GRE Big Book Critical Reasoning Test 3

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.

 

Beca,use incumbent members of Congress are given a great deal of attention by the news media and because they enjoy such perquisites as free mail privileges and generous travel allowances, incumbents enjoy an overwhelming advantage over their challengers in elections for the United States Congress.

#1
Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim above?

Instead of relying on general tax revenue, as it now does, the government should rely more heavily on passenger fares to finance public bus and train service. In order for public transportation to be maintained without cutting service, users should pay all the operating costs even if these costs should increase. Such charges would be fair since only users benefit from public transportation.

#2
Which of the following is a principle on which the position above could be based?

When the manufacturer of Voltage, a major soft drink, changed its secret formula last year, the export earnings of an island in the Indian Ocean began to fall. This island’s only export comprises more than half of the world’s supply of vanilla beans. Analysts concluded that the original formula of Voltage contained vanilla from beans, but the new formula did not.

#3
Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn by the analysts?

Carol is shorter than Juan, but she is taller than Ed. Sandra is shorter than Juan, and she is shorter than Ed. Wallie is taller than Sandra, but shorter than Juan.

#4
If the statements above are true, one can validly conclude that Bill is shorter than Carol if it is true that

Private ownership of services traditionally considered to be the responsibility of the government will typically improve those services. The turnpike system in the United States of the nineteenth century demonstrates the truth of this principle; the system, which had previously been controlled by thegovernment, became a more reliable system when taken over by private organizations.

#5
Which of the following describes a significant flaw in the author's argument above?

A recent state survey of human resources found that the age to which secretarial school graduates are expected to live is four years in excess of the age to which other graduates of high school are expected to live. One possible conclusion is that secretarial school.attendance is beneficial to one’s health.

#6
To evaluate the conclusion above, it would be most important to know the answer to which of the following questions?

Some insects are able to feed on the leaves of milk-weed, a toxic plant, by first cutting and draining the vein that secretes the toxin. This method of detoxification guarantees that some insects will always be able to eat milkweed, because the plant could never evolve to produce a toxin that is lethal in the trace amounts left after the vein is cut.

#7
The conclusion drawn in the passage above depends on which of the following assumptions?

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