The price the government pays for standard weapons purchased from military contractors is determined by a pricing method called “historical costing.” Historical costing allows contractors to protect their profits by adding a percentage increase, based on the current rate of inflation, to the previous year’s contractual price.
Which of the following statements, if true, is the best basis for a criticism of historical costing as an economically sound pricing method for military contracts?

A) The government might continue to pay for past inefficient use of funds.
B) The rate of inflation has varied considerably over the past twenty years.
C) The contractual price will be greatly affected by the cost of materials used for the products.
D) Many taxpayers question the amount of money the government spends on military contracts.
E) The pricing method based on historical costing might not encourage the development of innovative weapons.

The used-car trade is the fastest-growing segment of the automobile market. Nowadays, about 6 out of every 10 cars and trucks sold are secondhand. This was bound to happen. Evidently, consumers are finally saying no to the ridiculously high and constantly rising new-car prices and are choosing instead to purchase used vehicles.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the argument above?

(A) Last year, sales of used vehicles totaled just over $18 million while sales of new vehicles totaled just under $16 million.

(B) Leasing a new vehicle for just two to four years has become very popular, so the number of available used vehicles is growing.

(C) A car dealer usually makes a profit of about $300 to $500 on a used car but only $100 or even less on a new vehicle.

(D) High-priced luxury import vehicles are significantly less likely to be found in the used-car market than less expensive vehicles.

(E) Many states have so-called “lemon laws” that require used-vehicle dealers to warrant vehicles that they sell for one to three months.

The number of people diagnosed as having a certain intestinal disease has dropped significantly in a rural county this year, as compared to last year. Health officials attribute this decrease entirely to improved sanitary conditions at water-treatment plants, which made for cleaner water this year and thus reduced the incidence of the disease.
Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the health officials’ explanation for the lower incidence of the disease?

A) many new water-treatment plants have been built in the last five years in the rural county.
B) Bottled spring water has not been consumed in significantly different quantities by people diagnosed as having the intestinal disease, as compared to people who did not contract the disease.
C) Because of a new diagnostic technique, many people who until this year would have been diagnosed as having the intestinal disease are now correctly diagnosed as suffering from intestinal ulcers.
D) Because of medical advances this year, far fewer people who contract the intestinal disease will develop severe cases of the disease.
E) The water in the rural county was brought up to the sanitary standards of the water in neighboring counties ten years ago.

Aristotle believed that human decision-making takes the form of a practical syllogism:

Major Premise: Sweet deserts are tasty.
Minor Premise: This is a piece of cake on my plate.

Conclusion: I’ll eat this piece of cake.

But Aristotle was not able to account for the problem of the akratic, someone who has knowledge of both the major premise and the minor premise and yet fails to act in accordance with this knowledge.

Which of the following best exemplifies the idea of the akratic?
(A) A doctor who prescribes an experimental drug because it is the only possible treatment for a condition
(B) A musician who practices diligently in order to become a better performer
(C) A smoker who is aware of the adverse consequences of tobacco smoke but smokes anyway
(D) A truck driver who forgets to activate a turn signal and causes an accident
(E) A person who enjoys musical theater and so attends a production of the musical Cats

Which of the following best completes the passage below?
In today?s pluralistic society, textbook publishers find themselves in an increasingly uncomfortable position. Since the schools are regarded as a repository of society?s moral and cultural values, each group within society wishes to prevent any material that offends its own values from appearing in textbooks. As a result, stance on an issue is certain to run afoul of one group or another. And since textbook publishers must rely on community goodwill to sell their books, it is inevitable that______

(A) fewer and fewer publishers will be willing to enter the financially uncertain textbook industry
(B) the ethical and moral content of textbooks will become increasingly neutral and bland
(C) more and more pressure groups will arise that seek to influence the content of textbooks
(D) the government will be forced to intervene in the increasingly rancorous debate over the content of textbooks
(E) school boards, teachers, and principals will find it nearly impossible to choose among the variety of textbooks being offered

In one state , all cities and most towns have antismoking ordinance . A petition entitled petition for statewide smoking restriction is being circulated to voters by campaign workers who ask only. Do you want to sign a petition for statewide smoking restriction the petition advocates a state law banning smoking in most retail establishments and in government offices that are open to the public .

Which of the following circumstances would make the petition as circulated misleading to voters who understand the proposal as extending the local ordinances statewide ?

A. The state law would not affect existing local ordinances baning smoking in places where the fire authorities have determined that smoking would constitute a fire hazard

B. Health costs associated with smoking cause health insurance premiums to rise for everyone and so affect nonsmokers

C. In rural areas of the state, there are relatively few retail establishment and government offices that are open to the public

D. The state law would supersede the local antismoking ordinances, which contain stronger bans than the state law does

E. There is considerable sentiment among voters in most areas of the state for restriction of smoking

A researcher discovered that people who have low levels of immune-system activity tend to score much lower on tests of mental health than do people with normal or high immune-system activity. The researcher concluded from this experiment that the immune system protects against mental illness as well as against physical disease.
The researcher’s conclusion depends on which of the following assumptions?

A) High immune-system activity protects against mental illness better than normal immune-system activity does.

B) Mental illness is similar to physical disease in its effects on body systems.

C) People with high immune-system activity cannot develop mental illness.

D) Mental illness does not cause people’s immune-system activity to decrease.

E) Psychological treatment of mental illness is not as effective as is medical treatment.

Which of the following best completes the passage below?

In a survey of job applicants, two-fifths admitted to being at least a little dishonest. However, the survey may underestimate the proportion of job applicants who are dishonest, because____.

A) some dishonest people taking the survey might have claimed on the survey to be honest

B) some generally honest people taking the survey might have claimed on the survey to be dishonest

C) some people who claimed on the survey to be at least a little dishonest may be very dishonest

D) some people who claimed on the survey to be dishonest may have been answering honestly

E) some people who are not job applicants are probably at least a little dishonest