All practice questions

According to city records, every commercial project approved by the Planning Board this year required an environmental impact study. Furthermore, any project that requires an environmental impact study is subject to a 60-day public review period. Records also indicate that most of the commercial projects approved by the Planning Board this year received a municipal development grant. However, under city charter, no project that receives a municipal development grant is exempt from the city's prevailing wage ordinance.

Based on the information provided, which of the following statements must be true? Select all that apply.

Legal Scholar: The proposed legislation mandating transparency for pre-trial risk assessment algorithms is intended to eliminate racial bias in bail decisions. Under this mandate, developers must publicly disclose the precise mathematical weights their algorithms assign to various risk factors. However, the datasets used to train these algorithms are heavily skewed by historically biased arrest records. Since merely publishing these weights will not alter how the underlying algorithms mathematically process this historically biased training data, the proposed legislation will ultimately fail to eliminate racial bias in bail decisions.

Which of the following are assumptions on which the legal scholar’s argument depends? (Select all that apply.)

Maritime Regulator: The proposed automated docking protocol relies entirely on continuous satellite telemetry rather than traditional visual guidance from harbormasters. Therefore, mandating this new protocol for all commercial vessels entering the bay will definitively decrease the frequency of docking collisions and subsequently reduce the port's overall operational liabilities.

Which of the following statements function as required assumptions to logically bridge the gaps in the regulator's argument? Select all that apply.

Agronomist: In a multi-year agricultural study across several commercial grain farms, fields planted with hairy vetch as a winter cover crop produced subsequent corn yields that were on average 20 percent higher than those from fields left fallow during the winter. Because hairy vetch is known to fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil, this substantial increase in yield must be directly attributable to the additional nitrogen provided by the cover crop.

Which of the following statements, if true, most seriously weaken the agronomist's argument? Select all that apply.

An environmental audit of reclaimed sub-boreal wetland zones established the following criteria for ecosystem stabilization:

• Any wetland zone that undergoes successful peat layer restoration exhibits stable anaerobic methanogenesis, unless it experiences persistent sulfur runoff.
• Every wetland zone that exhibits stable anaerobic methanogenesis maintains a neutral pH level throughout its rooting substrate.
• No wetland zone that maintains a neutral pH level in its rooting substrate supports the proliferation of invasive reed canary grass.
• During the previous assessment cycle, Zone 14 underwent successful peat layer restoration and did not experience persistent sulfur runoff.

If the statements above are true, which of the following statements must also be true? (Select all that apply.)

An educational researcher reviewed data from a large district of elementary school students. The researcher noted that students who regularly participate in after-school chess clubs consistently achieve higher grades in computer science classes. Based on this observation, the researcher concluded that playing chess directly enhances a student's computer science abilities.

Which of the following statements, if true, expose the flaw in the argument by providing a valid alternative explanation for the observed correlation? Select all that apply.

Chronobiologist: A recent two-year study monitored adolescent students who completed their academic assignments during early morning hours rather than late evening hours. These morning-studying students reported substantially higher sleep quality and improved memory retention. Therefore, shifting mentally demanding tasks from late evening to early morning directly optimizes sleep architecture and cognitive performance in adolescents.

Which of the following statements, if true, most seriously weaken the chronobiologist's argument? (Select all that apply)

Which of the following arguments contain a reasoning flaw that arises specifically from confusing a necessary condition with a sufficient condition? Select all that apply.

Agricultural researchers recently noted a strong statistical correlation in the region of Valesia over the last decade: during the years when farmers planted the highest percentage of the newly developed 'Sun-Yield' wheat variety, the region also experienced the most severe outbreaks of the locust plague. The researchers concluded that the unique biological makeup of the Sun-Yield wheat must be attracting the locusts to the region.

Which of the following, if true, most effectively demonstrates that the researchers' conclusion is flawed? (Select all that apply.)

An anthropologist studied several isolated farming communities in the Andean highlands. The study revealed that communities primarily cultivating a specific heirloom variety of quinoa have significantly lower rates of cardiovascular disease than neighboring communities that cultivate standard commercial crops. Based on this observation, the anthropologist concluded that consuming this heirloom variety of quinoa provides unique protective benefits for cardiovascular health.

Which of the following are necessary assumptions required by the anthropologist's argument? (Select all that apply.)

Agricultural Commissioner: Over the past five years, the proportion of our region's total farmed acreage dedicated to growing the new drought-resistant sorghum has increased from 10 percent to 30 percent. Since farmers typically only expand the cultivation of a crop when it proves highly profitable, the absolute number of acres dedicated to growing drought-resistant sorghum in our region must be exactly three times what it was five years ago.

Which of the following statements must be true in order for the Agricultural Commissioner's conclusion to be logically drawn? Select all that apply.

Public Health Official: A newly constructed water treatment facility in the county uses a chemical agent called Florazine to eliminate bacterial contaminants. Florazine has been proven in laboratory settings to neutralize beneficial aquatic microbes alongside harmful bacteria. Because these beneficial microbes are critical for breaking down heavy metals in the water supply, implementing this new treatment process will ultimately lead to a rise in neurological disorders among county residents.

Which of the following statements must be assumed for the public health official's conclusion to be logically drawn? Select all that apply.

Zoologist: In colonies of the red-crested macaque, individuals that regularly share food with non-kin spend significantly less time engaging in social grooming. Social grooming is the primary behavior through which macaques establish and maintain their position in the colony's hierarchy. Therefore, by regularly sharing food with non-kin, these macaques are actively diminishing their social standing.

Which of the following statements function as a valid supporter assumption required to bridge the logical gap in the zoologist's argument? (Select all that apply)

Last year, a university required all graduating seniors to attend a career counseling program. This year, the university made the counseling program entirely optional. The university's administration was surprised to find that the total number of graduating seniors who secured employment within three months of graduation decreased significantly this year. However, the employment rate among seniors who participated in the counseling program jumped from 60% last year to 90% this year.

Which of the following statements, if true, contribute to resolving the apparent discrepancy? (Select exactly TWO statements that, when taken together, best explain the statistical anomaly.)

Last year, wheat farmers in the Sunnyside Valley switched from using traditional organic compost to a new synthetic fertilizer called Nitromax. Following this switch, the total yield of wheat per hectare in the valley increased significantly compared to previous years. However, despite this increase in yield per hectare, the total revenue generated by the valley's wheat harvest was substantially lower this year than in any of the previous five years.

Which of the following statements, if true, help to resolve the apparent discrepancy described above? Select all that apply.

As urban environments expand, many wildlife species face the challenge of surviving in habitats dominated by human activity. While some animals simply relocate, others undergo rapid behavioral adaptations to cope with these new pressures. For instance, researchers have observed that the great tit, a common songbird, has begun singing at significantly higher pitches in cities compared to its forest-dwelling counterparts. This acoustic shift allows the urban birds' calls to be heard over the continuous, low-frequency rumble of city traffic, ensuring they can still attract mates and defend territories.

Which of the following accurately describe the logical function of the author's reference to the great tit's singing behavior in the passage? Select all that apply.

In late antiquity, the Mediterranean glass industry was structured around a sharp geographical division between primary production centers and secondary workshops. In primary centers along the Levantine coast, vast raw batches of silica sand and mineral natron (a naturally occurring sodium carbonate harvested almost exclusively from Egypt's Wadi El Natrun) were fused in colossal tank furnaces. The resulting unworked raw glass slabs were subsequently broken into cullet and shipped across the Mediterranean to localized secondary workshops, where artisans remelted the glass at lower temperatures to fashion vessels and window panes. Chemical and isotopic analyses of natron-based glass from fourth- to sixth-century archaeological sites demonstrate remarkable compositional homogeneity across distant regions, confirming that secondary artisans rarely altered the base glass beyond adding minor colorants or decoloring agents.

However, during the late seventh and eighth centuries, this centralized production regime collapsed. Excavations in the Levant and Western Europe reveal a swift transition toward plant-ash fluxes derived from halophytic (salt-tolerant) desert shrubs, which contained elevated concentrations of magnesium and potassium compared to natron. Concurrently, regional compositional variations sharply increased. Some scholars attribute this fragmentation entirely to geopolitical ruptures following the mid-seventh-century Islamic conquests, which disrupted maritime trade routes supplying Egyptian natron to Byzantine secondary workshops. Yet recent stratigraphic evidence indicates that several primary natron furnace complexes in the Levant were abandoned decades before regional trade networks contracted, and that the adoption of plant ash allowed secondary workshops to become fully autonomous by sourcing local biomass rather than depending on a single monopolized mineral supply.

Based on the passage, which of the following statements are logically supported inferences? (Select all that apply.)

Passage A
The prevailing orthodoxy in archaeological theory has long maintained that the construction of early monumental architecture—ranging from the towering ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia to the expansive earthen mounds of the pre-Columbian Americas—served primarily as a top-down instrument of coercive political power. According to this well-established framework, nascent elites, having recently consolidated control over regional agricultural surpluses, necessitated highly visible and enduring manifestations of their authority to legitimize unprecedented degrees of social stratification. Monumental structures fulfilled this ideological requirement perfectly. The sheer physical scale of these projects demanded the meticulous mobilization of massive labor forces and the coordinated transport of heavy building materials across vast distances. This undertaking was a logistical feat that inherently required and subsequently reinforced the administrative apparatus of the ruling class. Furthermore, by architecturally restricting access to the inner sanctums or elevated platforms of these imposing edifices, elites were able to spatially instantiate their exclusive relationship with the divine or cosmic order, thereby naturalizing their political dominance. The architectural permanence of these structures ensured that the ideological message of elite supremacy was broadcasted continuously across multiple generations. Consequently, within this paradigm, early monumentalism cannot be properly understood apart from the deliberate institutionalization of inequality. It was fundamentally a premeditated strategy designed for reifying elite authority and habituating the broader populace to newly instituted, asymmetrical power dynamics through the very physical landscape they inhabited and navigated daily.

Passage B
Recent ethnographic and archaeological reevaluations robustly challenge the monolithic assumption that all early monumental construction was inherently coercive or inextricably linked to established elite exploitation. Instead, compelling empirical evidence from varied global contexts suggests that in numerous early societies, monumental architecture initially originated as a communal, bottom-up endeavor driven by shared religious conviction and the necessity of collective identity formation. In these specific contexts, the arduous construction process itself, perhaps even more than just the finished edifice, served a critical integrative function for historically decentralized populations. The recurring seasonal gathering of disparate kin groups to contribute voluntary labor and collaboratively transport heavy building materials to a shared sacred site actively fostered social cohesion. This collective effort reinforced vital reciprocal obligations without necessitating the imposition of a coercive administrative hierarchy. While it is historically undeniable that emerging elites eventually co-opted these sacred sites—shrewdly appropriating their accumulated symbolic and religious capital to subsequently justify extreme social stratification—the initial generative impetus was frequently cooperative and remarkably egalitarian. By failing to distinguish between the origins of monumentalism and its later appropriation, traditional theories obscure the profound capacity of early communities for self-directed, cooperative achievement. Recognizing this two-stage developmental sequence reveals that large-scale communal labor and profound monumental expression can historically precede, and indeed exist completely independently of, coercive state apparatuses, serving primarily to bind a disparate community together through a shared framework of cosmological devotion.

Based on the texts provided, which of the following statements regarding monumental architecture do the authors of BOTH passages endorse as a central component of their respective arguments? Select all that apply.

Astrophysics engineers established the following operational parameters for orbital deep-space observatories:

• Every deep-space observation satellite equipped with a sub-kelvin bolometer array operates a multistage pulse-tube cryocooler.
• Any satellite operating a multistage pulse-tube cryocooler requires active vibration damping unless it maintains a passive magnetic levitation mount.
• No satellite requiring active vibration damping can perform continuous wide-field interferometry.
• Every satellite that maintains a passive magnetic levitation mount consumes auxiliary solar battery reserve power.

During its calibration phase, the Astraea deep-space observation satellite was equipped with a sub-kelvin bolometer array and successfully performed continuous wide-field interferometry.

If the statements above are true, which of the following statements must also be true? (Select all that apply)

Urban planners for the city of Oakhaven have established the following zoning regulations and observations: Any residential parcel zoned for high-density development must be located within 500 meters of a rapid transit station. Furthermore, if a parcel is located within 500 meters of a rapid transit station and is also zoned for commercial mixed-use, it automatically qualifies for a parking minimum exemption. Currently, no parcels zoned for high-density development qualify for a parking minimum exemption. Finally, most parcels zoned for commercial mixed-use in the downtown district are located within 500 meters of a rapid transit station.

Based on the information above, which of the following statements must be true? (Select all that apply)