GRE Big Book Critical Reasoning Test 2

GRE Critical Reasoning
Directions

Critical Reasoning questions test the ability to understand, analyze, and evaluate arguments. Some of the abilities tested by specific questions include identifying the roles played by specific phrases or sentences in an argument, recognizing the point of an argument, recognizing assumptions on which an argument is based" drawing conclusions and forming hypotheses, identifying methods of argumentation, evaluating arguments and counter-arguments, and analyzing evidence.

Each of the Critical Reasoning questions is based on a short argument, a set of statements, or a plan of action. For each question, select the best answer of the choices given.

 

According to one psychological theory, in order to be happy, one must have an intimate relationship with another person. Yet the world’s greatest composers spent most of their time in solitude and had no intimate relationships. So the psychological theory must be wrong.

#1
The conclusion above assumes that

Every member of the Progress party in a certain city council voted against appropriating funds to build a new bridge. All city council members voted on the bridge-appropriation issue. A simple majority of votes was needed to pass the bill.

#2
Which of the following statements, if true, would provide sufficient information to tell whether or not the bridge appropriation bill passed?

A common defense of sport hunting is that it serves ‘a vital wildlife-management function, without which countless animals would succumb to starvation and disease. This defense leads to the overly hasty con- clusion that sport hunting produces a healthier population of animals.

#3
Which of the following, if true, best supports the author's claim that sport hunting does not necessarily produce a healthier population of animals?

Two suits of battle armor worn by King Henry VIII were discovered, one from the beginning of his reign in 1510 and the other from 1540. Although both suits of armor were made for Henry VIII, the 1540 suit of armor was 40 pounds heavier than the 1510 suit of armor.

#4
Which of the following, if true, contributes LEAST to an explanation of the discrepancy described above?

Government department head: We already have a code of ethics that companies doing business with the department are urged to abide by. The fact that virtually all of the companies have agreed to abide by it indicates that it is successful. Therefore, neither” stronger ethics regulations nor enforcement mechanisms are necessary to ensure ethical behavior by companies doing business with the department.

#5
Which of the following, if true, casts most doubt on the department head's conclusion?

The federal government expects hospitals to perfonn 10,000 organ transplants next year. But it is doubtful that this many donor organs will be available, since the number of fatalities resulting from car and motorcycle accidents has been dropping steadily over the past decade.

#6
The argument above makes which of the following assumptions?

Verbal patterns in four works known to be written by a certain author were compared to those in a work of uncertain authorship sometimes attributed to that author. Many patterns were studied, including frequency of specific words and recurrence of certain phrases. The questioned work displayed verbal patterns very similar to those in the other four works, establishing that the same author wrote all five.

#7
Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the conclusion above?

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