1.

Al
2. The
3. Some
4. Are
5. Reva
6. No
7. At
8. Current
9. The

IGNORE THE ABOVE 8 ENTRIES

10. A recent study suggests that Alzheimer’s disease, which attacks the human brain,
may be caused by a virus. In the study, blood from 11 volunteers, each of whom had
the disease, was injected into rats. The rats eventually exhibited symptoms of
another degenerative neurological disorder, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which is
caused by a virus. This led the scientist who conducted the study to conclude that
Alzheimer’s disease might be caused by a virus.

Which one of the following statements, if true, would most strengthen the scientist’s
hypothesis that Alzheimer’s disease is caused by a virus?

A. Alzheimer’s disease in rats is not caused by a virus.

B. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease affects only motor nerves in rats’ limbs, not their
brains.
C. The virus that causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in rats has no effect on humans.
D. The symptoms known, respectively, as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and Alzheimer’s
disease are different manifestations of the same disease.
E. Blood from rats without Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease produced no symptoms of the
disease when injected into other experimental rats.

11. Bruce Lee, a notorious Skittles enthusiast, entered Chan's studio for a span of
roughly 15 minutes. Prior to Lee’s arrival, Chan had opened a packet of skittles and
laid it on a studio bench. Shortly after Lee’s departure, it was noticed that the packet
of skittles was empty. Chan opined that it was Lee who had consumed the skittles
and went after him with his nunchaku.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen Chan’s suspicion?

A. Lee has always professed his love for skittles by consuming them in large
numbers.
B. CCTV footage of Chan's studio showed Lee taking a selfie with the packet of
skittles.
C. When Chan caught up with Lee, Chan found twenty five and a half skittles on
Lee's person.
D. The only other suspect was Chan's sister who, however, was asleep during the
time of Lee's stay.

12. One approach to the question of which objects discussed by a science are real is to
designate as real all and only those entities posited by the most explanatorily
 powerful theory of the science. But since most scientific theories contain entities
posited solely on theoretical grounds, this approach is flawed.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the reasoning
above?

A. A scientific theory should sometimes posit entities on grounds other than

theoretical ones.
B. Objects posited for theoretical reasons only should never be designated as real.
C. A scientific theory should not posit any entity that does no enhance the
explanatory power of the theory.
D. Any object that is posited by a scientific theory and that enhances the
explanatory power of that theory should be designated as real.
E. Only objects posited by explanatorily powerful theories should be designated as
real

13. Since Finagle Theatrics has moved to a theater in the busy downtown district of
Badlapur, Finagle can expect revenue from ticket sales to increase. It should start
producing the plays that have been most successful when they were performed in
the nation’s largest cities.

Which of the following, if true, would most justify the conclusion?

A. Finagle's poor run in the last quarter was mostly due to the paucity of theater
patrons in the vicinity.
B. Finagle's poor run in the last quarter was mostly due to poor choice of plays to
produce.
C. Theater patrons in Badlapur eagerly flock plays that have had a good run in the
larger cities.
D. The last time Finagle Theatrics had shifted, it had failed to register any increase
in ticket sales.

14. Toxicologist: A survey of oil-refinery workers who work with MBTE, an ingredient
currently used in some smog-reducing gasoline, found an alarming incidence of
complaints about headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath. Since gasoline
containing MBTE will soon be widely used, we can expect an increased incidence of
headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath.

Each of the following, if true, strengthens the toxicologist’s argument EXCEPT:

A. Most oil-refinery workers who do not work with MBTE do not have serious health
problems involving headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath.
B. Headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath are among the symptoms of several
medical conditions that are potentially serious threats to public health.
C. Since the time when gasoline containing MBTE was first introduced in a few
metropolitan areas, those areas reported an increase in the number of complaints
about headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath.
D. Regions in which only gasoline containing MBTE is used have a much greater
incidence of headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath than do similar regions
in which only MBTE-free gasoline is used.
E. The oil-refinery workers surveyed were carefully selected to be representative of
the broader population in their medical histories prior to exposure to MBTE, as
well as in other relevant respects.
15. In recent years the worldwide demand for fish has grown. It is now heartening to
see that improvements in fishing technology have made larger catches possible
worldwide. This is evident from last year’s tuna catch, which was 9 percent greater
than the previous year’s.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument?

A. The previous year's catch was the lowest in the decade due to revised fishing
regulations that have since been abrogated.
B. Larger catches have not been limited to tuna alone and the improvements in
fishing technology have found wide application.
C. The previous year's tuna catch was itself an improvement on the catch the year
before which was by no means insignificant.
D. Larger catches and the growing popularity of fish have led to a 30% increase in
the per-capita consumption of fish.

16. In general, a professional athlete is offered a million-dollar contract only if he or she

has just completed an unusually successful season. However, a study shows that an
athlete signing such a contract usually suffers a decline in performance the following
season. This study supports the theory that a million-dollar contract tends to weaken
an athlete’s desire to excel by diminishing his or her economic incentive.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn above?

A. On the average, athletes whose contracts call for relatively small salaries with
possible bonuses for outstanding achievement perform better than other athletes.
B. Athletes are generally offered million-dollar contracts mainly because of the
increased ticket sales and other revenues they generate.
C. Many professional athletes have careers marked by year-to-year fluctuations in
their overall levels of performance.
D. On the average, higher-salaried athletes tend to have longer and more successful
professional careers than do lower-salaried athletes.
E. Six of the ten leading batters in the National League this season signed million-
dollar contracts during the off-season

17. Sales of organic food products in this country have tripled over the past five years. If
Apriori Foods is to profit from this continuing trend, we must diversify and start
selling products such as organic orange juice and organic eggs in addition to our
regular product line.

Which of the following, if true, would most justify the conclusion?

A. Organic juice and organic eggs top the list of organic bestsellers in the country.
B. Sales of organic food products will continue to grow robustly in the next five
years.
C. Manufacturing and stocking organic foods will not necessitate costly changes to
infrastructure.
D. The high costs of manufacturing and stocking organic foods are generally offset
by healthy profit margins.

18. In a marketing study, consumers were given two unlabeled cartons of laundry
detergent. One carton was bright green and yellow; the other was drab brown and
 gray. After using the detergent in the two cartons for one month, 83 percent of the
consumers in the study reported that the detergent in the bright green and yellow
carton cleaned better. This study shows that packaging has a significant impact on
consumers’ judgment of the effectiveness of a laundry detergent.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn in the
marketing study?

A. The detergent in the bright carton contained bleach crystals; the detergent in the
drab carton did not.
B. The detergents in the two cartons were the same.
C. The detergents in the two cartons were different, but they had both been
laboratory tested.
D. The detergent in the drab carton was a popular name brand; the detergent in the
bright carton was generic.
E. The detergent in the drab carton was generic; the detergent in the bright carton
was a popular name brand.

19. According to a survey of 5,000 urban residents, the prevalence of stress headaches
increases with educational level, so that stress headaches occur most often among
people with graduate-school degrees. It is well established that, nationally, higher
educational levels usually correspond with higher levels of income. Therefore, in
marketing our new pain remedy, Anodyne, we should send free samples primarily to
graduate students and to people with graduate degrees.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument?

A. The sample of 5000 urban residents had an overweening majority of people with
graduate school degrees.
B. The sample of 5000 urban residents did not over-represent people who suffered
from stress headaches.
C. Higher education levels lead to financially rewarding careers and such careers are
usually stressful.
D. Some graduate students and people with graduate degrees who receive the
samples of Anodyne will try them.

20. Since the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit was mandated on our highways, both money
and human lives have been saved.

All of the following, if true, would strengthen the claim above EXCEPT:

A. Most highway users find that travel times are not appreciably lengthened by the
55-mile-per-hour speed limit.
B. Highway driving at 55 miles per hour or less is more fuel-efficient than high-
speed driving.
C. Nearly all highway safety experts agree that more accidents occur at speeds over
55 miles per hour than at lower speeds.
D. The percentage of fatalities occurring in highway accidents at speeds greater than
55 miles per hour is higher than that for low-speed accidents.
E. Automobiles last longer and require fewer repairs when driven at consistently
lower speeds.
21. From salmonella and parasitic E.coli to worms, flukes, and the virus hepatitis E, Dr.
Tauxe says the creepy crawlies that may inhabit raw meat tend to be more harmful
to humans than the microorganisms you would find in raw fish.

The statement above would provide most support to which of the following
observations:

A. If your butcher nicks open an animal’s intestines, any harmful microorganisms

released could contaminate all the meat the butcher is preparing.
B. Sushi restaurants take raw fish and change it to culinary art while raw beef, pork
and other land animals are typically not on the menu.
C. The parasites and bacteria that set up shop in raw animal meat are different and
more dangerous than the ones you would find in raw fish.
D. The way animals are slaughtered and packaged also has a lot to do with their
health risks, says Dr. Eugene Muller, a microbiologist.

22. Psychological research indicates that college hockey and football players are more
quickly moved to hostility and aggression than are college athletes in noncontact
sports such as swimming. But the researchers’ conclusion—that contact sports
encourage and teach participants to be hostile and aggressive—is untenable. The
football and hockey players were probably more hostile and aggressive to start with
than the swimmers.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn by the
psychological researchers?

A. The football and hockey players became more hostile and aggressive during the
season and remained so during the off-season, whereas there was no increase in
aggressiveness among the swimmers.
B. The football and hockey players, but not the swimmers, were aware at the start
of the experiment that they were being tested for aggressiveness.
C. The same psychological research indicated that the football and hockey players
had a great respect for cooperation and team play, whereas the swimmers were
most concerned with excelling as individual competitors.
D. The research studies were designed to include no college athletes who
participated in both contact and noncontact sports.
E. Throughout the United States, more incidents of fan violence occur at baseball
games than occur at hockey or football games.

23. Don’t hold in a sneeze. “If you feel one coming on and you want to stop it, rubbing
your nose can help,” says Benninger. For patients who may feel pain when
sneezing—those who’ve recently undergone surgery or broken a bone—Benninger
advises opening your mouth wide to minimize a sneeze’s strength.

Which of the following best supports Benniger's advice to open your mouth wide to
minimize a sneeze's strength?

A. Pulled muscles and perforated eardrums are a couple of the calamities that could
befall a sneeze suppressor.
B. If the air can escape through your nose and mouth, that creates less pressure
than forcing it through a smaller opening.
C. If you redirect that force inward, your suppressed sneeze can send waves of
force rippling through your head and body.
 D. A fractured larynx, acute cervical pain and facial nerve injuries are just a few of
the documented mishaps caused by a stifled achoo.

24. There are far fewer children available for adoption than there are people who want to
adopt. Two million couples are currently waiting to adopt, but in 1982, the last year
for which figures exist, there were only some 50,000 adoptions.

Which of the following statements, if true, most strengthens the author’s claim that
there are far fewer children available for adoption than there are people who want to
adopt?

A. The number of couples waiting to adopt has increased significantly in the last
decade.
B. The number of adoptions in the current year is greater than the number of
adoptions in any preceding year.
C. The number of adoptions in a year is approximately equal to the number of
children available for adoption in that period.
D. People who seek to adopt children often go through a long process of interviews
and investigation by adoption agencies.
E. People who seek to adopt children generally make very good parents.

25. It depends on your hair type, but a daily lather probably won’t cause much harm—
though it might prevent plenty. While many consider scalp and hair oils naturally
moisturizing, these oils nourish fungus that contribute to the scaly, patchy scalp
condition known as seborrhea. A daily lather will keep seborrhea at bay..

All of the following, if true, weaken the claim that a daily lather would not cause
much harm except:

A. The fungus is also responsible for maintaining the right PH balance in scalp oils. A
poor PH balance means hair fall.
B. The fungus has no beneficial properties that cannot be realized by other means,
artificial or natural.
C. Too frequent shampooing can strip away the fatty essential elements and
coatings that keeps your hair strong and whole.
D. For women or men with long hair, shampooing too often can dry out hair and
lead to breakage or split ends.

26. Reviewing historical data, medical researchers in California found that counties with
the largest number of television sets per capita have had the lowest incidence of a
serious brain disease, mosquito-borne encephalitis. The researchers have concluded
that people in these counties stay indoors more and thus avoid exposure to the
disease.

The researchers’ conclusion would be most strengthened if which of the following

were true?

A. Programs designed to control the size of disease-bearing mosquito populations

have not affected the incidence of mosquito borne encephalitis.
B. The occupations of county residents affect their risk of exposure to mosquito-
borne encephalitis more than does television-watching.
C. The incidence of mosquito-borne encephalitis in counties with the largest number
of television sets per capita is likely to decrease even further.
 D. The more time people in a county spend outdoors, the greater their awareness
of the dangers of mosquito-borne encephalitis.
E. The more television sets there are per capita in a county, the more time the
average county resident spends watching television.

27. Given the success of our premium and most expensive line of chocolate candies in a
recent taste test and the consequent increase in sales, we should shift our business
focus to producing additional lines of premium candy rather than our lower-priced,
ordinary candies. When the current economic boom ends and consumers can no
longer buy major luxury items, such as cars, they will still want to indulge in small
luxuries, such as expensive candies.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. When an economic boom ends, consumers revert to earlier spending patterns

which are generally characterized by indiscriminate thrift.
B. When an economic boom ends, consumers revert to spending patterns that are
generally hard to predict because of their random nature.
C. When an economic boom ends, consumers become very selective as to which
luxury items to buy and which to avoid.
D. When an economic boom ends, consumers generally refrain from buying major
luxury items such as high end cars and phones.

28. Mr. Primm: If hospitals were private enterprises, dependent on profits for their
survival, there would be no teaching hospitals, because of the intrinsically high cost
of running such hospitals.
Ms. Nakai: I disagree. The medical challenges provided by teaching hospitals attract
the very best physicians. This, in turn, enables those hospitals to concentrate on
nonroutine cases.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen Ms. Nakai’s attempt to refute
Mr. Primm’s claim?

A. Doctors at teaching hospitals command high salaries.

B. Sophisticated, nonroutine medical care commands a high price.
C. Existing teaching hospitals derive some revenue from public subsidies.
D. The patient mortality rate at teaching hospitals is high.
E. The modern trend among physicians is to become highly specialized.

29. We should not approve the business loan application of the local group that wants to
open a franchise outlet for the Death By Ice chain of ice cream parlors. Frostbite is
known for its cold winters, and cold weather can mean slow ice cream sales. For
example, even though Frostbite is a town of 10,000 people, it has only one ice cream
spot—the Frigid Cow. Despite the lack of competition, the Frigid Cow’s net revenues
fell by 10 percent last winter.

Which of the following sums up a flaw in the argument?

A. It ignores the possibility that the Death By Ice chain of ice cream parlors would
offer competition to Frigid Cow.
B. It selects an example that serves to prove its point at the expense of evidence
that contradicts its claim.
 C. It fails to mention other business loan applications that were approved despite
apprehensions about their feasibility.
D. It ignores the possibility that a Death By Ice outlet at Frostbite could kindle the
citizens' enthusiasm for ice cream.

30. Mr. Lawson: We should adopt a national family policy that includes legislation
requiring employers to provide paid parental leave and establishing government-
sponsored day care. Such laws would decrease the stress levels of employees who
have responsibility for small children. Thus, such laws would lead to happier, better-
adjusted families.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion above?

A. An employee’s high stress level can be a cause of unhappiness and poor

adjustment for his or her family.
B. People who have responsibility for small children and who work outside the home
have higher stress levels than those who do not.
C. The goal of a national family policy is to lower the stress levels of parents.
D. Any national family policy that is adopted would include legislation requiring
employers to provide paid parental leave and establishing government-sponsored
day care.
E. Most children who have been cared for in daycare centers are happy and well
adjusted.

31. The computerized on board warning system that will be installed in commercial
airliners will virtually solve the problem of midair plane collisions. One plane’s
warning system can receive signals from another plane's transponder—a radio set
that signals a plane’s course—in order to determine the likelihood of a collision.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. Midair plane collisions only form a very small proportion of plane accidents.
B. There are other ways employed by certain airlines to prevent midair plane
collisions.
C. Pilots are generally aware of their planes' courses and can tell whether a collision
is likely.
D. A significant majority of plane accidents are caused by external events such as
bird hits.

32. Affirmative action is good business. So asserted the National Association of

Manufacturers while urging retention of an executive order requiring some federal
contractors to set numerical goals for hiring minorities and women. “Diversity in
work force participation has produced new ideas in management, product
development, and marketing,” the association claimed.

The association’s argument as it is presented in the passage above would be most

strengthened if which of the following were true?

A. The percentage of minority and women workers in business has increased more
slowly than many minority and women’s groups would prefer.
B. Those businesses with the highest percentages of minority and women workers
are those that have been the most innovative and profitable.
 C. Disposable income has been rising as fast among minorities and women as
among the population as a whole.
D. The biggest growth in sales in the manufacturing sector has come in industries
that market the most innovative products.
E. Recent improvements in management practices have allowed many
manufacturers to experience enormous gains in worker productivity.

33. “We are not claiming that the high-protein diet cannot make you lose weight, but
only that in the long run it is not healthy for you,” Longo says. Longo’s research
shows disease rates increase nearly 400% among Americans who get 20% or more
of their daily calories from protein, compared to those who restrict their protein
intake to 10% of their daily calories. Risk of mortality also jumps 75% among the
heavy protein eaters, his data show.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. Americans who eat lots of protein are probably getting it from unhealthy sources
such as fatty, additive-stuffed cuts of meat.
B. Americans who eat lots of protein probably follow similar lifestyle habits that their
less protein eating counterparts follow.
C. Americans who restrict their protein intake to 10% of their daily calories get their
protein from non-meat sources.
D. Americans who restrict their protein intake to 3% of their daily intake suffer from
conditions that arise from protein deficiency.

34. The value of a product is determined by the ratio of its quality to its price. The
higher the value of a product, the better will be its competitive position. Therefore,
either increasing the quality or lowering the price of a given product will increase the
likelihood that consumer will select that product rather than a competing one.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn above?

A. It is possible to increase both the quality and the price of a product without
changing its competitive position.
B. For certain segments of the population of consumers, higher-priced brands of
some product lines are preferred to the lower-priced brands.
C. Competing products often try to appeal to different segments of the population of
consumers.
D. The competitive position of a product can be affected by such factors as
advertising and brand loyalty.
E. Consumers’ perceptions of the quality of a product are based on the actual
quality of the product.

35. Although forecasts of presidential elections based on opinion polls measure current
voter preference, many voters keep changing their minds about whom they prefer
until the last few days before the balloting. Some do not even make a final decision
until they enter the voting booth. Forecasts based on opinion polls are therefore little
better at predicting election outcomes than a random guess would be.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. While many voters do keep changing their minds about whom they prefer, most
voters have an unequivocal preference for a candidate.
 B. Forecasts based on opinion polls also take into account that some of the voters
remain undecided until election day.
C. Forecasts based on opinion polls have an accuracy rate that is higher than that of
a random guess.
D. Though many voters keep changing their minds about whom to vote, they tend
to be steadfast in their other beliefs.

36. Airline: Newly developed collision-avoidance systems, although not fully tested to
discover potential malfunctions, must be installed immediately in passenger planes.
Their mechanical warnings enable pilots to avoid crashes.
Pilots: Pilots will not fly in planes with collision-avoidance systems that are not fully
tested. Malfunctioning systems could mislead pilots, causing crashes.
The pilots’ objection is most strengthened if which of the following is true?

A. It is always possible for mechanical devices to malfunction.

B. Jet engines, although not fully tested when first put into use, have achieved
exemplary performance and safety records.
C. Although collision-avoidance systems will enable pilots to avoid some crashes,
the likely malfunctions of the not-fully-tested systems will cause even more
crashes.
D. Many airline collisions are caused in part by the exhaustion of overworked pilots.
E. Collision-avoidance systems, at this stage of development, appear to have
worked better in passenger planes than in cargo planes during experimental
flights made over a six-month period.

37. My sister contends that the clerk at the billing desk at Shopper’s Hop overcharged
her last week. I checked my sister’s invoice and it seems she’s right. So don’t take
your business to Shopper’s Hop, as you’ll definitely get ripped off.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the author’s
recommendation.?

A. My sister has similar allegations against Hopper’s Stop which is a sister concern
of Shopper’s Hop.
B. My sister has a history of making allegations that are not necessarily supported
by evidence.
C. My sister’s sixty nine Facebook friends swear that Shopper’s Hop offers no scope
for complaint.
D. My sister’s sixty nine Facebook friends swear that Shopper’s Hop offers great
deals on shoes.

38. Two decades after the Emerald River Dam was built, none of the eight fish species
native to the Emerald River was still reproducing adequately in the river below the
dam. Since the dam reduced the annual range of water temperature in the river
below the dam from 50 degrees to 6 degrees, scientists have hypothesized that
sharply rising water temperatures must be involved in signaling the native species to
begin the reproductive cycle.

Which of the following statements, if true, would most strengthen the scientists’
hypothesis?
 A. The native fish species were still able to reproduce only in side streams of the
river below the dam where the annual temperature range remains approximately
50 degrees.
B. Before the dam was built, the Emerald River annually overflowed its banks,
creating backwaters that were critical breeding areas for the native species of
fish.
C. The lowest recorded temperature of the Emerald River before the dam was built
was 34 degrees, whereas the lowest recorded temperature of the river after the
dam was built has been 43 degrees.
D. Nonnative species of fish, introduced into the Emerald River after the dam was
built, have begun competing with the declining native fish species for food and
space.
E. Five of the fish species native to the Emerald River are not native to any other
river in North America.

39. I am tired of people telling me that cigarettes are bad for my health. Hardly a day
passes without someone denouncing my smoking habit. What hogwash! Look at my
aunt: she smoked two packs of unfiltered cigarettes every day for 83 years and
outlived all my other relatives by nearly two decades.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. My aunt had the habit of inhaling only half the smoke at every whiff of her
cigarette.
B. My aunt’s nephew took on after my aunt but died of tuberculosis at the age of
53.
C. My aunt was genetically predisposed to a healthy and long life, a trait that is not
common among people.
D. My aunt is not an extreme case as there have been many inveterate smokers
who went on to live long lives.

40. Since the routine use of antibiotics can give rise to resistant bacteria capable of
surviving antibiotic environments, the presence of resistant bacteria in people could
be due to the human use of prescription antibiotics. Some scientists, however,
believe that most resistant bacteria in people derive from human consumption of
bacterially infected meat.

Which of the following statements, if true, would most significantly strengthen the
hypothesis of the scientists?

A. Antibiotics are routinely included in livestock feed so that livestock producers can
increase the rate of growth of their animals.
B. Most people who develop food poisoning from bacterially infected meat are
treated with prescription antibiotics.
C. The incidence of resistant bacteria in people has tended to be much higher in
urban areas than in rural areas where meat is of comparable quality.
D. People who have never taken prescription antibiotics are those least likely to
develop resistant bacteria.
E. Livestock producers claim that resistant bacteria in animals cannot be
transmitted to people through infected meat.

41. As public concern over drug abuse has increased, authorities have become more
vigilant in their efforts to prevent illegal drugs from entering the country. Many drug
 traffickers have consequently switched from marijuana, which is bulky, or heroin,
which has a market too small to justify the risk of severe punishment, to cocaine.
Thus, enforcement efforts have ironically resulted in an observed increase in the
illegal use of cocaine.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. Increased vigilance on drug abuse has resulted in a higher percentage of success

in tracking cocaine use.
B. Cocaine has a market that is bigger than that of heroin but smaller than that of
marijuana.
C. Cocaine is one of the most expensive drugs and its high prices make it
inaccessible to many.
D. Cocaine use carries one of the stiffest penalties in the the form of long jail terms
and hefty fines.

42. Male bowerbirds construct elaborately decorated nests, or bowers. Basing their
judgment on the fact that different local populations of bowerbirds of the same
species build bowers that exhibit different building and decorative styles, researchers
have concluded that the bowerbirds’ building styles are a culturally acquired, rather
than a genetically transmitted, trait.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn by the
researchers?

A. There are more common characteristics than there are differences among the
bower-building styles of the local bowerbird population that has been studied
most extensively.
B. Young male bowerbirds are inept at bower-building and apparently spend years
watching their elders before becoming accomplished in the local bower style.
C. The bowers of one species of bowerbird lack the towers and ornamentation
characteristic of the bowers of most other species of bowerbird.
D. Bowerbirds are found only in New Guinea and Australia, where local populations
of the birds apparently seldom have contact with one another.
E. It is well known that the song dialects of some songbirds are learned rather than
transmitted genetically.

43. Mango is not only the tastiest fruit but also the richest source of Vitamin A. Owing to
this nutrient value of mango, it should be preferred to Guava which has only a little
vitamin A content.

Which of the following would weaken the above conclusion?

A. Vitamin A is the most essential nutrient that is needed for all major functions of
the body.
B. Apart from Vitamin A, mango has no other nutrients or useful components in it.
C. The vitamin A content of Guava is enough to match the body’s need of Vitamin A
and additionally Guava has useful fibres that mango lacks.
D. Eating too many mangoes can cause diabetes and other related diseases whereas
eating too many guavas does not lead to diabetes.

44. Companies O and P each have the same number of employees who work the same
number of hours per week. According to records maintained by each company, the
 employees of Company O had fewer job-related accidents last year than did the
employees of Company P. Therefore, employees of Company O are less likely to
have job-related accidents than are employees of Company P.

1. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion above?

A. Company P manufactures products that are more hazardous for workers to

produce than does Company O.
B. Company P holds more safety inspections than does Company O.
C. Company P maintains a more modern infirmary than does Company O.
D. Company O paid more for new job-related medical claims than did Company P.
E. Company P provides more types of health-care benefits than does Company O.

2. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion above?

A. The employees of Company P lost more time at work due to job-related accidents
than did the employees of Company O.
B. Company P considered more types of accidents to be job-related than did
Company O.
C. The employees of Company P were sick more often than were the employees of
Company O.
D. Several employees of Company O each had more than one job-related accident.
E. The majority of job-related accidents at Company O involved a single machine.

45. Karan and Rajesh are the best football players of their school, but still have not
been selected for the upcoming football tournament in which the school team would
face off with the present school football champion. The decision to not include Karan
and Rajesh has been taken by the school coach Mr. Diwakar.

Which of the following would least strengthen the coach’s decision of keeping Karan
and Rajesh out of the team?

A. Karan and Rajesh are still recovering from the injuries they suffered in the
previous match.
B. Mr. Diwakar wants to give a chance to younger and upcoming players.
C. Karan and Rajesh, citing the adverse affect that the game has had on their
studies, had requested Mr. Diwakar not to select them.
D. It has been brought to light that Karan and Rajesh had indulged in match fixing
and had decided to facilitate the victory of the opposing team.

46. Many companies now have employee assistance programs that enable employees,
free of charge, to improve their physical fitness, reduce stress, and learn ways to
stop smoking. These programs increase worker productivity, reduce absenteeism,
and lessen insurance costs for employee health care. Therefore, these programs
benefit the company as well as the employee.

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

A. Physical fitness programs are often the most popular services offered to
employees.
B. Studies have shown that training in stress management is not effective for many
people.
 C. Regular exercise reduces people’s risk of heart disease and provides them with
increased energy.
D. Physical injuries sometimes result from entering a strenuous physical fitness
program too quickly.
E. Employee assistance programs require companies to hire people to supervise the
various programs offered.

47. The citizens of a nation elect the members of the parliament which is the top most
body of elected representatives. The Prime Minister is elected from the pool of these
members. The new Prime Minister must have been a union minister of some ministry
because for a member of parliament to become the Prime Minister, one must either
have been the chief minister of the state or should have been a union minister for at
least five years.

The conclusion above would be weakened most if

A. the new Prime Minister has served as the chief minister of some state.
B. the members of the parliament are all against the present criteria to elect the
Prime Minister.
C. the new Prime Minister does not have the support of the majority of the members
of the parliament.
D. the new Prime Minister has served as both the chief minister of a state and a
union minister for more than 5 years.

48. One variety of partially biodegradable plastic beverage container is manufactured

from small bits of plastic bound together by a degradable bonding agent such as
cornstarch. Since only the bonding agent degrades, leaving the small bits of plastic,
no less plastic refuse per container is produced when such containers are discarded
than when comparable nonbiodegradable containers are discarded.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument above?

A. Both partially biodegradable and nonbiodegradable plastic beverage containers

can be crushed completely flat by refuse compactors.
B. The partially biodegradable plastic beverage containers are made with more
plastic than comparable nonbiodegradable ones in order to compensate for the
weakening effect of the bounding agents.
C. Many consumers are ecology-minded and prefer to buy a product sold in the
partially biodegradable plastic beverage containers rather than in
nonbiodegradable containers, even if the price is higher.
D. The manufacturing process for the partially biodegradable plastic beverage
containers results in less plastic waste than the manufacturing process for
nonbiodegradable plastic beverage containers.
E. Technological problems with recycling currently prevent the reuse as food or
beverage containers of the plastic from either type of plastic beverage container.

49. In the Olympics of 2004, India won 6 olympic medals in wrestling. Despite such
brilliant performances by our wrestlers, no steps have been taken by successive
governments to provide even the most basic facilities to budding wrestlers. As a
result, there is hardly any Indian participant who can be considered a serious
contender for the wrestling events in the upcoming Olympics. One must therefore
not have hopes for any medals this time around.
 Which of the following would strengthen the above argument?

A. The wrestlers from other countries participating in the upcoming Olympics are
not as adept as their predecessors.
B. The level of preparedness of Indian sportsmen participating in other sports is at
its all-time worst.
C. There have been a lot of changes in the rules that govern the sport of wrestling
since 2004.
D. The root cause of the dismal position of sports in India is the absence of will on
the part of government.

50. Both Writewell and Express provide round-the-clock telephone assistance to any
customer who uses their word-processing software. Since customers only call the hot
lines when they find the software difficult to use, and the Writewell hot line receives
four times as many calls as the Express hot line, Writewell’s word-processing
software must be more difficult to use than Express’s.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument above?

A. Calls to the Express hot line are almost twice as long, on average, as are calls to
the Writewell hot line.
B. Express has three times the number of word-processing software customers that
Writewell has.
C. Express receives twice as many letters of complaint about its word-processing
software as Writewell receives about its word-processing software.
D. The number of calls received by each of the two hot lines has been gradually
increasing.
E. The Writewell hot-line number is more widely publicized than the Express hot-line
number.

51. Concerned about the rising level of vehicular congestion in the city, the government
of the city of Kejripur is planning to introduce an even-odd rule under which only
cars with even numbers will be allowed on road on even dates of the month and cars
with odd numbers will be allowed on odd dates of the month.

Which of the following statements would defeat Kejripur’s government’s plan?

A. The implementation of rule will lead to severe inconvenience to the public of

Kejripur.
B. The rule will be enforced only for the vehicles registered in Kejripur and would
not apply to vehicles registered outside Kejripur.
C. Only 20% of the population of Kejripur presently owns a car.
D. People with one type of car number would purchase another car with the other
type of car number.

52. In the first half of this year, from January to June, about three million videocassette
recorders were sold. This number is only 35 percent of the total number of
videocassette recorders sold last year. Therefore, total sales of videocassette
recorders will almost certainly be lower for this year than they were for last year.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion above?
 A. The total number of videocassette recorders sold last year was lower than the
total number sold in the year before that.
B. Most people who are interested in owning a videocassette recorder have already
purchased one.
C. Videocassette recorders are less expensive this year than they were last year.
D. Of the videocassette recorders sold last year, almost 60 percent were sold in
January.
E. Typically, over 70 percent of the sales of videocassette recorders made in a year
occur in the months of November and December.

53. In a bid to decrease the operating cost, Pappan enterprises decided to replace
manual labourers with sophisticated machines to do the daily physical work. Though
the cost of these machines was considerable, the fact that it was a onetime cost and
that each machine lasts for over 20 years made the plan viable. The company is now
confident that the monthly operating cost would now be lower while maintaining the
same quality of work.

The company’s expectations would be jolted if

A. the quality of the work done by these machines is not as superior as the newer
version of these machines which was launched recently.
B. the annual maintainance cost of the new machines is more than the net yearly
salaries of the manual labourers they replaced.
C. the money spent in purchasing these machines matches the sum of all bonuses
paid out to the labourers during different festivals.
D. the manual labourers displaced by the sophisticated machines have no
alternative means of livelihood.

54. Advertisement: Of the many over-the-counter medications marketed for the relief of
sinus headache. SineEase costs the least per dose. And SineEase is as effective per
dose as the most effective of those other medications. So for relief from sinus
headaches, SineEase is the best buy.

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

A. Most of the over-the-counter medications marketed for the relief of sinus

headache are equally effective per dose in providing such relief.
B. Many of the over-the-counter medications marketed for the relief of sinus
headache contain the same active ingredient as SineEase.
C. People who suffer from frequent sinus headaches are strongly advised to consult
a doctor before taking any over-the-counter medication.
D. An over-the-counter medication that is marketed for the relief of symptoms of
head cold is identical in composition to SineEase but costs less per dose.
E. The per dose price for any given over-the-counter medication marketed for the
relief of sinus headache is higher for smaller packages than it is for larger
packages.

55. A new medicine called Kalidopa provides immunity against a known class of bacteria
called Peepli. With the discovery of this medicine, it is expected that the incidences
of Endrotis Hephalotitis, a disease caused by the bacteria Peepli will come down.
 Which of the following questions will be least pertinent in evaluating the above
conclusion?

A. Is infection by the bacteria Peepli the only cause of Endrotis Hephalotitis?

B. Is the medicine Kalidopa available at chemist stores and other local drug retailers
for public?
C. Is the medicine Kalidopa affordable by people?
D. Is the immunity provided by the medicine strong enough to prevent the incidence
of Endrotis Hephalotitis?

56. These days, everyone talks about being too busy. But all this busyness does not
seem to result in things getting done. Just as many tasks are still left uncompleted,
phone calls unreturned, and appointments missed as there were in the days before
this outbreak of busyness. Therefore, people must not be as busy as they claim.

Which one of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the conclusion in
the passage?

A. These days, looking busy is a status symbol.

B. People have to do much more these days than before the so-called outbreak of
busyness.
C. People waste so much time talking about being busy that they fail to get things
done.
D. Just as many things are getting done now as before the so-called outbreak of
busyness.
E. People have more leisure time these days than before the so-called outbreak of
busyness.

57. A recent report accessed through an RTI disclosed that the number of women
molestation cases filed in Delhi were more than that in any other city in India. It
further establishes the opinion that Delhi is the most unsafe city for women.

The conclusion drawn above would be weakened greatly if it is brought to light that

A. the majority of the people who filed those complaints were men.
B. in most of these cases, the case was registered promptly by the police and the
ensuing investigation was unbiased.
C. 90% of the women who faced molestation reported that they had faced
molestation on earlier occasions as well.
D. majority of these cases were fabricated to extract revenge from the accused for
something completely unrelated.

58. There is no reason why the work of scientists has to be officially confirmed before
being published. There is a system in place for the confirmation or disconfirmation of
scientific finding, namely, the replication of results by other scientists. Poor scientific
work on the part of any one scientist, which can include anything from careless
reporting practices to fraud, is not harmful. It will be exposed and rendered harmless
when other scientists conduct the experiments and obtain disconfirmatory results.

Which one of the following, if true, would weaken the argument?

A. Scientific experiments can go unchallenged for many years before they are
replicated.
 B. Most scientists work in universities, where their work is submitted to peer review
before publication.
C. Most scientists are under pressure to make their work accessible to the scrutiny
of replication.
D. In scientific experiments, careless reporting is more common than fraud.
E. Most scientists work as part of a team rather than alone.

59. The world today is in a state of peril with the amount of greenhouse gases well
above the level considered safe. Governments across the globe have risen to this
impending disaster and have pledged to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. If
the pledged targets for reduction in fossil fuels are achieved then the global warming
will be capped at 1.5 degrees per year and within a decade the amount of
greenhouse gases will return to safe level.

Which of the following statements would most strengthen the above conclusion?

A. Fussil fuels are not the only factor affecting global warming.
B. The amount of greenhouse gases is linearly proportional to the usage of fossil
fuels.
C. The high level of green house gases is the biggest threat to the environment and
air quality.
D. The capping of global warming at the said rate would be sufficient to bring the
amount of greenhouse gases to safe level.

60. Learning how to build a nest plays an important part in the breeding success of
birds. For example, Dr. Snow has recorded the success of a number of blackbirds in
several successive years. He finds that birds nesting for the first time are less
successful in breeding than are older birds, and also less successful than they
themselves are a year later. This cannot be a mere matter of size and strength, since
blackbirds, like the great majority of birds, are fully grown when they leave the nest.
It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that they benefit by their nesting experience.

Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument?

A. Blackbirds build better nests than other birds.

B. The capacity of blackbirds to lay viable eggs increases with each successive trial
during the first few years of reproduction.
C. The breeding success of birds nesting for the second time is greater than that of
birds nesting for the first time.
D. Smaller and weaker blackbirds breed just as successfully as bigger and stronger
blackbirds.
E. Up to 25 percent of all birds are killed by predators before they start to nest.

61. Research has shown that students who study at night are more likely to grasp
difficult concepts associated with engineering than students who study during day. It
is therefore disappointing that the students that follow vedic lifestyle are at a
disadvantage when it comes to studying engineering.

Which of the following would strengthen the above argument?

A. Many of the students who were among the top students of their engineering
college study only during the day.
 B. Vedic lifestyle states, among other things that nights are meant only for sleeping
and eating.
C. Studying at night has been known to affect body adversely which can lead to
critical diseases.
D. It is possible to divide students in two distinct groups- those who study during
day and those who study during night.

62. A survey was recently conducted among ferry passengers on the North Sea. Among
the results was this: more of those who had taken anti-seasickness medication
before their trip reported symptoms of seasickness than those who had not taken
such medication. It is clear, then that despite claims by drug companies that clinical
tests show the contrary, people would be better off not taking anti-seasickness
medications.

Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken the conclusion above?

A. Given rough enough weather, most ferry passengers will have some symptoms of
seasickness.
B. The clinical tests reported by the drug companies were conducted by the drug
companies’ staffs.
C. People who do not take anti-seasickness medication are just as likely to respond
to a survey on seasickness as people who do.
D. The seasickness symptoms of the people who took anti-seasickness medication
would have been more severe had they not taken the medication.
E. People who have spent money on anti-seasickness medication are less likely to
admit symptoms of seasickness than those who have not.

63. A test-prep company, in order to increase its revenue, reduced its fee by 10% in the
month of December to attract students with its revised fee. The number of
enrolments for the month of December increased dramatically compared with those
for the previous month. The company plans to continue enrolling students at the
revised fee for the coming months as well.

Which of the following questions would be most critical in evaluating the company’s
plan?

A. Is the increase in the revenue because of the increase in the number of students
more than the loss caused by the reduction in course fee?
B. Will the quality of the students enrolling because of the reduced fee be as good
as that of earlier students?
C. Is the increase in the number of students because of the discounted fee?
D. Will reducing the fee in order to increase the number of students dent the brand
value of the company?

64. Court records from medieval France show that in the years 1300 to 1400 the number
of people arrested in the French realm for “violent interpersonal crimes” (not
committed in wars) increased by 30 percent over the number of people arrested for
such crimes in the years 1200 to 1300. If the increase was not the result of false
arrests, therefore, medieval France had a higher level of documented interpersonal
violence in the years 1300 to 1400 than in the years 1200 to 1300.

Which one of the following statements, if true, most seriously weakens the
argument?
 A. In the years 1300 to 1400 the French government’s category of violent crimes
included an increasing variety of interpersonal crimes that are actually
nonviolent.
B. Historical accounts by monastic chroniclers in the years 1300 to 1400 are filled
with descriptions of violent attacks committed by people living in the French
realm.
C. The number of individual agreements between two people in which they swore
oaths not to attack each other increased substantially after 1300.
D. When English armies tried to conquer parts of France in the mid- to late 1300s,
violence in the northern province of Normandy and the southwestern province of
Gascony increased.
E. The population of medical France increased substantially during the first five
decades of the 1300s, until the deadly bubonic plague decimated the population
of France after 1348.

65. The latest statistics released by the Department of Training and Personnel (DoPT)
has made the Indian states of Bhuttar Pradesh and Chihar proud. The statistics
reveal that the highest number of successful candidates in all major entrance exams
conducted by DoPT have been from these two states in the last 5 years.

Which of the following would best undermine the above argument?

A. The number of candidates from Bhuttar Pradesh and Chihar for each of these
exams was disproportionately more than the number of respective selections.
B. Do PT is the only agency that conducts all coveted entrance exams, including the
most prestigious UPSC entrance exam, in the country.
C. The literacy rate in each of these two states is equal to the national average.
D. All of the successful candidates from Bhuttar Pradesh and Chihar belong to either
Madav community or Janghi community.

66. Recently, highly skilled workers in Eastern Europe have left jobs in record numbers
to emigrate to the West. It is therefore likely that skilled workers who remain in
Eastern Europe are in high demand in their home countries.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. Eastern European factories prefer to hire workers from their home countries
rather than to import workers from abroad.
B. Major changes in Eastern European economic structures have led to the
elimination of many positions previously held by the highly skilled emigrants.
C. Many Eastern European emigrants need to acquire new skills after finding work in
the West.
D. Eastern European countries plan to train many new workers to replace the highly
skilled workers who have emigrated.
E. Because of the departure of skilled workers from Eastern European countries,
many positions are now unfilled.

67. In the recent season of Geet Gaata Chal, a voting based music reality show, it was
singer Premanad who got the highest number of smses (about 1 million) which led to
his winning the show. One can therefore surmise that he was the most popular of all
the singers who participated in the show.
 Which of the following would most weaken the conclusion drawn in the above
argument?

A. Most of the people who send smses simply choose the person who represents
their home state.
B. Most of the smses in favour of the winner were sent by the relatives of the
winner.
C. Many of the singers who get to participate in this show bribe their way in.
D. Majority of the smses that the winner got were from the audience who supported
the winner.

68. Older United States automobiles have been identified as contributing

disproportionately to global air pollution. The requirement in many jurisdictions that
automobiles pass emission-control inspections has had the effect of taking many
such automobiles out of service in the United States, as they fail inspection and their
owners opt to buy newer automobiles. Thus the burden of pollution such older United
States automobiles contribute to the global atmosphere will be gradually reduced
over the next decade.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

A. It is impossible to separate the air of one country or jurisdiction from that of

others.
B. When automobiles that are now new become older, they will, because of a design
change, cause less air pollution than older automobiles do now.
C. There is a thriving market for used older Untied States automobiles that are
exported to regions that have no emission-control regulations.
D. The number of jurisdictions in the United States requiring automobiles to pass
emission-control inspections is no longer increasing.
E. Even if all the older automobiles in the United States were retired from service,
air pollution from United States automobiles could still increase if the total
number of automobiles in use should increase significantly.

69. During a recent analysis of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting

Countries) it was found that the average of the per unit price of oil being sold by the
member countries of the group has fallen down tremendously since the last decade.
It therefore follows that Iraq should double its selling price of oil in order to restore
the earlier average.

Which of the following statements would strengthen the above conclusion?

A. Of all the countries that have decreased the selling price of oil, Iraq has cut its oil
price the most.
B. Iraq presentLY sells the oil at the cheapest rate among all other member
countries of OPEC.
C. Doubling of selling price of oil by Iraq would bring the average of oil price sold by
OPEC countries back to the target level.
D. All other OPEC countries are selling oil at market rate and only Iraq has been
selling its oil below market rate.

70. The journalistic practice of fabricating remarks after an interview and printing them
within quotation marks, as if they were the interviewee’s own words, has been
decried as a form of unfair misrepresentation. However, people’s actual spoken
 remarks rarely convey their ideas as clearly as does a distillation of those ideas
crafted, after an interview, by a skilled writer. Therefore, since this practice avoids
the more serious misrepresentation that would occur if people’s exact words were
quoted but their ideas only partially expressed, it is entirely defensible.

Which one of the following is a questionable technique used in the argument?

A. answering an exaggerated charge by undermining the personal authority of those

who made that charge
B. claiming that the prestige of a profession provides ample grounds for dismissing
criticisms of that profession
C. offering as an adequate defense of a practice an observation that discredits only
one of several possible alternatives to that practice
D. concluding that a practice is right on the grounds that it is necessary
E. using the opponent’s admission that a practice is sometimes appropriate as
conclusive proof that that practice is never inappropriate

71. In Brazil, side-by-side comparisons of Africanized honeybees and the native

honeybees have shown that the Africanized bees are far superior honey producers.
Therefore, there is no reason to fear that domestic commercial honey production will
decline in the United States if local honeybees are displaced by Africanized
honeybees.

Each of the following, if true, would weaken the argument EXCEPT:

A. The honeybees native to Brazil are not of the same variety as those most
frequently used in the commercial beekeeping industry in the United States.
B. Commercial honey production is far more complicated and expensive with
Africanized honeybees than it is with the more docile honeybees common in the
United States.
C. If Africanized honeybees replace local honeybees, certain types of ornamental
trees will be less effectively pollinated.
D. In the United States a significant proportion of the commercial honey supply
comes from hobby beekeepers, many of whom are likely to abandon beekeeping
with the influx of Africanized bees.
E. The area of Brazil where the comparative study was done is far better suited to
the foraging habits of the Africanized honeybees than are most areas of the
United States.

72. The high cost of productions is severely limiting which operas are available to the
public. These costs necessitate reliance on large corporate sponsors, who in return
demand that only the most famous operas be produced. Determining which operas
will be produced should rest only with ticket purchasers at the box office, not with
large corporate sponsors. If we reduce production budgets so that operas can be
supported exclusively by box-office receipts and donations from individuals, then the
public will be able to see less famous operas.

Which one of the following, if true, would weaken the argument?

A. A few ticket purchasers go to the opera for the sake of going to the opera, not to
see specific operatic productions.
B. The reduction of opera production budgets would not reduce the desire of large
corporate sponsors to support operas.
 C. Without the support of large corporate sponsors, opera companies could not
afford to produce any but the most famous of operas.
D. Large corporate sponsors will stop supporting opera productions if they are
denied control over which operas will be produced.
E. The combination of individual donations and box-office receipts cannot match the
amounts of money obtained through sponsorship by large corporations.

73. Valitania’s long-standing practice of paying high salaries to its elected politicians has
had a disastrous effect on the level of integrity among politicians in that country.
This is because the prospect of earning a high salary is always attractive to anyone
whose primary aim in life is to make money, so that inevitably the wrong people
must have been attracted into Valitanian politics: people who are more interested in
making money than in serving the needs of the nation

Which one of the following, if true, world weaken the argument?

A. Many Valitanian candidates for elected office spend some of their own money to
finance their campaigns.
B. Most Valitanian elective offices have four-year terms.
C. No more people compete for elected office when officeholders are paid well than
when they are paid poorly.
D. Only politicians who rely on their offices for income tend to support policies that
advance their own selfish interests.
E. Most of those who are currently Valitanian politicians could have obtained better-
paid work outside politics.

74. A study was designed to establish what effect, if any, the long-term operation of
offshore oil rigs had on animal life on the bottom of the sea. The study compared the
sea-bottom communities near rigs with those located in control sites a couple of
miles from any rig and found no significant differences. The researchers concluded
that oil rigs had no adverse effect on sea-bottom animals.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the researcher’
conclusion?

A. Commercially important fish depend on sea-bottom animals for much of their

food, so a drop in catches of these fish would be evidence of damage to sea-
bottom communities.
B. The discharge of oil from offshore oil rigs typically occurs at the surface of the
water, and currents often carry the oil considerable distances before it settles on
the ocean floor.
C. Contamination of the ocean floor from sewage and industrial effluent does not
result in the destruction of all sea-bottom animals but instead reduces species
diversity as well as density of animal life.
D. Only part of any oil discharged into the ocean reaches the ocean floor: some oil
evaporates, and some remains in the water as suspended drops.
E. Where the ocean floor consists of soft sediment, contaminating oil persists much
longer than where the ocean floor is rocky.

75. In a study of the effect of radiation from nuclear weapons plants on people living in
areas near them, researchers compared death rates in the areas near the plants with
death rates in areas that had no such plants. Finding no difference in these rates, the
researchers concluded that radiation from the nuclear weapons plants poses no
health hazards to people living near them.

Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the researchers’
argument?

A. Nuclear power plants were not included in the study.

B. The areas studied had similar death rates before and after the nuclear weapons
plants were built.
C. Exposure to nuclear radiation can cause many serious diseases that do not
necessarily result in death.
D. Only a small number of areas have nuclear weapons plants.
E. The researchers did not study the possible health hazards of radiation on people
who were employed at the nuclear weapons plants if those employees did not live
in the study areas.