All practice questions

A municipality announced that to avoid a projected budget deficit next fiscal year, it must either raise property taxes by 15 percent or cut funding for public parks by half. The city treasurer concluded that because raising property taxes by 15 percent would be deeply unpopular with residents, the city has no choice but to reduce the parks budget by half.

Which of the following best describes a flaw in the city treasurer's reasoning?

In the city of Valera, municipal authorities recently implemented a dedicated bus rapid transit (BRT) lane along the main commercial corridor, reducing automotive traffic lanes by fifty percent. Despite initial concerns from local merchants that the loss of driving lanes and street parking would reduce customer traffic, total retail sales along the corridor increased by twelve percent during the six months following implementation. City officials concluded that the BRT system was the primary driver of this increase in retail sales. Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest support for the city officials' conclusion?

Passage: A scientific research journal will publish a manuscript only if the manuscript undergoes a double-blind peer review. A manuscript undergoes a double-blind peer review whenever it contains fully anonymized dataset references. Furthermore, a manuscript contains fully anonymized dataset references unless the authors submit a formal data-sharing exemption.

Based on the information provided, is the following statement True or False?
Statement: 'If authors do not submit a formal data-sharing exemption, their manuscript necessarily undergoes a double-blind peer review.'

A municipal health agency recently installed advanced air-purification filtration systems in all public primary schools located in Sector 4, a district known for high levels of industrial particulate pollution. Over the six months following the installation, student absenteeism due to respiratory illnesses in Sector 4 primary schools dropped by 30 percent compared to the same period in previous years. Concluding that the filtration systems were directly responsible for this health improvement, city officials plan to expand the installation of these systems to all public secondary schools in Sector 4.

Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest support for the city officials' conclusion?

If $x$ is a real number, is $x > 0$?

(1) $x^3 - x = 0$ and $x \neq 0$
(2) $|x + 2| = -x - 2$

Which of the following choices correctly identifies the sufficiency of the statements?

A financial technology firm will obtain an international trade license only if it completes a multi-jurisdictional compliance audit. Completing a multi-jurisdictional compliance audit requires establishing a dedicated risk-assessment division, unless the firm qualifies for a special regulatory waiver. However, no firm that handles decentralized digital asset transactions qualifies for a special regulatory waiver. Novabank handles decentralized digital asset transactions and has recently been granted an international trade license.

If the statements above are true, which of the following must also be true about Novabank?

Consider the following argument:
'Every component manufactured for the prototype aircraft underwent rigorous stress testing and demonstrated exceptional structural resilience under heavy aerodynamic loads. Therefore, the assembled prototype aircraft as a whole will exhibit exceptional structural resilience under identical aerodynamic loads.'

Statement: The argument commits an Error of Composition by assuming that an attribute of each individual component necessarily applies to the entire assembled structure.

In a GMAT Data Sufficiency question framed as a 'Yes/No' question (such as 'Is $x > 0$?'), a statement that conclusively proves that the condition is always false (e.g., $x < 0$) is classified as insufficient because it results in a negative response.

If $x$ and $y$ are non-zero real numbers, is $\frac{x}{y} + \frac{y}{x} < 2$?

(1) $(x + y)^2 > x^2 + y^2$
(2) $x^3 y^2 < 0$

Archaeologists analyzing late-Bronze Age settlements along the upper Rhine found that around 1200 BCE, local pottery began exhibiting high concentrations of pine resin, an organic sealant used to preserve liquids. Concurrently, environmental soil core samples reveal a sharp spike in regional timber harvests, despite evidence that local population density and building construction remained stable. Scholars conclude that the settlements increased tree-felling primarily to produce pine resin for export containers. Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the scholars' argument?

If $a$ and $b$ are real numbers, is $a + b > 0$?

(1) $a < -2$ and $b < -3$
(2) $ab > 0$

Which of the following choices correctly describes the sufficiency of the statements to answer the question?

A coalition of environmental policy analysts recently advocated for an immediate municipal tax on industrial carbon emissions, arguing that higher operational costs would compel manufacturing firms to transition swiftly to renewable energy sources. However, this proposal relies on the unproven assumption that alternative energy infrastructure in industrial zones is already capable of supporting existing power loads. Currently, regional transmission grids suffer from severe capacity bottlenecks that prevent the integration of high-voltage renewable power. Consequently, imposing an immediate tax will force heavy manufacturers to curtail production output rather than upgrade facilities, thereby undermining regional economic growth without accelerating green transition goals.

In the argument given, the two boldface portions play which of the following roles?

Which phrase logically completes the passage below?

Agricultural researchers recently developed a genetically modified strain of wheat designed to emit a synthetic distress pheromone whenever attacked by aphids, thereby attracting native parasitic wasps that prey on the aphids. In initial trials, aphid infestation levels fell by 75 percent without requiring synthetic insecticides. However, subsequent ecological monitoring revealed that because the wheat continuously synthesizes the pheromone throughout its entire growth cycle—even when aphid density is negligible—local parasitic wasp populations suffer severe energy depletion from futile search behaviors, leading to a complete population collapse by the third harvest. Therefore, to sustain the efficacy of this biological pest management strategy across multiple growing seasons, farm managers should __________.

Which of the following choices most logically completes the passage?

If $k$ is a real number, is $|k| < 4$?

(1) $k > -3$
(2) $k < 3$

Which of the following describes the sufficiency of the statements?

Under current financial regulatory guidelines, a fintech enterprise is eligible for an expedited compliance audit only if it maintains a fully decentralized data architecture or operates under an approved regulatory sandbox exemption. An enterprise operates under an approved regulatory sandbox exemption only if its annual cross-border transaction volume does not exceed $50 million, unless it has secured a specialized risk-mitigation endorsement. Furthermore, any enterprise that maintains a centralized data architecture is strictly prohibited from obtaining a specialized risk-mitigation endorsement.

If a fintech enterprise maintains a centralized data architecture and processes $60 million in annual cross-border transactions, which of the following must be true based on the guidelines above?

Read the following argument regarding urban transport policy carefully, focusing on the roles played by the bolded statements:

Many urban planners contend that introducing congestion pricing in central business districts will inevitably reduce commercial activity by discouraging consumers from driving downtown. However, [1] this position overlooks the reality that severe traffic gridlock itself imposes substantial monetary costs on local merchants by delaying deliveries and curtailing customer turnover. Furthermore, empirical data from metropolitan areas with peak-hour tolls show that retail foot traffic increases once gridlock is alleviated. Therefore, [2] the claim that congestion pricing inherently harms central district businesses is unfounded, and municipal governments [3] should proceed with implementing peak-hour tolls to revitalize urban commercial centers.

Match each bolded statement from the passage to its exact structural role in the argument.

Which of the following most logically completes the argument below?

A city recently installed automated solar-powered traffic signals at several busy intersections to reduce municipal electricity costs. Although the initial purchase price of these solar signals was higher than that of standard signals, the solar units generate all their own electricity and require minimal ongoing maintenance. Because the long-term savings on electricity and routine maintenance will exceed the higher upfront installation costs, city officials concluded that adopting these solar signals will ultimately ________.

A study conducted across several suburban art galleries noted that after the galleries installed soft ambient background music in their exhibition halls, average visitor dwell time increased by 35 percent compared to the previous year. Based on this observation, the gallery management concluded that playing ambient background music directly caused visitors to spend more time viewing the art. Which of the following would be most useful to evaluate in order to assess the strength of the gallery management's conclusion?

Passage:
Recent archaeobotanical excavations at Chogha Golan in the central Zagros Mountains have fundamentally altered longstanding hypotheses regarding the rate and geographic uniformity of cereal domestication in the Fertile Crescent. Previous models, heavily reliant on sites in the western Levant, posited a rapid, single-origin transition to agriculture around 10,200 BP, wherein selection pressure for non-shattering rachises—the structural stems holding seeds to the stalk—yielded morphologically domestic barley and emmer within a few centuries.

However, high-resolution flotation recovery from Chogha Golan demonstrates an uninterrupted 2,000-year sequence of plant exploitation spanning the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB). Crucially, while wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) constituted a primary subsistence staple from the earliest occupational strata (c. 11,700 BP), fully non-shattering domestic phenotypes (Hordeum vulgare) did not achieve statistical dominance in the assemblage until approximately 9,800 BP. Throughout this prolonged interim, inhabitants actively cultivated wild morphotypes alongside gathered pulses such as lentil and grass pea, employing intensive weed-management and soil-tilling practices long before indelible genetic mutations manifested in grain morphology.

This temporal lag indicates that phenotypic domestication was not an immediate, inevitable byproduct of cultivation, but rather a protracted evolutionary trajectory mediated by variable harvesting methods. For instance, harvesting grain by beating ripe stalks into baskets favored the survival of shattering wild genotypes, thereby delaying the fixation of tough rachises despite centuries of deliberate planting. Consequently, the Chogha Golan evidence refutes the notion of a Levantine monopoly on agricultural origins, supporting instead a multi-centric, non-linear model where cultivation techniques long predated morphological speciation across diverse microenvironments.

Statement: Based on the passage, the prolonged temporal lag in the fixation of non-shattering domestic barley phenotypes at Chogha Golan indicates that early inhabitants failed to engage in active soil-tilling and weed-management practices prior to 9,800 BP.