amitsawhney

Can somebody pls help me on how to approach with these kinds of problems ? The overall rate of emphysema has declined 15 percent over the last 15 years in region A. During that period, the total cost of care for emphysema sufferers in region A, after accounting for inflation, declined by two percent per year until eight years ago, at which time it began increasing by approximately two percent per year. Now the total health care cost for treating emphysema is approximately equal to what it was 15 years ago. Which one of the following best resolves the apparent discrepancy between the incidence of emphysema in region A and the cost of caring for emphysema sufferers? (A) The overall cost of health care in region A has increased by seven percent in the last 15 years, after accounting for inflation. (B) Improvements in technology have significantly increased both the cost per patient and the success rate of emphysema care in the past 15 years. © About seven years ago, the widespread switch to health maintenance organizations halted overall increases in health care costs in region A after accounting for inflation. (D) The money made available for research into the causes and cures emphysema had been declining for many years until approximately eight years ago, since which time it has shown a modest increase. (E) Beginning about nine years ago, the most expensive-to-treat advanced cases of emphysema have been decreasing in region A at a rate of about five percent per year.

OAs 1. © 2. (A) 3. (B) 4. (E) I could get the first three correct but i was not able to get the last one. I also thought "lightening director" would be the correct answer but then i went ahead with "actors" because of the words "self" and "Individuation" Here is the explanation they are giving. 1. Choice © Choice © is the only choice that’s not too broad and not too narrow—it’s just right. "Outlining" fits the author’s method to a T, and while you may have expected the word "archetype" to show up in the right answer to a Global question here, "a concept introduced by Jung" amounts to the same thing. The passage is clearly concerned with archetypes above all else, and this concept was "defined" and "developed" by Jung, so © has it all together despite its general nature. (A) and (D): Faulty Use Of Detail/Distortion. These are both too narrow, attempting to blow up info from single paragraphs into the author’s primary purpose. (A) relates to only part of paragraph 2, while (D) targets an archetype discussed in paragraph 3. (B): Outside The Scope. This one is too broad, speaking of dreams in general. This passage is built entirely around a specific type of dream image, the archetype. (E): Extreme; can be cut on the basis of its first word alone. "Refuting" is not the author’s modus operandi here. The author mentions right off the bat something that dream analysts believe, but doesn’t go on to say that they’re wrong; he merely goes on to describe a more specific type of dream. 2. Choice (A) The final sentence is the focus of this Logic question, and we’re told there that the self archetype usually doesn’t appear until mid-life, after individuation. The sentence structure strongly suggests a link between individuation and mid-life—namely, that individuation occurs normally during mid-life or later. Implicit, therefore, in this reasoning is that individuation (the process of "becoming a whole, differentiated individual") normally doesn’t occur earlier, such as during the teenage years. (A) contains a belief implicit in the author’s discussion of the self. (B): Distortion. The self archetype can’t appear until individuation has occurred, but nothing says that the self must appear in every individual. If the self archetype inevitably appeared in everyone’s dreams at some point, then (B) would necessarily be true. But as far as we know, it’s possible that there are those who don’t experience this archetype and never become wholly differentiated. ©: Distortion. First of all, we don’t know the relative number of people who individuate—those that do, complete the process in mid-life. That doesn’t guarantee that "many" actually do individuate. The other problem lies in the time frame: We don’t know when the typical person who has successfully individuated began the process, only when most finish it. (D): Extreme. Just because individuation is discussed in relation to the self archetype and not the others doesn’t mean that the others aren’t influenced by individuation. Maybe they are, and the author simply didn’t mention it. (E): Au Contraire. "...the self archetype normally does not appear in dreams until mid-life...." Contrary to what choice (E) says, the final sentence makes it clear that the self is generally tied to a particular stage of life. 3. Choice (B) (B) is the statement best supported by the passage, and is the one that would most likely meet with the author’s approval. This inference can be derived from paragraph 3’s discussion of anima / animus: This archetype, according to the author, is underdeveloped because cultural stereotypes stand in the way of individuals crossing gender barriers. In making this statement, the author must believe that societal values can influence the degree to which an archetype is expressed. (A): Outside The Scope/Distortion. The author never takes up the issue of Jung’s influence, nor is it ever stated or implied that Jung presented only four examples in his work. This passage happens to deal with the four "key" archetypes Jung identified, but surely he may have identified others (and common sense would suggest that he probably did). ©: Outside The Scope. The "vividness" of dreams is never discussed. The author describes how each archetype influences personality development in a specific way. Nowhere is it suggested how the sheer number of archetypes that appear might influence the nature of one’s dreams. (D): Au Contraire. The beginning of paragraph 1 strongly implies that while not all dreams contain archetypes, all dreams contain meaning for the dreamer since every component has "significance." (E): Extreme. The author certainly believes that archetypes are one type of element passed down throughout humanity, but where’s the evidence to say that our author thinks this is "the most important" thing passed down from one generation to the next? This amounts to an unsupported exaggeration. 4. Choice (E) The phrase "...a function most similar..." gives away the type here: we’re presented with an Application question to round out this passage set. Our task is to match up the function of a specific element of a "traditional" theater production to that of the self archetype. The self archetype is discussed in the last paragraph, and the clues in the stem, the words "personality" and "function," help us narrow our search even further, right down to the relevant sentence: "It (the self archetype) functions as an organizing principle that structures the personality." Only one thing among the choices functions as a play’s "organizing principle": the script, correct choice (E). (A): The stage is where the action takes place; it can’t be considered an "organizing principle." The script determines what that action is, including how, for example, the stage is used. (B): The actors are ordered around by the script; they, like the stage, are what the "organizing principle" organizes. (They do, however, relate rather well to one particular word in paragraph 3: "ego.") ©: The audience is the passive element in the theater equation (well, except for those avant garde interactive theater pieces that force the audience to participate, but that’s hardly "traditional"). Its behavior during a standard play is a far cry from the integrating function of the self archetype. (D): No matter how integral lights may be to a theater piece, it would be extremely hard to argue for them as the organizing principle, the thing that structures the entire event. That’s what we’re looking for, and the script comes closest to this.

Pls help me with this RC application Q. Passage Dream analysts believe that every component in a dream has some significance to the person dreaming. However, some dream images, known as "archetypes," are considered to have more universal significance. The concept of archetypes was developed by psychiatrist Carl G. Jung, who defined archetypes as "primordial images" stored within the collective unconscious of humanity and passed down from generation to generation. Jung defined four key archetypes, all of which were posited to affect the development of human personality. The first of these archetypes is the "persona," identified as the public mask or façade that a person takes on in presenting him- or herself to the world. Through the persona, an individual is able to live in a way that meets society’s expectations of him or her. In addition, individuals may have more than one persona, sometimes developing collections of masks to meet the requirements of social situations. A second type of archetype identified by Jung is the "shadow" archetype, which connotes an image of the individual’s "shadow self" or dark side. It represents the unacceptable behaviors and desires that well-socialized individuals repress in order to conform to societal expectations. The third form of archetype is known as the "anima/animus," or the female and male sides of a person’s psyche. As humans, each of us is capable of experiencing the full range of our emotions because we possess both masculine and feminine attributes. Our connection to the "anima/animus" is often underdeveloped, however, because our culture discourages individuals from displaying behaviors or mannerisms typically expected of the other gender. The fourth central Jungian archetype is known as "the self," which serves the role of uniting the conscious and unconscious aspects of our being. It functions as an organizing principle that structures the personality. Because it is connected partially from within the unconscious, it is seen as distinct from the ego, which is considered to be the center of the conscious mind. Before the self archetype can develop, an individual must go through the process of "individuation," or becoming a whole, differentiated individual. Thus the self archetype normally does not appear in dreams until mid-life, after a person has successfully individuated. 1. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with: (A) detailing the development of persona (B) discussing the significance of dreams © outlining a concept introduced by Jung (D) contrasting the male and female sides of the psyche (E) refuting a commonly held belief about the nature of dreams 2. Implicit in the argument put forth in the last sentence of the passage is the belief that: (A) most people do not become wholly differentiated during their teenage years (B) every person becomes a wholly differentiated individual at some point in their lives © many people begin the process of individuation during mid-life (D) the self is the only Jungian archetype influenced by the process of individuation (E) the appearance of the self archetype is not typically tied in with the life stages of an individual 3. The passage suggests that its author would agree with which of the following statements? (A) Jung’s influence in the field of psychiatry would have been far greater had he presented more than four examples of archetypes. (B) The degree to which a person experiences an archetype may be influenced by the values prevalent in that person’s society. © The vividness of a person’s dreams is dependent upon the number of archetypes that appear in those dreams. (D) Only those whose dreams include archetypes can find meaning in their dreams. (E) Archetypes are the most important element that humanity passes down from generation to generation. 4. Which of the following elements of a traditional theatrical production serves a function most similar to the function the self archetype serves in relation to personality? (A) the stage (B) the actors © the audience (D) the lighting director (E) the script I am having problem with the last Q. According to me, the ans shud be B. Wat do u guys say ?

I was just going thru the kaplan worskhop RC section. Found a word of advice which i found very useful. Posting it for all the ppl here. Two common difficult types of passages are science passages and abstract passages. Science passages often deal with mechanisms found in nature or technical descriptions of scientific processes, while abstract passages often come from the realm of philosophy, economics, or the social sciences. A Word of Advice: Don't try to read like an expert in the given field of a passage. Some test-takers think if a passage is about poetry, then they must read with all of the interest and vocabulary and background of a literary critic. If it's about geology, they think they must read like a geologist. But that's just not so! Literary critics, or geologists, or experts in any given field share language and background knowledge and interest that allow them to communicate with each other on levels of deep understanding. But someone who is not an expert in a given field can only be expected to pick up the bare bones of what is being communicated. The test-taker who can only be satisfied with 100% comprehension, who strains to "Get It All," will be in a terrible bind A few strategies to keep in mind when confronted with a beastly passage: In a very real sense, dense passages should be read in precisely the same way as standard passages: focus on topic, scope, purpose, main idea (if there is one), paragraph structure and Keywords. Note the location of details, but don't try to memorize them, and don't worry if not all of the details are immediately comprehensible. The broad outlines of the passage are important. You can always use the passage to look up abstract concepts, scientific details and technical terms if you need to do so for a particular question. In abstract and scientific passages, drawing a mental picture of the "action" in the passage will often make the text more comprehensible. Even though the prose and concepts expressed in abstract and science passages may seem difficult, you must keep to your gameplan: Roadmap the passage. Use Keywords to help you navigate through the text. Paraphrase difficult text. Anticipate where the author is likely to go. And above all, skim past those details! The danger of getting bogged down in a morass of information is even greater in difficult passages, so you really must be on your guard.

GmatCalif ...you rule man. :tup: Not even a single wrong.. For the rest of u...here are the ans with exp. 1. (Choice A) This is a conclusion question that asks you to identify the author's point. The author says that conventional intelligence tests classify people with Williams syndrome as retarded because they’re poor at math and can’t distinguish left from right. He calls this label "misleading," pointing out that people with Williams syndrome are often gifted in other areas, such as language and music, whereas Down’s syndrome sufferers have limited abilities in all areas. What is the point of all this? That conventional tests don’t do a good job of evaluating the people with Williams syndrome since they fail to identify the special abilities these people possess. Therefore Choice (A) is correct. Choice (B) is wrong because the author does not compare these groups’ mathematical and spatial abilities. The author seems to imply Choice ©, but this isn’t what he’s trying to prove. It’s merely a piece of his argument. It’s something he implies in making his point about the shortcomings of intelligence tests in regards to Williams syndrome. Choice (D) discusses what might happen when people with Williams syndrome are diagnosed as mentally retarded, but the author’s focus is on the mislabeling itself, not on its possible results. Choice (E) is wrong because the author never suggests that the mathematical and spatial skills of people with Williams syndrome either can or should be developed. 2. (Choice E) The author concludes that it would be a disaster to let students design their own curricula. The evidence is they don’t have the maturity or the experience to do so. The assumption here is that it takes maturity and experience to design good curricula, which links the evidence and conclusion. Choice (E) provides this link by saying that to design good curricula you need years of familiarity with educational life—in other words, experience . Choices (A) and © are incorrect because the author’s evidence deals with maturity and experience, not "formal education" or "intelligence". Choice (B) doesn’t strengthen the author’s conclusion; it just adds detail to the analogy that he uses. Choice (D) is incorrect since comparing different types of curricula is not relevant to this argument. Even if it were relevant, saying that individualized curricula are more beneficial to students would weaken, not strengthen, the author’s argument. 3. (Choice E) The conclusion here is that publishers want to increase circulation, not print the truth. The evidence for this is that more newspaper articles have been exposed as fabrications. This makes sense only if we assume Choice (E), that publishers decide what to print. If (E) weren’t true and decisions on what to print were made by someone other than publishers, the argument would fall apart. Since the argument claims only an increase in made-up articles exposed, it’s not necessarythat they be a recent phenomenon, so Choice (A) is not assumed. (B) goes too far – it’s not necessary that every article be factually verifiable in order for there to have been an increase in fabrications. Choice © maintains that major publications do a better job of fact checking, but a comparison between the two types of publications is not relevant to the argument. And Choice (D) brings up admission of guilt, which the author never mentions. 4. (Choice D) According to the passage, when foreign aid money is tied, nation A gives money to nation B with the understanding that B will use the money only to buy A’s products. That way, nation A makes most of its money back. The author says that European nations are phasing out this practice in order to avoid criticism that has been leveled at other donors, "notably Japan." The inference to be drawn here is that Japan has been criticized for tying its foreign aid, so Choice (D) is the inference we’re looking for. Choice (A) isn’t inferable because the passage discusses only one non-European nation, Japan, and its foreign aid policy. You can’t infer what "many non-European nations" are doing. Choice (E) does essentially the same thing. Again, one comment about Japan doesn’t allow you to make sweeping inferences about non-European nations. Choices (B) and © make statements of opinion – Choice (B) about the role of ethical considerations and Choice © about how to help underdeveloped countries. The author doesn’t make any policy recommendations so Choices (B) and © are wrong. 5. (Choice C) This is a weaken question. The author’s conclusion is that the phony solicitation industry will likely "dwindle significantly" in the years to come. To support this opinion, the author explains that politicians are using phony solicitors less often because they now use polling to determine voter attitudes. In order for the loss of some politicians’ business to so dramatically affect the phony solicitation industry, the author must be assuming that politicians represent a significant portion of the industry’s clientele. To weaken the argument, you would want to attack this assumption. Choice © fits the bill – it tells us that politicians are not the industry’s major clients, and that large retailers are. And since retailers can’t benefit from information collected from polling, they would still need to use the services of the phony solicitors. Choice (A) is wrong because anything that further suggests the effectiveness of opinion polling would strengthen the argument by suggesting that other clients may take advantage of polling to the detriment of phony solicitation. Choice (B) has no effect on this argument. The stimulus tells us that some people do share such information; whether or not most people share personal information isn’t important in terms of this argument. Choice (E) deals with the solicitors’ techniques, when all we really care about in terms of the argument is whether the solicitors are going to go out of business due to the withdrawal of some politicians’ business. Remember, the right answer on a weaken question will almost always impact the author’s assumption. Choice (D) does not address the possibility of other clients for the solicitation industry, but instead introduces relevant information about prosecution. 6. (Choice A) The author concludes that increased religiosity has reduced cheating at the school. She bases this on a survey showing increased attendance at religious services. So two assumptions hold this argument together. The author must be assuming that the survey means that the student body has become more religious and that nothing else could account for the cheating. So we’ll look for a choice that suggests that either increased attendance at religious services or reduced cheating could be attributed to other causes. Choice (A) is correct. If most students attend services for social reasons, and not religious reasons, that would seriously weaken (although not disprove) the author’s argument that increased religiosity reduced cheating by weakening the first assumption. Choice (B) would strengthen the author’s argument since it provides a direct connection between church attendance and cheating. Choice © cites a change in exam procedures made 15 years ago. But since the increased incidence of cheating has occurred over the past 10 years it could not have been due to the change in test procedures. Choice (D) tries to attack the author’s evidence, positing that not all students responded to the survey. But a survey just needs a sufficiently representative sample. Choice (E) is wrong because it’s irrelevant whether cheating is a major problem. We’re only concerned with why it has increased. 7. (Choice A) The author begins by concluding that cross-training is more beneficial than single sport training for those who wish to improve their overall fitness. The author presents two pieces of evidence to support this opinion: First, cross training develops a wider range of muscle groups. Second, cross-training increases phasic muscle fibers that burn more calories. Can you see any gaps between the conclusion and the evidence? The author assumes a link between developing a wide range of muscles/burning calories and overall fitness, so we can check to see if any answer choice strengthens the argument by shoring up that assumption. Choice (A) presents us with evidence of a direct connection between burning calories and overall fitness, so it is correct. Choice (B) is incorrect. The fact that athletic training in general is the best way to improve overall fitness doesn’t strengthen an argument that one kind of athletic training (cross) is better for fitness than another (single-sport). Choice © is an opposite answer – it would actually weaken the argument. Tonic muscle fibers are exercised by single sport training, so increasing their value would weaken the author’s argument in support of cross-training. Choice (D) is outside the scope. The author is discussing the merits of single sport vs. cross-training in improving overall fitness, so the issue of what is safe for those recovering from illness is irrelevant. Choice (E) has no effect. The fact that some slow-twitch muscles contain phasic muscle fibers is of no relevance in comparing the two types of training if we’re not told which type of training targets these particular muscle fibers. 8. (Choice C) The author’s claim that the editorial’s argument is no good because it’s poorly written depends on the assumption that an argument’s validity is related to its use of language. After all, if an argument’s language didn’t indicate its validity, the author’s argument wouldn’t make any sense at all. Choice (A) is not assumed because the argument doesn’t concern who is to blame for the bad editorial. Choices (B) and (D) fail because the argument addresses this editorial only, so there’s nothing assumed about what happens generally. And Choice (E) goes too far: The argument isn’t making a conclusion about the author’s motivation for writing a bad argument. 9. (Choice A) This question asks us to infer a conclusion from the stimulus. We know the author believes that the combination of the cases will harm the defendants. We also know that the defense has argued against the combination because of supposed differences in the cases, and that the judge has rejected that argument. So it’s not too great a step to Choice (A) which concludes that the judge’s decision implies some similarity among the cases, and that this decision will strengthen the plaintiffs’ case. The important thing in handling inference questions is not to read anything into the passage, but rather to stick with ideas actually stated. Choice (B) introduces a wholly new idea – that manufacturers are often able to escape individual suits on technicalities. There is nothing in the passage to support such a statement. As for Choice ©, we have no evidence that the hundreds of plaintiffs involved have similar work histories or use similar equipment. While they all seem to have worked on computers and developed repetitive stress injuries, the similarities might well end there. Though we’ve been told that the defendants in this case aren’t likely to do well if the suits are consolidated, we have no reason to conclude, as Choice (D) does, that defendants in general are more likely to settle if workplace injury suits are consolidated. Choice (E) says that publicity will prompt more suits: based on the passage we can conclude neither that consolidated cases get more publicity, nor that publicity results in further lawsuits. There is simply nothing in the passage to support such a conclusion. 10. (Choice B) The author’s conclusion comes toward the end, when she says that the plant should be built inside the city limits. Despite her acknowledgment that a plant built inside the city limits will disrupt more lives, she advocates this option because it will create jobs for the city residents and offer economic benefits to the city. She’s therefore deciding between two options. She concludes that one option is better than the other because it promises a certain benefit to the inhabitants of the city. In order for that conclusion to be valid, she must assume that the other option does not promise such a benefit. Choice (B) weakens the argument by denying this assumption, stating that either alternative will create jobs for the residents of the city. Choice (A) doesn’t do a whole lot unless you assume more than the answer choice tells you. Perhaps private-owned land is more expensive, in which case this choice would strengthen the argument, or perhaps it isn’t. As it stands, there’s no clear link between Choice (A) and the central issues of the argument. Choice © says that the location of the plant doesn’t matter in terms of taxation. It’s wrong because taxation isn’t one of the criteria determining which option the author prefers. Choice (B) also noted a similarity between the options, but it was the correct answer because the similarity there pertains to job creation, which is central to the argument. Choice (D) would, if anything, strengthen the argument by suggesting that the possible drawback of building inside the city, disruption, isn’t so bad. Choice (E) brings up taxes again, though this time the choice is about the workers’ taxes and not the plant’s. Still, the issue of taxation isn’t even mentioned by the stimulus, so it’s not relevant to the argument. 11. (Choice D) The author presents one piece of evidence to support the assertion that suicides are increasing in Travonia: Deaths resulting from sleeping pill overdoses have almost doubled since new non-prescription sleeping pills have been released. In order to use these overdoses to support the assertion that suicides have increased dramatically, the author must assume that the overdoses were indeed deliberate and hence qualify as suicides. Choice (D) is therefore correct. It bridges the gap between the primary evidence and the author’s assertion. In Choice (A) the author makes no links between the people overdosing on the sleeping pills and the teens and elderly folk discussed later in the stimulus. The author needn’t assume such a connection in order to assert that suicides have increased dramatically. Choice (B) is wrong because knowing what was the most pervasive suicide methodten years ago doesn’t have any real bearing on the claim in the first sentence of the passage, which says only that suicide rates in general have increased. Choice © is far outside the scope. Deaths from natural causes aren’t a factor in assessing an increase or decrease in the suicide rate. Choice (E)’s relative comparison of Travonia’s suicide rate to the world’s is not relevant. The author only asserts that suicides in Travonia have increased; there is no mention of their relative increase or of the suicide rate in other countries.

Thanx soz, can u tell me where can i find the hardest Qs ?

Had this misunderstanding that my reasoning is brilliant.Scored more than 95% in all the kaplan and princeton reasoning tests. But going thru these kaplan workshop reasoning basic quiz,i cud only get 2 outta 11 correct. They hv really shaken my confidence.Wondering how difficult wud the challenge quiz be ? Here are the Qs. Can somebody pls tell me how ez or difficult they r compared to actual GMAT Qs ? 1. People with Williams syndrome, a rare mental disorder, are often highly articulate and sensitive. Not uncommonly, they are gifted in music and possess rich vocabularies. Yet these same people, because of their lack of ability in basic arithmetic and difficulty in distinguishing left from right, are misleadingly labeled mentally retarded. As evaluated by conventional means such as IQ tests, their intelligence is no higher than that of people with Down’s syndrome, despite the fact that people with Down’s syndrome, like most retarded people, have uniformly limited cognitive abilities and show no specialized aptitudes. The author is arguing that conventional methods of measuring intelligence, such as IQ tests, are inadequate for evaluating people with certain mental disorders such as Williams syndrome people with Down’s syndrome usually have less verbal and musical ability but more mathematical and spatial ability than do people with Williams syndrome conventional methods of measuring intelligence tend to consider basic mathematical and spatial ability to be more important than verbal and musical skills people with Williams syndrome are only rarely given the opportunity to develop their unique musical and verbal abilities people with Williams syndrome need greater encouragement if they are to develop their mathematical and spatial skills. 2. The local high school students have been clamoring for the freedom to design their own curricula. Allowing this would be as disastrous as allowing three-year-olds to choose their own diets. These students have neither the maturity nor the experience to equal that of the professional educators now doing the job. Which of the following statements, if true, would most strengthen the above argument? High school students have less formal education than those who currently design the curricula. Three-year-olds do not, if left to their own devices, choose healthful diets. The local high school students are less intelligent than the average teenager. Individualized curricula are more beneficial to high school students than are the standard curricula, which are rigid and unresponsive to their particular strengths and weaknesses. The ability to design good curricula develops only after years of familiarity with educational life. 3. The increase in the number of newspaper articles exposed as fabrications serves to bolster the contention that publishers are more interested in boosting circulation than in printing the truth. Even minor publications have staffs to check such obvious fraud. The argument above assumes that newspaper stories exposed as fabrications are a recent phenomena everything a newspaper prints must be factually verifiable fact checking is more comprehensive for minor publications than for major ones only recently have newspapers admitted to publishing intentionally fraudulent stories the publishers of newspapers are the people who decide what to print in their newspapers 4. European nations are starting to decrease the percentage of their foreign aid that is "tied" – that is, given only on the condition that it be spent to obtain goods and materials produced by the country from which the aid originates. By doing so, European nations hope to avoid the ethical criticism that has been recently leveled at some foreign aid donors, notably Japan. Which of the following can most reasonably be inferred from the passage? Many non-European nations give foreign aid solely for the purpose of benefiting their domestic economies. Only ethical considerations, and not those of self-interest, should be considered when foreign aid decisions are made. Many of the problems faced by underdeveloped countries could be eliminated if a smaller percentage of the foreign aid they obtain were "tied" to specific purchases and uses. Much of Japan’s foreign aid returns to Japan in the form of purchase orders for Japanese products and equipment. Non-European nations are unwilling to offer foreign aid that is not "tied" to the purchase of their own manufactures. 5. Despite the threat of legal prosecution, many agencies gather personal data from phony telephone solicitations, often luring details from the respondent through the promise of non-existent prizes. Such solicitors sell this data to individuals and agencies that are willing to pay for information on people’s personal lives, buying habits, and political views. Politicians, however, have relied less on phony solicitors thanks to recent advances in public opinion polling, which generally supplies them with reliable information regarding voter attitudes on major issues. It is therefore likely that the phony solicitation industry will dwindle significantly in the years to come. Which one of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the conclusion above? Public opinion polling is not only effective at discerning the political attitudes of individuals, but also at revealing their buying habits and details of their personal lives. Most people are unwilling to share personal information on their preferences and attitudes with strangers over the telephone. Large retailers are by far the largest consumers of pirated personal information, and do not benefit from the information gathered in public opinion polls. Those politicians who rely on legal public opinion polls for information on voter attitudes are nonetheless hesitant to encourage the prosecution of the illegal data-gathering agencies. Due to the recent success of public opinion polling, the phony solicitors have begun to co-opt the public opinion agencies’ techniques for getting people to disclose information on their personal lives. 6. According to a recent school survey, the number of students who regularly attend religious services on campus has increased 50 percent from the figure 10 years ago. It must be an increased religiosity at our college that has massively reduced incidences of cheating on exams during this period. Which of the following, if true, most significantly weakens the inference above? Most of the students who now attend campus services do so only for social reasons. Campus chaplains have time and again spoken about the importance of academic honesty. Fifteen years ago, the college switched from an honor system to faculty-proctored exams. Not all students responded to the survey. Cheating was never a major problem at this school. 7. For healthy individuals who wish to improve their overall fitness, cross training in several sports is more beneficial than training in a single activity. Cross training develops a wide range of muscle groups, while single sport training tends to isolate a select few muscles. Single sport activities, especially those that target slow-twitch muscles, tend to increase the tonic muscle fibers in the body. Cross training works instead to increase the body’s phasic muscle fibers, which burn more calories than tonic muscle fibers. Which one of the following, if true, best supports the argument above? In healthy persons, overall fitness increases in proportion to the number of calories burned by the body. Overall fitness is most effectively improved through athletic training. Tonic muscle fibers are of greater value to overall fitness than are phasic muscle fibers. Strenuous physical exertion on a single sport is not recommended for those recovering from a serious illness. Some slow-twitch muscles contain many phasic muscle fibers. 8. This editorial cannot be a good argument because it is barely literate. Run-on sentences, slang, and perfectly dreadful grammar appear regularly throughout. Anything that poorly written cannot be making very much sense. Which of the following identifies an assumption in the argument above? This editorial was written by someone other than the usual editor. Generally speaking, very few editorials are poor in style or grammar. The language of an argument is indicative of its validity. Generally speaking, the majority of editorials are poor in style and grammar. The author of the editorial purposely uses poor grammar to disguise what he knows is a bad argument. 9. Citing the legal precedent set by asbestos exposure cases, a state judge agreed to combine a series of workplace disability cases involving repetitive stress injuries to the hands and wrists. The judge’s decision to consolidate hundreds of suits by data entry workers, word processors, newspaper employees, and other workers who use computers into one case is likely to prove detrimental for the computer manufacturing companies being sued, notwithstanding the defense’s argument that the cases should not be combined because of the different individuals and workplaces involved. The statements above best support which of the following conclusions? The judge’s decision to consolidate the suits implies a commonality among the situations, thereby strengthening the plaintiffs’ claim that the manufacturers are liable. Individual rulings in repetitive injury suits often enable manufacturers to escape liability on technical grounds. The plaintiffs bringing suit against the computer manufacturers have similar employment histories and used similar equipment at their jobs. The parties accused of liability in workplace injury cases are more likely to settle if the suits are consolidated into one case. Because consolidated cases tend to receive more publicity than individual rulings, they often result in further lawsuits against manufacturers. 10. The city is required by federal environmental regulations to build a new water treatment plant. If this plant is built inside the city limits it will disrupt the lives of many more citizens than if it is built on vacant land near the city. However, despite the availability of the vacant land, the plant should be built inside city limits because of the increased economic benefits its construction would provide to the city in the form of jobs. Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the argument above? The available land outside of the city is privately owned, whereas there is an adequate site within the city that is city-owned. Regardless of the site location, most of the jobs created by the plant’s construction will go to residents of the city. A municipal plant like the water treatment plant will pay no taxes to city government regardless of its location. Most citizens of the city will tolerate brief disruptions in their daily lives if such disruptions will secure better water quality in the future. The amount of taxes paid by workers depends both on where they work and where they live. 11. The incidence of suicide in the country of Travonia has increased dramatically in recent years, as evidenced by the fact that since the introduction of several non-prescription brands of sleeping pills, the number of deaths from overdoses alone has nearly doubled. However, certain types of suicides have not increased in number during this period. It is true that elderly suicides have seen a greater than 70 percent increase, but teen suicides now account for only 30 percent of all suicides in the country. This is a significant decrease over 1985, when teen cases represented 65 percent of all country-wide suicides. The assertion that suicides are increasing in Travonia is most justified if which one of the following is assumed? The elderly suffered the greatest number of overdoses from the non-prescription sleeping pills. Overdosing on sleeping pills was not the most pervasive method of suicide in Travonia ten years ago. The number of deaths from natural causes in Travonia has decreased in recent years. The majority of deaths resulting from overdosing on non-prescription sleeping pills were not accidental. Travonia’s suicide rate is higher than the worldwide average suicide rate.

Me too....I dont think 750 would make that big a difference.. Crossing 700 mark is gud enuf. Dont forget that you are in top 6%. All the best.

Hello Aline, Same is my problem. I hv got Kaplan GMAT 2003 CD n book frm a friend of mine. Would the contents of Kaplan GMAT 2005 CD/book be any different ? Anybody who has seen both of them..