All practice questions

Julian: Museum curators should prioritize digital restitution—creating ultra-high-resolution 3D virtual models for global access—over physically repatriating original artifacts to their countries of origin. Physical repatriation poses significant risks of transit damage and exposes fragile antiquities to inconsistent conservation standards.

Nadia: While digital models certainly enhance public accessibility, physical repatriation is fundamentally a matter of rightful cultural ownership, not simply an issue of preservation. Moreover, transit and preservation risks can be mitigated through international conservation partnerships. Therefore, museums ought to return original artifacts whenever legitimate claims of origin are established.

Julian and Nadia's statements provide the most support for claiming that they disagree over which one of the following?

Structural Historian: The catastrophic 1402 collapse of the Vesper Basilica’s central dome has traditionally been attributed to the master builder’s reliance on inferior, highly porous limestone. However, contemporary diffractometry analysis of the surviving rubble demonstrates that the limestone employed actually possessed the maximum compressive strength of any quarried stone available in that region during the fifteenth century. Because the builder utilized the optimal masonry materials available to him, the collapse must have been the direct result of a fundamental miscalculation in the geometric proportions of the dome’s supporting buttresses.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the structural historian's argument depends?

Marine Archaeologist: Bronze artifacts recovered from seventeenth-century shipwrecks often suffer rapid corrosion known as 'bronze disease' when exposed to atmospheric oxygen and humidity. In a recent preservation trial, conservators submerged several newly excavated bronze cannons in a sodium sesquicarbonate solution for six months. Following the treatment, none of the submerged cannons developed active bronze disease during two years of atmospheric exposure. The conservators concluded that the sodium sesquicarbonate wash effectively leaches destructive cuprous chlorides out of ancient bronze, thereby preventing post-excavation corrosion.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the conservators' argument?

For each of the incomplete arguments in the left column, select the missing premise from the right column that, if assumed, allows the argument's conclusion to be properly drawn.

Passage A
In theoretical physics, when empirical data is scarce, the aesthetic elegance of a theory—its mathematical symmetry and conceptual simplicity—often serves as a crucial compass. Historically, physicists like Paul Dirac have posited that a beautiful equation is more likely to be correct than an ugly one that fits experimental data. This is not mere romanticism; mathematical elegance frequently reflects deep structural truths about the universe. When formulating a new physical law, a theory's aesthetic coherence provides legitimate heuristic justification for its pursuit, even before definitive experimental verification is available.

Passage B
The contemporary stagnation in fundamental physics can be largely attributed to the field's obsession with "beautiful" math. The universe is under no obligation to be elegant or comprehensible to human cognitive biases. Yet, theorists consistently prioritize mathematical symmetry over testable predictions, pouring resources into elegant but empirically barren frameworks. Aesthetic criteria are subjective and culturally conditioned, making them inherently unscientific tools for evaluating physical reality. If a theory cannot produce novel, testable predictions, its mathematical beauty is irrelevant; it should never be treated as a reliable guide to fundamental physical truths.

It can be inferred from the text that the authors of Passage A and Passage B hold conflicting views regarding which one of the following?

Neurobiologist: Cognitive psychologists have long maintained that rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is necessary for consolidating emotional memories, citing studies where subjects deprived of REM sleep performed poorly on subsequent emotional recall tests. However, this conclusion is premature. Subjects administered pharmacological agents that selectively suppress REM sleep without altering other sleep stages exhibit completely intact emotional memory consolidation. Therefore, the memory deficits observed in earlier studies were almost certainly caused by the general stress induced by the deprivation methods, rather than by the absence of REM sleep.

Which of the following most accurately describes the method of reasoning used by the neurobiologist?

Botanist: Any alpine plant that undergoes early budburst without a corresponding increase in foliar cuticle thickness will suffer extensive cellular necrosis if exposed to unseasonal late-spring freezes. Furthermore, any plant that suffers extensive cellular necrosis from late-spring freezes will experience a reduction in lifetime seed viability below the replacement threshold unless it can activate dormant meristem tissue. Southern dwarf willows invariably undergo early budburst in response to early-season warming, yet they completely lack dormant meristem tissue. Therefore, if unseasonal late-spring freezes occur in their habitat, southern dwarf willows will experience a reduction in lifetime seed viability below the replacement threshold.

The botanist's conclusion follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

Archaeologist: Recent excavations at a Middle Pleistocene hominin campsite recovered over two thousand stone cutting flakes. Microscopic analysis of the strike platforms revealed that approximately 88 percent display asymmetric curvature characteristic of intentional detachment by a right-handed knapper. In modern humans, population-level right-handedness reflects left-hemispheric cerebral lateralization—a neural architecture critical for syntactic language. Therefore, these findings indicate that hominins at this site had already evolved left-hemispheric neural specialization linked to linguistic capability.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the archaeologist's argument?

Match each administrative or legal decision with the general normative principle that most directly justifies it:

For decades, benthic ecologists assumed that the deep-sea floor was a biological desert, largely devoid of localized organic abundance and dependent solely on a faint, steady drizzle of microscopic marine particulate known as marine snow. This paradigm began to shift significantly with the discovery of "whale falls"—the carcasses of large cetaceans that sink to the abyssal plain. Rather than serving merely as fleeting nutritional windfalls, these biological depositions initiate complex ecological successions that can persist for decades, functioning as ephemeral evolutionary stepping stones across vast, nutrient-poor marine expanses.

Upon settling, a whale carcass undergoes three distinct ecological stages. In the initial mobile-scavenger phase, lasting up to two years, large necrophagous fauna such as sleeper sharks, hagfish, and lysianassoid amphipods rapidly strip the soft tissues. Once the soft tissue is depleted, the opportunistic phase commences, during which dense populations of bone-eating polychaetes, mollusks, and crustaceans colonize the sediment and remaining organic matter. The third and longest phase, the sulfophilic stage, can endure for over a half-century. During this period, anaerobic bacteria within the lipid-rich skeletal matrix break down bone lipids, producing hydrogen sulfide. This byproduct sustains chemosynthetic microbial mats and endosymbiotic invertebrates remarkably analogous to organisms inhabiting hydrothermal vents and cold seeps.

Some marine theorists previously argued that whale fall assemblages are merely incidental aggregations of generalist deep-sea scavengers with little bearing on broader speciation dynamics. However, contemporary phylogenetic analyses demonstrate that numerous specialized taxa inhabiting cold seeps and vents evolved directly from ancestors that adapted to sulfophilic whale bones. Consequently, the ecological role of sunken cetaceans extends far beyond local nutrient enrichment; they constitute essential biogenic islands that facilitate deep-sea biodiversity and macroevolutionary dispersal across ocean basins.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main idea of the passage?

Passage A
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty establishes that outer space is the "province of all mankind" and explicitly forbids national appropriation by claim of sovereignty. Consequently, the unilateral extraction and privatization of space resources, such as asteroid mining by private corporations, violates the spirit of international law. Because corporations operate under the legal frameworks of their host nations, a nation granting extraction rights to a corporation is effectively exercising a sovereign claim over that celestial body. Until a comprehensive international regulatory regime is established—one that ensures the equitable distribution of space-derived wealth among all nations—private extraction efforts must be viewed as legally invalid and inherently destabilizing to global equity.

Passage B
Critics of commercial space extraction often conflate national appropriation with private property rights, a distinction well-established in international law. The Outer Space Treaty prohibits nations from claiming territory in space, but it is silent on the ownership of resources once they are removed from a celestial body. This is analogous to international waters: a nation cannot claim sovereignty over the high seas, but private entities are entitled to own the fish they extract from them. Without the legal certainty of property rights over extracted materials, the astronomical capital investments required for space mining will never materialize. Therefore, domestic legislation recognizing the right of private entities to own what they extract does not constitute a sovereign territorial claim, but rather a necessary prerequisite for the development of a space economy.

Based on the arguments presented in the passages, over which of the following propositions would the two authors be most likely to disagree?

Read the following two passages regarding the methodological treatment of anomalous data in the physical sciences.

Passage A
In the practice of observational astronomy, the encounter with anomalous data—measurements that stubbornly refuse to align with the predictions of the prevailing theoretical framework—must be treated not as a minor nuisance, but as a mandate for immediate and rigorous theoretical re-evaluation. To dismiss such discrepancies as mere instrumental noise, or to intentionally relegate them to the margins of scientific inquiry, is to betray the fundamental empiricism of the discipline. When planetary orbits deviate even infinitesimally from calculated trajectories, it is precisely this deviation that often harbors the seed of the next theoretical revolution. The integrity of the scientific method demands that these known anomalies be placed at the center of astronomical discourse, forcing the current paradigm to either robustly account for them or yield to a more comprehensive framework. Tolerating confirmed anomalies without aggressive investigation breeds theoretical complacency.

Passage B
The history of physics and astronomy reveals a pragmatic truth: at any given moment, the dominant theoretical paradigm is swimming in a sea of anomalous data. If scientists were to halt their primary research programs to aggressively scrutinize every observational discrepancy, scientific progress would be completely paralyzed. Many anomalies are ultimately resolved not by grand theoretical revolutions, but by eventual improvements in instrumentation or by the identification of subtle, previously unmodeled background variables. Consequently, it is an entirely rational and methodologically sound practice for researchers to deliberately bracket or set aside minor anomalies, continuing to refine and apply the dominant theory in the interim. Only when an anomaly proves extraordinarily persistent, and fundamentally disrupts the core utility of the paradigm, does it warrant the concerted, immediate attention of the theoretical community.

Based on the passages, the authors would be most likely to disagree over whether:

Consider the following argument:

Paleoanthropologist: Excavators at the cave site argue that the discovery of micro-incised bone tubes demonstrates that Upper Paleolithic hominins developed formal musical notation systems. However, this interpretation is unwarranted. Micro-computed tomography reveals that the incisions exhibit irregular spacing and microscopic striations identical to butchery-tool deflection marks rather than intentional measuring increments. Furthermore, while the hollowed bones could conceivably produce resonant acoustic frequencies when blown into, any slender, naturally marrow-hollowed avian ulna produces acoustic resonance regardless of whether it was intentionally shaped as an instrument. Thus, the artifacts provide no compelling evidence of symbolic or musical culture.

Match each statement from the argument on the left with its precise argumentative role or method of reasoning on the right.

A municipal policy research team is evaluating four arguments concerning urban infrastructure and planning. Match each argument on the left with its corresponding abstract logical pattern or fallacy on the right.

Tariq: Municipal water authorities should mandate the installation of dual-flush toilets in all newly constructed residential buildings. Dual-flush systems reduce daily domestic water consumption by up to thirty percent, which is essential for preventing regional water shortages.

Sonia: While conserving water is critical, dual-flush mechanisms frequently malfunction due to local mineral sediment, resulting in continuous, undetected leaks that waste more water than conventional low-flow fixtures. Consequently, requiring dual-flush systems will fail to alleviate regional water shortages.

Statement: Tariq and Sonia disagree over whether mandating dual-flush toilets in new residential construction will effectively help mitigate regional water shortages.

Paleobiologist: Some researchers hypothesize that the intricately folded internal shell walls (sutures) of ammonoids evolved primarily to prevent shell implosion under severe hydrostatic pressure in deep oceanic zones. However, recent finite-element biomechanical simulations reveal that wall fluting produces localized stress concentrations rather than dissipating uniform pressure across the shell circumference. Moreover, stratigraphic distributions establish that the taxa possessing the most elaborate suture patterns inhabited shallow epicontinental seas where hydrostatic depth pressure was negligible. Hence, deep-water pressure resistance cannot be the primary evolutionary explanation for complex ammonoid sutures.

Arrange the statements below to reflect the logical progression of the paleobiologist's method of reasoning, from the introductory premise to the final conclusion.

Passage A
To save endangered indigenous languages, preservationists must enforce strict lexical purism. This involves creating definitive dictionaries, purging foreign loanwords, and establishing language academies to codify correct grammar. Language is a fragile cultural artifact; only by shielding it from the contaminating influence of dominant global languages and artificial modern jargon can its authentic character be maintained for future generations.

Passage B
Languages are not static museum pieces; they are living ecosystems. Attempting to artificially freeze an endangered language only accelerates its demise by rendering it incapable of expressing contemporary realities. True revitalization requires fostering organic community vitality. This means encouraging speakers to use the language in new domains, such as technology and pop culture, and embracing organic structural changes and loanwords as natural adaptations necessary for survival in a dynamic world.

The relationship between the preservation strategy advocated in Passage A and the revitalization strategy advocated in Passage B is most analogous to the relationship between which of the following pairs of strategies?

Urban Planner: Any historic district redevelopment proposal that mandates permeable stone pavements will significantly reduce seasonal urban stormwater runoff. Furthermore, every redevelopment proposal that significantly reduces seasonal urban stormwater runoff helps lower downstream municipal infrastructure costs. Therefore, any historic district redevelopment proposal that mandates permeable stone pavements will be granted expedited zoning authorization by the city council.

The conclusion of the urban planner's argument follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?

Geochemists analyzing vapor plumes venting from the fracture zones of an icy satellite observed elevated concentrations of molecular hydrogen and methane. Laboratory simulations establish that while hydrothermal serpentinization reactions produce abundant hydrogen, the abiotic reduction of dissolved carbon dioxide into methane proceeds far too slowly under the moon's inferred core temperatures to yield the observed methane concentrations. On this basis, the researchers conclude that biological methanogenesis by chemoautotrophic microorganisms in the sub-surface ocean is the primary source of the plume methane.

True or False: The finding that primordial methane trapped in sub-surface clathrate hydrates during the satellite's initial accretion would have completely decomposed and outgassed within the first billion years of the solar system's formation logically strengthens the researchers' conclusion.

Urban Planner: Many historical preservationists argue that converting decommissioned industrial waterfronts into commercial retail zones destroys their cultural value. However, this view fails to recognize that preserving the physical structures of these warehouses requires substantial recurring maintenance funds. Since private retail developers are required to finance structural restoration and maintain historical facades as a condition of their leases, allowing commercial redevelopment actually safeguards the physical heritage of the waterfront. Thus, permitting retail adaptation is often the most effective means of historical preservation.

Which of the following most accurately describes the role played in the urban planner's argument by the claim that allowing commercial redevelopment actually safeguards the physical heritage of the waterfront?