GRE Big Book Critical Reasoning Test 25

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.

 

In a study of more than,8,000 people using ten beaches on two of the Great Lakes, ecologists from the University of Toronto determined that the rate of respiratory and gastrointestinal illness among people who had been swimming was 69.6 per 1,000, whereas the respiratory and gastrointestinal illness rate among those who had not been swimming was only 29.5 per 1,000.

#1
Which of the following conclusions can be most properly drawn from the data above?

The story of Robinson Crusoe’s adventures on an uninhabited island is no longer as popular as it once was, nor does it inspire modern versions in popular fiction. This change in the reading public’s taste has occurred because it is no longer easy to believe that undiscovered, uninhabited islands still exist.

#2
The author's reasoning about the decreased popularity of Robinson Crusoe-like adventures in popular fiction is based on which of the following assumptions?

Substances suspected of causing cancer, if carefully administered to experimental animals in quantities in which those substances are ordinarily present in the environment, are virtually guaranteed not to produce cancer at rates significantly above the chance level. The most economical procedure for obtaining informative data is to administer vastly increased amounts of the substance being tested.

#3
The 'economical procedure' described above will not be an effective one if which of the following is true?

How does a building contractor most readily prove compliance with the building codes governing new construction? By using those established technologies that the authors of the codes had in mind when setting specifications. This, unfortunately, means that there will never be any significant technological innovation within the industry.

#4
The argument above depends on the assumption that, in choosing the technologies to use in new construction, building contractors

How does a building contractor most readily prove compliance with the building codes governing new construction? By using those established technologies that the authors of the codes had in mind when setting specifications. This, unfortunately, means that there will never be any significant technological innovation within the industry.

#5
Which of the following, if true, casts the most serious doubt on the conclusion above?

X: When a rare but serious industrial accident occurs, people respond by believing that such accidents are becoming more frequent. This belief is irrational. After all, being dealt four aces in a hand of poker, a rare event, hardly increases one’s chances of being dealt four aces in a future hand.

Y: To the contrary, the belief is rational because it results in people’s sensing a danger to them- selves not previously sensed and taking precau- tionary actions to prevent similar accidents in the future.

#6
Y's attempt to counter X's claim is best described by which of the following?

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