TEST II

30 Minutes 20 Questions

1.     For over fifty years, the ocean-freight industry worked to make ocean freighters faster and to lower their fuel consumption. Despite considerable success, the economics of the industry grew worse, until the industry was almost dead. What was wrong was an incongruity between assumptions and realities. The real costs came, not from time spent at sea, but from time spent in port during loading and unloading.Which of the following actions would be most likely to lead to a solution of the problem faced by the ocean-freight industry, as it is analyzed in the passage?

(A) Developing a ship’s engine that runs on a cheaper type of fuel than that traditionally used by ocean freighters

(B) Developing a ship with accessible cargo compartments that can be mechanically loaded and unloaded very rapidly

(C) Developing a ship whose freight capacity relative to the ship’s total volume is much larger than that of any existing ship

(D) Implementing a system to ensure that ocean freighters are loaded to capacity whenever they leave a port

(E) Implementing a marketing plan that focuses on routes that are known to be least threatened by unfavorable weather, thus permitting rapid trips and reliable arrival times

2.     The increased concentration of salt in the bay, which is the result of recent drought and high temperatures, will cause many fish to die. Shrimp, however, can tolerate high salt levels; the shrimp industry will not, therefore, be hurt by the increased concentration of salt.

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

(A) Some fish will migrate to areas that have lower concentrations of salt.

(B) Lack of rainfall for extended periods of time lowers the water level of bays.

(C) The organisms on which young shrimp feed cannot survive in such salty waters.

(D) Increased water temperature often causes shrimp to multiply more quickly.

(E) Shrimp are more abundant in areas of the bay that are sparsely populated by fish.

3.     Currently people in the United States eat, on the average, 1,431 pounds of food per year, 35 pounds more than in 1980. This increase is, at least in part, because people between the ages of 15 and 64 have accounted for an increasing share of the population.

Which of the following can be properly inferred from the passage above?

(A) More than half of the current population of the United States is between the ages of 15 and 64.

(B) The population has risen since 1980.

(C) Children below the age of 15 require, on the average, more food than do people over the age of 64.

(D) Before 1980 children below the age of 15 outnumbered people between the ages of 15 and 64.

(E) Individuals between the ages of 15 and 64 consume, on the average, more food than do those younger or older.

4.     Each increase of 1 percent in real disposable personal income per capita will increase the share of the electorate for an incumbent by about 2.2 percentage points, other things being equal. Since 1952 there has been a decline in real disposable income during only one presidential election year. The incumbent lost that election.

Which of the following conclusions can be properly drawn from the statements above?

(A) When an incumbent runs for office, he or she is likely to win.

(B) Political parties should take care to put forth a candidate who seems prosperous.

(C) Presidential candidates should put their greatest efforts into improving their public image.

(D) Because a presidential campaign requires the expenditure of large amounts of money, it frequently impoverishes a candidate and his or her supporters.

(E) The outcome of a presidential election is substantially affected by factors other than the ideological positions of the candidates.

5.     According to an independent computer-industry analyst, the new Regent microcomputer is of high quality, is fast, and costs less than any currently existing competing model. It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, as the manufacturer’s prospectus does, that the Regent will quickly establish itself as a fast-selling, low-priced alternative to currently available microcomputers.

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

(A) Many retailers already carry one or more low-priced microcomputer models and are disinclined to carry another.

(B) Several faster and lower-priced models of microcomputers will soon be introduced by other computer manufacturers.

(C) The Regent Corporation’s microcomputer can be used in conjunction with higher-priced microcomputers manufactured by other companies.

(D) Most of those individuals and companies that could be expected to make up the potential market for the Regent microcomputer have already filled their microcomputer needs.

(E) The independent computer-industry analyst whose assessment was incorporated in the prospectus has used measures of quality that are not universally accepted by the computer-buying public.

6.     Which of the following is the most logical completion of the passage below?Many companies have been pushing for a three-week extension of daylight saving time, which would mean that the sun would continue to set an hour later during the fall months. The owners of a chain of convenience stores, for example, expect to gain $15 million a year in additional sales, mostly from people who tend to______

(A) stay away from these stores after dark

(B) stay outdoors during the fall months

(C) spend more money in the fall

(D) spend less money in the fall

(E) shop at these stores when they are pressed for time