GWD-TN-14-11.
Some species of Arctic birds are threatened by recent sharp increases in the population of snow geese, which breed in the Arctic and are displacing birds of less vigorous species. Although snow geese are a popular quarry for hunters in the southern regions where they winter, the hunting season ends if and when hunting has reduced the population by five percent, according to official estimates. Clearly, dropping this restriction would allow the other species to recover.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument?
A. Hunting limits for snow geese were imposed many years ago in response to a sharp decline in the population of snow geese.
B. It has been many years since the restriction led to the hunting season for snow geese being closed earlier than the scheduled date.
C. The number of snow geese taken by hunters each year has grown every year for several years.
D. As their population has increased, snow geese have recolonized wintering grounds that they had not used for several seasons.
E. In the snow goose’s winter habitats, the goose faces no significant natural predation.
GWD-TN-14-13.
Eurasian watermilfoil, a weed not native to Frida Lake, has reproduced prolifically since being accidentally introduced there. In order to eliminate the weed, biologists proposed treating infested parts of the lake with a certain herbicide that is nontoxic for humans and aquatic animals. However, the herbicide might damage populations of certain rare plant species that the lake contains. For this reason local officials rejected the proposal.
Which of the following, if true, points out the most serious weakness in the officials’ grounds for rejecting the biologists’ proposal?
A. The continuing spread of Eurasian watermilfoil in Frida Lake threatens to choke out the lake’s rare plant species.
B. Because of ecological conditions prevailing in its native habitat, Eurasian watermilfoil is not as dominant there as it is in Frida Lake.
C. The proliferation of Eurasian watermilfoil in Frida Lake has led to reductions in the populations of some species of aquatic animals.
D. Although Eurasian watermilfoil could be mechanically removed from Frida Lake, eliminating the weed would take far longer this way than it would using herbicides.
E. Unless Eurasian watermilfoil is completely eliminated from Frida Lake, it will quickly spread again once herbicide treatments or other control measures cease.
GWD-TN-14-22.
In each of the past five years, Barraland’s prison population has increased. Yet, according to official government statistics, for none of those years has there been either an increase in the number of criminal cases brought to trial, or an increase in the rate at which convictions have been obtained. Clearly, therefore, the percentage of people convicted of crimes who are being given prison sentences is on the increase.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A. In Barraland the range of punishments that can be imposed instead of a prison sentence is wide.
B. Over the last ten years, overcrowding in the prisons of Barraland has essentially been eliminated as a result of an ambitious program of prison construction.
C. Ten years ago, Barraland reformed its criminal justice system, imposing longer minimum sentences for those crimes for which a prison sentence had long been mandatory.
D. Barraland has been supervising convicts on parole more closely in recent years, with the result that parole violations have become significantly less frequent.
E. The number of people in Barraland who feel that crime is on the increase is significantly greater now than it was five years ago.
GWD-TN-14-34.
During the month of May, crabs arrive on Delaware’s beaches to lay eggs. Certain shorebirds depend on these eggs for food during their annual spring migration to their northern breeding grounds. Delaware’s crab population has declined recently. This decline, however, poses no serious threat to the migrating shorebird populations: by remaining longer in Delaware, the birds will be able to eat enough crab eggs to allow them to complete their migration.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A. No other food available to the birds on Delaware’s beaches is as nutritious and accessible as are crab eggs.
B. The decline in the number of crabs on Delaware’s beaches is due to the harvesting of crabs by humans.
C. There are more crabs on Delaware’s beaches than in any other area that the migrating birds pass through.
D. The crabs do not conceal their eggs.
E. The earlier in the season the shorebirds complete their migration, the more likely they are to breed successfully.
GWD-TN-15-22.
A survey of entrepreneurs who started companies last year shows that while virtually all did substantial preparatory research and planning, only half used that work to produce a formal business plan. Since, on average, the entrepreneurs without formal plans secured the capital they needed in half the time of those with plans, these survey results indicate that, in general, formal plans did not help the entrepreneurs who produced them to secure the capital they needed.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A. Companies started by entrepreneurs who had used formal business plans to attract investment were on the whole as profitable in their first year as were companies started by entrepreneurs who had not produced such plans.
B. In surveys of entrepreneurs who have attempted without success to raise sufficient capital, more than half of the respondents indicate that they have produced a formal business plan.
C. Among the entrepreneurs surveyed, those who did not produce formal business plans sought and received a much larger proportion of their capital from investors with whom they had a long-standing business relationship.
D. The entrepreneurs surveyed who did not produce a formal business plan spent nearly as much time doing preparatory research and planning as the entrepreneurs who produced plans.
E. The entrepreneurs who produced business plans generally reported later that the process of writing the plan had increased their confidence that their company would succeed.
GWD-TN-15-30.
In the past, most children who went sledding in the winter snow in Verland used wooden sleds with runners and steering bars. Ten years ago, smooth plastic sleds became popular; they go faster than wooden sleds but are harder to steer and slow. The concern that plastic sleds are more dangerous is clearly borne out by the fact that the number of children injured while sledding was much higher last winter than it was ten years ago.
Which of the following, if true in Verland, most seriously undermines the force of the evidence cited?
A. A few children still use traditional wooden sleds.
B. Very few children wear any kind of protective gear, such as helmets, while sledding.
C. Plastic sleds can be used in a much wider variety of snow conditions than wooden sleds can.
D. Most sledding injuries occur when a sled collides with a tree, a rock, or, another sled.
E. Because the traditional wooden sled can carry more than one rider, an accident involving a wooden sled can result in several children being injured.
GWD-TN-15-40.
A manufacturer of workstations for computer-aided design seeks to increase sales to its most important corporate customers. Its strategy is to publish very low list prices for workstations in order to generate interest among the buyers for those corporations.
Which of the following, if characteristic of the marketplace, would tend to cause the manufacturer’s strategy to fail?
A. The proposed list prices would seem low to a typical buyer for the manufacturer’s most important corporate customers.
B. The capabilities of workstations suitable for given jobs are not significantly different among various manufacturers.
C. The manufacturer’s most important corporate customers employ as buyers persons who are very knowledgeable about prices for workstations for customer-aided design.
D. Customers differ significantly in the percentage of resources they can devote to computer workstations.
E. Buyers for corporations that purchase workstations for computer-aided design receive bonuses for negotiating large discounts from the list price.
GWD-TN-16-2.
In two months, the legal minimum wage in the country of Kirlandia will increase from five Kirlandic dollars(KD5.00) Per hour to KD5.50 per hour. Opponents of this increase have argued that the resulting rise in wages will drive the inflation rate up. In fact its impact on wages will probably be negligible, since only a very small proportion of all Kirfandic workers are currently receiving less than KD5.50 per hour.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A. Most people in Kirlandia who are currently earning the minimum wage have been employed at their current jobs for less than a year.
B. Some firms in Kirlandia have paid workers considerably less than KD5.00 per hour, in violation of Kirlandic employment regulations.
C. Many businesses hire trainees at or near the minimum wage but must reward trained workers by keeping their pay levels above the pay level of trainees.
D. The greatest growth in Kirlandia’s economy in recent years has been in those sectors where workers earn wages that tend to be much higher than the minimum wage.
E. The current minimum wage is insufficient for a worker holding only one job to earn enough to support a family, even when working full time at that job.
GWD-TN-17-39.
Kate: The recent decline in numbers of the Tennessee warbler, a North American songbird that migrates each fall to coffee plantations in South America, is due to the elimination of the dense tree cover that formerly was a feature of most South American coffee plantations.
Scott: The population of the spruce budworm, the warbler’s favorite prey in North America, has been dropping. This is a more likely explanation of the warbler’s decline.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls Scott’s hypothesis into question?
A. The numbers of the Baltimore oriole, a songbird that dose not eat budworms but is as dependent on South American coffee plantations as is the Tennessee warbler, are declining.
B. The spruce-budworm population has dropped because of a disease that can infect budworms but not Tennessee warblers.
C. The drop in the population of the spruce budworm is expected to be only temporary.
D. Many Tennessee warbler have begun migrating in the fall to places other than traditional coffee plantations.
E. Although many North American songbirds have declined in numbers, no other species has experienced as great a decline as has the Tennessee warbler.
GWD-TN-17-41.
In Gandania, where the government has a monopoly on tobacco sales, the incidence of smoking-related health problems has risen steadily for the last twenty years. The health secretary recently proposed a series of laws aimed at curtailing tobacco use in Gandania. Profits from tobacco sales, however, account for ten percent of Gandania’s annual revenues. Therefore, Gandania cannot afford to institute the proposed laws.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A. All health care in Gandania is government-funded.
B. Implementing the proposed laws is not likely to cause a significant increase in the amount of tobacco Gandania exports.
C. The percentage of revenue Gandania receives from tobacco sales has remained steady in recent years.
D. Profits from tobacco sales far surpass any other single source of revenue for the Gandanian government.
E. No government official in Gandania has ever previously proposed laws aimed at curtailing tobacco use.
GWD-TN-18-2.
Electronic computer chips made of tiny silicon wafers now regularly contain millions of electronic switches. Unfortunately, electronic switches that are this small cannot withstand intense radiation. Micro-Mechanics plans to produce a chip that, because it uses only microscopic mechanical switches, will be invulnerable to radiation damage. The switches will, however, be slower than electronic switches and the chip will contain only 12,000 switches.
For there to be a market for Micro-Mechanics’ chip as a result of the apparent advantage described above, each of the following would have to be true EXCEPT:
A. There will be applications in which the speed attainable by an electronic switch is not essential.
B. Switches used on electronic chips that contain only 12,000 switches are more vulnerable to radiation damage than the switches on Micro-Mechanics’ chip will be.
C. There will be applications for computer chips in environments where the chips may have to survive intense radiation.
D. Some devices in which computer chips will be used will have other components that will be able to function during or after exposure to radiation.
E. Manufacturers are able to protect electronic computer chips against exposure to intense radiation, where this protection is necessary.
