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GRE verbal reasoning practice question


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Hi, guys. can someone help me answer this question from the new GRE book. (page 102) according to the book the answer is a), but i don't understand why.

 

a ten-year comparison between the united states and the soviet union in terms of crop yields per acre revealed that when only planted acreage is compared, soviet yields were equal to 68 percent of united states yields. when total agricultural acreage (planted acreage plus fallow acreage) is compared, however, soviet yield was 114 percent of united states yield.

 

form the information above, which of the following can be most reliably inferred about united states and soviet agriculture during the ten-year period?

 

a) a higher percentage of total agricutural acreage was fallow in the united states than in the soviet union.

 

b) the united states had more fallow acreage than planted acreage.

 

c) fewer total acres of available agricultural land were fallow in the soviet union than in the united states.

 

d) the soviet union had more planted acreage than fallow acreage.

 

e)the soviet union produced a greater volume of crops than the united states produced.

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Wait, this book wasn't made by ETS was it? Because I can't see them ever using such a confusing, number heavy passage in an RC passage.

 

Anyway, I think the answer is E. They had a higher crop yield over all, but a lower yield if fallow acreage is not included. From that, we can deduce that they had more (or at least higher yield in) fallow acreage than the US, which eliminates all choices but E, although the wording is poorly written and repetitive (all the choices are very similar)... so I'm not entirely sure. Do you have the OA?

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actually this book is "the official guide to the GRE revised general test", and according to them the answer is a). but I do not understand why they get to that conclusion. that question is under the hard verbal reasoning questions.
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@ lastnightilie where did you try solving questions? I think it's about the same difficulty as the current one but what sucks is that you have to choose more than one right answer. And you won't be given credit if you missed an answer or got one wrong. The math will have more data interpretation (which I believe everybody hates) and less geometry (which I love).
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Well actually I am pretty good at data interpretation (just not standard deviation/normal distribution), but I hate geometry. But I heard the actual calculations will be more intensive because they're allowing calculators?

 

But the RCs I've seen for the current GRE, I find very easy. This question makes no sense at all, and the passage doesn't even make sense.

 

Also I decided if I do okay on this one I may as well not risk taking the new version. If I do very poorly it will only bring down my average. I can't see doing much better on the new one, when there is way less material to study from and everything.

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  • 2 months later...
Hi, guys. can someone help me answer this question from the new GRE book. (page 102) according to the book the answer is a), but i don't understand why.

 

a ten-year comparison between the united states and the soviet union in terms of crop yields per acre revealed that when only planted acreage is compared, soviet yields were equal to 68 percent of united states yields. when total agricultural acreage (planted acreage plus fallow acreage) is compared, however, soviet yield was 114 percent of united states yield.

 

form the information above, which of the following can be most reliably inferred about united states and soviet agriculture during the ten-year period?

 

a) a higher percentage of total agricutural acreage was fallow in the united states than in the soviet union.

 

b) the united states had more fallow acreage than planted acreage.

 

c) fewer total acres of available agricultural land were fallow in the soviet union than in the united states.

 

d) the soviet union had more planted acreage than fallow acreage.

 

e)the soviet union produced a greater volume of crops than the united states produced.

 

 

The passage is very confusing to me too. I simplified the passage like this.

 

When compared crop per planted acreage, SU is 68% of US. When compared crop (the same amount of crop) per total (plated + fallow) acreage, SU is 114% of US. Be careful, the passage did not compare the amount of crop or the acreage. It compared the percentage of "crop yields per acre". So, choice A does make sense.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Let's say the US has 100 jillion acres planted, yielding 100 bushels per acre; and the SU also has 100 jillion acres planted, yielding 68 bushels per acre. With me so far?Now, imagine the UNPLANTED (fallow) fields in the US are also 100 jillion acres. That makes the overall yield now 50 bushels per acre, right? If the SU has no fallow fields, their average yield is now greater than the US average yield. (Yes, I know the numbers I chose did not give the SU exactly 114%, but it doesn't really matter... We are only trying to figure out how the discrepancy can be explained.)A is the most reliable inference.E is a decoy; it may be factually true, but it doesn't logically follow from the info we are given.
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