What is the value of 3-(x + y) / 3-(x – y)?
(1)      x = 2
(2)      y = 3

A. Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient.
B. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.
C. BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
D. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
E. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.

If #X =3X for all odd numbers and #Y = Y/2 for all even numbers. What will be the value of #9*# 6

A) 81
B) 27
C) 64
D) 51
E) 279

What is the value of ?x + 7??
(1) ?x + 3?= 14
(2) (x + 2)^2 = 169

A. Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient.
B. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.
C. BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
D. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
E. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.

In the 1970′s there was an oversupply of college graduates. The oversupply caused the average annual income of college graduates to fall to a level only 18 percent greater than that of workers withonly high school diplomas. By the late 1980′s the average annual income of college graduates was 43 percent higher than that of workers with only high school diplomas, even though between the 1970′and the late 1980′s the supply of college graduates did not decrease.

Which of the following, if true in the late 1980′s,best reconciles the apparent discrepancy described above?

(A) The economy slowed, thus creating a decreased demand for college graduates.
(B) The quality of high school education improved.
(C) Compared to the 1970′s, a greater number ofhigh schools offered vocational guidance programs for their students.
(D) The proportion of the population with at least acollege-level education increased.
(E) There was for the first time in 20 years an over-supply of seekers with only high school diplomas.

If x and y are positive integers and x is a multiple of y, is y = 2?

(1) y ? 1
(2) x + 2 is a multiple of y.

A) Statement 1 alone is sufficient but statement 2 alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.

B) Statement 2 alone is sufficient but statement 1 alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.

C) Both statements 1 and 2 together are sufficient to answer the question but neither statement is sufficient alone.

D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question.

E) Statements 1 and 2 are not sufficient to answer the question asked and additional data is needed to answer the statements.

Company S produces two kinds of stereos: basic and deluxe. Of the stereos produced by Company S last month,2/3 were basic and the rest were deluxe. If it takes 7/5 as many hours to produce a deluxe stereo as it does to produce a basic stereo, then the number of hours it took to produce the deluxe stereos last month was what fraction of the total number of hours it took to produce all the stereos?

A) 7/17
B) 14/31
C) 7/15
D) 17/35
E) 1/2

If m is an integer, is m positive ?

(1) 5m-10>0
(2) (m^3)-m>0

A) Statement 1 alone is sufficient but statement 2 alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.

B) Statement 2 alone is sufficient but statement 1 alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.

C) Both statements 1 and 2 together are sufficient to answer the question but neither statement is sufficient alone.

D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question.

E) Statements 1 and 2 are not sufficient to answer the question asked and additional data is needed to answer the statements.

The average weekly wage nearly doubled in the l970′ s, rising from $ 114 to $ 220, yet the average worker ended the decade with a decrease in what their pay may buy.

(A)  with a decrease in what their pay may buy
(B)  with what was a decrease in what they were able to buy
(C)  having decreased that which they could buy
(D)  decreasing in purchasing power
(E)  with a decrease in purchasing power

A study of a city’s water-use patterns shows that for every 8x percent increase in the price of water, usage drops by x percent. If the price for water is currently $1.05 per 1,000 cubic feet, by how much should the price per 1,000 cubic feet be raised in order to obtain a reduction in usage of 2 percent?

(A) $0.042

(B) $0.105

(C) $0.168

(D) $0.199

(E) $0.225

The Avary Company hired a consulting firm to advise it on how to improve retention of new employees. Avary implemented several of the consulting firm’s recommendations, and, as a result, only 5 percent of newly hired clerical staff left within twelve months of hiring, but fully 10 percent of newly hired professional staff left during the same period. The result of the new policy is that Avary is now losing more professional employees than clerical employees.

The argument above can be criticized because it fails to consider the possibility that

(A) prior to adoption of the new policy more newly hired clericals left than newly hired professionals

(B) Avary Company is not sincere in its efforts to retain professional as well as clerical employees

(C) the consulting firm’s recommendations took into account the different needs of professionals and clericals

(D) the number of newly hired professionals is substantially less than the number of newly hired clericals

(E) a company may not be able to exercise meaningful control over the number of newly hired employees who leave

An efficiency expert studied an accounting firm to determine what factors are most important in determining employee productivity. Using criteria such as caseload and average dollar value per case, the expert determined that the most important determinant of productivity is physical surroundings. Those employees who ranked highest on the productivity criteria were also those employees with the largest offices with the most light.

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

(A) The more productive employees identified by the criteria used by the expert are likely to be more senior and allocated the more desirable office space.

(B) On the average, the more productive employees were found to spend just about the same amount of time per day in their workspace as less productive employees.

(C) Darker work spaces tend to depress employee energy levels, making it more difficult to concentrate on complex problem-solving tasks.

(D) A greater percentage of the less productive employees studied responded that they were “entirely satisfied” with their home lives than did more productive employees.

(E) The overall profitability of the firm was determined to depend upon the ratio of more productive workers to less productive workers.

If industrial pollution continues to deplete the ozone layer, the resulting increase in ultraviolet radiation will endanger human health, causing a rise in the incidence of skin cancer and eye disease, and perhaps even threatening global ecological systems.

(A)  and perhaps even threatening
(B)  and may even threaten
(C)  and even a possible threat to
(D)  as well as possibly threatening
(E)  as well as a possible threat to

The National Centers for Disease Control looked at death certificates from 1980 to 1992 and found a 58 percent increase in infectious disease deaths. Yet, the United States gets new drugs to market more slowly than any other major industrial nation. Total drug approval times have jumped from eight years in 1960 to more than 15 years today. If the United States seriously wants to reverse the rising trend of infectious disease deaths, it should reform the procedures used by the Food and Drug Administration to approve drugs.

The argument above assumes that

(A) there was not an overall increase in the number of non-infectious disease deaths from 1980 to 1992

(B) the cost of manufacturing drugs in the United States is the highest of any industrial nation

(C) some drugs awaiting approval by the Food and Drug Administration would prevent infectious disease deaths

(D) an eight year drug approval time by the Food and Drug Administration is optimal

(E) accelerating Food and Drug Administration approvals would not impair the agency’s effectiveness

A recent generation of historians of science, far from portraying accepted scientific views as objectively accurate reflections of a natural world, explain the acceptance of such views in terms of the ideological biases of certain influential scientists or the institutional and rhetorical power such scientists wield. As an example of ideological bias, it has been argued that Pasteur rejected the theory of spontaneous generation not because of experimental evidence but because he rejected the materialist ideology implicit in that doctrine. These historians seem to find allies in certain philosophers of science who argue that scientific views are not imposed by reality but are free inventions of creative minds, and that scientific claims are never more than brave conjectures, always subject to inevitable future falsification. While these philosophers of science themselves would not be likely to have much truck with the recent historians, it is an easy step from their views to the extremism of the historians.

While this rejection of the traditional belief that scientific views are objective reflections of the world may be fashionable, it is deeply implausible. We now know, for example, that water is made of hydrogen and oxygen and that parents each contribute one-half of their children’s complement of genes. I do not believe any serious-minded and informed person can claim that these statements are not factual descriptions of the world or that they will inevitably be falsified.

However, science’s accumulation of lasting truths about the world is not by any means a straightforward matter. We certainly need to get beyond the naive view that the truth will automatically reveal itself to any scientist who looks in the right direction; most often, in fact, a whole series of prior discoveries is needed to tease reality’s truths from experiment and observation. And the philosophers of science mentioned above are quite right to argue that new scientific ideas often correct old ones by indicating errors and imprecision (as, say, Newton’s ideas did to Kepler’s). Nor would I deny that there are interesting questions to be answered about the social processes in which scientific activity is embedded. The persuasive processes by which particular scientific groups establish their experimental results as authoritative are themselves social activities and can be rewardingly studied as such. Indeed, much of the new work in the history of science has been extremely revealing about the institutional interactions and rhetorical devices that help determine whose results achieve prominence.
But one can accept all this without accepting the thesis that natural reality never plays any part at all in determining what scientists believe. What the new historians ought to be showing us is how those doctrines that do in fact fit reality work their way through the complex social processes of scientific activity to eventually receive general scientific acceptance.

1) It can be inferred from the passage that the author would be most likely to agree with which one of the following characterizations of scientific truth?
(A) It is often implausible.
(B) It is subject to inevitable falsification.
(C) It is rarely obvious and transparent.
(D) It is rarely discovered by creative processes.
(E) It is less often established by experimentation than by the rhetorical power of scientists.

2) According to the passage, Kepler’s ideas provide an example of scientific ideas that were
(A) corrected by subsequent inquiries
(B) dependent on a series of prior observations
(C) originally thought to be imprecise and then later confirmed
(D) established primarily by the force of an individuals rhetorical power
(E) specifically taken up for the purpose of falsification by later scientists

3) In the third paragraph of the passage, the author is primarily concerned with
(A) presenting conflicting explanations for a phenomenon
(B) suggesting a field for possible future research
(C) qualifying a previously expressed point of view
(D) providing an answer to a theoretical question
(E) attacking the assumptions that underlie a set of beliefs

4) The use of the words “any serious-minded and informed person’ serves which one of the following functions in the context of the passage?
(A) to satirize chronologically earlier notions about the composition of water
(B) to reinforce a previously stated opinion about certain philosophers of science
(C) to suggest the author’s reservations about the “traditional belief”
(D) to anticipate objections from someone who would argue for an objectively accurate description of the world
(E) to discredit someone who would argue that certain scientific assertions do not factually describe reality

5) It can be inferred from the passage that the author would most likely agree with which one of the following statements about the relationship between the views of “certain philosophers of science” (lines l2-13) and those of the recent historians?
(A) These two views are difficult to differentiate.
(B) These two views share some similarities.
(C) The views of the philosophers ought to be seen as the source of the historians’ views.
(D) Both views emphasize the rhetorical power of scientists.
(E) The historians explicitly acknowledge that their views are indebted to those of the philosophers.

6) Which one of the following best characterizes the author’s assessment of the opinions of the new historians of science, as these opinions are presented in the passage?
(A) They lack any credibility.
(B) They themselves can be rewardingly studied as social phenomena.
(C) They are least convincing when they concern the actions of scientific groups.
(D) Although they are gross overstatements, they lead to some valuable insights.
(E) Although they are now popular, they are likely to be refused soon.

7) In concluding the passage, the author does which one of the following?
(A) offers a prescription
(B) presents a paradox
(C) makes a prediction
(D) concedes an argument
(E) anticipates objections

Quasars are so distant that their light has taken billions of years to reach the Earth; consequently, we see them as they were during the formation of the universe.

(A) we see them as they were during
(B) we see them as they had been during
(C) we see them as if during
(D) they appear to us as they did in
(E) they appear to us as though in

Until recently, it was thought that the Cherokee, a Native American tribe, were compelled to assimilate Euro-American culture during the 1820s. During that decade, it was supposed, White missionaries arrived and, together with their part-Cherokee intermediaries, imposed the benefits of “civilization” on Cherokee tribes while the United States government actively promoted acculturalization by encouraging the Cherokee to switch from hunting to settled agriculture. This view was based on the assumption that the end of a Native American group’s economic and political autonomy would automatically mean the end of its cultural autonomy as well.

William G. McLaughlin has recently argued that not only did Cherokee culture flourish during and after the 1820s, but the Cherokee themselves actively and continually reshaped their culture. Missionaries did have a decisive impact during these years, he argues, but that impact was far from what it was intended to be. The missionaries’ tendency to cater to the interests of an acculturating part-Cherokee elite (who comprised the bulk of their converts) at the expense of the more traditionalist full-Cherokee majority created great intratribal tensions. As the elite initiated reforms designed to legitimize their own and the Cherokee Nation’s place in the new republic of the United States, antimission Cherokee reacted by fostering revivals of traditional religious beliefs and practices. However, these revivals did not, according to McLaughlin, undermine the elitist reforms, but supplemented them with popular traditionalist counterparts.

Traditionalist Cherokee did not reject the elitist reforms outright, McLaughlin argues, simply because they recognized that there was more than one way to use the skills the missionaries could provide them. As he quotes one group as saying, “We want our children to learn English so that the White man cannot cheat us.” Many traditionalists Cherokee welcomed the missionaries for another reason: they perceived that it would be useful to have White allies. In the end, McLaughlin asserts, most members of the Cherokee council, including traditionalists, supported a move which preserved many of the reforms of the part-Cherokee elite but limited the activities and influence of the missionaries and other White settlers. According to McLaughlin, the identity and culture that resulted were distinctively Cherokee, yet reflected the larger political and social setting in which they flourished.

Because his work concentrates on the nineteenth century, McLaughlin unfortunately overlooks earlier sources of influence, such as eighteen-century White resident traders and neighbors, thus obscuring the relative impact of the missionaries of the 1820s in contributing to both acculturalization and resistance to it among the Cherokee. However, McLaughlin is undoubtedly correct in recognizing that culture is an ongoing process rather than a static entity, and he has made a significant contribution to our understanding of how Cherokee culture changed while retaining its essential identity after confronting the missionaries.

1) Which one of the following best states the main idea of the passage?
(A) McLaughlin’s studies of the impact of missionaries on Cherokee culture during the 1820s are fundamentally flawed, since McLaughlin ignores the greater impact of White resident traders in the eighteenth century.
(B) Though his work is limited in perspective, McLaughlin is substantially correct that changes in Cherokee culture in the 1820s were mediated by the Cherokee themselves rather than simply imposed by the missionaries.
(C) Although McLaughlin is correct in asserting that cultural changes among the Cherokee were autonomous and so not a result of the presence of missionaries, he overemphasizes the role of intertribal conflicts.
(D) McLaughlin has shown that Cherokee culture not only flourished during and after the 1820s, but that changes in Cherokee culture during this time developed naturally from elements already present in Cherokee culture.
(E) Although McLaughlin overlooks a number of relevant factors in Cherokee cultural change in the 1820s, he convincingly demonstrates that these changes were fostered primarily by missionaries.

2) Which one of the following statements regarding the Cherokee council in the 1820s can be inferred from the passage?
(A) Members of the Cherokee council were elected democratically by the entire Cherokee Nation.
(B) In order for a policy to come into effect for the Cherokee Nation, it had to have been approved by a unanimous vote of the Cherokee council.
(C) Despite the fact that the Cherokee were dominated politically and economically by the United States in the 1820s, the Cherokee council was able to override policies set by the United States government.
(D) Though it did not have complete autonomy in governing the Cherokee Nation, it was able to set some policies affecting the activities of White people living in tribal areas.
(E) The proportions of traditionalist and acculturating Cherokee in the Cherokee council were determined by the proportions of traditionalist and acculturating Cherokee in the Cherokee population.

3) Which one of the following statements regarding the attitudes of traditionalist Cherokee toward the reforms that were instituted in the 1820s can be inferred from the passage?
(A) They supported the reforms merely as a way of placating the increasingly vocal acculturating elite.
(B) They thought that the reforms would lead to the destruction of traditional Cherokee culture but felt powerless to stop the reforms.
(C) They supported the reforms only because they thought that they were inevitable and it was better that the reforms appear to have been initiated by the Cherokee themselves.
(D) They believed that the reforms were a natural extension of already existing Cherokee traditions.
(E) They viewed the reforms as a means of preserving the Cherokee Nation and protecting it against exploitation.

4) According to the passage, McLaughlin cites which one of the following as a contributing factor in the revival of traditional religious beliefs among the Cherokee in the 1820s?
(A) Missionaries were gaining converts at an increasing rate as the 1820s progressed.
(B) The traditionalist Cherokee majority thought that most of the reforms initiated by the missionaries’ converts would corrupt Cherokee culture.
(C) Missionaries unintentionally created conflict among the Cherokee by favoring the interests of the acculturating elite at the expense of the more traditionalist majority.
(D) Traditionalist Cherokee recognized that only some of the reforms instituted by a small Cherokee elite would be beneficial to all Cherokee.
(E) A small group of Cherokee converted by missionaries attempted to institute reforms designed to acquire political supremacy for themselves in the Cherokee council.

5) Which one of the following, if true, would most seriously undermine McLaughlin’s account of the course of reform among the Cherokee during the 1820s?
(A) Traditionalist Cherokee gained control over the majority of seats on the Cherokee council during the 1820s.
(B) The United States government took an active interest in political and cultural developments within Native American tribes.
(C) The missionaries living among the Cherokee in the 1820s were strongly in favor of the cultural reforms initiated by the acculturating elite.
(D) Revivals of traditional Cherokee religious beliefs and practices began late in the eighteenth century, before the missionaries arrived.
(E) The acculturating Cherokee elite of the 1820s did not view the reforms they initiated as beneficial to all Cherokee.

6) It can be inferred from the author’s discussion of McLaughlin’s views that the author thinks that Cherokee acculturalization in the 1820s
(A) was reversed in the decades following the 1820s
(B) may have been part of an already-existing process of acculturalization
(C) could have been the result of earlier contacts with missionaries
(D) would not have occurred without the encouragement of the United States government
(E) was primarily a result of the influence of White traders living near the Cherokee

Today, the president of the Megabiz Company, L.J. Bacon, announced that the current management had turned aside a takeover bid by Engulf and Devour. Bacon explained that the vote, which was conducted by mail, was 53 percent to 47 percent against the resolution endorsing the takeover and he interpreted the result as a vote of confidence in present management.

Which of the following, if true, would most undermine Bacon’s conclusion?

(A) According to the company’s bylaws, the resolution required a two-thirds “yes” vote to pass.

(B) In accordance with the company’s bylaws, the president of the company was not permitted to vote on the resolution.

(C) In accordance with the company’s bylaws, the 34 percent of the ballots that were not returned counted as “no” votes.

(D) After a successful takeover bid, the acquiring company usually replaces the management of the acquired company.

(E) The failure of the attempted takeover does not prevent other companies from attempting the same move in the future.

If a code word is defined to be a sequence of different letters chosen from the 10 letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and J, what is the ratio of the number of 5-letter code words to the number of 4-letter code words?

A) 5 to 4
B) 3 to 2
C) 2 to 1
D) 5 to 1
E) 6 to 1

Freedman’s survey showed that people living in small towns and rural areas consider themselves no happier than do people living in big cities.

(A) no happier than do people living
(B) not any happier than do people living
(C) not any happier than do people who live
(D) no happier than are people who are living
(E) not as happy as are people who live

AMOUNT OF BACTERIA PRESENT

Time Amount
1:00 P.M. 10.0 grams
4:00 P.M. x grams
7:00 P.M. 14.4 grams

Data for a certain biology experiment are given above. If the amount of bacteria present increased by the same fraction during each of the two 3-hour periods shown, how many grams of bacteria were present at 4:00 P.M.?

A. 12.0

B. 12.1

C. 12.2

D. 12.3

E. 12.4

Question
Directions: Each group of questions in this section is based on a set of conditions. In answering some of the questions, it may be useful to draw a rough diagram. Choose the response that most accurately and completely answers each question and blacken the corresponding space on your answer sheet.
A company employee generates a series of five-digit product codes in accordance with the following rules:
The codes use the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4, and no others. Each digit occurs exactly once in any code.
The second digit has a value exactly twice that of the first digit.
The value of the third digit is less than the value of the fifth digit.
If the last digit of an acceptable product code is 1, it must be true that the
Selected Possible Answer

A. First digit is 2
B. Second digit is 0
C. Third digit is 3
D. Fourth digit is 4
E. Fourth digit is 0

(more…)