CRITICAL REASONING - SET 1

1. “Life expectancy” is the average age at death of the
entire live-born population. In the middle of the
nineteenth century, life expectancy in North America
was 40 years, whereas now it is nearly 80 years.
Thus, in those days, people must have been
considered old at an age that we now consider the
prime of life.
Which of the following, if true, undermines the
argument above?
(A) In the middle of the nineteenth century, the
population of North America was significantly
smaller than it is today.
(B) Most of the gains in life expectancy in the last
150 years have come from reductions in the
number of infants who die in their first year
of life.
(C) Many of the people who live to an advanced age
today do so only because of medical technology
that was unknown in the nineteenth century.
(D) The proportion of people who die in their
seventies is significantly smaller today than is the
proportion of people who die in their eighties.
(E) More people in the middle of the nineteenth
century engaged regularly in vigorous physical
activity than do so today.


2. Scientists propose placing seismic stations on the
fl oor of the Pacifi c Ocean to warn threatened coastal
communities on the northwestern coast of the United
States of approaching tidal waves caused by
earthquakes. Since forewarned communities could
take steps to evacuate, many of the injuries and
deaths that would otherwise occur could be avoided
if the government would implement this proposal.
The answer to which of the following questions
would be most important in determining whether
implementing the proposal would be likely to achieve
the desired result?
(A) When was the last time that the coastal
communities were threatened by an approaching
tidal wave?
(B) How far below sea level would the stations be
located?
(C) Would there be enough time after receiving
warning of an approaching tidal wave for
communities to evacuate safely?
(D) How soon after a tidal wave hits land is it safe
for evacuees to return to their communities?
(E) Can the stations be equipped to collect and
relay information about phenomena other than
tidal waves caused by earthquakes?


3. Homeowners aged 40 to 50 are more likely to
purchase ice cream and are more likely to purchase
it in larger amounts than are members of any other
demographic group. The popular belief that teenagers
eat more ice cream than adults must, therefore,
be false.
The argument is flawed primarily because the author
(A) fails to distinguish between purchasing and
consuming
(B) does not supply information about homeowners
in age groups other than 40 to 50
(C) depends on popular belief rather than on
documented research findings
(D) does not specify the precise amount of ice
cream purchased by any demographic group
(E) discusses ice cream rather than more nutritious
and healthful foods


4. According to a prediction of the not-so-distant future
published in 1940, electricity would revolutionize
agriculture. Electrodes would be inserted into the soil,
and the current between them would kill bugs and
weeds and make crop plants stronger.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly indicates
that the logic of the prediction above is fl awed?
(A) In order for farmers to avoid electric shock while
working in the fi elds, the current could be turned
off at such times without diminishing the
intended effects.
(B) If the proposed plan for using electricity were
put into practice, farmers would save on
chemicals now being added to the soil.
(C) It cannot be taken for granted that the use of
electricity is always benefi cial.
(D) Since weeds are plants, electricity would affect
weeds in the same way as it would affect crop
plants.
(E) Because a planting machine would need to avoid
coming into contact with the electrodes, new
parts for planting machines would need to be
designed.


5. A company is considering changing its policy
concerning daily working hours. Currently, this
company requires all employees to arrive at work
at 8 a.m. The proposed policy would permit each
employee to decide when to arrive—from as early
as 6 a.m. to as late as 11 a.m.
The adoption of this policy would be most likely to
decrease employees’ productivity if the employees’
job functions required them to
(A) work without interruption from other employees
(B) consult at least once a day with employees from
other companies
(C) submit their work for a supervisor’s eventual
approval
(D) interact frequently with each other throughout
the entire workday
(E) undertake projects that take several days to
complete


6. The amount of time it takes for most of a worker’s
occupational knowledge and skills to become obsolete
has been declining because of the introduction of
advanced manufacturing technology (AMT). Given the
rate at which AMT is currently being introduced in
manufacturing, the average worker’s old skills become
obsolete and new skills are required within as little as
five years.
Which of the following plans, if feasible, would allow
a company to prepare most effectively for the rapid
obsolescence of skills described above?
(A) The company will develop a program to offer
selected employees the opportunity to receive
training six years after they were originally hired.
(B) The company will increase its investment in AMT
every year for a period of at least five years.
(C) The company will periodically survey its
employees to determine how the introduction of
AMT has affected them.
(D) Before the introduction of AMT, the company will
institute an educational program to inform its
employees of the probable consequences of the
introduction of AMT.
(E) The company will ensure that it can offer its
employees any training necessary for meeting
their job requirements.


7. Traverton’s city council wants to minimize the city’s
average yearly expenditures on its traffi c signal lights
and so is considering replacing the incandescent bulbs
currently in use with arrays of light-emitting diodes
(LEDs) as the incandescent bulbs burn out. Compared
to incandescent bulbs, LED arrays consume
signifi cantly less energy and cost no more to
purchase. Moreover, the costs associated with the
conversion of existing fi xtures so as to accept LED
arrays would be minimal.
Which of the following would it be most useful to
know in determining whether switching to LED arrays
would be likely to help minimize Traverton’s yearly
maintenance costs?
(A) Whether the expected service life of LED arrays
is at least as long as that of the currently used
incandescent bulbs
(B) Whether any cities have switched from
incandescent lights in their traffi c signals to
lighting elements other than LED arrays
(C) Whether the company from which Traverton
currently buys incandescent bulbs for traffi c
signals also sells LED arrays
(D) Whether Traverton’s city council plans to
increase the number of traffi c signal lights in
Traverton
(E) Whether the crews that currently replace
incandescent bulbs in Traverton’s traffi c signals
know how to convert the existing fi xtures so as
to accept LED arrays


8. A report that many apples contain a cancer-causing
preservative called Alar apparently had little effect on
consumers. Few consumers planned to change their
apple-buying habits as a result of the report.
Nonetheless, sales of apples in grocery stores fell
sharply in March, a month after the report was issued.
Which of the following, if true, best explains the reason
for the apparent discrepancy described above?
(A) In March, many grocers removed apples from
their shelves in order to demonstrate concern
about their customers’ health.
(B) Because of a growing number of food-safety
warnings, consumers in March were indifferent
to such warnings.
(C) The report was delivered on television and also
appeared in newspapers.
(D) The report did not mention that any other fruit
contains Alar, although the preservative is used
on other fruit.
(E) Public health officials did not believe that apples
posed a health threat because only minute
traces of Alar were present in affected apples.


9. In order to reduce the number of items damaged while
in transit to customers, packaging consultants
recommended that the TrueSave mail-order company
increase the amount of packing material so as to fi ll
any empty spaces in its cartons. Accordingly,
TrueSave offi cials instructed the company’s packers
to use more packing material than before, and the
packers zealously acted on these instructions and
used as much as they could. Nevertheless, customer
reports of damaged items rose somewhat.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain
why acting on the consultants’ recommendation failed
to achieve its goal?
(A) The change in packing policy led to an increase
in expenditure on packing material and labor.
(B) When packing material is compressed too
densely, it loses some of its capacity to absorb
shock.
(C) The amount of packing material used in a carton
does not signifi cantly infl uence the ease with
which a customer can unpack the package.
(D) Most of the goods that TrueSave ships are
electronic products that are highly vulnerable to
being damaged in transit.
(E) TrueSave has lost some of its regular customers
as a result of the high number of damaged items
they received.

10. Cable-television spokesperson: Subscriptions to
cable television are a bargain in comparison to “free”
television. Remember that “free” television is not really
free. It is consumers, in the end, who pay for the
costly advertising that supports “free” television.
Which of the following, if true, is most damaging to the
position of the cable-television spokesperson?
(A) Consumers who do not own television sets are
less likely to be influenced in their purchasing
decisions by television advertising than are
consumers who own television sets.
(B) Subscriptions to cable television include access
to some public-television channels, which do not
accept advertising.
(C) For locations with poor television reception,
cable television provides picture quality superior
to that provided by free television.
(D) There is as much advertising on many cabletelevision
channels as there is on “free”
television channels.
(E) Cable-television subscribers can choose which
channels they wish to receive.


11. Wood smoke contains dangerous toxins that cause
changes in human cells. Because wood smoke
presents such a high health risk, legislation is needed
to regulate the use of open-air fires and wood-burning
stoves.
Which of the following, if true, provides the most
support for the argument above?
(A) The amount of dangerous toxins contained in
wood smoke is much less than the amount
contained in an equal volume of automobile
exhaust.
(B) Within the jurisdiction covered by the proposed
legislation, most heating and cooking is done
with oil or natural gas.
(C) Smoke produced by coal-burning stoves is
significantly more toxic than smoke from woodburning
stoves.
(D) No significant beneficial effect on air quality
would result if open-air fires were banned within
the jurisdiction covered by the proposed
legislation.
(E) In valleys where wood is used as the primary
heating fuel, the concentration of smoke results
in poor air quality.

12. A certain automaker aims to increase its market share
by deeply discounting its vehicles’ prices for the next
several months. The discounts will cut into profi ts,
but because they will be heavily advertised the
manufacturer hopes that they will attract buyers away
from rival manufacturers’ cars. In the longer term, the
automaker envisions that customers initially attracted
by the discounts may become loyal customers.
In assessing the plan’s chances of achieving its aim, it
would be most useful to know which of the following?
(A) Whether the automaker’s competitors are likely
to respond by offering deep discounts on their
own products
(B) Whether the advertisements will be created by
the manufacturer’s current advertising agency
(C) Whether some of the automaker’s models will be
more deeply discounted than others
(D) Whether the automaker will be able to cut costs
suffi ciently to maintain profi t margins even when
the discounts are in effect
(E) Whether an alternative strategy might enable the
automaker to enhance its profi tability while
holding a constant or diminishing share of the
market
13. In Swartkans territory, archaeologists discovered
charred bone fragments dating back one million years.
Analysis of the fragments, which came from a variety
of animals, showed that they had been heated to
temperatures no higher than those produced in
experimental campfires made from branches of white
stinkwood, the most common tree around Swartkans.
Which of the following, if true, would, together with the
information above, provide the best basis for the claim
that the charred bone fragments are evidence of the
use of fire by early hominids?
(A) The white stinkwood tree is used for building
material by the present-day inhabitants of
Swartkans.
(B) Forest fires can heat wood to a range of
temperatures that occur in campfires.
(C) The bone fragments were fitted together by the
archaeologists to form the complete skeletons
of several animals.
(D) Apart from the Swartkans discovery, there is
reliable evidence that early hominids used fire as
many as 500,000 years ago.
(E) The bone fragments were found in several
distinct layers of limestone that contained
primitive cutting tools known to have been used
by early hominids.

14. In Washington County, attendance at the movies is just
large enough for the cinema operators to make
modest profi ts. The size of the county’s population is
stable and is not expected to increase much. Yet there
are investors ready to double the number of movie
screens in the county within fi ve years, and they are
predicting solid profi ts both for themselves and for the
established cinema operators.
Which of the following, if true about Washington
County, most helps to provide a justifi cation for the
investors’ prediction?
(A) Over the next ten years, people in their teenage
years, the prime moviegoing age, will be a
rapidly growing proportion of the county’s
population.
(B) As distinct from the existing cinemas, most of
the cinemas being planned would be located in
downtown areas, in hopes of stimulating an
economic revitalization of those areas.
(C) Spending on video purchases, as well as
spending on video rentals, has been increasing
modestly each year for the past ten years.
(D) The average number of screens per cinema is
lower among existing cinemas than it is among
cinemas still in the planning stages.
(E) The sale of snacks and drinks in cinemas
accounts for a steadily growing share of most
cinema operators’ profi ts.

15. A conservation group in the United States is trying to
change the long-standing image of bats as frightening
creatures. The group contends that bats are feared
and persecuted solely because they are shy animals
that are active only at night.
Which of the following, if true, would cast the most
serious doubt on the accuracy of the group’s
contention?
(A) Bats are steadily losing natural roosting places
such as caves and hollow trees and are thus
turning to more developed areas for roosting.
(B) Bats are the chief consumers of nocturnal
insects and thus can help make their hunting
territory more pleasant for humans.
(C) Bats are regarded as frightening creatures not
only in the United States but also in Europe,
Africa, and South America.
(D) Raccoons and owls are shy and active only at
night, yet they are not generally feared and
persecuted.
(E) People know more about the behavior of other
greatly feared animal species, such as lions,
alligators, and snakes, than they do about the
behavior of bats.

16. Which of the following best completes the passage
below?
People buy prestige when they buy a premium product.
They want to be associated with something special.
Mass-marketing techniques and price-reduction
strategies should not be used because .
(A) affluent purchasers currently represent a
shrinking portion of the population of all
purchasers
(B) continued sales depend directly on the
maintenance of an aura of exclusivity
(C) purchasers of premium products are concerned
with the quality as well as with the price of the
products
(D) expansion of the market niche to include a
broader spectrum of consumers will increase
profits
(E) manufacturing a premium brand is not
necessarily more costly than manufacturing a
standard brand of the same product

17. Hunter: Many people blame hunters alone for the
decline in Greenrock National Forest’s deer
population over the past ten years. Yet clearly,
black bears have also played an important role in this
decline. In the past ten years, the forest’s protected
black bear population has risen sharply, and
examination of black bears found dead in the forest
during the deer hunting season showed that a number
of them had recently fed on deer.
In the hunter’s argument, the portion in boldface plays
which of the following roles?
(A) It is the main conclusion of the argument.
(B) It is a fi nding that the argument seeks to explain.
(C) It is an explanation that the argument concludes
is correct.
(D) It provides evidence in support of the main
conclusion of the argument.
(E) It introduces a judgment that the argument
opposes.

18. In Asia, where palm trees are nonnative, the trees’
flowers have traditionally been pollinated by hand,
which has kept palm fruit productivity unnaturally low.
When weevils known to be efficient pollinators of palm
flowers were introduced into Asia in 1980, palm fruit
productivity increased—by up to 50 percent in some
areas—but then decreased sharply in 1984.
Which of the following statements, if true, would best
explain the 1984 decrease in productivity?
(A) Prices for palm fruit fell between 1980 and
1984 following the rise in production and a
concurrent fall in demand.
(B) Imported trees are often more productive than
native trees because the imported ones have
left behind their pests and diseases in their
native lands.
(C) Rapid increases in productivity tend to deplete
trees of nutrients needed for the development of
the fruit-producing female flowers.
(D) The weevil population in Asia remained at
approximately the same level between 1980
and 1984.
(E) Prior to 1980 another species of insect
pollinated the Asian palm trees, but not as
efficiently as the species of weevil that was
introduced in 1980.