People have claimed that Jamies paintings have given them the blues. Clearly this cannot be entirely correct, since many of Jamies paintings contain no blue at all.

The argument above is flawed because the author

provides no evidence

misinterprets a key term

relies on contradictory facts

is not a noted painting expert

Mrs. Orlof teaches two history classes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Yesterday she gave the same test to both classes. Anyone who failed the test must take a retest. Since a greater percentage of students who took the morning test failed the test than students who took the afternoon test, more of Orlofs morning history students than afternoon history students will have to take the retest.

The conclusion above is not necessarily valid because

more students in the morning class may have passed the test than failed the test

some students may have been absent from both classes

some of the students who passed the afternoon test may have received information about the test from morning students

more students may have taken the test in the afternoon than in the morning

All sages provide both wisdom and inspiration. Since Dashas speech contained wisdom and greatly inspired her audience, Dasha is a sage.

Which one of the following points out the flaw in the argument above?

Just because Dasha is a sage doesnt mean that she is always wise and inspirational.

Just because Dashas speech provided wisdom and inspiration doesnt mean that it provided more wisdom than inspiration.

Just because Dasha satisfied two requirements of being a sage doesnt necessarily mean that she satisfies all the requirements of being a sage.

Just because Dasha provided wisdom and inspiration in a speech doesnt mean that all sages use speeches to provide wisdom and inspiration.

The average height of members of the high school basketball team is six feet, three inches. Jerry is on the high school basketball team, so Jerry must be taller than six feet.

The argument above is flawed because it confuses

Jerry with other members of the team

the members of one team with the members of another team

people who are six feet three inches tall for people who are exactly six feet tall

an average for the individuals that make up that average.

Since Jessicas participation in local politics increased significantly after she joined her schools political science club, it is clear that her involvement in that club led her to take an interest in politics.

The argument above is flawed because

it doesnt say which political issues Jessica is interested in

it states that the only purpose of the political science club is to spark an interest in politics

it misuses the word significantly

its possible that an interest in politics caused Jessica to join the political science club

Reporter: A new campaign finance reform bill being considered by Congress would limit the amount of campaign contributions that political candidates can receive. However, a survey of candidates running for mayor, governor, and senate seats shows that not one of them favors the bill. Clearly, there is no desire among politicians to limit campaign contributions.

Which one of the following points out the flaw in the reporters argument above?

The reporter doesnt indicate the amount that the new bill would limit campaign contributions.

The evidence provided by the reporter suggests that most politicians are in favor of the new bill.

The reporter wrongly assumes that no politician has ever supported a bill intended to limit campaign contributions

The views of candidates currently running for office do not necessarily represent the views of all politicians.

Some politicians claim to support the environment in speeches they make around the country. However, to get to those speeches they ride in gas guzzling, pollution creating private planes. They therefore clearly dont believe a word of what they say and are actually making the environmental problem worse.

Which one of the following, if true, would best weaken the argument above?

Some of the politicians try to hide the fact that they travel by private plane to their speeches around the country.

Most people who hear the politicians speeches on the environment are unconvinced by their arguments.

A majority of voters surveyed agree that politicians sometimes make societys problems worse.

Improvements to the environment brought about through the politicians public support of environmental regulations more than offset the damage done to the environment by the politicians private planes.

Aron: The two double A batteries in my CD player are dead, so the CD player doesnt work. My television remote control, which also uses two double A batteries, works fine. So if I move the two batteries from my television remote control to my CD player, the CD player will definitely work.

Arons argument is most strengthened if which one of the following is true?

Aron inserted the current batteries in his television remote control two months before he inserted the current batteries in his CD player.

The amount of energy required to power the CD player is not greater than the amount of energy needed to power the television remote control.

Aron has used his television remote control more times than he has used his CD player since inserting the current batteries into each device.

Double A batteries provide less energy than either C batteries or D batteries.

Career counselor: It is best for artists to build a practical and safe career that will guarantee them a secure income, and then pursue their art in their spare time. That way, they will be motivated to work hard at their day jobs to support their art making, and both their career and their art will thrive.

Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument?

Some forms of art making are expensive and require a good deal of money to pursue.

Many people who arent artists prefer to pursue practical and safe careers.

Having the time and money to make art doesnt guarantee an artist commercial success.

Splitting time between two pursuits in life often causes both to suffer.

As part of its reorganization, company X created five new positions within the company. However, after the reorganization was complete, company X had fewer employees than before the reorganization.

Which one of the following, if true, would best explain the result described above?

Some employees of the company were switched into new departments to fill the new positions.

Some employees who quit over dissatisfaction with the reorganization were immediately replaced by new hires.

The new positions were created to respond to a greater demand for company Xs products.

Some employees were laid off as a number of old positions were eliminated in the reorganization.

Surveys show that people who use calorie information to decide which foods to eat consume on average 100 calories less than they would if they didnt check calorie information before eating. Strangely though, people who use calorie information in this way weigh more on average than people who dont check calorie information before eating.

Which one of the following, if true, best explains the surprising statistic stated above?

There are fewer people who check calorie information before eating than people who dont check calorie information before eating.

People who usually check calorie information before eating consume more calories if they stop checking.

Some people who check calorie information before eating dont consume any fewer calories than they would if they didnt check.

People with a weight problem are most likely to check calorie information before eating.

Choose the pair of words/phrases among the choices that exhibits the same logical relationship as the words/phrases in the following pair.

heavy : weight

dry : wet

feather : scale

hot : temperature

color : size

Choose the pair of words/phrases among the choices that exhibits the same logical relationship as the words/phrases in the following pair.

conductor : orchestra

skater : rink

teacher : principal

producer : movie

director : cast

Choose the pair of words/phrases among the choices that exhibits the same logical relationship as the words/phrases in the following pair.

building : blueprint

ship : sea

cake : recipe

bridge : island

guitar : song

Memmie: The greater the population near a restaurant, the more potential customers it has and the greater chance its popularity will spread through word-of-mouth. OSullivans Restaurant just opened in the very densely populated town of Redville, so its chances for success are great.

Sam: But the more people living in an area, the more restaurants there are in that area, so the more competition each one faces. There are twelve other restaurants serving the people of Redville.

Memmie and Sam seem to disagree about whether

OSullivans will fail in its first few months

OSullivans will serve a different kind of food than the other restaurants in Redville

the high population of Redville ensures OSullivans a great chance for success

word-of-mouth about a restaurant can spread in a densely populated town like Redville

Arthur: The solutions to most mystery novels I read are not believable. However, my enjoyment of a mystery novel depends only on its suspenseful mood and colorful characters.

Norton: Roughly 80% of the mystery novels I read have believable solutions, which is good since I do not enjoy mystery novels that dont have believable solutions.

The speakers above

agree that most mystery novels do not have believable solutions

agree that a suspenseful mood and colorful characters add to the enjoyment of a mystery novel

disagree on whether a believable solution is required for the enjoyment of a mystery novel

disagree on whether an authors enjoyment in creating a mystery novel influences whether that novel will have a believable solution

Some drugs combat obesity or alcohol addiction by turning off pleasure centers in the brain. However, if the dosage is too high, theres a risk that people taking them will be plunged into depression.

The statements above, if true, support which one of the following assertions?

It is useless to try to treat obesity or alcohol addiction through drugs.

All drugs, if taken at too high a dosage, pose the risk that the people taking them will be plunged into depression.

The benefits of a medication may be at least somewhat offset by its side effects.

Drugs that affect pleasure centers in the brain are often taken at dosages considered to be too high.

The higher the price of an antique, the greater peoples expectation that the object is rare. That, in turn, makes the antique appear more valuable.

If the statements above are correct, then offering an antique for sale at a bargain price

will likely increase peoples expectations that the antique is valuable

will guarantee that the antique will not sell at a profit

should be encouraged because it increases the likelihood that antique will be sold

should be discouraged because it lessens a quality that makes that antique desirable

Only circus animals with a clean bill of health will perform in todays exhibition. A monkey, a poodle, and a horse will perform in todays exhibition. No circus animals with a clean bill of health were prescribed medications this week.

If the statements above are true, which one of the following must also be true on the basis of them?

The monkey, poodle, and horse are the only animals performing in todays circus exhibition.

No circus animals were prescribe medications this week.

No more than two circus animals have a clean bill of health.

Neither the monkey nor the horse performing in todays circus exhibition were prescribed medications this week.

Detective: The robbery at the mall was carried out by a mall employee acting alone roughly one hour after the mall closed last Saturday night. The only employees present at the mall at the time of the robbery were security guards Evans and Clark. Since the malls surveillance system was disabled by the thief just before the robbery, the thief must be Evans.

The argument above would be valid if

Clark is incapable of disabling the malls surveillance system

both Evans and Clark are capable of disabling the malls surveillance system

Evans and Clark are the malls only security guards

the malls surveillance system is usually used 24 hours a day, seven days a week

Looking to increase the profits of his lemonade stand, Johann doubled the price of a cup of lemonade from 25 cents to 50 cents. This clearly shows Johanns lack of business sense, for now hell almost certainly sell fewer cups at the new price and therefore make less money than before.

The argument above assumes that

Johann is looking to double the profits of his lemonade stand

the price increase will likely put Johann out of business

profits from the price increase will not offset the money lost when fewer cups are sold

even if Johann sells more cups at the new price than he did at the old price, hell still lose money on the lemonade stand

A company can either invest in employee training seminars or update its computer network. Since updating the computer network would result in more measurable benefits, the company would be best off updating its computer network.

The argument above assumes that

investing in employee training seminars would yield negative results for the company

the more measurable a benefit, the greater value that benefit has to a company

the employee training seminars would focus on teaching employees to use the updated computer network

the benefit of the company investing in employee training seminars cannot be measured at all

Sometimes people get caught in a downward spiral, a case in which something leads to a result which in turn leads to more of the original thing, bringing on more of the result. As the process continues, the result continually gets worse and worse. An example is when people turn to binge eating when depressed, which causes them to put on weight and feel unhealthy, which then makes them more depressed, leading to more overeating, and so on.

The author is mainly concerned with

convincing people not to overeat

explaining the process of the downward spiral

showing how overeating can lead to depression

showing how some processes lead to surprising results

The very large increase in allergies over the last thirty years is due to the great success of immunizations administered over this time period. Since immunizations have nearly eliminated life-threatening diseases such as polio, the human immune system increasingly targets other environmental substances in order to keep working properly. Allergy symptoms such as runny nose and itchy eyes result when the immune system attacks pollen that is breathed in from the air.

Which one of the following best expresses the main point of the passage above?

Immunizations often have surprising side effects.

Immunizations have been very successful in eliminating life-threatening diseases.

Viruses that once caused polio now cause allergies.

The use of immunizations has led to an increase in allergies.

Whereas many industries suffer during economic recessions, the art industry does well. Some think the reason is that artists feed off the anxiety and uncertainty during recessions to produce inspired works. Others think that recessions, while harmful to most people, produce a handful of very rich people willing to pay very high prices for artworks, driving up the value of the art market as a whole.

The author of the passage above is primarily interested in

providing evidence that the art industry does well during recessions

presenting reasons for why the art industry does well during recessions

discussing the types of artworks that sell best during recessions

describing the effect that art has on the economy