as lobbyists for three years after such officials leave government service. One such official concluded, however, that such a prohibition would be unfortunate because it would prevent high-level government officials from earning a livelihood for three years. The official's conclusion logically depends on which of the following assumptions?

A. Laws should not restrict the behavior of former government officials.
B. Lobbyists are typically people who have previously been high-level government officials.
C. Low-level government officials do not often become lobbyists when they leave government service.
D. High-level government officials who leave government service are capable of earning a livelihood only as lobbyists.
E. High-level government officials who leave government service are currently permitted to act as lobbyists for only three years.

7. A drug that is highly effective in treating many types of infection can, at present, be obtained only from the bark of the ibora , a tree that is quite rare in the wild. It takes the bark of 5,000 trees to make one kilogram of the drug. It follows, therefore, that continued production of the drug must inevitably lead to the ibora's extinction. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

A. The drug made from ibora bark is dispensed to doctors from a central authority.
B. The drug made from ibora bark is expensive to produce.
C. The leaves of the ibora are used in a number of medical products.
D. The ibora can be propagated from cuttings and grown under cultivation.
E. The ibora generally grows in largely inaccessible places.

8. In order to relieve congestion in the airspace near the airports of a certain country, transportation officials propose sending passengers by new rapid trains between the country's major airport and several small cities within a 300-mile radius of it. This plan was proposed even though the officials realized that it is the major airport that is congested, not those in the small cities. The plan to relieve congestion would work best if which of the following were true about the major airport?

A. Rail tickets between the airport and the small cities will most likely cost more than the current air tickets for those routes.
B. Most passengers who frequently use the airport prefer to reach their cities of destination exclusively by air, even if they must change planes twice.
C. There are feasible changes in the airport's traffic control system which would significantly relieve congestion.
D. Some of the congestion the airport experiences could be relieved if more flights were scheduled at night and at other off-peak hours.
E. A significant proportion of the airport's traffic consists of passengers transferring between international flights and flights to the small cities.

9. Hotco oil burners, designed to be used in asphalt plants, are so efficient that Hotco will sell one to the Clifton Asphalt plant for no payment other than the cost savings between the total amount the asphalt plant actually paid for oil using its former burner during the last two years and the total amount it will pay for oil using the Hotco burner during the next two years. On installation, the plant will make an estimated payment, which will be adjusted after two years to equal the actual cost savings. Which of the following, if it occurred, would constitute a disadvantage for Hotco of the plan described above?

A. Another manufacturer's introduction to the market of a similarly efficient burner
B. The Clifton Asphalt plant's need for more than one new burner
C. Very poor efficiency in the Clifton Asphalt plant's old burner
D. A decrease in the demand for asphalt
E. A steady increase in the price of oil beginning soon after the new burner is installed

10. A severe drought can actually lessen the total amount of government aid that United States farmers receive as a group. The government pays farmers the amount, if any, by which the market price at which crops are actually sold falls short of a preset target price per bushel for the crops. The drought of 1983, for example, caused farm-program payments to drop by $10 billion. Given the information above, which of the following, if true, best explains why the drought of 1983 resulted in a reduction in farm-program payments?

A. Prior to the drought of 1983, the government raised the target price for crops in order to aid farmers in reducing their debt loads.
B. Due to the drought of 1983, United States farmers exported less food in 1983 than in the preceding year.
C. Due to the drought of 1983, United States farmers had smaller harvests and thus received a higher market price for the 1983 crop than for the larger crop of the preceding year.
D. Due to the drought of 1983, United States farmers planned to plant smaller crops in 1984 than they had in 1983.
E. Despite the drought of 1983, retail prices for food did not increase significantly between 1982 and 1983.