imjar

Q11:
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.
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Q13:
Editorial in Krenlandian Newspaper:
Krenland’s steelmakers are losing domestic sales because of lower-priced imports, in many cases because foreign governments subsidize their steel industries in ways that are banned by international treaties.  But whatever the cause, the cost is ultimately going to be jobs in Krenland’s steel industry.  Therefore, it would protect not only steel companies but also industrial employment in Krenland if our government took measures to reduce cheap steel imports.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the editorial’s argument?
A.        Because steel from Krenland is rarely competitive in international markets, only a very small portion of Krenlandian steelmakers’ revenue comes from exports.
B.        The international treaties that some governments are violating by giving subsidies to steelmakers do not specify any penalties for such violations.
C.        For many Krenlandian manufacturers who face severe international competition in both domestic and export markets, steel constitutes a significant part of their raw material costs.
D.        Because of advances in order-taking, shipping, and inventory systems, the cost of shipping steel from foreign producers to Krenland has fallen considerably in recent years.
E.        Wages paid to workers in the steel industry in Krenland differ significantly from wages paid to workers in many of the countries that export steel to Krenland.
Q15:
From 1980 to 1989, total consumption of fish in the country of Jurania increased by 4.5 percent, and total consumption of poultry products there increased by 9.0 percent.  During the same period, the population of Jurania increased by 6 percent, in part due to immigration to Jurania from other countries in the region.
If the statements above are true, which of the following must also be true on the basis of them?
A.        During the 1980’s in Jurania, profits of wholesale distributors of poultry products increased at a greater rate than did profits of wholesale distributors of fish.
B.        For people who immigrated to Jurania during the 1980’s, fish was less likely to be a major part of their diet than was poultry.
C.        In 1989 Juranians consumed twice as much poultry as fish.
D.        For a significant proportion of Jurania’s population, both fish and poultry products were a regular part of their diet during the 1980’s.
E.        Per capita consumption of fish in Jurania was lower in 1989 than in 1980.

imjar

Q16:
Researchers took a group of teenagers who had never smoked and for one year tracked whether they took up smoking and how their mental health changed.  Those who began smoking within a month of the study’s start were four times as likely to be depressed at the study’s end than those who did not begin smoking.  Since nicotine in cigarettes changes brain chemistry, perhaps thereby affecting mood, it is likely that smoking contributes to depression in teenagers.
Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
A.        Participants who were depressed at the study’s start were no more likely to be smokers at the study’s end than those who were not depressed.
B.        Participants who began smoking within a month of the study’s start were no more likely than those who began midway through to have quit smoking by the study’s end.
C.        Few, if any, of the participants in the study were friends or relatives of other participants.
D.        Some participants entered and emerged from a period of depression within the year of the study.
E.        The researchers did not track use of alcohol by the teenagers.
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Q19:
A diet high in saturated fats increases a person’s risk of developing heart disease.  Regular consumption of red wine reduces that risk.  Per-capita consumption of saturated fats is currently about the same in France as in the United States, but there is less heart disease there than in the United States because consumption of red wine is higher in France.  The difference in regular red-wine consumption has been narrowing, but no similar convergence in heart-disease rates has occurred.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to account for the lack of convergence noted above?
A.        Consumption of saturated fats is related more strongly to the growth of fatty deposits on artery walls, which reduce blood flow to the heart, than it is to heart disease directly.
B.        Over the past 30 years, per-capita consumption of saturated fats has remained essentially unchanged in the United States but has increased somewhat in France.
C.        Reports of the health benefits of red wine have led many people in the United States to drink red wine regularly.
D.        Cigarette smoking, which can also contribute to heart disease, is only slightly more common in France than in the United States.
E.        Regular consumption of red wine is declining dramatically among young adults in France, and heart disease typically does not manifest itself until middle age.
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Q23:
Because visual inspection cannot reliably distinguish certain skin discolorations from skin cancers, dermatologists at clinics have needed to perform tests of skin tissue taken from patients.  At Westville Hospital, dermatological diagnostic costs were reduced by the purchase of a new imaging machine that diagnoses skin cancer in such cases as reliably as the tissue tests do.  Consequently, even though the machine is expensive, a dermatological clinic in Westville is considering buying one to reduce diagnostic costs.
Which of the following would it be most useful for the clinic to establish in order to make its decision?
A.        Whether the visits of patients who require diagnosis of skin discolorations tend to be shorter in duration at the clinic than at the hospital
B.        Whether the principles on which the machine operates have been known to science for a long time
C.        Whether the machine at the clinic would get significantly less heavy use than the machine at the hospital does
D.        Whether in certain cases of skin discoloration, visual inspection is sufficient to make a diagnosis of skin cancer
E.        Whether hospitals in other parts of the country have purchased such imaging machines

imjar

Q30:
In a study conducted in Pennsylvania, servers in various restaurants wrote “Thank you” on randomly selected bills before presenting the bills to their customers.  Tips on these bills were an average of three percentage points higher than tips on bills without the message.  Therefore, if servers in Pennsylvania regularly wrote “Thank you” on restaurant bills, their average income from tips would be significantly higher than it otherwise would have been.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument relies?
A.        The “Thank you” messages would have the same impact on regular patrons of a restaurant as they would on occasional patrons of the same restaurant.
B.        Regularly seeing “Thank you” written on their bills would not lead restaurant patrons to revert to their earlier tipping habits.
C.        The written “Thank you” reminds restaurant patrons that tips constitute a significant part of the income of many food servers.
D.        The rate at which people tip food servers in Pennsylvania does not vary with how expensive a restaurant is.
E.        Virtually all patrons of the Pennsylvania restaurants in the study who were given a bill with “Thank you” written on it left a larger tip than they otherwise would have.
   Answer:
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Q34:
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.

imjar

Q39:
Which of the following most logically completes the passage?
On the whole, scientists do their most creative work before age forty, a tendency that has been taken to show that aging carries with it a loss of creative capacity.  An alternative explanation is that by age forty most scientists have worked in their field for fifteen or more years and that by then they have exhausted the opportunity for creative work in that field.  Supporting this explanation is the finding that ______.
A.        the average age of recipients of scientific research grants is significantly greater than forty
B.        a disproportionately large number of the scientists who produce highly creative work beyond age forty entered their field at an older age than is common
C.        many scientists temper their own expectations of what they can achieve in their research work by their belief that their creativity will decline as they age
D.        scientists who are older than forty tend to find more satisfaction in other activities, such as teaching and mentoring, than they do in pursuing their own research
E.        there is a similar diminution of creativity with age in nonscientific fields, such as poetry and musical composition
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Q41:
Last year a record number of new manufacturing jobs were created.  Will this year bring another record?  Well, any new manufacturing job is created either within an existing company or by the start-up of a new company.  Within existing firms, new jobs have been created this year at well below last year’s record pace.  At the same time, there is considerable evidence that the number of new companies starting up this year will be no higher than it was last year and there is no reason to think that the new companies starting up this year will create more jobs per company than did last year’s start-ups.  So clearly, the number of new jobs created this year will fall short of last year’s record.
In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
A.        The first provides evidence in support of the main conclusion of the argument; the second is a claim that argument challenges.
B.        The first is a generalization that the argument seeks to establish; the second is a conclusion that the argument draws in order to support that generalization.
C.        The first is a generalization that the argument seeks to establish; the second is a judgment that has been advanced in order to challenge that generalization.
D.        The first is presented as obvious truth on which the argument is based; the second is a claim that has been advanced in support of a position that the argument opposes.
E.        The first is presented as obvious truth on which the argument is based; the second is a judgment advanced in support of the main conclusion of the argument.
   Answer:
GWD-18
Q12:
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.

imjar

Q20:
Environmental organizations want to preserve the land surrounding the Wilgrinn Wilderness Area from residential development.  They plan to do this by purchasing that land from the farmers who own it.  That plan is ill-conceived:  if the farmers did sell their land, they would sell it to the highest bidder, and developers would outbid any other bidders.  On the other hand, these farmers will never actually sell any of the land, provided that farming it remains viable.  But farming will not remain viable if the farms are left unmodernized, and most of the farmers lack the financial resources modernization requires.  And that is exactly why a more sensible preservation strategy would be to assist the farmers to modernize their farms to the extent needed to maintain viability.
In the argument as a whole, the two boldface proportions play which of the following roles?
A.        The first presents a goal that the argument rejects as ill-conceived; the second is evidence that is presented as grounds for that rejection.
B.        The first presents a goal that the argument concludes cannot be attained; the second is a reason offered in support of that conclusion.
C.        The first presents a goal that the argument concludes can be attained; the second is a judgment disputing that conclusion.
D.        The first presents a goal, strategies for achieving which are being evaluated in the argument; the second is a judgment providing a basis for the argument’s advocacy of a particular strategy.
E.        The first presents a goal that the argument endorses; the second presents a situation that the argument contends must be changed if that goal is to be met in the foreseeable future.
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Q22:
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.
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Q28:
Five years ago, as part of a plan to encourage citizens of Levaska to increase the amount of money they put into savings, Levaska’s government introduced special savings accounts in which up to $3,000 a year can be saved with no tax due on the interest unless money is withdrawn before the account holder reaches the age of sixty-five.  Millions of dollars have accumulated in the special accounts, so the government’s plan is obviously working.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A.        A substantial number of Levaskans have withdrawn at least some of the money they had invested in the special accounts.
B.        Workers in Levaska who already save money in long-term tax-free accounts that are offered through their workplace cannot take advantage of the special savings accounts introduced by the government.
C.        The rate at which interest earned on money deposited in regular savings accounts is taxed depends on the income bracket of the account holder.
D.        Many Levaskans who already had long-term savings have steadily been transferring those savings into the special accounts.
E.        Many of the economists who now claim that the government’s plan has been successful criticized it when it was introduced.

imjar

Q30:
The ancient Nubians inhabited an area in which typhus occurs, yet surprisingly few of their skeletons show the usual evidence of this disease.  The skeletons do show deposits of tetracycline, an antibiotic produced by a bacterium common in Nubian soil.  This bacterium can flourish on the dried grain used for making two staples of the Nubian diet, beer and bread.  Thus, tetracycline in their food probably explains the low incidence of typhus among ancient Nubians.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument relies?
A.        Infectious diseases other than typhus to which the ancient Nubians were exposed are unaffected by tetracycline.
B.        Tetracycline is not rendered ineffective as an antibiotic by exposure to the processes involved in making bread and beer.
C.        Typhus cannot be transmitted by ingesting bread or beer contaminated with the infectious agents of this disease.
D.        Bread and beer were the only items in the diet of the ancient Nubians which could have contained tetracycline.
E.        Typhus is generally fatal.
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Q38:
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.
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Q40:
Until now, only injectable vaccines against influenza have been available.  Parents are reluctant to subject children to the pain of injections, but adults, who are at risk of serious complications from influenza, are commonly vaccinated.  A new influenza vaccine, administered painlessly in a nasal spray, is effective for children.  However, since children seldom develop serious complications from influenza, no significant public health benefit would result from widespread vaccination of children using the nasal spray.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A.        Any person who has received the injectable vaccine can safely receive the nasal-spray vaccine as well.
B.        The new vaccine uses the same mechanism to ward off influenza as injectable vaccines do.
C.        The injectable vaccine is affordable for all adults.
D.        Adults do not contract influenza primarily from children who have influenza.
E.        The nasal spray vaccine is not effective when administered to adults.

imjar

GWD-19
Q8:
Many large department stores in Montalia now provide shopping carts for their customers.  Since customers using shopping carts tend to buy more than those without shopping carts, most of these stores are experiencing strong sales growth, while most other department stores are not.  Therefore, in order to boost sales, managers of Jerrod’s, Montalia’s premier department store, are planning to purchase shopping carts and make them available to the store’s customers next month.
Which of the following, if true, casts most doubt whether the managers’ plan, if implemented, will achieve its goal?
K.        Since most customers associate shopping carts with low-quality discount stores, Jerrod’s high-quality image would likely suffer if shopping carts were introduced.
L.        Because the unemployment rate has declined to very low levels, Jerrod’s now has to pay significantly higher wages in order to retain its staff.
M.        A number of department stores that did not make shopping carts available to their customers have had to close recently due to falling profits.
N.        Shopping carts are not very expensive, but they generally need to be replaced every few years.
O.        Stores that make shopping carts available to their customers usually have to hire people to retrieve the carts from parking areas.
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Q12:
A mosquito bite can transmit to a person the parasite that causes malaria, and the use of mosquito nets over children’s beds can significantly reduce the incidence of malarial infection for children in areas where malaria is common.  Yet public health officials are reluctant to recommend the use of mosquito nets over children’s beds in such areas.
Which of the following, if true, would provide the strongest grounds for the public health officials’ reluctance?
A.        Early exposure to malaria increases the body’s resistance to it and results in a lesser likelihood of severe life-threatening episodes of malaria.
B.        Mosquito bites can transmit to people diseases other than malaria.
C.        Mosquito nets provide protection from some insect pests other than mosquitoes.
D.        Although there are vaccines available for many childhood diseases, no vaccine has been developed that is effective against malaria.
E.        The pesticides that are most effective against mosquitoes in regions where malaria is common have significant detrimental effects on human health.
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Q13:
Fact:        Asthma, a bronchial condition, is much less common ailment than hay fever, an allergic inflammation of the nasal passages.
        Fact:        Over 95 percent of people who have asthma also suffer from hay fever.
If the information given as facts above is true, which of the following must also be true?
F.        Hay fever is a prerequisite for the development of asthma.
G.        Asthma is a prerequisite for the development of hay fever.
H.        Those who have neither hay fever nor asthma comprise less than 5 percent of the total population.
I.        The number of people who have both of these ailments is greater than the number of people who have only one of them.
J.        The percentage of people suffering from hay fever who also have asthma is lower than 95 percent.

imjar

Q14:
The Eurasian ruffe, a fish species inadvertently introduced into North America’s Great Lakes in recent years, feeds on the eggs of lake whitefish, a native species, thus threatening the lakes’ natural ecosystem.  To help track the ruffe’s spread, government agencies have produced wallet-sized cards about the ruffe.  The cards contain pictures of the ruffe and explain the danger they pose; the cards also request anglers to report any ruffe they catch.
Which of the following, if true, would provide most support for the prediction that the agencies’ action will have its intended effect?
A.        The ruffe has spiny fins that make it unattractive as prey.
B.        Ruffe generally feed at night, but most recreational fishing on the Great Lakes is done during daytime hours.
C.        Most people who fish recreationally on the Great Lakes are interested in the preservation of the lake whitefish because it is a highly prized game fish.
D.        The ruffe is one of several nonnative species in the Great Lakes whose existence threatens the survival of lake whitefish populations there.
E.        The bait that most people use when fishing for whitefish on the Great Lakes is not attractive to ruffe.
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Q16:
A diet high in saturated fats increases a person’s risk of developing heart disease.  Regular consumption of red wine reduces that risk.  Per-capita consumption of saturated fats is currently about the same in France as in the United States, but there is less heart disease there than in the United States because consumption of red wine is higher in France.  The difference in regular red-wine consumption has been narrowing, but no similar convergence in heart-disease rates has occurred.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to account for the lack of convergence noted above?
F.        Consumption of saturated fats is related more strongly to the growth of fatty deposits on artery walls, which reduce blood flow to the heart, than it is to heart disease directly.
G.        Over the past 30 years, per-capita consumption of saturated fats has remained essentially unchanged in the United States but has increased somewhat in France.
H.        Reports of the health benefits of red wine have led many people in the United States to drink red wine regularly.
I.        Cigarette smoking, which can also contribute to heart disease, is only slightly more common in France than in the United States.
J.        Regular consumption of red wine is declining dramatically among young adults in France, and heart disease typically does not manifest itself until middle age.
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Q20:
Which of the following most logically completes the reasoning?
Either food scarcity or excessive hunting can threaten a population of animals.  If the group faces food scarcity, individuals in the group will reach reproductive maturity later than otherwise.  If the group faces excessive hunting, individuals that reach reproductive maturity earlier will come to predominate.  Therefore, it should be possible to determine whether prehistoric mastodons became extinct because of food scarcity or human hunting, since there are fossilized mastodon remains from both before and after mastodon populations declined, and ______.
A.        there are more fossilized mastodon remains from the period before mastodon populations began to decline than from after that period
B.        the average age at which mastodons from a given period reached reproductive maturity can be established from their fossilized remains
C.        it can be accurately estimated from fossilized remains when mastodons became extinct
D.        it is not known when humans first began hunting mastodons
E.        climate changes may have gradually reduced the food available to mastodons

imjar

Q24:
For similar cars and drivers, automobile insurance for collision damage has always cost more in Greatport than in Fairmont.  Police studies, however, show that cars owned by Greatport residents are, on average, slightly less likely to be involved in a collision than cars in Fairmont.  Clearly, therefore, insurance companies are making a greater profit on collision-damage insurance in Greatport than in Fairmont.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
a)        Repairing typical collision damage does not cost more in Greatport than in Fairmont.
b)        There are no more motorists in Greatport than in Fairmont.
c)        Greatport residents who have been in a collision are more likely to report it to their insurance company than Fairmont residents are.
d)        Fairmont and Greatport are the cities with the highest collision-damage insurance rates.
e)        The insurance companies were already aware of the difference in the likelihood of collisions before the publication of the police reports.
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Q28:
Editorial in Krenlandian Newspaper:
Krenland’s steelmakers are losing domestic sales because of lower-priced imports, in many cases because foreign governments subsidize their steel industries in ways that are banned by international treaties.  But whatever the cause, the cost is ultimately going to be jobs in Krenland’s steel industry.  Therefore, it would protect not only steel companies but also industrial employment in Krenland if our government took measures to reduce cheap steel imports.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the editorial’s argument?
F.        Because steel from Krenland is rarely competitive in international markets, only a very small portion of Krenlandian steelmakers’ revenue comes from exports.
G.        The international treaties that some governments are violating by giving subsidies to steelmakers do not specify any penalties for such violations.
H.        For many Krenlandian manufacturers who face severe international competition in both domestic and export markets, steel constitutes a significant part of their raw material costs.
I.        Because of advances in order-taking, shipping, and inventory systems, the cost of shipping steel from foreign producers to Krenland has fallen considerably in recent years.
J.        Wages paid to workers in the steel industry in Krenland differ significantly from wages paid to workers in many of the countries that export steel to Krenland.
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Q30:
Criminologist:  Some legislators advocate mandating a sentence of life in prison for anyone who, having twice served sentences for serious crimes, is subsequently convicted of a third serious crime.  These legislators argue that such a policy would reduce crime dramatically, since it would take people with a proven tendency to commit crimes off the streets permanently.  What this reasoning overlooks, however, is that people old enough to have served two prison sentences for serious crimes rarely commit more than one subsequent crime.  Filling our prisons with such individuals would have exactly the opposite of the desired effect, since it would limit our ability to incarcerate younger criminals, who commit a far greater proportion of serious crimes.
In the argument as a whole, the two boldfaced portions play which of the following roles?
A.        The first is a conclusion that the argument as a whole seeks to refute; the second is a claim that has been advanced in support of that conclusion.
B.        The first is a conclusion that the argument as a whole seeks to refute; the second is the main conclusion of the argument.
C.        The first is the main conclusion of the argument; the second is an objection that has been raised against that conclusion.
D.        The first is the main conclusion of the argument; the second is a prediction made on the basis of that conclusion.
E.        The first is a generalization about the likely effect of a policy under consideration in the argument; the second points out a group of exceptional cases to which that generalization does not apply.

imjar

Q37:
Researchers took a group of teenagers who had never smoked and for one year tracked whether they took up smoking and how their mental health changed.  Those who began smoking within a month of the study’s start were four times as likely to be depressed at the study’s end than those who did not begin smoking.  Since nicotine in cigarettes changes brain chemistry, perhaps thereby affecting mood, it is likely that smoking contributes to depression in teenagers.
Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
A.        Participants who were depressed at the study’s start were no more likely to be smokers at the study’s end than those who were not depressed.
B.        Participants who began smoking within a month of the study’s start were no more likely than those who began midway through to have quit smoking by the study’s end.
C.        Few, if any, of the participants in the study were friends or relatives of other participants.
D.        Some participants entered and emerged from a period of depression within the year of the study.
E.        The researchers did not track use of alcohol by the teenagers.
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Q38:
In January of last year the Moviemania chain of movie theaters started propping its popcorn in canola oil, instead of the less healthful coconut oil that it had been using until then.  Now Moviemania is planning to switch back, saying that the change has hurt popcorn sales.  That claim is false, however, since according to Moviemania’s own sales figures, Moviemania sold 5 percent more popcorn last year than in the previous year.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the argument against Moviemania’s claim?
A.        Total sales of all refreshments at Moviemania’s movie theaters increased by less than 5 percent last year.
B.        Moviemania makes more money on food and beverages sold at its theaters than it does on sales of movie tickets.
C.        Moviemania’s customers prefer the taste of popcorn popped in coconut oil to that of popcorn popped in canola oil.
D.        Total attendance at Moviemania’s movie theaters was more than 20 percent higher last year than the year before.
E.        The year before last, Moviemania experienced a 10 percent increase in popcorn sales over the previous year.
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Q40:
Agricultural societies cannot exist without staple crops.  Several food plants, such as kola and okra, are known to have been domesticated in western Africa, but they are all supplemental, not staple, foods.  All the recorded staple crops grown in western Africa were introduced from elsewhere, beginning, at some unknown date, with rice and yams.  Therefore, discovering when rice and yams were introduced into western Africa would establish the earliest date at which agricultural societies could have arisen there.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A.        People in western Africa did not develop staple crops that they stopped cultivating once rice and yams were introduced.
B.        There are no plants native to western Africa that, if domesticated, could serve as staple food crops.
C.        Rice and yams were grown as staple crops by the earliest agricultural societies outside of western Africa.
D.        Kola and okra are better suited to growing conditions in western Africa than domesticated rice and yams are.
E.        Kola and okra were domesticated in western Africa before rice and yams were introduced there.