Based on comprehensive longitudinal studies of accident prevention, several states have passed laws requiring children under the age of 18 to wear helmets when they roller blade.  Yet a surprising result has been observed.  Even though a large number of children wear helmets while roller blading, more head injuries than expected have been reported.  This result persists, even though the studies have clearly shown that wearing a helmet reduces the incidence of head injuries.

Which of the following statements, if true, best explains the unexpected finding?

(A)  A large number of parents are not complying with the law regarding helmets for their children

(B)  More children are roller blading now than when the helmet law was introduced

(C)  More accidents are reported now, in compliance with state insurance laws

(D)  Many children do not properly secure the helmet’s chin strap, and the helmet does not work properly

(E)  Helmets were not designed to prevent all head injuries, so it is not surprising that they still occur

The following notice was received by Jade Davis, an entrepreneur.

“We regret that your press release cannot be accepted.  Page limitations in the Times force the editor to return many worthy and well-written press releases.”

All of the following may be inferred from the information above, EXCEPT

(A)  only well-written press releases were accepted for publication

(B)  Davis’s press release was considered to be well-written

(C)  Davis’s press release was found to be too long for the Times

(D)  Davis’s press release was considered to be worthy of publication

(E)  writing was not the only factor in deciding which press releases to publish

Some sociologists believe that religious sects such as the Quaker-based Quiet Ones, who believe the end of the world is imminent and seek to purify their souls by, among other things, abstaining completely from sexual relations, are a product of growing disaffection with modern, industrialized and urbanized living.  As evidence, they cite the fact that there are no other active organizations of the same type which are more than 40 or 50 years old.  The evidence, however, fails to support the conclusion for  ____________.

Which of the following is the most logical completion for the passage?

(A)  the restrictions on sexual relations are such that the only source of new members is outside recruitment, so such sects tend to die out after a generation or two

(B)  it is simply not possible to gauge the intensity of religious fervor by the length of time the religious sect remains viable

(C)  the Quiet Ones group may actually survive beyond the second generation of its existence

(D)  there are other religious sects that emphasize group sexual activity which currently have several hundred members

(E)  the Quiet Ones are a Quaker-based organization and have no members in the Northeast, which is even more heavily urban and industrialized than Quaker country

One way for reducing commuting time for those who work in the cities is to increase the speed at which traffic moves downtown.  This can be accomplished by raising the tolls on the tunnels and bridges connecting the city with other communities.  This will discourage auto traffic into the city and will encourage people to use public transportation instead.

Which of the following, if true, would LEAST weaken the argument above?

(A)  Nearly all of the traffic in the center of the city is commercial traffic which will continue despite the toll increases

(B)  Some people now driving alone into the city would choose to car pool with each other rather than use public transportation

(C)  Any temporary improvement in traffic flow would be lost because the improvement itself would attract more cars

(D)  The numbers of commuters who would be deterred by the toll increases would be insignificant

(E)  The public transportation system is not able to handle any significant increase in the number of commuters using the system

Recent highly visible court cases have led some legislators to question the very nature of specific inalienable constitutional rights.  The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, allowing parents to decline medical care for their seriously ill children, due to religious beliefs. This often sparks debate.  If a child can be saved with medical intervention, should the parents be legally bound to accept that treatment, despite religious convictions to the contrary?  While freedom of religion is inherently good, it is a right that should be preserved according to specific preconditions.

Which of the following represents the most logical continuation of the passage?

(A)  However, when discussing this issue, no one can accurately guess the intent of the authors of the constitution

(B)  Though, since we hold the truth of these rights to be self-evident, they cannot be questioned or compromised

(C)  Yet there will always be those who argue that this freedom must remain absolute to preserve the integrity of the Bill of Rights

(D)  Yet a defenseless child lacks the constitutional rights to intervene medically on its behalf

(E)  Clearly, the authors of the Bill of Rights did not anticipate future cases that would require specific protection for the rights of defenseless children

Two business school students, Maya and Dana, received the same overall grade in only one of four classes.  Each grade was on a scale of 1 to 10.

From which of the following statements can one determine whose average overall grade was higher?

(A)  Maya graduated at the top of her class
(B)  Maya’s lowest grade was less than or equal to Dana’s highest grade
(C)  Maya’s highest grade and Dana’s lowest grade were in the same class
(D)  Maya scored higher than Dana in two areas and neither girl scored lower than 5 in any class
(E)  Dana received a grade of 10 in three classes and Maya did not score higher than 8 in any class

In comparison with the socially relevant documentaries produced by the Guggenheimer Museum directors, Montreal’s sociologists have produced nothing even remotely groundbreaking.

(A)    In comparison with the socially relevant documentaries produced by the Guggenheimer Museum directors, Montreal’s sociologists have produced nothing even remotely groundbreaking.

(B)  In comparison with the socially relevant documentaries produced by the Guggenheimer Museum directors, the documentaries from Montreal’s sociologists are containing nothing even remotely groundbreaking.

(C)  Compared to that of the Guggenheimer Museum directors, Montreal’s sociologists have produced nothing even remotely groundbreaking.

(D)  Compared to those produced by the Guggenheimer Museum sociologists, the socially relevant documentaries of Montreal’s sociologists are not even remotely groundbreaking.

(E)  Compared to the Guggenheimer Museum socially relevant documentaries, Montreal’s sociologists  have produced nothing even remotely groundbreaking.

Having discovered the child prodigy John Klein to be suffering from attention deficit disorder (ADD), it is now thought that this was a major cause of his anger and recurrent clinical depression.

(A)  Having discovered the child prodigy John Klein to be suffering from attention deficit disorder (ADD),

(B)  To have discovered the child prodigy John Klein to be suffering from attention deficit disorder (ADD),

(C)  Since historians have discovered that the child prodigy John Klein suffered from attention deficit disorder (ADD),

(D)  Since the suffering of attention deficit disorder (ADD) by the child prodigy John Klein was discovered by historians,

(E)  Due to the fact that the child prodigy John Klein was suffering from attention deficit disorder (ADD) was discovered by historians,

A plethora of studies by physicians, psychologists and exercise physiologists confirm that renewed vitality and improved performance are afforded by recreation to the body and to the mind.

(A)  renewed vitality and improved performance are afforded by recreation to the body and to the mind.

(B)  recreation affords renewed vitality and improved performance to the body and to the mind

(C)  there are afforded renewed vitality and improved performance to the body and to the mind

(C)  by recreation the body and mind are afforded renewed vitality and improved performance

(E)  the body and the mind afford renewed vitality and improved performance to themselves by recreation

Because of his closed head injury, Dr. Connors has not and possibly never will be able to practice medicine again.

(A)  has not and possibly never will be able to practice

(B)  has not and possibly will never be able to practice

(C)  has not been and possibly never would be able to practice

(D)  has not and possibly never would be able to practice

(E)  has not been able to practice and possibly never will be able to practice

The reason much refrigerated food spoils is that it ends up out of sight at the back of the shelf. So why not have round shelves that rotate? Because such rotating shelves would have just the same sort of drawback, since things would fall off the shelves’ edges into the rear corners.

Which of the following is presupposed in the argument against introducing rotating shelves?

(A) Refrigerators would not be made so that their interior space is cylindrical.

(B) Refrigerators would not be made to have a window in front for easy viewing of their contents without opening the door.

(C) The problem of spoilage of refrigerated food is not amenable to any solution based on design   changes.

(D) Refrigerators are so well designed that there are bound to be drawbacks to any design change.

(E) Rotating shelves would be designed to rotate only while the refrigerator door was open.

Newspaper editorial:

In an attempt to reduce the crime rate, the governor is getting tough on criminals and making prison conditions harsher.  Part of this effort has been to deny inmates the access they formerly had to college-level courses.  However, this action is clearly counter to the governor’s ultimate goal, since after being released from prison, inmates who had taken such courses committed far fewer crimes overall than other inmates.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

1. Not being able to take college-level courses while in prison is unlikely to deter anyone from a crime that he or she might otherwise have committed.
2. Former inmates are no more likely to commit crimes than are members of the general population.
3. The group of inmates who chose to take college-level courses were not already less likely than other inmates to commit crimes after being released.
4. Taking high school level courses in prison has less effect on an inmate’s subsequent behavior than taking college-level courses does.
5. The governor’s ultimate goal actually is to gain popularity by convincing people that something effective is being done about crime.

Last year in the United States, women who ran for state and national offices were about as likely to win as men. However, only about fifteen percent of the candidates for these offices were women. Therefore, the reason there are so few women who win elections for these offices is not that women have difficulty winning elections but that so few women want to run.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the conclusion given?

(A) Last year the proportion of women incumbents who won reelection was smaller than the proportion of men incumbents who won reelection.

(B) Few women who run for state and national offices run against other women.

(C) Most women who have no strong desire to be politicians never run for state and national offices.

(D) The proportion of people holding local offices who are women is smaller than the proportion of people holding state and national offices who are women.

(E) Many more women than men who want to run for state and national offices do not because they cannot get adequate funding for their campaigns.

Nearly all mail that is correctly addressed arrives at its destination within two business days of being sent. In fact, correctly addressed mail takes longer than this only when it is damaged in transit. Overall, however, most mail arrives three business days or more after being sent. If the statements above are true, which one of the following must be true?

A) A large proportion of the mail that is correctly addressed is damaged in transit.
B) No incorrectly addressed mail arrives within two business days of being sent.
C) Most mail that arrives within two business days of being sent is correctly addressed.
D) A large proportion of mail is incorrectly addressed.
E) More mail arrives within two business days of being sent than arrives between two and three business days after being sent.

Although aspirin has been proven to eliminate moderate fever associated with some illnesses, many doctors no longer routinely recommend its use for this purpose. A moderate fever stimulates the activity of the body’s disease-fighting white blood cells and also inhibits the growth of many strains of disease-causing bacteria.

If the statements above are true, which of the following conclusions is most strongly supported by them?

(A) Aspirin, an effective painkiller, alleviates the pain ?and discomfort of many illnesses.

(B) Aspirin can prolong a patient’s illness by eliminat?ing moderate fever helpful in fighting some

?diseases.

(C) Aspirin inhibits the growth of white blood cells, ?which are necessary for fighting some illnesses.

(D) The more white blood cells a patient’s body ?produces, the less severe the patient’s illness ?will be.

(E) The focus of modern medicine is on inhibiting the ?growth of disease-causing bacteria within the ?body.

The recent upheaval in the office-equipment retail business, in which many small firms have gone out of business, has been attributed to the advent of office equipment “superstores” whose high sales volume keeps their prices low. This analysis is flawed, however, since even today the superstores control a very small share of the retail market.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument that the analysis is flawed?

(A) Most of the larger customers for office equipment purchase under contract directly from manufacturers and thus do not participate in the retail market.

(B) The superstores’ heavy advertising of their low prices has forced prices down throughout the   retail market for office supplies.

(C) Some of the superstores that only recently opened have themselves gone out of business.

(D) Most of the office equipment superstores are owned by large retailing chains that also own     stores selling other types of goods.

(E) The growing importance of computers in most offices has changed the kind of office equipment retailers must stock.

Hardin argued that grazing land held in common (that is, open to any user) would always be used less carefully than private grazing land. Each rancher would be tempted to overuse common land because the benefits would accrue to the individual, while the costs of reduced land quality that results from overuse would be spread among all users. But a study comparing 217 million acres of common grazing land with 433 million acres of private grazing land showed that the common land was in better condition.

Which of the following, if true and known by the ranchers, would best help explain the results of the study?

A) With private grazing land, both the costs and the benefits of overuse fall to the individual user.

B) An individual who overuses common grazing land might be able to achieve higher returns than other users can, with the result that he or she would obtain a competitive advantage.

C) The cost in reduced land quality that is attributable to any individual user is less easily measured with common land than it is with private land.

D) If one user of common land overuses it even slightly, the other users are likely to do so even more, with the consequence that the costs to each user outweigh the benefits.

E) There are more acres of grazing held privately than there are held in common.

It takes 4 weeks for 5 professional window washers working regular full-time hours to properly clean every window of the Empire State Building. The building’s owner demands that all the windows must always be clean. Yet even if the 5 washers work consistently throughout their regular work week, they will not be able to finish cleaning all the windows before some windows will again need cleaning.

It can be correctly inferred on the basis of the statements above that which of the following must be true?

A) If an Empire State Building window is to be kept clean, it must be cleaned by a professional window cleaner.

B) The owner’s demand for proper cleaning of all the windows will never be fulfilled.

C) If a team of 5 window washers cleans all the Empire State Building’s windows in less than 4 weeks, some of the windows will not be properly cleaned.

D) In order to ensure that all of the Empire State Building’s windows are clean, the owner must have his window washers work overtime.

E) Some Empire State Building windows must be cleaned more frequently than once every four weeks if they are to be kept clean.

The candy manufacturer’s claim that employee “theft” costs the company thousands of dollars every year in potential sales is greatly overstated. Most of the candy eaten on the job and not paid for is eaten one piece at a time, by workers who would not be willing to buy an entire box of it anyway.

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

A) The workers eat only defective candies that could not be sold.

B) Candy eaten by employees represents lost potential sales to non-employees.

C) A few workers account for most of the candy that is eaten but not paid for

D) Most of the candies eaten by employees are consumed during the holiday season, when production outputs are at their highest.

E) The amount of candy eaten by employees is only a small fraction of the candy sold by the company

In response to mounting pubic concern, an airplane manufacturer implemented a program
with the well-publicized goal of reducing by half the total yearly amount of hazardous
waste generated by its passenger-jet division. When the program began in 1994, the
division’s hazardous waste output was 90 pounds per production worker; last year it was
40 pounds per production worker. Clearly, therefore, charges that the manufacturer’s
program has not met its goal are false.

<!–[if !supportLists]–>Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
<!–[endif]–>(A) The amount of nonhazardous waste generated each year by the passenger-jet
<!–[if !supportLists]–>division has not increased significantly since 1994.
<!–[endif]–>(B) At least as many passenger jets were produced by the division last year as had
<!–[if !supportLists]–>been produced in 1994.
<!–[endif]–>(C) Since 1994, other divisions in the company have achieved reductions in hazardous
<!–[if !supportLists]–>waste output that are at least equal to that achieved in the passenger-jet division.
<!–[endif]–>(D) The average number of weekly hours per production worker in the passenger-jet
<!–[if !supportLists]–>division was not significantly greater last year than it was in 1994.
<!–[endif]–>(E) The number of production workers assigned to the passenger-jet division was not
significantly less in 1994 than it was last year.

Soaring television costs accounted for more than half the spending in the presidential campaign of 1992, a greater proportion than it was in any previous election.

1. a greater proportion than it was
2. a greater proportion than
3. a greater proportion than they have been
4. which is greater than was so
5. which is greater than it has been

Can someone suggest why the answer would be (C). And if that is incorrect then the correct answer please.