All practice questions

Archaeologist: The iron artifacts recently excavated at the Qadan burial site contain trace amounts of vanadium. Vanadium is absent from the iron ores of Anatolia, which historians have long considered the sole region possessing iron-smelting technology during that era. However, vanadium is abundant in the raw iron ores found near the Qadan site. Consequently, these artifacts must have been manufactured locally by the Qadan people rather than acquired through long-distance trade.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the archaeologist's argument depends?

A technology firm recently instituted a "no meetings on Fridays" policy. Management reasoned that providing employees with a full, uninterrupted workday would increase overall productivity, which the firm measures strictly by the number of software modules finalized per week. Yet, in the six months following the policy's implementation, the average number of software modules finalized per week actually declined.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy described above?

Urban Planner: Over the past three decades, the city's targeted tax incentives for tech companies have consistently stimulated job growth and successfully driven down the local unemployment rate. The city council has just approved a new round of identical tax incentives for tech startups. Therefore, we can confidently expect the local unemployment rate to fall over the next two years.

Which of the following identifies the most serious flaw in the urban planner's reasoning?

An agricultural chemical company recently developed a novel herbicide that targets a specific enzyme found in broadleaf weeds, effectively killing them. The company's extensive trials demonstrate that this targeted enzyme is completely absent in corn plants. Therefore, the company concludes that farmers can apply this new herbicide to their cornfields without causing any biological damage to the corn crop.

Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?

Marine biologist: The newly discovered deep-sea sponge Cladorhiza ventis inhabits waters near hydrothermal vents. Unlike most deep-sea sponges, C. ventis entirely lacks the internal canal systems and pores required for filter-feeding on suspended organic matter. Furthermore, the surrounding water is nearly devoid of the zooplankton that carnivorous sponges typically prey upon. Consequently, it is highly likely that C. ventis relies exclusively on symbiotic chemosynthetic bacteria for its nutritional needs.

Which of the following statements, if true, would strengthen the marine biologist's conclusion? (Select all that apply)

Last year, the city of Riverton issued significantly fewer parking tickets than it did the year before. However, the total revenue Riverton actually collected from parking tickets was substantially higher last year than the year before. Which of the following statements, if true, help to resolve the apparent discrepancy described above? Select all that apply.

Political scientist: A representative democracy is fully insulated from autocratic capture only if its judiciary is strictly impartial and its electorate remains highly informed. However, maintaining a highly informed electorate invariably requires a decentralized media apparatus. Therefore, because any nation that establishes comprehensive algorithmic speech filters inherently dismantles its decentralized media apparatus, it follows that if a representative democracy establishes such filters, its judiciary will inevitably forfeit its strict impartiality.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the political scientist's argument depends?

Economist: Implementing a universal basic income (UBI) inevitably causes the inflation rate to rise. Any economic policy that causes the inflation rate to rise will disproportionately burden citizens on fixed incomes. Consequently, the newly proposed UBI policy will undoubtedly lower the overall quality of life for the nation's elderly population.

Which one of the following, if assumed, enables the conclusion to be properly drawn?

A municipality is eligible for the Federal Green Grant only if it has successfully reduced its overall carbon emissions for three consecutive years. Oakhaven recently redirected a large portion of its public transit funding to highway expansion, a policy decision that invariably prevents any reduction in local carbon emissions. Therefore, Oakhaven will not be able to revitalize its downtown commercial district.

Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?

The Vendean people, who inhabit a harsh, densely forested mountain region, have a language containing over fifty distinct words for different types of moss. In contrast, neighboring lowland groups have only three such words. A linguist argues that this linguistic disparity exists because the Vendeans' specific environment forced them to develop a highly specialized moss vocabulary for survival, as they utilize various mosses for crucial medicinal and dietary purposes.

Which of the following, if true, provides the most support for the linguist's argument?

When analyzing complex arguments, evaluating the validity of an unstated premise often requires finding its exact logical opposite. Carefully review the following assertions. Match each candidate assumption on the left with its strictly accurate logical negation on the right.

Paleontologist: Some researchers conclude that *Drakosuchus*, a large Late Cretaceous crocodilian, was a fully marine reptile because its fossils were discovered in deep-ocean sedimentary deposits alongside marine fossils. However, *Drakosuchus* must have actually been a freshwater predator whose remains were swept out to sea after death. This is because the *Drakosuchus* bones exhibit severe surface pitting, a specific chemical degradation pattern known to occur when the bones of freshwater reptiles are exposed to high-salinity water for extended periods post-mortem.

The paleontologist's argument relies on which one of the following assumptions?

Researchers compared musicians who frequently improvise to those who exclusively play written music, finding that the improvisers have significantly greater neural density in the prefrontal cortex, a region associated with rapid decision-making. The researchers concluded that engaging in musical improvisation causes structural brain changes that enhance decision-making skills. Consequently, educational policymakers argue that incorporating improvisation into school music programs will improve students' ability to make rapid decisions in novel situations.

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

Conservationist: To prevent the local extinction of the endangered Karner blue butterfly, we must introduce controlled burns in the Pine Barrens to restore their natural open-canopy habitat. While critics warn that these fires will initially destroy some Karner blue larvae, the species relies exclusively on wild lupine for oviposition, and wild lupine seeds require fire-induced clearing to germinate and thrive. Thus, initiating a regimen of controlled burns will ultimately ensure a larger, more stable population of Karner blue butterflies in the Pine Barrens.

Which of the following are necessary assumptions on which the conservationist's argument depends? (Select all that apply)

Marine Biologist: For the past two decades, the population of staghorn coral in the southern reef has declined by exactly 5 percent each year due to rising average water temperatures. Our latest climate models project that water temperatures in this region will continue to rise at an identical rate over the next twenty years. Therefore, we can confidently predict that the staghorn coral population will continue to shrink by 5 percent annually during this future period.

Which of the following accurately describe a logical flaw in the marine biologist's reasoning? Select all that apply.

Economist: The government's new vocational initiative provides displaced manufacturing workers with training in advanced software engineering. Proponents argue this will drastically reduce unemployment within this demographic. However, mastering advanced software engineering requires a strong foundation in discrete mathematics, a background that the vast majority of displaced manufacturing workers currently lack. Therefore, because of this educational deficit, the initiative will fail to significantly reduce unemployment among these workers.

Which one of the following is an assumption required by the economist's argument?

Entomologist: The Corvid butterfly population in the Aral Valley has plummeted over the last decade. Concurrently, there has been a sharp increase in the invasive thread-wasp, a predator of Corvid caterpillars. Nevertheless, the butterfly's decline is almost certainly due to a newly introduced agricultural herbicide, not the wasp. The herbicide, while directly harmless to the insects, accumulates in the soil and severely stunts the milkweed plants that Corvid caterpillars rely on exclusively for food.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the entomologist's argument?

Archaeologist: The recently excavated clay tablets at the ancient city of Olaria contain administrative records of grain distribution written in the Kaelen dialect. Linguistic evidence confirms that Kaelen was predominantly spoken in the distant Vesper Mountains during the time Olaria was active. Therefore, the presence of these administrative records indicates that the Vesper Mountain civilization must have engaged in extensive commerce with Olaria.

Which of the following statements, if properly negated, would severely undermine the archaeologist's conclusion? Select all that apply.

Paleontologist: The microscopic striations found on the teeth of the recently discovered Thalassodon fossil exactly match the wear patterns produced when modern marine mammals crush hard-shelled mollusks. Although no mollusk shells were found in the same geologic layer as the Thalassodon fossil, we can confidently conclude that the Thalassodon was a mollusk-eater. Consequently, the local marine ecosystem during the epoch in which the Thalassodon lived must have supported large populations of hard-shelled mollusks.

Which of the following statements, if logically negated, would fatally undermine the paleontologist's conclusion? Select all that apply.

Historian: Any sustained intellectual renaissance relies on a foundation of rigorous dialectical debate, since without such debate it is impossible for a society to avoid stagnating into ideological conformity. The recently analyzed Archonian epoch is universally celebrated by scholars for its vibrant philosophical treatises and its complete lack of ideological conformity. Therefore, it is demonstrably true that the Archonian epoch experienced a sustained intellectual renaissance.

Which of the following most accurately describes a flaw in the historian's reasoning?