GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

Between the eighth and eleventh centuries A. D., the Byzantine Empire staged an almost unparalleled economic and cultural revival, a recovery that is all the more striking because it followed a long period of severe internal decline. By the early eighth century, the empire had lost roughly two-thirds of the territory it had possessed in the year 600, and its remaining area was being raided by Arabs and Bulgarians, who at times threatened to take Constantinople and extinguish the empire altogether. The wealth of the state and its subjects was greatly diminished, and artistic and literary production had virtually ceased. By the early eleventh century, however, the empire had regained almost half of its lost possessions, its new frontiers were secure, and its influence extended far beyond its borders. The economy had recovered, the treasury was full, and art and scholarship had advanced.

To consider the Byzantine military, cultural, and economic advances as differentiated aspects of a single phenomenon is reasonable. After all, these three forms of progress have gone together in a number of states and civilizations. Rome under Augustus and fifth-century Athens provide the most obvious examples in antiquity. Moreover, an examination of the apparent sequential connections among military, economic, and cultural forms of progress might help explain the dynamics of historical change.

The common explanation of these apparent connections in the case of Byzantium would run like this: when the empire had turned back enemy raids on its own territory and had begun to raid and conquer enemy territory, Byzantine resources naturally expanded and more money became available to patronize art and literature. Therefore, Byzantine military achievements led to economic advances, which in turn led to cultural revival.

No doubt this hypothetical pattern did apply at times during the course of the recovery. Yet it is not clear that military advances invariably came first, economic advances second, and intellectual advances third. In the 860’s the Byzantine Empire began to recover from Arab incursions so that by 872 the military balance with the Abbasid Caliphate had been permanently altered in the empire’s favor. The beginning of the empire’s economic revival, however, can be placed between 810 and 830. Finally, the Byzantine revival of learning appears to have begun even earlier. A number of notable scholars and writers appeared by 788 and, by the last decade of the eighth century, a cultural revival was in full bloom, a revival that lasted until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Thus the commonly expected order of military revival followed by economic and then by cultural recovery was reversed in Byzantium. In fact, the revival of Byzantine learning may itself have influenced the subsequent economic and military expansion.

1) Which of the following best states the central idea of the passage?
(A) The Byzantine Empire was a unique case in which the usual order of military and economic revival preceding cultural revival was reversed.
(B) The economic, cultural, and military revival in the Byzantine Empire between the eighth and eleventh centuries was similar in its order to the sequence of revivals in Augustan Rome and fifth century Athens.
(C) After 810 Byzantine economic recovery spurred a military and, later, cultural expansion that lasted until 1453.
(D) The eighth-century revival of Byzantine learning is an inexplicable phenomenon, and its economic and military precursors have yet to be discovered.
(E) The revival of the Byzantine Empire between the eighth and eleventh centuries shows cultural rebirth preceding economic and military revival, the reverse of the commonly accepted order of progress.

2) The primary purpose of the second paragraph is which of the following?
(A) To establish the uniqueness of the Byzantine revival
(B) To show that Augustan Rome and fifth-century Athens are examples of cultural, economic, and military expansion against which all subsequent cases must be measured
(C) To suggest that cultural, economic, and military advances have tended to be closely interrelated in different societies
(D) To argue that, while the revivals of Augustan Rome and fifth-century Athens were similar, they are unrelated to other historical examples
(E) To indicate that, wherever possible, historians should seek to make comparisons with the earliest chronological examples of revival

3) It can be inferred from the passage that by the eleventh century the Byzantine military forces
(A) had reached their peak and begun to decline
(B) had eliminated the Bulgarian army
(C) were comparable in size to the army of Rome under Augustus
(D) were strong enough to withstand the Abbasid Caliphate’s military forces
(E) had achieved control of Byzantine governmental structures

4) It can be inferred from the passage that the Byzantine Empire sustained significant territorial losses
(A) in 600
(B) during the seventh century
(C) a century after the cultural achievements of the Byzantine Empire had been lost
(D) soon after the revival of Byzantine learning
(E) in the century after 873

5) In the third paragraph, the author most probably provides an explanation of the apparent connections among economic, military, and cultural development in order to
(A) suggest that the process of revival in Byzantium accords with this model
(B) set up an order of events that is then shown to be not generally applicable to the case of Byzantium
(C) cast aspersions on traditional historical scholarship about Byzantium
(D) suggest that Byzantium represents a case for which no historical precedent exists
(E) argue that military conquest is the paramount element in the growth of empires

6) Which of the following does the author mention as crucial evidence concerning the manner in which the Byzantine revival began?
(A) The Byzantine military revival of the 860’s led to economic and cultural advances.
(B) The Byzantine cultural revival lasted until 1453.
(C) The Byzantine economic recovery began in the 900’s.
(D) The revival of Byzantine learning began toward the end of the eighth century.
(E) By the early eleventh century the Byzantine Empire had regained much of its lost territory.

7) According to the author, “The common explanation” (line 28) of connections between economic, military, and cultural development is
(A) revolutionary and too new to have been applied to the history of the Byzantine Empire
(B) reasonable, but an antiquated theory of the nature of progress
(C) not applicable to the Byzantine revival as a whole, but does perhaps accurately describe limited periods during the revival
(D) equally applicable to the Byzantine case as a whole and to the history of military, economic, and cultural advances in ancient Greece and Rome
(E) essentially not helpful, because military, economic, and cultural advances are part of a single phenomenon

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

Increasingly, historians are blaming diseases imported from the Old World for the staggering disparity between the indigenous population of America in 1492—new estimates of which soar as high as 100 million, or approximately one-sixth of the human race at that time—and the few million full-blooded Native Americans alive at the end of the nineteenth century. There is no doubt that chronic disease was an important factor in the precipitous decline, and it is highly probable that the greatest killer was epidemic disease, especially as manifested in virgin-soil epidemics.

Virgin-soil epidemics are those in which the populations at risk have had no previous contact with the diseases that strike them and are therefore immunologically almost defenseless. That virgin-soil epidemics were important in American history is strongly indicated by evidence that a number of dangerous maladies—smallpox, measles, malaria, yellow fever, and undoubtedly several more—were unknown in the pre-Columbian New World. The effects of their sudden introduction are demonstrated in the early chronicles of America, which contain reports of horrendous epidemics and steep population declines, confirmed in many cases by recent quantitative analyses of Spanish tribute records and other sources. The evidence provided by the documents of British and French colonies is not as definitive because the conquerors of those areas did not establish permanent settlements and begin to keep continuous records until the seventeenth century, by which time the worst epidemics had probably already taken place. Furthermore, the British tended to drive the native populations away, rather than enslaving them as the Spaniards did, so that the epidemics of British America occurred beyond the range of colonists’ direct observation.

Even so, the surviving records of North America do contain references to deadly epidemics among the indigenous population. In 1616-1619 an epidemic, possibly of bubonic or pneumonic plague, swept coastal New
England, killing as many as nine out of ten. During the 1630’s smallpox, the disease most fatal to the Native American people, eliminated half the population of the Huron and Iroquois confederations. In the 1820’s fever devastated the people of the Columbia River area, killing eight out of ten of them. Unfortunately, the documentation of these and other epidemics is slight and frequently unreliable, and it is necessary to supplement what little we do know with evidence from recent epidemics among Native Americans. For example, in 1952 an outbreak of measles among the Native American inhabitants of Ungava Bay, Quebec, affected 99 percent of the population and killed 7 percent, even though some had the benefit of modern medicine. Cases such as this demonstrate that even diseases that are not normally fatal can have devastating consequences when they strike an immunologically defenseless community.

1) The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) refute a common misconception
(B) provide support for a hypothesis
(C) analyze an argument
(D) suggest a solution to a dilemma
(E) reconcile opposing viewpoints

2) According to the passage, virgin-soil epidemics can be distinguished from other catastrophic outbreaks of disease in that virgin-soil epidemics
(A) recur more frequently than other chronic diseases
(B) affect a minimum of one-half of a given population
(C) involve populations with no prior exposure to a disease
(D) usually involve a number of interacting diseases
(E) are less responsive to medical treatment than are other diseases

3) According to the passage, the British colonists were unlike the Spanish colonists in that the British colonists
(A) collected tribute from the native population
(B) kept records from a very early date
(C) drove Native Americans off the land
(D) were unable to provide medical care against epidemic disease
(E) enslaved the native populations in America

4) Which of the following can be inferred from the passage concerning Spanish tribute records?
(A) They mention only epidemics of smallpox.
(B) They were instituted in 1492.
(C) They were being kept prior to the seventeenth century.
(D) They provide quantitative and qualitative evidence about Native American populations.
(E) They prove that certain diseases were unknown in the pre-Columbian New World.

5) The author implies which of the following about measles?
(A) It is not usually a fatal disease.
(B) It ceased to be a problem by the seventeenth century.
(C) It is the disease most commonly involved in virgin-soil epidemics.
(D) It was not a significant problem in Spanish colonies.
(E) It affects only those who are immunologically defenseless against it.

6) Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the Native American inhabitants of Ungava Bay?
(A) They were almost all killed by the 1952 epidemic.
(B) They were immunologically defenseless against measles.
(C) They were the last native people to be struck by a virgin-soil epidemic.
(D) They did not come into frequent contact with white Americans until the twentieth century.
(E) They had been inoculated against measles.

7) The author mentions the 1952 measles outbreak most probably in order to
(A) demonstrate the impact of modern medicine on epidemic disease
(B) corroborate the documentary evidence of epidemic disease in colonial America
(C) refute allegations of unreliability made against the historical record of colonial America
(D) advocate new research into the continuing problem of epidemic disease
(E) challenge assumptions about how the statistical evidence of epidemics should be interpreted

8) Which of the following, if newly discovered, would most seriously weaken the author’s argument concerning the importance of virgin-soil epidemics in the depopulation of Native Americans?
(A) Evidence setting the pre-Columbian population of the New World at only 80 million
(B) Spanish tribute records showing periodic population fluctuations
(C) Documents detailing sophisticated Native American medical procedures
(D) Fossils indicating Native American contact with smallpox prior to 1492
(E) Remains of French settlements dating back to the sixteenth century

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

In the eighteenth century, Japan’s feudal overlords, from the shogun to the humblest samurai, found themselves under financial stress. In part, this stress can be attributed to the overlords’ failure to adjust to a rapidly expanding economy, but the stress was also due to factors beyond the overlords’ control. Concentration of the samurai in castle-towns had acted as a stimulus to trade. Commercial efficiency, in turn, had put temptations in the way of buyers. Since most samurai had been reduced to idleness by years of peace, encouraged to engage in scholarship and martial exercises or to perform administrative tasks that took little time, it is not surprising that their tastes and habits grew expensive. Overlords’ income, despite the increase in rice production among their tenant farmers, failed to keep pace with their expenses. Although shortfalls in overlords’ income resulted almost as much from laxity among their tax collectors (the nearly inevitable outcome of hereditary office-holding) as from their higher standards of living, a misfortune like a fire or flood, bringing an increase in expenses or a drop in revenue, could put a domain in debt to the city rice-brokers who handled its finances. Once in debt, neither the individual samurai nor the shogun himself found it easy to recover.

It was difficult for individual samurai overlords to increase their income because the amount of rice that farmers could be made to pay in taxes was not unlimited, and since the income of Japan’s central government consisted in part of taxes collected by the shogun from his huge domain, the government too was constrained. Therefore, the Tokugawa shoguns began to look to other sources for revenue. Cash profits from government-owned mines were already on the decline because the most easily worked deposits of silver and gold had been exhausted, although debasement of the coinage had compensated for the loss. Opening up new farmland was a possibility, but most of what was suitable had already been exploited and further reclamation was technically unfeasible. Direct taxation of the samurai themselves would be politically dangerous. This left the shoguns only commerce as a potential source of government income.

Most of the country’s wealth, or so it seemed, was finding its way into the hands of city merchants. It appeared reasonable that they should contribute part of that revenue to ease the shogun’s burden of financing the state. A means of obtaining such revenue was soon found by levying forced loans, known as goyo-kin; although these were not taxes in the strict sense, since they were irregular in timing and arbitrary in amount, they were high in yield. Unfortunately, they pushed up prices. Thus, regrettably, the Tokugawa shoguns’ search for solvency for the government made it increasingly difficult for individual Japanese who lived on fixed stipends to make ends meet.

1) The passage is most probably an excerpt from
(A) an economic history of Japan
(B) the memoirs of a samurai warrior
(C) a modern novel about eighteenth-century Japan
(D) an essay contrasting Japanese feudalism with its Western counterpart
(E) an introduction to a collection of Japanese folktales

2) Which of the following financial situations is most analogous to the financial situation in which Japan’s Tokugawa shoguns found themselves in the eighteenth century?
(A) A small business borrows heavily to invest in new equipment, but is able to pay off its debt early when it is awarded a lucrative government contract.
(B) Fire destroys a small business, but insurance covers the cost of rebuilding.
(C) A small business is turned down for a loan at a local bank because the owners have no credit history.
(D) A small business has to struggle to meet operating expenses when its profits decrease.
(E) A small business is able to cut back sharply on spending through greater commercial efficiency and thereby compensate for a loss of revenue.

3) Which of the following best describes the attitude of the author toward the samurai discussed in lines 11-16?
(A) Warmly approving
(B) Mildly sympathetic
(C) Bitterly disappointed
(D) Harshly disdainful
(E) Profoundly shocked

4) According to the passage, the major reason for the financial problems experienced by Japan’s feudal overlords in the eighteenth century was that
(A) spending had outdistanced income
(B) trade had fallen off
(C) profits from mining had declined
(D) the coinage had been sharply debased
(E) the samurai had concentrated in castle-towns

5) The passage implies that individual samurai did not find it easy to recover from debt for which of the following reasons?
(A) Agricultural production had increased.
(B) Taxes were irregular in timing and arbitrary in amount.
(C) The Japanese government had failed to adjust to the needs of a changing economy.
(D) The domains of samurai overlords were becoming smaller and poorer as government revenues increased.
(E) There was a limit to the amount in taxes that farmers could be made to pay.

6) The passage suggests that, in eighteenth-century Japan, the office of tax collector
(A) was a source of personal profit to the officeholder
(B) was regarded with derision by many Japanese
(C) remained within families
(D) existed only in castle-towns
(E) took up most of the officeholder’s time

7) Which of the following could best be substituted for the word “This” in line 47 without changing the meaning of the passage?
(A) The search of Japan’s Tokugawa shoguns for solvency
(B) The importance of commerce in feudal Japan
(C) The unfairness of the tax structure in eighteenth century Japan
(D) The difficulty of increasing government income by other means
(E) The difficulty experienced by both individual samurai and the shogun himself in extricating themselves from debt

8) The passage implies that which of the following was the primary reason why the Tokugawa shoguns turned to city merchants for help in financing the state?
(A) A series of costly wars had depleted the national treasury.
(B) Most of the country’s wealth appeared to be in city merchants’ hands.
(C) Japan had suffered a series of economic reversals due to natural disasters such as floods.
(D) The merchants were already heavily indebted to the shoguns.
(E) Further reclamation of land would not have been economically advantageous.

9) According to the passage, the actions of the Tokugawa shoguns in their search for solvency for the government were regrettable because those actions
(A) raised the cost of living by pushing up prices
(B) resulted in the exhaustion of the most easily worked deposits of silver and gold
(C) were far lower in yield than had originally been anticipated
(D) did not succeed in reducing government spending
(E) acted as a deterrent to trade

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

The law-and-literature movement claims to have introduced a valuable pedagogical innovation into legal study: instructing students in techniques of literary analysis for the purpose of interpreting laws and in the reciprocal use of legal analysis for the purpose of interpreting literary texts. The results, according to advocates, are not only conceptual breakthroughs in both law and literature but also more sensitive and humane lawyers. Whatever the truth of this last claim, there can be no doubt that the movement is a success: law-and-literature is an accepted subject in law journals and in leading law schools. Indeed, one indication of the movement’s strength is the fact that its most distinguished critic, Richard A. Posner, paradoxically ends up expressing qualified support for the movement in a recent study in which he systematically refutes the writings of its leading legal scholars and cooperating literary critics.

Critiquing the movement’s assumption that lawyers can offer special insights into literature that deals with legal matters, Posner points out that writers of literature use the law loosely to convey a particular idea or as a metaphor for the workings of the society envisioned in their fiction. Legal questions per se, about which a lawyer might instruct readers, are seldom at issue in literature. This is why practitioners of law-and-literature end up discussing the law itself far less than one might suppose. Movement leader James White, for example, in his discussion of arguments in the Iliad, barely touches on law, and then so generally as to render himself vulnerable to Posner’s devastating remark that “any argument can be analogized to a legal dispute.”

Similarly, the notion that literary criticism can be helpful in interpreting law is problematic. Posner argues that literary criticism in general aims at exploring richness and variety of meaning in texts, whereas legal interpretation aims at discovering a single meaning. A literary approach can thus only confuse the task of interpreting the law, especially if one adopts current fashions like deconstruction, which holds that all texts are inherently uninterpretable.

Nevertheless, Posner writes that law-and-literature is a field with “promise”. Why? Perhaps, recognizing the success of a movement that, in the past, has singled him out for abuse, he is attempting to appease his detractors, paying obeisance to the movements institutional success by declaring that it “deserves a place in legal research” while leaving it to others to draw the conclusion from his cogent analysis that it is an entirely factitious undertaking, deserving of no intellectual respect whatsoever. As a result, his work stands both as a rebuttal of law-and-literature and as a tribute to the power it has come to exercise in academic circles.

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) assess the law-and-literature movement by examining the position of one of its most prominent critics
(B) assert that a mutually beneficial relationship exists between the study of law and the study of literature
(C) provide examples of the law-and-literature movement in practice by discussing the work of its proponents
(D) dismiss a prominent critics recent study of the law-and-literature movement
(E) describe the role played by literary scholars in providing a broader context for legal issues

2. Posner’s stated position with regard to the law-and-literature movement is most analogous to which one of the following?
(A) a musician who is trained in the classics but frequently plays modern music while performing on stage
(B) a partisan who transfers allegiance to a new political party that demonstrates more promise but has fewer documented accomplishments
(C) a sports fan who wholeheartedly supports the team most likely to win rather than his or her personal favorite
(D) an ideologue who remains committed to his or her own view of a subject in spite of compelling evidence to the contrary
(E) a salesperson who describes the faults in a fashionable product while conceding that it may have some value

3. The passage suggests that Posner regards legal practitioners as using an approach to interpreting law that
(A) eschews discovery of multiple meanings
(B) employs techniques like deconstruction
(C) interprets laws in light of varying community standards
(D) is informed by the positions of literary critics
(E) de-emphasizes the social relevance of the legal tradition

4. The Passage suggests that Posner might find legal training useful in the interpretation of a literary text in which
(A) a legal dispute symbolizes the relationship between two characters
(B) an oppressive law is used to symbolize an oppressive culture
(C) one of the key issues involves the answer to a legal question
(D) a legal controversy is used to represent a moral conflict
(E) the working of the legal system suggests something about the political character of a society

5. The author uses the word “success” in line 11 to refer to the law-and-literature movement’s
(A) positive effect on the sensitivity of lawyers
(B) widespread acceptance by law schools and law journals
(C) ability to offer fresh insights into literary texts
(D) ability to encourage innovative approaches in two disciplines
(E) response to recent criticism in law journals

6. According to the passage, Posner argues that legal analysis is not generally useful in interpreting literature because
(A) use of the law in literature is generally of a quite different nature than use of the law in legal practice
(B) law is rarely used to convey important ideas in literature
(C) lawyers do not have enough literary training to analyze literature competently
(D) legal interpretations of literature tend to focus on legal issues to the exclusion of other important elements
(E) legal interpretations are only relevant to contemporary literature

7. According to Posner, the primary difficulty in using literary criticism to interpret law is that
(A) the goals of the two disciplines are incompatible
(B) there are few advocates for the law-and-literature movement in the literary profession
(C) the task of interpreting law is too complex for the techniques of literary criticism
(D) the interpretation of law relies heavily on legal precedent
(E) legal scholars are reluctant to adopt the practice in the classroom

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

Most office workers assume that the messages they send to each other via electronic mail are as private as a telephone call or a face-to-face meeting. That assumption is wrong. Although it is illegal in many areas for an employer to eavesdrop on private conversations or telephone calls—even if they take place on a company-owned telephone—there are no clear rules governing electronic mail. In fact, the question of how private electronic mail transmissions should be has emerged as one of the more complicated legal issues of the electronic age.

People’s opinions about the degree of privacy that electronic mail should have vary depending on whose electronic mail system is being used and who is reading the messages. Does a government office, for example, have the right to destroy electronic messages created in the course of running the government, thereby denying public access to such documents? Some hold that government offices should issue guidelines that allow their staff to delete such electronic records, and defend this practice by claiming that the messages thus deleted already exist in paper versions whose destruction is forbidden. Opponents of such practices argue that the paper versions often omit such information as who received the messages and when they received them, information commonly carried on electronic mail systems. Government officials, opponents maintain, are civil servants; the public should thus have the right to review any documents created during the conducting of government business.

Questions about electronic mail privacy have also arisen in the private sector. Recently, two employees of an automotive company were discovered to have been communicating disparaging information about their supervisor via electronic mail. The supervisor, who had been monitoring the communication, threatened to fire the employees. When the employees filed a grievance complaining that their privacy had been violated, they were let go. Later, their court case for unlawful termination was dismissed; the company’s lawyers successfully argued that because the company owned the computer system, its supervisors had the right to read anything created on it.

In some areas, laws prohibit outside interception of electronic mail by a third party without proper authorization such as a search warrant. However, these laws do not cover “inside” interception such as occurred at the automotive company. In the past, courts have ruled that interoffice communications may be considered private only if employees have a “reasonable expectation” of privacy when they send the messages. The fact is that no absolute guarantee of privacy exists in any computer system. The only solution may be for users to scramble their own messages with encryption codes; unfortunately, such complex codes are likely to undermine the principal virtue of electronic mail: its convenience.

1. Which one of the following statements most accurately summarizes the main point of the passage?
(A) Until the legal questions surrounding the privacy of electronic mail in both the public and private sectors have been resolved, office workers will need to scramble their electronic mail messages with encryption codes.
(B) The legal questions surrounding the privacy of electronic mail in the work place can best be resolved by treating such communications as if they were as private as telephone conversations or face-to-face meetings.
(C) Any attempt to resolve the legal questions surrounding the privacy of electronic mail in the workplace must take into account the essential difference between public-sector and private sector business.
(D) At present, in both the public and private sectors, there seem to be no clear general answers to the legal questions surrounding the privacy of electronic mail in the workplace.
(E) The legal questions surrounding the privacy of electronic mail in the workplace of electronic mail in the workplace can best be resolved by allowing supervisors in public-sector but not private-sector offices to monitor their employees’ communications.

2. According to the passage, which one of the following best expresses the reason some people use to oppose the deletion of electronic mail records at government offices?
(A) Such deletion reveals the extent of government’s unhealthy obsession with secrecy.
(B) Such deletion runs counter to the notion of government’s accountability to its constituency.
(C) Such deletion clearly violates the legal requirement that government offices keep duplicate copies of all their transactions.
(D) Such deletion violates the government’s own guidelines against destruction of electronic records.
(E) Such deletion harms relations between government employees and their supervisors.

3. Which one of the following most accurately states the organization of the passage?
(A) A problem is introduced, followed by specific examples illustrating the problem: a possible solution is suggested, followed by an acknowledgment of its shortcomings.
(B) A problem is introduced, followed by explications of two possible solutions to the problem: the first solution is preferred to the second, and reasons are given for why it is the better alternative.
(C) A problem is introduced, followed by analysis of the historical circumstances that helped bring the problem about a possible solution is offered and rejected as being only a partial remedy.
(D) A problem is introduced, followed by enumeration of various questions that need to be answered before a solution can be found: one possible solution is proposed and argued for.
(E) A problem is introduced, followed by descriptions of two contrasting approaches to thinking about the problem: the second approach is preferred to the first, and reasons are given for why it is more likely to yield a successful solution.

4. Based on the passage, the author’s attitude towards interception of electronic mail can most accurately be described as:
(A) outright disapproval of the practice
(B) support for employers who engage in it
(C) support for employees who lose their jobs because of it
(D) intellectual interest in its legal issues
(E) cynicism about the motives behind the practice

5. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would most likely hold which one of the following opinions about an encryption system that could encodes and decode electronic mail messages with a single keystroke?
(A) It would be an unreasonable burden on a company’s ability to monitor electronic mail created by its employees.
(B) It would significantly reduce the difficulty of attempting to safeguard the privacy of electronic mail.
(C) It would create substantial legal complications for companies trying to prevent employees from revealing trade secrets to competitors.
(D) It would guarantee only a minimal level of employee privacy, and so would not be worth the cost involved in installing such a system.
(E) It would require a change in the legal definition of “reasonable expectation of privacy” as it applies to employer-employee relations.

6. Given the information in the passage, which one of the following hypothetical events is LEAST likely to occur?
(A) A court rules that a government office’s practice of deleting its electronic mail is not in the public’s best interests.
(B) A private-sector employer is found liable for wiretapping an office telephone conversation in which two employees exchanged disparaging information about their supervisor.
(C) A court upholds the right of a government office to destroy both paper and electronic versions of its in-house documents.
(D) A court upholds a private-sector employer’s right to monitor messages sent between employees over the company’s in-house electronic mail system.
(E) A court rules in favor of a private-sector employee whose supervisor stated that in-house electronic mail would not be monitored but later fired the employee for communicating disparaging information via electronic mail.

7. The author’s primary purpose in writing the passage is to
(A) demonstrate that the individual right to privacy has been eroded by advances in computer technology
(B) compare the legal status of electronic mail in the public and private sectors
(C) draw an extended analogy between the privacy of electronic mail and the privacy of telephone conversations or face-to-face meeting
(D) illustrate the complexities of the privacy issues surrounding electronic mail in the workplace
(E) explain why the courts have not been able to rule definitely on the issue of the privacy of electronic mail

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

Until the 1980s, most scientists believed that noncatastrophic geological processes caused the extinction of dinosaurs that occurred approximately 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period. Geologists argued that a dramatic drop in sea level coincided with the extinction of the dinosaurs and could have caused the climatic changes that resulted in this extinction as well as the extinction of many ocean species.
This view was seriously challenged in the 1980s by the discovery of large amounts of iridium in a layer of clay deposited at the end of the Cretaceous period. Because iridium is extremely rare in rocks on the Earth’s surface but common in meteorites, researchers theorized that it was the impact of a large meteorite that dramatically changed the earth’s climate and thus triggered the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Currently available evidence, however, offers more support for a new theory, the volcanic-eruption theory. A vast eruption of lava in India coincided with the extinctions that occurred at the end of the Cretaceous period, and the release of carbon dioxide from this episode of volcanism could have caused the climatic change responsible for the demise of the dinosaurs. Such outpourings of lava are caused by instability in the lowest layer of the Earth’s mantle, located just above the Earth’s core. As the rock that constitutes this layer is heated by the Earth’s core, it becomes less dense and portions of it eventually escape upward as blobs or molten rock, called “diapirs,” that can, under certain circumstances, erupt violently through the Earth’s crust.

Moreover, the volcanic-eruption theory, like the impact theory, accounts for the presence of iridium in sedimentary deposits; it also explains matters that the meteorite-impact theory does not. Although iridium is extremely rare on the Earth’s surface, the lower regions of the Earth’s mantle have roughly the same composition as meteorites and contain large amounts of iridium, which in the case of a diapir eruption would probably be emitted as iridium hexafluoride, a gas that would disperse more uniformly in the atmosphere than the iridium-containing matter thrown out from a meteorite impact. In addition, the volcanic-eruption theory may explain why the end of the Cretaceous period was marked by a gradual change in sea level. Fossil records indicate that for several hundred thousand years prior to the relatively sudden disappearance of the dinosaurs, the level of the sea gradually fell, causing many marine organisms to die out. This change in sea level might well have been the result of a distortion in the Earth’s surface that resulted from the movement of diapirs upward toward the Earth’s crust, and the more cataclysmic extinction of the dinosaurs could have resulted from the explosive volcanism that occurred as material from the diapirs erupted onto the Earth’s surface.

1) The passage suggests that during the 1980s researchers found meteorite impact a convincing explanation for the extinction of dinosaurs, in part because
(A) earlier theories had failed to account for the gradual extinction of many ocean species at the end of the Cretaceous period
(B) geologists had, up until that time, underestimated the amount of carbon dioxide that would be released during an episode of explosive volcanism
(C) a meteorite could have served as a source of the iridium found in a layer of clay deposited at the end of the Cretaceous period
(D) no theory relying on purely geological processes had, up until that time, explained the cause of the precipitous drop in sea level that occurred at the end of the Cretaceous period
(E) the impact of a large meteorite could have resulted in the release of enough carbon dioxide to cause global climatic change

2) According to the passage, the lower regions of the Earth’s mantle are characterized by
(A) a composition similar to that of meteorites
(B) the absence of elements found in rocks on the Earth’s crust
(C) a greater stability than that of the upper regions
(D) the presence of large amounts of carbon dioxide
(E) a uniformly lower density than that of the upper regions

3) It can be inferred from the passage that which one of the following was true of the lava that erupted in India at the end of the Cretaceous period?
(A) It contained less carbon dioxide than did the meteorites that were striking the Earth’s surface during that period.
(B) It was more dense than the molten rock, located just above the Earth’s core.
(C) It released enough iridium hexafluoride into the atmosphere to change the Earth’s climate dramatically.
(D) It was richer in iridium than rocks usually found on the Earth’s surface.
(E) It was richer in iridium than were the meteorites that were striking the Earth’s surface during that period.

4) In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with doing which one of the following?
(A) describing three theories and explaining why the latest of these appears to be the best of the three
(B) attacking the assumptions inherent in theories that until the 1980s had been largely accepted by geologists
(C) outlining the inadequacies of three different explanations of the same phenomenon
(D) providing concrete examples in support of the more general assertion that theories must often be revised in light of new evidence
(E) citing evidence that appears to confirm the skepticism of geologists regarding a view held prior to the 1980s

5) The author implies that if the theory described in the third paragraph is true, which one of the following would have been true of iridium in the atmosphere at the end of the Cretaceous period?
(A) Its level of concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere would have been high due to a slow but steady increase in the atmospheric iridium that began in the early Cretaceous period.
(B) Its concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere would have increased due to the dramatic decrease in sea level that occurred during the Cretaceous period.
(C) It would have been directly responsible for the extinction of many ocean species.
(D) It would have been more uniformly dispersed than iridium whose source had been the impact of a meteorite on the Earth’s surface.
(E) It would have been more uniformly dispersed than indium released into the atmosphere as a result of normal geological processes that occur on Earth.

6) The passage supports which one of the following claims about the volcanic-eruption theory?%0

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

No very satisfactory account of the mechanism that caused the formation of the ocean basins has yet been given. The traditional view supposes that the upper mantle of the earth behaves as a liquid when it is subjected to small forces for long periods and that differences in temperature under oceans and continents are sufficient to produce convection in the mantle of the earth with rising convection currents under the mid-ocean ridges and sinking currents under the continents. Theoretically, this convection would carry the continental plates along as though they were on a conveyor belt and would provide the forces needed to produce the split that occurs along the ridge. This view may be correct: it has the advantage that the currents are driven by temperature differences that themselves depend on the position of the continents. Such a back-coupling, in which the position of the moving plate has an impact on the forces that move it, could produce complicated and varying motions.

On the other hand, the theory is implausible because convection does not normally occur along lines, and it certainly does not occur along lines broken by frequent offsets or changes in direction, as the ridge is. Also it is difficult to see how the theory applies to the plate between the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the ridge in the Indian Ocean. This plate is growing on both sides, and since there is no intermediate trench, the two ridges must be moving apart. It would be odd if the rising convection currents kept exact pace with them. An alternative theory is that the sinking part of the plate, which is denser than the hotter surrounding mantle, pulls the rest of the plate after it. Again it is difficult to see how this applies to the ridge in the South Atlantic, where neither the African nor the American plate has a sinking part.

Another possibility is that the sinking plate cools the neighboring mantle and produces convection currents that move the plates. This last theory is attractive because it gives some hope of explaining the enclosed seas, such as the Sea of Japan. These seas have a typical oceanic floor, except that the floor is overlaid by several kilometers of sediment. Their floors have probably been sinking for long periods. It seems possible that a sinking current of cooled mantle material on the upper side of the plate might be the cause of such deep basins. The enclosed seas are an important feature of the earth’s surface, and seriously require explanation because, in addition to the enclosed seas that are developing at present behind island arcs, there are a number of older ones of possibly similar origin, such as the Gulf of Mexico, the Black Sea, and perhaps the North Sea.

1) According to the traditional view of the origin of the ocean basins, which of the following is sufficient to move the continental plates?
(A) Increases in sedimentation on ocean floors
(B) Spreading of ocean trenches
(C) Movement of mid-ocean ridges
(D) Sinking of ocean basins
(E) Differences in temperature under oceans and continents

2) It can be inferred from the passage that, of the following, the deepest sediments would be found in the
(A) Indian Ocean
(B) Black Sea
(C) Mid-Atlantic
(D) South Atlantic
(E) Pacific

3) The author refers to a “conveyor belt” in line 13 in order to
(A) illustrate the effects of convection in the mantle
(B) show how temperature differences depend on the positions of the continents
(C) demonstrate the linear nature of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
(D) describe the complicated motions made possible by back-coupling
(E) account for the rising currents under certain mid-ocean ridges

4) The author regards the traditional view of the origin of the oceans with
(A) slight apprehension
(B) absolute indifference
(C) indignant anger
(D) complete disbelief
(E) guarded skepticism

5) According to the passage, which of the following are separated by a plate that is growing on both sides?
(A) The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan
(B) The South Atlantic Ridge and the North Sea Ridge
(C) The Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic Ridge
(D) The Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Indian Ocean Ridge
(E) The Black Sea and the Sea of Japan

6) Which of the following, if it could be demonstrated, would most support the traditional view of ocean formation?
(A) Convection usually occurs along lines.
(B) The upper mantle behaves as a dense solid.
(C) Sedimentation occurs at a constant rate.
(D) Sinking plates cool the mantle.
(E) Island arcs surround enclosed seas.

7) According to the passage, the floor of the Black Sea can best be compared to a
(A) rapidly moving conveyor belt
(B) slowly settling foundation
(C) rapidly expanding balloon
(D) violently erupting volcano
(E) slowly eroding mountain

8) Which of the following titles would best describe the content of the passage?
(A) A Description of the Oceans of the World
(B) Several Theories of Ocean Basin Formation
(C) The Traditional View of the Oceans
(D) Convection and Ocean Currents
(E) Temperature Differences among the Oceans of the World

Google Buzz

New “ISB Hyderabad 700″ Coaching batch

Dear Achiever,

Special GMAT prep batch for “ISB Hyderabad 700″ scheduled to start from “SUNDAY”. We have only 5 seats in each batch. Admission is based on “Achiever’s Test” only. Don’t miss out on this opportunity, Call 24 hours GMAT Helpline: 0989900-4123

Classes at

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.
1497, Wazir Nagar, Near ICICI Bank Defence Colony, Kotla Mubarakpur, New Delhi-110003
Phone: +91-11-46543884, 24652070 +91-987366-4123, 987372-4123, 987390-4123, 921217-4123
dc@achieverspoint.com

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.
F-16, Third Floor,Near Preet Vihar Metro Station, Preet Vihar, Delhi-110092
Phone: +91-995343-4123
pv@achieverspoint.com

37, Near Metro Pillar No. 373, Raja Garden, New Delhi-110015
Phone: +91-11-25414056, +91-989998-4123, 987326-4123, 987393-4123
rg@achieverspoint.com

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.
NM 1, First Floor, Old DLF Colony, Near Sector 14, Gurgaon-122001
Phone: +91-995377-4123, 975391-4123, 975392-4123
gurgaon@achieverspoint.com

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.
D-44, Near Nirula’s Hotel, Sector-2, Noida-210301
Phone: +91-120-4540956, +91-995370-4123, 999990-4123, 995368-4123
noida@achieverspoint.com

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.
37, Near Metro Pillar No. 373, Raja Garden, New Delhi-110015
Phone: +91-11-25414056, +91-989998-4123, 987326-4123, 987393-4123
rg@achieverspoint.com

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.
871, Swanand, Opposite Spencer’s Daily, Bhandarkar Road, Pune-411004
Phone: +91-20-25654123, 41227152, +91-932532-4123, 922554-4123, 973014-4123
pune@achieverspoint.com

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.
17A, Business Point, SV Road, Near Sub Way, Beside DCB Bank, Andheri(W), Mumbai-400058
Phone: +91-982016-4123, 922532-4123
mumbai@achieverspoint.com

24 Hours Study Abroad Helpline: +91-989900-4123
help@achieverspoint.com
www.AchieversPoint.com

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day : Reading Comprehension

In Forces of Production, David Noble examines the transformation of the achine-tool industry as the industry moved from reliance on skilled artisans to automation. Noble writes from a Marxist perspective, and his central argument is that management, in its decisions to automate, conspired against labor: the power that the skilled machinists wielded in the industry was intolerable to management. Noble fails to substantiate this claim, although his argument is impressive when he applies the Marxist concept of “de-skilling”—the use of technology to replace killed labor—to the automation of the machine-tool industry. In automating, the industry moved to computer-based, digitized “numerical-control” (N/C) technology, rather than to artisan-generated “record-playback” (R/P) technology.

Although both systems reduced reliance on skilled labor, Noble clearly prefers R/P, with its inherent acknowledgment of workers’ skills: unlike N/C, its programs were produced not by engineers at their computers, but by skilled machinists, who recorded their own movements to “teach” machines to duplicate those movements. However, Noble’s only evidence of conspiracy is that, although the two approaches were roughly equal in technical merit, management chose N/C. From this he concludes that automation is undertaken not because efficiency demands it or scientific advances allow it, but because it is a tool in the ceaseless war of capitalists against labor.

1) The author of the passage is primarily concerned with
(A) reexamining a political position and defending its validity
(B) examining a management decision and defending its necessity
(C) analyzing a scholarly study and pointing out a central weakness
(D) explaining a trend in automation and warning about its dangers
(E) chronicling the history of an industry and criticizing its development

2) According to information in the passage, the term “de-skilling” refers to the
(A) loss of skills to industry when skilled workers are replaced by unskilled laborers
(B) substitution of mechanized processes for labor formerly performed by skilled workers
(C) labor theory that automation is technologically comparable to skilled labor
(D) process by which skilled machinists “teach” machines to perform certain tasks
(E) exclusion of skilled workers from participation in the development of automated technology

3) Which of the following best characterizes the function of the second paragraph of the passage?
(A) It develops a topic introduced in the first paragraph.
(B) It provides evidence to refute a claim presented in the first paragraph.
(C) It gives examples of a phenomenon mentioned in the first paragraph.
(D) It presents a generalization about examples given in the first paragraph.
(E) It suggests two possible solutions to a problem presented in the first paragraph.

4) The passage suggests which of the following about N/C automation in the machine-tool industry?
(A) It displaced fewer skilled workers than R/P automation did.
(B) It could have been implemented either by experienced machinists or by computer engineers.
(C) It was designed without the active involvement skilled machinists.
(D) It was more difficult to design than R/P automation was.
(E) It was technically superior to R/P automation.

5) Which of the following phrases most clearly reveals the attitude of the author of the passage toward Noble’s central argument?
(A) “conspired against” (line 6)
(B) “intolerable to management” (line 7)
(C) “impressive when he applies the Marxist concept” (line 9)
(D) “clearly prefers” (line 16)
(E) “only evidence of conspiracy” (line 21)

6) The author of the passage commends Noble’s book for which of the following?
(A) Concentrating on skilled as opposed to unskilled workers in its discussion of the machine-tool industry
(B) Offering a generalization about the motives behind the machine-tool industry’s decision to automate
(C) Making an essential distinction between two kinds of technology employed in the machine-tool industry
(D) Calling into question the notion that managers conspired against labor in the automation of the machine-tool industry
(E) Applying the concept of de-skilling to the machine tool industry

7) Which of the following best characterizes Forces of Production as it is described in the passage?
(A) A comparison of two interpretations of how a particular industry evolved
(B) An examination of the origin of a particular concept in industrial economics
(C) A study that points out the weakness of a particular interpretation of an industrial phenomenon
(D) A history of a particular industry from an ideological point of view
(E) An attempt to relate an industrial phenomenon in one industry to a similar phenomenon in another industry

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day : Reading Comprehension

In 1896 a Georgia couple suing for damages in the accidental death of their two year old was told that since the child had made no real economic contribution to the family, there was no liability for damages. In contrast, less than a century later, in 1979, the parents of a three-year-old sued in New York for accidental-death damages and won an award of $750,000.
The transformation in social values implicit in juxtaposing these two incidents is the subject of Viviana Zelizer’s excellent book, Pricing the Priceless Child. During the nineteenth century, she argues, the concept of the “useful” child who contributed to the family economy gave way gradually to the present-day notion of the “useless” child who, though producing no income for, and indeed extremely costly to, its parents, is yet considered emotionally “priceless.” Well established among segments of the middle and upper classes by the mid-1800’s, this new view of childhood spread throughout society in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries as reformers introduced child-labor regulations and compulsory education laws predicated in part on the assumption that a child’s emotional value made child labor taboo.

For Zelizer the origins of this transformation were many and complex. The gradual erosion of children’s productive value in a maturing industrial economy, the decline in birth and death rates, especially in child mortality, and the development of the companionate family (a family in which members were united by explicit bonds of love rather than duty) were all factors critical in changing the assessment of children’s worth. Yet “expulsion of children from the ‘cash nexus,’ although clearly shaped by profound changes in the economic, occupational, and family structures,” Zelizer maintains, “was also part of a cultural process ‘of sacrelization’ of children’s lives.” Protecting children from the crass business world became enormously important for late-nineteenth-century middle-class Americans, she suggests; this sacralization was a way of resisting what they perceived as the relentless corruption of human values by the marketplace.

In stressing the cultural determinants of a child’s worth, Zelizer takes issue with practitioners of the new “sociological economics,” who have analyzed such traditionally sociological topics as crime, marriage, education, and health solely in terms of their economic determinants. Allowing only a small role for cultural forces in the form of individual “preferences,” these sociologists tend to view all human behaviors as directed primarily by the principle of maximizing economic gain. Zelizer is highly critical of this approach, and emphasizes instead the opposite phenomenon: the power of social values to transform price. As children became more valuable in emotional terms, she argues, their “exchange” or “surrender” value on the market, that is, the conversion of their intangible worth into cash terms, became much greater.

1) It can be inferred from the passage that accidental-death damage awards in America during the nineteenth century tended to be based principally on the
(A) earnings of the person at time of death
(B) wealth of the party causing the death
(C) degree of culpability of the party causing the death
(D) amount of money that had been spent on the person killed
(E) amount of suffering endured by the family of the person killed

2) It can be inferred from the passage that in the early 1800’s children were generally regarded by their families as individuals who
(A) needed enormous amounts of security and affection
(B) required constant supervision while working
(C) were important to the economic well-being of a family
(D) were unsuited to spending long hours in school
(E) were financial burdens assumed for the good of society

3) Which of the following alternative explanations of the change in the cash value of children would be most likely to be put forward by sociological economists as they are described in the passage?
(A) The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because parents began to increase their emotional investment in the upbringing of their children.
(B) The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because their expected earnings over the course of a lifetime increased greatly.
(C) The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because the spread of humanitarian ideals resulted in a wholesale reappraisal of the worth of an individual.
(D) The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because compulsory education laws reduced the supply, and thus raised the costs, of available child labor.
(E) The cash value of children rose during the nineteenth century because of changes in the way negligence law assessed damages in accidental death cases.

4) The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) review the literature in a new academic sub-field
(B) present the central thesis of a recent book
(C) contrast two approaches to analyzing historical change
(D) refute a traditional explanation of a social phenomenon
(E) encourage further work on a neglected historical topic

5) It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following statements was true of American families over the course of the nineteenth century?
(A) The average size of families grew considerably.
(B) The percentage of families involved in industrial work declined dramatically.
(C) Family members became more emotionally bonded to one another.
(D) Family members spent an increasing amount of time working with each other.
(E) Family members became more economically dependent on each other.

6) Zelizer refers to all of the following as important influences in changing the assessment of children’s worth EXCEPT changes in
(A) the mortality rate
(B) the nature of industry
(C) the nature of the family
(D) attitudes toward reform movements
(E) attitudes toward the marketplace

7) Which of the following would be most consistent with the practices of sociological economics as these practices are described in the passage?
(A) Arguing that most health-care professionals enter the field because they believe it to be the most socially useful of any occupation
(B) Arguing that most college students choose majors that they believe will lea

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

The United States Supreme Court has not always resolved legal issues of concern to Native Americans in a manner that has pleased the Indian nations. Many of the Court’s decisions have been products of political compromise that looked more to the temper of the times than to enduring principles of law. But accommodation is part of the judicial system in the United States, and judicial decisions must be assessed with this fact in mind.
Despite the “accommodating” nature of the judicial system, it is worth noting that the power of the Supreme Court has been exercised in a manner that has usually been beneficial to Native Americans, at least on minor issues and has not been wholly detrimental on the larger, more important issues. Certainly there have been decisions that cast doubt on the validity of this assertion. Some critics point to the patronizing tone of many Court opinions and the apparent rejection of Native American values as important points to consider when reviewing a case. However, the validity of the assertion can be illustrated by reference to two important contributions that have resulted from the exercise of judicial power.

First the Court has created rules of judicial construction that in general favor the rights of Native American litigants. The Court’s attitude has been conditioned by recognition of the distinct disadvantages Native Americans faced when dealing with settlers in the past. Treaties were inevitably written in English for the benefit of their authors, whereas tribal leaders were accustomed to making treaties without any written account, on the strength of mutual promises sealed by religious commitment and individual integrity. The written treaties were often broken and Native Americans were confronted with fraud and political and military aggression. The Court recognizes that past unfairness to Native Americans cannot be sanctioned by the force of law. Therefore, ambiguities in treaties are to be interpreted in favor of the Native American claimants, treaties are to be interpreted as the Native Americans would have understood them and, under the reserved rights doctrine, treaties reserve to Native Americans all rights that have not been specifically granted away in other treaties.

A second achievement of the judicial system is the protection that has been provided against encroachment by the states into tribal affairs. Federal judges are not inclined to view favorably efforts to extend states powers and jurisdictions because of the direct threat that such expansion poses to the exercise of federal powers. In the absence of a federal statute directly and clearly allocating a function to the states, federal judges are inclined to reserve for the federal government—and the tribal governments under its charge—all those powers and rights they can be said to have possessed historically.

1) According to the passage, one reason why the United States Supreme Court “has not always resolved legal issues of concern to Native Americans in a manner that has pleased the Indian nations” (lines 1-4) is that
(A) Native Americans have been prevented from presenting their concerns persuasively
(B) the Court has failed to recognize that the Indian nations’ concerns are different from those of other groups or from those of the federal government
(C) the Court has been reluctant to curtail the powers of the federal government
(D) Native Americans faced distinct disadvantages in dealing with settlers in the past
(E) the Court has made political compromises in deciding some cases

2) It can be inferred that the objections raised by the critics mentioned in line 18 would be most clearly answered by a United States Supreme Court decision that
(A) demonstrated respect for Native Americans and the principles and qualities they consider important
(B) protected the rights of the states in conflicts with the federal government
(C) demonstrated recognition of the unfair treatment Native Americans received in the past
(D) reflected consideration of the hardships suffered by Native Americans because of unfair treaties
(E) prevented repetition of inequities experienced by Native Americans in the past

3) It can be inferred that the author calls the judicial system of the United States “accommodating” (line 10) primarily in order to
(A) suggest that the decisions of the United States Supreme Court have been less favorable to Native Americans than most people believe
(B) suggest that the United States Supreme Court should be more supportive of the goals of Native Americans
(C) suggest a reason why the decisions of the United States Supreme Court have not always favored Native Americans
(D) indicate that the United States Supreme Court has made creditable efforts to recognize the values of Native Americans
(E) indicate that the United States Supreme Court attempts to be fair to all parties to a case

4) The author’s attitude toward the United States Supreme Court’s resolution of legal issues of concern to Native Americans can best be described as one of
(A) wholehearted endorsement
(B) restrained appreciation
(C) detached objectivity
(D) cautious opposition
(E) suppressed exasperation

5) It can be inferred that the author believes that the extension of the states’ powers and jurisdictions with respect to Native American affairs would be
(A) possible only with the consent of the Indian nations
(B) favorably viewed by the United States Supreme Court
(C) in the best interests of both state and federal governments
(D) detrimental to the interests of Native Americans
(E) discouraged by most federal judges in spite of legal precedents supporting the extension

6) The author’s primary purpose is to
(A) contrast opposing views
(B) reevaluate traditional beliefs
(C) reconcile divergent opinions
(D) assess the claims made by disputants
(E) provide evidence to support a contention

7) It can be inferred that the author believes the United States Supreme Court’s treatment of Native Americans to have been
(A) irreproachable on legal grounds
(B) reasonably supportive in most situations
(C) guided by enduring principles of law
(D) misguided but generally harmless
(E) harmful only in a few minor cases

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

What is “law”? By what processes do judges arrive at opinions, those documents that justify their belief that the “law” dictates a conclusion one way or the other? These are among the oldest questions in jurisprudence, debate about which has traditionally been dominated by representatives of two schools of thought: proponents of natural law, who see law as intertwined with a moral order independent of society’s rules and mores, and legal positivists, who see law solely as embodying the commands of a society’s ruling authority.

Since the early 1970s, these familiar questions have received some new and surprising answers in the legal academy. This novelty is in part a consequence of the increasing influence there of academic disciplines and intellectual traditions previously unconnected with the study of law. Perhaps the most influential have been the answers given by the Law and Economics school. According to these legal economists, law consists and ought to consist of those rules that maximize a society’s material wealth and that abet the efficient operation of markets designed to generate wealth. More controversial have been the various answers provided by members of the Critical Legal Studies movement, according to whom law is one among several cultural mechanisms by which holders of power seek to legitimate their domination. Drawing on related arguments developed in anthropology, sociology, and history, the critical legal scholars contend that law is an expression of power, but not, as held by the positivists, the power of the legitimate sovereign government. Rather, it is an expression of the power of elites who may have no legitimate authority, but who are intent on preserving the privileges of their race, class, or gender.

In the mid-1970s, James Boyd White began to articulate yet another interdisciplinary response to the traditional questions, and in so doing spawned what is now known as the Law and Literature movement. White has insisted that law, particularly as it is interpreted in judicial opinions, should be understood as an essentially literary activity. Judicial opinions should be read and evaluated not primarily as political acts or as attempts to maximize society’s wealth through efficient rules, but rather as artistic performances. And like all such performances, White argues, each judicial opinion attempts in its own way to promote a particular political or ethical value.
In the recent Justice as Translation, White argues that opinion-writing should be regarded as an act of “translation,” and judges as “translators.” As such, judges find themselves mediating between the authoritative legal text and the pressing legal problem that demands resolution. A judge must essentially “re-constitute” that text by fashioning a new one, which is faithful to the old text but also responsive to and informed by the conditions, constraints, and aspirations of the world in which the new legal problem has arisen.

1) Which one of the following best states the main idea of the passage?
(A) Within the last few decades, a number of novel approaches to jurisprudence have defined the nature of the law in diverse ways.
(B) Within the last few decades, changes in society and in the number and type of cases brought to court have necessitated new methods of interpreting the law.
(C) Of the many interdisciplinary approaches to jurisprudence that have surfaced in the last tow decades, the Law and Literature movement is the most intellectually coherent.
(D) The Law and Literature movement, first articulated by James Boyd White in the mid-1970s, represents a synthesis of the many theories of jurisprudence inspired by the social sciences.
(E) Such traditional legal scholars as legal positivists and natural lawyers are increasingly on the defensive against attacks from younger, more progressive theorists.

2) According to the passage, judicial opinions have been described as each of the following EXCEPT:
(A) political statements
(B) arcane statements
(C) economic statements
(D) artistic performances
(E) acts of translation

3) Which one of the following statements is most compatible with the principles of the Critical Legal Studies movement as that movement is described in the passage?
(A) Laws governing the succession of power at the death of a head of state represent a synthesis of legal precedents, specific situations, and the values of lawmakers.
(B) Laws allowing income tax deductions for charitable contributions, though ostensibly passed by lawmakers, were devised by and are perpetuated by the rich.
(C) Laws governing the tariffs placed on imported goods must favor the continuation of mutually beneficial trade arrangements, even at the expense of long-standing legal precedent.
(D) Laws governing the treatment of the disadvantaged and powerless members of a given society are an accurate indication of that society’s moral state.
(E) Laws controlling the electoral processes of a representative democracy have been devised by lawmakers to ensure the continuation of that governmental system.

4) Which one of the following does the passage mention as a similarity between the Critical Legal Studies movement and the Law and Literature movement?
(A) Both offer explanations of how elites maintain their hold on power.
(B) Both are logical extensions of either natural law or legal positivism.
(C) Both see economic and political primacy as the basis of all legitimate power.
(D) Both rely on disciplines not traditionally connected with the study of law.
(E) Both see the practice of opinion-writing as a mediating activity.

5) Which one of the following can be inferred from the passage about the academic study of jurisprudence before the 1970s?
(A) It was concerned primarily with codifying and maintaining the privileges of elites.
(B) It rejected theories that interpreted law as an expression of a group’s power.
(C) It seldom focused on how and by what authority judges arrived at opinions.
(D) It was concerned primarily with the study of law as an economic and moral agent.
(E) It was not concerned with such disciplines as anthropology and sociology.

6) Proponents of the Law and Literature movement would most likely agree with which one of the following statements concerning the relationship between the law and judges’ written opinions?
(A) The once-stable relationship between law and opinion-writing has been undermined by new and radical theoretical developments.
(B) Only the most politically conservative of judges continue to base their opinions on natural law or on legal positivism.
(C) The occurrence of different legal situations requires a judge to adopt diverse theoretical approaches to opinion-writing.
(D) Different judges will not necessarily write the same sorts of opinions when confronted with the same legal situation.
(E) Judges who subscribe to divergent theories of jurisprudence will necessarily render divergent opinions.

7) Which one of the following phrases best describes the meaning of “re-constitute” as that word is used in line 54 of the passage?
(A) categorize and rephrase
(B) investigate and summarize
(C) interpret and refashion
(D) paraphrase and announce
(E) negotiate and synthesize

8) The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) identify differing approaches
(B) discount a novel trend
(C) advocate traditional methods
(D) correct misinterpretations
(E) reconcile seeming inconsistencies

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

There are two major systems of criminal procedure in the modern world—the adversarial and the inquisitorial. Both systems were historically preceded by the system of private vengeance in which the victim of a crime fashioned a remedy and administered it privately, either personally or through an agent.

The modern adversarial system is only one historical step removed from the private vengeance system and still remains some of its characteristic feature. For example, even though the right to initiate legal action against a criminal has now been extended to all members of society (as represented by the office of the public prosecutor), and even though the police department has effectively assumed the pretrial investigative functions on behalf of the prosecution, the adversarial system still leaves the defendant to conduct his or her own pretrial investigation. The trial is views as a forensic duel between two adversaries, presided over by a judge who, at the start, has no knowledge of the investigative background of the case. In the final analysis the adversarial system of criminal procedure symbolizes and regularizes punitive combat.

By contrast, the inquisitorial system begins historically where the adversarial system stopped its development. It is two historical steps removed from the system of private vengeance. From the standpoint of legal anthropology, then, it is historically superior to the adversarial system. Under the inquisitorial system, the public prosecutor has the duty to investigate not just on behalf of society but also on behalf of the defendant. Additionally, the public prosecutor has the duty to present the court not only evidence that would convict the defendant, but also evidence that could prove the defendant’s innocence. The system mandates that both parties permit full pretrial discovery of the evidence in their possession. Finally, an aspect of the system that makes the trial less like a duel between two adversarial parties is that the inquisitorial system mandates that the judge take an active part in the conduct of the trial, with a role that is both directive and protective.

Fact-finding is at the heart of the inquisitorial system. This system operate on the philosophical premise that in a criminal action the crucial factor is the body of facts, not the legal rule (in contrast to the adversarial system ), and the goal of the entire procedure is to attempt to recreate, in the mind of the court, the commission of the alleged crime.

Because of the inquisitorial system’s thoroughness in conducting its pretrial investigation, it can be concluded that, if given the choice, a defendant who is innocent would prefer to be tried under the inquisitorial system, whereas a defendant who is guilty would prefer to be tried under the adversarial system.

1) It can be inferred from the passage that the crucial factor in a trial under the adversarial system is
(A) rules of legality
(B) dramatic reenactments of the crime
(C) the search for relevant facts
(D) the victim’s personal pursuit of revenge
(E) police testimony about the crime

2) The author sees the judge’s primary role in a trial under the inquisitorial system as that of
(A) passive observer
(B) biased referee
(C) uninvolved administrator
(D) aggressive investigator
(E) involved manager

3) According to the passage, a central distinction between the system of private vengeance and the two modern criminal procedure systems was the shift in responsibility for initiating legal action against a criminal from the
(A) defendant to the courts
(B) victim to society
(C) defendant to the prosecutor
(D) courts to a law enforcement agency
(E) victim to the judge

4) All of the following are characteristics of the inquisitorial system that the author cites EXCEPT
(A) It is based on cooperation rather than conflict.
(B) It encourages full disclosure of evidence.
(C) It requires that the judge play an active role in the conduct of the trial.
(D) It places the defendant in charge of his or her defense.
(E) It favors the innocent.

5) The author’s attitude toward the inquisitorial system can best be described as
(A) doubtful that its judges can be both directive and protective
(B) satisfied that it has potential for uncovering the relevant facts in a case
(C) optimistic that it will replace the adversarial system
(D) wary about its downplaying of legal rules
(E) critical of its close relationship with the private vengeance system

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

Musicologists concerned with the “London Pianoforte school,” the group of composers, pedagogues, pianists, publishers, and builders who contributed to the development of the piano in London at the turn of the nineteenth century, have long encountered a formidable obstacle in the general unavailability of music of this “school” in modern scholarly editions. Indeed, much of this repertory has more or less vanished from our historical consciousness. Granted, the sonatas and Gradus ad Parnassum of Muzio Clementi and the nocturnes of John Field have remained familiar enough (though more often than not in editions lacking scholarly rigor), but the work of other leading representatives, like Johann Baptist Cramer and Jan Ladislav Dussek, has eluded serious attempts at revival.
Nicholas Temperley’s ambitious new anthology decisively overcomes this deficiency. What underscores the intrinsic value of Temperley’s editions is that the anthology reproduces nearly all of the original music in facsimile. Making available this cross section of English musical life—some 800 works by 49 composers—should encourage new critical perspectives about how piano music evolved in England, an issue of considerable relevance to our understanding of how piano music developed on the European continent, and of how, finally, the instrument was transformed from the fortepiano to what we know today as the piano.

To be sure, the London Pianoforte school itself calls for review. “School” may well be too strong a word for what was arguably a group unified not so much by stylistic principles or aesthetic creed as by the geographical circumstance that they worked at various times in London and produced pianos and piano music for English pianos and English markets. Indeed, Temperley concedes that their “variety may be so great as to cast doubt on the notion of a ‘school.’”

The notion of a school was first propounded by Alexander Ringer, who argued that laws of artistic survival forced the young, progressive Beethoven to turn outside Austria for creative models, and that he found inspiration in a group of pianists connected with Clementi in London. Ringer’s proposed London Pianoforte school did suggest a circumscribed and fairly unified group—for want of a better term, a school—of musicians whose influence was felt primarily in the decades just before and after 1800. After all, Beethoven did respond to the advances of the Broadwood piano—its reinforced frame, extended compass, triple stringing, and pedals, for example—and it is reasonable to suppose that London pianists who composed music for such an instrument during the critical phase of its development exercised no small degree of influence on Continental musicians. Nevertheless, perhaps the most sensible approach to this issue is to define the school by the period (c. 1766-1873) during which it flourished, as Temperley has done in the anthology.

1) Which one of the following most accurately states the author’s main point?
(A) Temperley has recently called into question the designation of a group of composers, pedagogues, pianists, publishers, and builders as the London Pianoforte school.
(B) Temperley’s anthology of the music of the London Pianoforte school contributes significantly to an understanding of an influential period in the history of music.
(C) The music of the London Pianoforte school has been revived by the publication of Temperley’s new anthology.
(D) Primary sources for musical manuscripts provide the most reliable basis for musicological research.
(E) The development of the modern piano in England influenced composers and other musicians throughout Europe.

2) It can be inferred that which one of the following is true of the piano music of the London Pianoforte school?
(A) The nocturnes of John Field typify the London Pianoforte school style.
(B) The Gradus ad Parnassum of Muzio Clementi is the best-known work of these composers.
(C) No original scores for this music are extant.
(D) Prior to Temperley’s edition, no attempts to issue new editions of this music had been made.
(E) In modern times much of the music of this school has been little known even to musicians.

3) The author mentions the sonatas of Muzio Clementi and the nocturnes of John Field as examples of which one of the following?
(A) works by composers of the London Pianoforte school that have been preserved in rigorous scholarly editions
(B) works that are no longer remembered by most people
(C) works acclaimed by the leaders of the London Pianoforte school
(D) works by composers of the London Pianoforte school that are relatively well known
(E) works by composers of the London Pianoforte school that have been revived by Temperley in his anthology

4) Which one of the following, if true, would most clearly undermine a portion of Ringer’s argument as the argument is described in the passage?
(A) Musicians in Austria composed innovative music for the Broadwood piano as soon as the instrument became available.
(B) Clementi and his followers produced most of their compositions between 1790 and 1810.
(C) The influence of Continental musicians is apparent in some of the works of Beethoven.
(D) The pianist-composers of the London Pianoforte school shared many of the same stylistic principles.
(E) Most composers of the London Pianoforte school were born on the Continent and were drawn to London by the work of Clementi and his followers.

5) It can be inferred that the author uses the word “advances” (line 49) to refer to
(A) enticements offered musicians by instrument manufacturers
(B) improvements in the structure of a particular instrument
(C) innovations in the forms of music produced for a particular instrument
(D) stylistic elaborations made possible by changes in a particular instrument
(E) changes in musicians’ opinions about a particular instrument

6) It can be inferred from the passage as a whole that the author’s purpose in the third paragraph is primarily to
(A) cast doubt on the usefulness of Temperley’s study of the London Pianoforte school
(B) introduce a discussion of the coherency of the London Pianoforte school
(C) summarize Ringer’s argument about the London Pianoforte school
(D) emphasize the complex nature of the musicological elements shared by members of the London Pianoforte school
(E) identify the unique contributions made to music by the London Pianoforte school

7) The author of the passage is primarily concerned with
(A) explaining the influence of the development of the pianoforte on the music of Beethoven
(B) describing Temperley’s view of the contrast between the development of piano music in England and the development of piano music elsewhere in Europe
(C) presenting Temperley’s evaluation of the impact of changes in piano construction on styles and forms of music composed in the era of the London Pianoforte school
(D) considering an alternative theory to that proposed by Ringer concerning the London Pianoforte school
(E) discussing the contribution of Temperley’s anthology to what is known of the history of the London Pianoforte school

8) It can be inferred that Temperley’s anthology treats the London Pianoforte school as
(A) a group of pianist-composers who shared certain stylistic principles and artistic creeds
(B) a group of people who contributed to the development of piano music between 1766 and 1873
(C) a group of composers who influenced the music of Beethoven in the decades just before and just after 1800
(D) a series of compositions for the pianoforte published in the decades just before and just after 1800
(E) a series of compositions that had a significant influence on the music of the Continent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

Google Buzz

Idiom List

Idiom List

1) a debate over
2) a lot
3) a responsibility to
4) a result of
5) a sequence of
6) acclaimed as is the correct idiom (Acclaimed to be is wrong)
7) accompanied by….
8) adapted for
9) Adverb twice cannot be an object of proposition ?by?. ?Increase by twice? is incorrect; ?doubled? is correct
10) affect to..
11) agree with
12) Aid in (Aid for is incorrect)
13) Allergy to (Allergy of, allergy for are incorrect)
14) Allocated to is the correct idiom
15) alternative to….
16) as a result of…
17) as an instance of
18) as good as…or better than
19) as great as
20) as much as
21) Associate X with Y
22) assume …to be of…
23) At least as strong as(At least as great as)
24) Attempt to ?do something? (Attempt at doing is incorrect).
25) attend to (someone)
26) attribute X to Y/X is attributed to Y
27) based on
28) believe X to be Y
29) Believed to have
30) benefit from…
31) better served by X than Y ..
32) between X and Y
33) Both X and Y (Both X as well as Y is incorrect) Both at X and at Y is correct. Both on X or on Y is correct.
34) Business ethics – Is a singular word
35) call…to consider…
36) centers on
37) Combined X with Y OR Combined X and Y (Both are correct)
38) Compensate for
39) Concerned for – worried; concerned with – related/affiliated
40) conform to
41) Consider X to be Y (a little controversial)
42) contrary to…
43) created with
44) Credit X Rupees to Y?s account (When money is involved)
45) Credit X with discovering Y (Credit with doing something)
46) decline in….
47) defined as
48) depends on whether
49) depicted as
50) Descendent of (Descendent for is incorrect)
51) Different from one another (Different one from the other is wrong)
52) Distinguish between X and Y (2 very different items, distinguished, say red and green colors)
53) Distinguish between X and Y (Distinguish X from Y is incorrect)
54) Distinguish X from Y (Two pretty similar items, say original paintings from fake ones)
55) doubt that
56) either…or
57) enable to
58) entrusted with…
59) Estimated to be (Estimated at is incorrect)
60) expected that X would be Y …
61) expected X to be Y …
62) extent to …
63) fascinated by
64) for jobs..
65) for over…XXX years…
66) forbid X to do Y identical with
67) forcing …to…
68) From X to Y (Grow from 2 million to 3 billion) (From X up to Y is wrong)
69) Given credit for being ones – who
70) had better(do)
71) In an attempt to (gain control)
72) in contrast to
73) independent from
74) indifferent towards
75) Intent on
76) interaction of …
77) Just as – So too
78) May be (This is a word) is idiomatic, maybe (This means perhaps) is not idiomatic
79) Mistake X for Y
80) modeled after
81) more than ever
82) more X than Y …
83) more…than / less…than
84) more…than ever…
85) must have (done)
86) Native of (Native to is also used in some cases)
87) Neither – Nor should have parallel forms associated to it.
88) no less….than
89) No sooner than
90) Not in a flash but in a
91) not only…but also
92) Not so much to X as to Y
93) not X …but rather Y ..
94) noted that ..
95) one attributes X (an effect) to Y (a cause)
96) One X for every ZZ( some numeric number) Y’s …
97) Persuaded X to do Y
98) Plead guilty for failing
99) Potential for causing
100) potential to
101) prohibits X from doing Y
102) range from X to Y
103) range of …
104) reason?.. that incorrectly seen as reason?.. because
105) ?Regard as? is the correct idiom — Regarded as having, Regarded as ones who have
106) regardless
107) regards X as Y …
108) replacing with…
109) Require that X be Y (Not require that X is Y)
110) research to
111) responsible for
112) restitution…for …
113) resulting in
114) retroactive to
115) Same as X..as to Y
116) same to X as to Y
117) seem…to…(seem is plural)
118) so (adjective) that
119) So X as to be Y (So unreal as to be true)
120) So X that Y (So poor that they steal)
121) subscribe to
122) such…as
123) targeted at
124) that X …that Y …
125) That X is called for is indicated both by Y and by Z.
126) the same to X as to Y
127) to .. used to (example to get used to or to become used to)
128) to contrast X with Y
129) To exchange X for Y (exchange X with Y or any other form is incorrect)
130) to mistake X for Y
131) to monitor …
132) to orbit…
133) To ratify (At ratifying is incorrect) An attempt to ratify is the correct use
134) to result in
135) to sacrifice X for Y
136) to survive
137) To try to fix is the right idiom (to try and fix is incorrect)
138) To worry about someone?s condition (To keep worrying over an action)
139) used in the construction…
140) used to (do)
141) viewed marriage as
142) way to provide (Way for providing is incorrect)
143) When ?rates? means ?prices charged? it should be followed with ?for?
144) widely anticipated that….
145) Worried about (When talking about someone?s condition)
146) X [is] expected to Y
147) X as Y ..
148) X forbids Y to do Z …
149) X is attributed to Y
150) X is different from Y (different than Y is incorrect)
151) X is to what Y is to
152) X is unknown, nor it is known – is a correct idiom (Neither is not required)
153) X ordered that Y be Z’ed…
154) X ordered Y to be Z’ed..
155) X ordered Y to do Z
156) X prohobits Y from doing Z …

(Contributed by David)

Note: Add more idioms in comment box. We will add them asap.

Google Buzz

Ask a GMAT Question

Dear GMAT Taker,

Some times you may stumble upon a question which you feel difficult or looking for some new ideas. Then this is right place for you.
Just Follow these Three simple steps.

Step 1 : Login
>> Login at http://www.takegmat.com/wp-login.php

Step 1

Step 2: click on” write an article”

Step 2

Step 3: Write your question and just save it.

Step 3

Now just post your question in above box. It will not publish instantly. But it show in your save draft. We will review it and make GMAT question of the day as soon as possible.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

OR just do one simple thing,

Copy and paste your question here in comment Box… We will review it and make it GMAT Question of the Day as soon as possible……………..

.

.

.

.

.

.

.
OR
We are just a click away.Just mail your questions at takegmat@gmail.com

Google Buzz

Special “GMAT 700+ Batch” from Sunday

Dear Achiever,
Warm Regards!
Great Thanks for showing your interest in our fresh & innovative study methods, techniques & procedures. As per your request I am hereby sending you the relevant details regarding GMAT Coaching Curriculum at AchieversPoint.Com as below:
TakeGMAT.com and Achievers Point offer Online coaching for future leaders
  • Freshly developed study material based on Latest GMAT trends.
  • Special “ISB Hyderabad” batches.
  • Classes by passionate faculty having appeared in real GMAT exam.
  • Visual Vocab: For Difficult Reading Comprehension Words
  • Complete assistance in MBA admission process & Interviews.
  • Special classes on “Verbal Mania”
  • Option to take “Live Online Tutoring” from the best faculty available across the world through tutorplaces.com.
  • Batch for sure shot high score.
Classroom Coaching, Techniques & Study Material:
We conduct the classes for each & every Section of GMAT separately i.e AWA, Verbal & Maths. The Duration of whole coaching is 2-3 Months.
We provide the following Study Material to due students: Achievers Point Study Material For each Section & Sub Section as below
  • AWA
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Critical Reasoning
  • Sentence Correction
  • Problem Solving
  • Data Consistency
  • TOC (Maths Work Book)
Reference Books:
  • Kaplan
  • Princeton
  • Pearson
  • Dr. Dave
  • TMH
  • GMAT Official Guide 12th Edition
  • Pearson Online Full Length Exams
  • 30-40 Full Length GMAT Test Series, CD”s Softwares etc.
  • Latest questions from http://www.takegmat.com/, orkut, facebook & many more places.
Techniques:
  • Live E-rator for AWA
  • WOW (Win Over Words) Dictionary
  • Verbal Killer Guide
  • Observation, Logical & Short Cut Methods & Techniques for Maths
Duration: 60 Hours
Cost: Rs 21,000/- only.(inclusive service tax,mock tests,& study material).
Online Coaching & Study Material:
Your trainer will design a personalized curriculum based on your needs and wants – whatever schedule fits your busy demands (including weekends). After an initial diagnostic assessment of strengths and weaknesses, your teacher will work with you to design an individualized study plan that makes the most of the time frame that you specify and the score that you need.
Our teachers are flexible and accommodating and will ensure that sessions are held with your convenience as a top priority. Whether you are looking for a three-month tutorial, we will design a plan that works for you. We do all the work – we prepare comprehensive test materials, make you conversant with the important concepts and teach you techniques to save time on the GMAT exam. Give us 20 hours.
We provide the Online Study Material & Classes through our website http://www.tutorplaces.com . We will be sending you the material at your postal address & provide you online classes as per your convenient timings.Currently we have students from Brazil, USA, UK, UAE, France, India, Germany etc. Following are the details regarding the same:-
Duration:
30 classes, Cost: Rs 18,000/- only.(inclusive service tax,mock tests,&study material).
20 classes, Cost: Rs.11,236/- only.(inclusive service tax,mock tests,&study material).
Buy Now: http://www.achieverspoint.com/tutorplaces/buy.htm
Correspondence Course & Study Material:
Achievers GMAT Correspondence Course Methodology:
  • Our efficiency gives optimum results in half the time of other methods because we use eternal Vedic Math to solve questions very quickly.
  • Curriculum is designed to cover all critical aspects of exams in detail.
  • From the mentors who know it BEST.
  • Question under different heading help the candidate to grasp the desired information in a proper way.
  • About 10 per cent of the material is dedicated to studying how the questions are constructed.
  • Exactly based on latest pattern of GMAT exam.
  • More emphasize on difficult questions particularly on Probability, Co-ordinate Geometry, graphs and inequalities.
  • Amazing approach to attack on verbal questions even if do not know the given word.
Delivery Of Package: One time at the time of joining
Buy Now: http://www.achieverspoint.com/gmat/gmat-correspondence-course.htm
For more details visit :http://www.achieverspoint.com/gmat-coaching.htm or call at 09873264123
Admission Counselling Service
Confused about the universities and the course to opt for?
We have the solution !
Get all the admission related services under one roof at Achievers Point.
Services which we provide are : -
  • Short listing of Universities based on the student’s profile
  • Editing of LORs, SOPs, Essays, Resume and Financial aid essays
  • Assistance in filling the online applications and sending the hard copies of documents
  • Prepare all your documents which include application forms, financial aid applications, transcripts, and financial statements
  • Loan assistance from major banks and financial Institutions
  • Post application follow ups
  • Scholarships up to 100%
  • Interview Preparation
  • Assisting you in networking with professors in universities to improve your chances of admission and financial aid
  • Visa Counseling
  • 100% success rate
  • Foreign exchange and air tickets information
  • Pre departure mobile phone connections for the country you are going to
BEST OFFER
Join GMAT + Admission Counselling, Get FREE TOEFL & Visa Counselling
For more details visit :
http://www.achieverspoint.com/gmat/gmat-coaching-india.htm

Or call 24 hours Helpline: 09899004123

Thanking You

Raj Laxmi
AchieversPoint.com Team
==============================================

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.
1497, Wazir Nagar, Near ICICI Bank Defence Colony, New Delhi-110003
Phone: +91-11-46543884, 24652070 +91-987366-4123, 987372-4123, 987390-4123,  921217-4123, 999942-4123, 987354-4123
dc@achieverspoint.com

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.
F-16, Third Floor,Near Preet Vihar Metro Station, Preet Vihar, Delhi-110092
Phone: +91-11-42951058, +91-995343-4123, 987392-4123, 995380-4123
pv@achieverspoint.com

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.
NM 1, First Floor, Old DLF Colony,Near Sector 14,Gurgaon-122001
Phone: +91-995377-4123,975391-4123,975392-4123
gurgaon@achieverspoint.com

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.
D-44, Near Nirula’s Hotel, Sector-2, Noida-210301
Phone: +91-120-4540956, +91-995370-4123, 999990-4123, 995368-4123
noida@achieverspoint.com

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.
37, Near Metro Pillar No. 373, Raja Garden, New Delhi-110015
Phone: +91-11-25414056, +91-989998-4123, 987326-4123, 987393-4123
rg@achieverspoint.com

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.
17A, Business Point, SV Road, Near Sub Way, Beside DCB Bank, Andheri(W), Mumbai-400058
Phone: +91-982016-4123, 982026-4123
mumbai@achieverspoint.com

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.
871, Swanand, Opposite Spencer’s Daily, Bhandarkar Road, Pune-411004
Phone: +91-20-25654123, 41227152, +91-932532-4123, 922554-4123, 973014-4123
pune@achieverspoint.com

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.,
Fifth Floor, Sudheer Tapani Towers, No. 3-6-271, Opposite Telugu Academy, Himayat Nagar, Hyderabad- 500029
Phone: +91-970336-4123, 970337-4123, 970340-4123
hyd@achieverspoint.com

Achievers Point Knowledge Systems Pvt. Ltd.,
Second Floor, 202, Mahendra Residency, No. 7-1-455/243/5, Beside Aditya Trade Centre, Ameerpet, Hyderabad- 500036
Phone: +91-924622-4123, 970338-4123, 970327-4123
ap@achieverspoint.com

24 Hours Study Abroad Helpline: +91-989900-4123
help@achieverspoint.com

http://www.AchieversPoint.com

24 Hours Study Abroad Helpline: +91-989900-4123
help@achieverspoint.com
www.achieverspoint.com
===============================================

Dear Achiever,

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day : Sentence Correction

After adopting broadband internet access, wireless personal digital assistants, and super-fast home PCs, Weston Insurance has hired new employees, which doubles to 250 the junior staff in the claims department working from home.

A. which doubles to 250 the junior staff in the claims department
B. doubling to 250 the number of junior staff members in the claims department
C. which doubles to 250 the junior staff of the claims department
D. doubling to 250 the number of junior staff members of the claims department
E. which doubles to 250 the junior staff in the claims department that

Google Buzz

.1 ..2… 3…. 4….. 5…… 6……Breaking News

.1…2….3…. 4….. 5…… 6………………………Good News… TakeGMAT Team pleased to announce that now you will receive not 1, 2 or 3….Total six questions a day…….On the each interval of 4 hours. We can increase or decrease the frequency of questions depends on your feedback.

Topics includes
> Critical Resoning
> Sentence Correction
> Reading Comprehension
> Data Sufficiency
> Problem Solving
> PS/DS

We love to hear you, just drop a line below for us (not necessary words of appreciation)……….

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day : Reading Comprehension

The fact that superior service can generate a competitive advantage for a company does not mean that every attempt at improving service will create such an advantage. Investments in service, like those in production and distribution, must be balanced against other types of investments on the basis of direct, tangible benefits such as cost reduction and increased revenues. If a company is already effectively on a par with its competitors because it provides service that avoids a damaging reputation and keeps customers from leaving at an unacceptable rate, then investment in higher service levels may be wasted, since service is a deciding factor for customers only in extreme situations.

This truth was not apparent to managers of one regional bank, which failed to improve its competitive position despite its investment in reducing the time a customer had to wait for a teller. The bank managers did not recognize the level of customer inertia in the consumer banking industry that arises from the inconvenience of switching banks. Nor did they analyze their service improvement to determine whether it would attract new customers by producing a new standard of service that would excite customers or by proving difficult for competitors to copy. The only merit of the improvement was that it could easily be described to customers.

1) The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) contrast possible outcomes of a type of business investment
(B) suggest more careful evaluation of a type of business investment
(C) illustrate various ways in which a type of business investment could fail to enhance revenues
(D) trace the general problems of a company to a certain type of business investment
(E) criticize the way in which managers tend to analyze the costs and benefits of business investments

2) According to the passage, investments in service are comparable to investments in production and distribution in terms of the
(A) tangibility of the benefits that they tend to confer
(B) increased revenues that they ultimately produce
(C) basis on which they need to be weighed
(D) insufficient analysis that managers devote to them
(E) degree of competitive advantage that they are likely to provide

3) The passage suggests which of the following about service provided by the regional bank prior to its investment in enhancing that service?
(A) It enabled the bank to retain customers at an acceptable rate.
(B) It threatened to weaken the bank’s competitive position with respect to other regional banks.
(C) It had already been improved after having caused damage to the bank’s reputation in the past.
(D) It was slightly superior to that of the bank’s regional competitors.
(E) It needed to be improved to attain parity with the service provided by competing banks.

4) The passage suggests that bank managers failed to consider whether or not the service improvement mentioned in line 19
(A) was too complicated to be easily described to prospective customers
(B) made a measurable change in the experiences of customers in the bank’s offices
(C) could be sustained if the number of customers increased significantly
(D) was an innovation that competing banks could have imitated
(E) was adequate to bring the bank’s general level of service to a level that was comparable with that of its competitors

5) The discussion of the regional bank (line 13-24) serves which of the following functions within the passage as a whole?
(A) It describes an exceptional case in which investment in service actually failed to produce a competitive advantage.
(B) It illustrates the pitfalls of choosing to invest in service at a time when investment is needed more urgently in another area.
(C) It demonstrates the kind of analysis that managers apply when they choose one kind of service investment over another.
(D) It supports the argument that investments in certain aspects of service are more advantageous than investments in other aspects of service.
(E) It provides an example of the point about investment in service made in the first paragraph.

6) The author uses the word ”only” in line 23 most likely in order to
(A) highlight the oddity of the service improvement
(B) emphasize the relatively low value of the investment in service improvement
(C) distinguish the primary attribute of the service improvement from secondary attributes
(D) single out a certain merit of the service improvement from other merits
(E) point out the limited duration of the actual service improvement

Google Buzz

GMAT Question of the Day: Reading Comprehension

The number of women directors appointed to corporate boards in the United States has increased dramatically, but the ratio of female to male directors remains low. Although pressure to recruit women directors, unlike that to employ women in the general work force, does not derive from legislation, it is nevertheless real.

Although small companies were the first to have women directors, large corporations currently have a higher percentage of women on their boards. When the chairs of these large corporations began recruiting women to serve on boards, they initially sought women who were chief executive officers (CEO�s) of large corporations. However, such women CEO�s are still rare. In addition, the ideal of six CEO�s (female or male) serving on the board of each of the largest corporations is realizable only if every CEO serves on six boards. This raises the specter of director over-commitment and the resultant dilution of contribution.

Consequently, the chairs next sought women in business who had the equivalent of CEO experience. However, since it is only recently that large numbers of women have begun to rise in management, the chairs began to recruit women of high achievement outside the business world. Many such women are well known for their contributions in government, education, and the nonprofit sector. The fact that the women from these sectors who were appointed were often acquaintances of the boards� chairs seems quite reasonable: chairs have always considered it important for directors to interact comfortably in the boardroom.

Although many successful women from outside the business world are unknown to corporate leaders, these women are particularly qualified to serve on boards because of the changing nature of corporations. Today a company�s ability to be responsive to the concerns of the community and the environment can influence that company�s growth and survival. Women are uniquely positioned to be responsive to some of these concerns. Although conditions have changed, it should be remembered that most directors of both sexes are over fifty years old. Women of that generation were often encouraged to direct their attention toward efforts to improve the community. This fact is reflected in the career development of most of the outstandingly successful women of the generation now in their fifties, who currently serve on corporate boards: 25 percent are in education and 22 percent are in government, law, and the nonprofit sector.

One organization of women directors is helping business become more responsive to the changing needs of society by raising the level of corporate awareness about social issues, such as problems with the economy, government regulation, the aging population, and the environment. This organization also serves as a resource center of information on accomplished women who are potential candidates for corporate boards.

1) The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the following
statements about achievement of the �ideal� mentioned in line 14?
(A) It has only recently become a possibility.
(B) It would be easier to meet if more CEO�s were women.
(C) It is very close to being a reality for most corporate boards.
(D) It might affect the quality of directors� service to corporations.
(E) It would be more realizable if CEO�s had a more extensive range of business experience.

2) According to the passage, the pressure to appoint women to corporate boards differs from the pressure to employ women in the work force in which of the following ways?
(A) Corporate boards are under less pressure because they have such a small number of openings.
(B) Corporate boards have received less pressure from stockholders, consumers, and workers within companies to include women on their boards.
(C) Corporate boards have received less pressure from the media and the public to include women on their boards.
(D) Corporations have only recently been pressured to include women on their boards.
(E) Corporations are not subject to statutory penalty for failing to include women on their boards.

3) All of the following are examples of issues that the organization described in the last paragraph would be likely to advise corporations on EXCEPT
(A) long-term inflation
(B) health and safety regulations
(C) retirement and pension programs
(D) the energy shortage
(E) how to develop new markets

4) It can be inferred from the passage that, when seeking to appoint new members to a corporation�s board, the chair traditionally looked for candidates who
(A) had legal and governmental experience
(B) had experience dealing with community affairs
(C) could work easily with other members of the board
(D) were already involved in establishing policy for that corporation
(E) had influential connections outside the business world

5) According to the passage, which of the following is true about women outside the business world who are currently serving on corporate boards?
(A) Most do not serve on more than one board.
(B) A large percentage will eventually work on the staff of corporations.
(C) Most were already known to the chairs of the board to which they were appointed.
(D) A larger percentage are from government and law than are from the nonprofit sector.
(E) Most are less than fifty years old.

6) The passage suggests that corporations of the past differ from modern corporations in which of the following ways?
(A) Corporations had greater input on government policies affecting the business community.
(B) Corporations were less responsive to the financial needs of their employees.
(C) The ability of a corporation to keep up with changing markets was not a crucial factor in its success.
(D) A corporation�s effectiveness in coping with community needs was less likely to affect its growth and prosperity.
(E) Corporations were subject to more stringent government regulations.

7) Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?
(A) A problem is described, and then reasons why various proposed solutions succeeded or failed are discussed.
(B) A problem is described, and then an advantage of resolving it is offered.
(C) A problem is described, and then reasons for its continuing existence are summarized.
(D) The historical origins of a problem are described, and then various measures that have successfully resolved it are discussed.
(E) The causes of a problem are described, and then its effects are discussed.

8) It can be inferred from the passage that factors making women uniquely valuable members of modern corporate boards would include which of the following?
I) The nature of modern corporations
II) The increased number of women CEO�s
III) The careers pursued by women currently available to serve on corporate boards
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) I and III only
(E) I, II, and III

Google Buzz

Page 1 of 512345»

Join Now

Archives

Question by Date

September 2010
M T W T F S S
« Aug    
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  

Connect Now

Rss Feed Tweeter button Facebook button Technorati button Reddit button Myspace button Linkedin button Webonews button Delicious button Digg button Flickr button Stumbleupon button Newsvine button Youtube button