The Alphabet

GRE Big Book Critical Reasoning Test 38

Jimmy Wang
10/18/2024

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.

A judicial order of a few years ago was intended to foster competition in the telephone industry; it was thought that competition would lead to savings for consumers. Long-distance calls made during the day are now cheaper than they were before the order, but the average residential user’s charges for long- distance have risen by 25 percent.

#1

Which of the following, if true, would most directly explain the higher long-distance charges incurred by residential users?

Increased competition has led telephone companies to expand their budgets for the development of new technology.

Telephone companies are expanding their services in the areas of computing and data processing.

Telephone companies must receive approval from regulatory agencies before putting rate changes into effect.

Rates for calls made during the evening, the time when most residential users make long-distance calls, have increased.

More long-distance calls are made by businesses than by residential users.

A program of steady, moderate aerobic exercise coupled with a diet low in saturated fats and cholesterol has been associated with reduced risk of heart attacks and strokes. Therefore, no one who exercises regularly and eats only foods that are low in saturated fats and cholesterol will have a heart attack or stroke.

#2

Of the following, the best criticism of the argument above is that the argument does not

specify whether foods high in saturated fats also contain cholesterol

take into account the possibility of heart attacks and strokes that occur regardless of diet and level of exercise

take into account all of the possible physiological effects of saturated fats and cholesterol

differentiate between the causes of heart attacks and the causes of strokes

indicate whether a”n increased risk of heart attacks and strokes is due more to poor diet or more to lack of exercise

The number of boats sold in 1973 was greater than the number of boats sold in 1987. However, more money was spent buying boats in 1987 than was spent buying boats in 1973.

#3

Which of the following statements can be properly inferred from the statements above?

In 1973 the demand for boats exceeded the supply, while in 1987 the supply of boats exceeded the demand.

Between 1973 and 1987, the number of new boats being made increased.

People were willing to invest a greater proportion of their income in boats in 1987 than they were in 1973.

Between 1973 and 1987, there was a gradual increase in the proportion of large and luxuriously equipped boats sold.

The average (mean) price of boats sold in 1973 was less than ‘that of boats sold in 1987.

In the 1950’s sixty percent of treated cancer patients lived at least five years after detection of the disease. Now, sixty percent live at least seven years after detection. This fact demonstrates that, because of improved methods of treatment, cancer patients now live longer after they contract the disease than . cancer patients did in the 1950’s.

#4

The conclusion of the argument above depends on which of the following assumptions?

The number of cancer patients now is approximately the same as it was in the 1950’s.

In the 1950’s only sixty percent of cancer patients received treatment, whereas now a substantially higher percentage does.

Physicians now usually predict a longer life for cancer patients after detection of the disease than did physicians in the 1950’s.

Free medical treatment is more likely to be available now to people who have no health insurance than it was in the 1950’s.

Detection of cancer does not now take place, on average, significantly earlier in the progression of the disease than it did in the 1950’s.

The large amQunts of carbon dioxide now being released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels will not, in fact, result in a greenhouse effect-an increase in average global temperatures. Since plants use carbon dioxide in larger quantities if the supply is increased, they are able to grow larger and multiply more vigorously, and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations wiil eventually become stable.

#5

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion that a greenhouse effect will not result from the current release of large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere?

Ocean waters absorb carbon dioxide at a greater rate when the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is higher.

The fact that carbon dioxide levels have risen and fallen many times in the Earth’s history sug- gests that there is some biological process that can reverse the greenhouse effect.

When plants decay, they produce methane, another gas that can have a marked greenhouse effect.

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, increased atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have resulted in improved agricultural productivity.

The expected rise in average global temperatures has not yet been observed.

The number of people 85 or older in the United States started increasing dramatically during the last ten years. The good health care that these people enjoyed in the United States during their vulnerable childhood years is primarily responsible for this trend.

#6

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the explanation above?

Seventy-five percent of the people in the United States who are 85 or older are the children of people who themselves lived less than 65 years.

Many of the people in the United States who are 85 or older immigrated to the United States when they were 20 years old or older.

Because of decreased federal funding for medical care for pregnant mothers and for children, the life expectancy of United States citizens is likely to decrease.

Thirty-five percent of the people in the United States who are 85 or older require some form of twenty-four-hour nursing care.

The people in the United States who are now 85 represent an age group that was smaller in numbers at birth than the immediately preceeding and succeeding age groups.