INTERFERENCE

1. Duckbill dinosaurs, like today's monitor lizards, had particularly long tails, which they could
whip at considerable speed. Monitor lizards use their tails to strike predators. However,
although duckbill tails were otherwise very similar to those of monitor lizards, the duckbill's
tail bones were proportionately much thinner and thus more delicate. Moreover, to ward off
their proportionately much larger predators, duckbills would have had to whip their tails
considerably faster than monitor lizards do.

The information given, if accurate, provides the strongest support for which of the following
hypotheses?

(A) If duckbills whipped their tails faster than monitor lizards do, the duckbill's tail would have
been effective at warding off the duckbills' fiercest predators.

(B) Duckbills used their tails to strike predators, and their tailbones were frequently damaged
from the impact.

(C) Using their tails was not the only means duckbills had for warding off predators.

(D) Duckbills were at much greater risk of being killed by a predator than monitor lizards are.

(E) The tails of duckbills, if used to ward off predators, would have been more likely than the
tails of monitor lizards to sustain damage from the impact.

2. Archaeologists seeking the location of a legendary siege and destruction of a city are
excavating in several possible places, including a middle and a lower layer of a large mound.
The bottom of the middle layer contains some pieces of pottery of type 3, known to be from a
later period than the time of the destruction of the city, but the lower layer does not.

Which of the following hypotheses is best supported by the evidence above?

(A) The lower layer contains the remains of the city where the siege took place.

(B) The legend confuses stories from two different historical periods.

(C) The middle layer does not represent the period of the siege.

(D) The siege lasted for a long time before the city was destroyed.

(E) The pottery of type 3 was imported to the city by traders.

3. Partly because of bad weather, but also partly because some major pepper growers have
switched to high-priced cocoa, world production of pepper has been running well below
worldwide sales for three years. Pepper is consequently in relatively short supply. The price
of pepper has soared in response: it now equals that of cocoa.

Some observers have concluded that the rise in the price of pepper means that the switch by
some growers from pepper to cocoa left those growers no better off than if none of them had
switched; this conclusion, however, is unwarranted because it can be inferred to be likely
that

(A) those growers could not have foreseen how high the price of pepper would go

(B) the initial cost involved in switching from pepper to cocoa is substantial

(C) supplies of pepper would not be as low as they are if those growers had not switched
crops

(D) cocoa crops are as susceptible to being reduced by bad weather as are pepper crops

(E) as more growers turn to growing cocoa, cocoa supplies will increase and the price of
cocoa will fall precipitously

4. Studies of the political orientations of 1,055 college students revealed that the plurality of
students in an eastern, big-city, private university was liberal, whereas in a state-supported,
southern college, the plurality was conservative. Orientations were independent of the
student's region of origin, and the trends were much more pronounced in seniors than in
beginning students.

Which of the following hypotheses is best supported by the observations stated above?

(A) The political orientations of college students are more similar to the political orientations
of their parents when the students start college than when the students are seniors.

(B) The political orientations of college seniors depend significantly on experiences they
have had while in college.

(C) A college senior originally from the South is more likely to be politically conservative than
is a college senior originally from the East.

(D) Whether their college is state-supported or private is the determining factor in college
students' political orientations.

(E) College students tend to become more conservative politically as they become older and
are confronted with pressures for financial success.

5. Transnational cooperation among corporations is experiencing a modest renaissance

among United States firms, even though projects undertaken by two or more corporations
under a collaborative agreement are less profitable than projects undertaken by a single
corporation. The advantage of transnational cooperation is that such joint international
projects may allow United States firms to win foreign contracts that they would not otherwise
be able to win.

Which of the following is information provided by the passage?

(A) Transnational cooperation involves projects too big for a single corporation to handle.

(B) Transnational cooperation results in a pooling of resources leading to high-quality

performance.

(C) Transnational cooperation has in the past been both more common and less common
than it is now among United States firms.

(D) Joint projects between United States and foreign corporations are not profitable enough
to be worth undertaking.

(E) Joint projects between United States and foreign corporations benefit only those who
commission the projects.­

6. Theater Critic: The play La Finestrina, now at Central Theater, was written in Italy in the
eighteenth century. The director claims that this production is as similar to the original
production as is possible in a modern theater. Although the actor who plays Harlequin the
clown gives a performance very reminiscent of the twentieth-century American comedian
Groucho Marx, Marx’s comic style was very much within the comic acting tradition that had
begun in sixteenth-century Italy.

The considerations given best serve as part of an argument that

(A) modern audiences would find it hard to tolerate certain characteristics of a historically
accurate performance of an eighteenth-century play

(B) Groucho Marx once performed the part of the character Harlequin in La Finestrina

(C) in the United States the training of actors in the twentieth century is based on principles
that do not differ radically from those that underlay the training of actors in
eighteenth-century Italy

(D) the performance of the actor who plays Harlequin in La Finestrina does not serve as
evidence against the director’s claim

(E) the director of La Finestrina must have advised the actor who plays Harlequin to model
his performance on comic performances of Groucho Marx

7. Blood banks will shortly start to screen all donors for NANB hepatitis. Although the new
screening tests are estimated to disqualify up to 5 percent of all prospective blood donors,
they will still miss two-thirds of donors carrying NANB hepatitis. Therefore, about 10 percent
of actual donors will still supply NANB-contaminated blood.

Which of the following inferences about the consequences of instituting the new tests is best
supported by the passage above?

(A) The incidence of new cases of NANB hepatitis is likely to go up by 10 percent.

(B) Donations made by patients specifically for their own use are likely to become less
frequent.

(C) The demand for blood from blood banks is likely to fluctuate more strongly.

(D) The blood supplies available from blood banks are likely to go down.

(E) The number of prospective first-time donors is likely to go up by 5 percent.

8. Transportation expenses accounted for a large portion of the total dollar amount spent on
trips for pleasure by residents of the United States in 1997, and about half of the total dollar
amount spent on the transportation was airfare. However, the large majority of United States
residents who took trips for pleasure in 1997 did not travel by airplane but used other means
of transportation.

If the statements above are true, which of the following must also be true about United
States residents who took trips for pleasure in 1997?

(A) Most of those who traveled by airplane did so because the airfare to their destination was
lower than the cost of other available means of transportation.

(B) Most of those who traveled by airplane did so because other means of transportation to
their destinations were unavailable.

(C) Per mile traveled, those who traveled by airplane tended to spend more on
transportation to their destination than did those who used other means of transportation.

(D) Overall, people who did not travel by airplane had lower average transportation
expenses than people who did.

(E) Those who traveled by airplane spent about as much, on average, on other means of
transportation as they did on airfare.­

9. Mashika: We already know from polling data that some segments of the electorate provide
significant support to Ms. Puerta. If those segments also provide significant support to Mr.
Quintana, then no segment of the electorate that provides significant support to Mr. Quintana
provides significant support to Mr. Ramirez.

Salim: But actually, as the latest polling data conclusively shows, at least one segment of the
electorate does provide significant support to both Mr. Quintana and Mr. Ramirez.

Among the following statements, which is it most reasonable to infer from the assertions by
Mashika and Salim?

(A) At least one segment of the electorate provides significant support neither to Mr.
Quintana nor to Mr. Ramirez.

(B) At least one segment of the electorate provides significant support to Ms. Puerta but not
to Mr. Quintana.

(C) Each segment of the electorate provides significant support to Ms. Puerta.

(D) Each segment of the electorate provides significant support to Mr. Quintana.

(E) Each segment of the electorate provides significant support to Mr. Ramirez.

10. The fewer restrictions there are on the advertising of legal services, the more lawyers
there are who advertise their services, and the lawyers who advertise a specific service
usually charge less for that service than lawyers who do not advertise. Therefore, if the state
removes any of its current restrictions, such as the one against advertisements that do not
specify fee arrangements, overall consumer legal costs will be lower than if the state retains
its current restrictions.

If the statements above are true, which of the following must be true?

(A) Some lawyers who now advertise will charge more for specific services if they do not
have to specify fee arrangements in the advertisements.

(B) More consumers will use legal services if there are fewer restrictions on the advertising
of legal services.

(C) If the restriction against advertisements that do not specify fee arrangements is removed,
more lawyers will advertise their services.

(D) If more lawyers advertise lower prices for specific services, some lawyers who do not
advertise will also charge less than they currently charge for those services.

(E) If the only restrictions on the advertising of legal services were those that apply to every
type of advertising, most lawyers would advertise their services.

11. Advertiser: The revenue that newspapers and magazines earn by publishing
advertisements allows publishers to keep the prices per copy of their publications much
lower than would otherwise be possible. Therefore, consumers benefit economically from
advertising.
Consumer: But who pays for the advertising that pays for low-priced newspapers and
magazines? We consumers do, because advertisers pass along advertising costs to us
through the higher prices they charge for their products.

Which of the following best describes how the consumer counters the advertiser’s
argument?

(A) By alleging something that, if true, would weaken the plausibility of the advertiser’s
conclusion

(B) By questioning the truth of the purportedly factual statement on which the advertiser’s
conclusion is based

(C) By offering an interpretation of the advertiser’s opening statement that, if accurate,

shows that there is an implicit contradiction in it

(D) By pointing out that the advertiser’s point of view is biased

(E) By arguing that the advertiser too narrowly restricts the discussion to the effects of
advertising that are economic­

12. Harvester-ant colonies live for fifteen to twenty years, though individual worker ants live
only a year. The way a colony behaves changes steadily in a predictable pattern as the
colony grows older and larger. For the first few years, the foragers behave quite
aggressively, searching out and vigorously defending new food sources, but once a colony
has reached a certain size, its foragers become considerably less aggressive.

If the statements above are true, which of the following can most properly be concluded on
the basis of them?

(A) As a result of pressure from neighbors, some colonies do not grow larger as they
become older.

(B) Unpredictable changes in a colony's environment can cause changes in the tasks that
the colony must perform if it is to continue to survive.

(C) The reason a mature colony goes out of existence is that younger, more aggressive
colonies successfully outcompete it for food.

(D) The pattern of changing behavior that a colony displays does not arise from a change in
the behavior of any individual worker ant or group of worker ants.
(E) A new colony comes into existence when a group of young, aggressive workers leaves a
mature colony and sets up on its own.

13. In the country of Marut, the Foreign Trade agency's records were reviewed in
1994 in light of information then newly available about neighboring Goro. The review
revealed that in every year since 1963, the agency's projection of what Goro's gross
national product (GNP) would be five years later was a serious underestimate. The
review also revealed that in every year since 1963, the agency estimated Goro's
GNP for the previous year—a Goro state secret—very accurately.

Of the following claims, which is most strongly supported by the statements given ?

(A) Goro's GNP fluctuated greatly between 1963 and 1994.

(B) Prior to 1995, Goro had not released data intended to mislead the agency in
making its five-year projections.

(C) The amount by which the agency underestimated the GNP it projected for Goro
tended to increase over time.

(D) Even before the new information came to light, the agency had reason to think
that at least some of the five-year projections it had made were inaccurate.

(E) The agency's five year projections of Goro's GNP had no impact on economic
planning in Marut.

14. For a trade embargo against a particular country to succeed, a high degree of both
international accord and ability to prevent goods from entering or leaving that country must
be sustained. A total blockade of Patria's ports is necessary to an embargo, but such an
action would be likely to cause international discord over the embargo.

The claims above, if true, most strongly support which of the following conclusions?

(A) The balance of opinion is likely to favor Patria in the event of a blockade.

(B) As long as international opinion is unanimously against Patria, a trade embargo is likely
to succeed.

(C) A naval blockade of Patria's ports would ensure that no goods enter or leave Patria.

(D) Any trade embargo against Patria would be likely to fail at some time.

(E) For a blockade of Patria's ports to be successful, international opinion must be

unanimous.
(C) The amount by which the agency underestimated the GNP it projected for Goro tended
to increase over time.

(D) Even before the new information came to light, the agency had reason to think that at
least some of the five-year projections it had made were inaccurate.

(E) The agency's five year projections of Goro's GNP had no impact on economic planning
in Marut.

15. Lists of hospitals have been compiled showing which hospitals have patient death rates
exceeding the national average. The data have been adjusted to allow for differences in the
ages of patients.

Each of the following, if true, provides a good logical ground for hospitals to object to
interpreting rank on these lists as one of the indices of the quality of hospital care EXCEPT:

(A) Rank order might indicate insignificant differences, rather than large differences, in
numbers of patient deaths.

(B) Hospitals that keep patients longer are likely to have higher death rates than those that
discharge patients earlier but do not record deaths of patients at home after discharge.

(C) Patients who are very old on admission to a hospital are less likely than younger patients
to survive the same types of illnesses or surgical procedures.

(D) Some hospitals serve a larger proportion of low-income patients, who tend to be more
seriously ill when admitted to a hospital.

(E) For-profit hospitals sometimes do not provide intensive-care units and other expensive
services for very sick patients but refer or transfer such patients to other hospitals.

16. One analyst predicts that Hong Kong can retain its capitalist ways after it becomes part
of mainland China in 1997 as long as a capitalist Hong Kong is useful to China; that a
capitalist Hong Kong will be useful to China as long as Hong Kong is prosperous; and that
Hong Kong will remain prosperous as long as it retains its capitalist ways.

If the predictions above are correct, which of the following further predictions can logically be
derived from them?

(A) If Hong Kong fails to stay prosperous, it will no longer remain part of mainland China.

(B) If Hong Kong retains its capitalist ways until 1997, it will be allowed to do so afterward.

(C) If there is a world economic crisis after 1997, it will not adversely affect the economy of
Hong Kong.

(D) Hong Kong will be prosperous after 1997

(E) The citizens of Hong Kong will have no restrictions placed on them by the government of
mainland China.

17. A library currently has only coin-operated photocopy machines, which cost 10 cents per
copy. Library administrators are planning to refit most of those machines with card readers.
The library will sell prepaid copy cards that allow users to make 50 copies at 9 cents per
copy. Administrators believe that, despite the convenience of copy cards and their lower
per-copy cost, the number of copies made in the library will be essentially unchanged after
the refit.

On the assumption that administrators' assessment is correct, which of the following

predictions about the effect of the refit is most strongly supported by the information given?

(A) Library patrons will only purchase a copy card on days when they need to make 50 or
more copies.

(B) No library patrons will increase their usage of the library's photocopy machines once the
refit has been made.

(C) If most of the copy cards sold in the library are used to their full capacity, the number of
people using the library's photocopy machines over a given period will fall.

(D) Revenues from photocopying will decrease unless most library patrons choose to use
the remaining coin-operated machines in preference to the card-reader equipped ones.

(E) Revenues from photocopying will increase if copy cards that are purchased are, on
average, used to significantly less than 90 percent of their capacity.

18. Half of Metroburg's operating budget comes from a payroll tax of 2 percent on salaries
paid to people who work in the city. Recently a financial services company, one of
Metroburg's largest private-sector employers, announced that it will be relocating just outside
the city. All the company's employees, amounting to 1 percent of all people now employed in
Metroburg, will be employed at the new location.

From the information given, which of the following can most properly be concluded?

(A) Unless other employers add a substantial number of jobs in Metroburg, the company's
relocation is likely to result in a 1 percent reduction in the revenue for the city's operating
budget.

(B) Although the company's relocation will have a negative effect on the city's tax revenue,
the company's departure will not lead to any increase in the unemployment rate among city
residents.

(C) One of the benefits that the company will realize from its relocation is a reduction in the
taxes paid by itself and its employees.

(D) Revenue from the payroll tax will decline by 1 percent if there is no increase in jobs
within the city to compensate, fully or partially, for the company's departure.

(E) The company's relocation will tend to increase the proportion of jobs in Metroburg that
are in the public sector, unless it results in a contraction of the public-sector payroll.

19. Recent estimates predict that between 1982 and 1995 the greatest increase in the
number of people employed will be in the category of low-paying service occupations. This
category, however, will not increase its share of total employment, whereas the category of
high-paying service occupations will increase its share.

If the estimates above are accurate, which of the following conclusions can be drawn?

(A) In 1982 more people were working in low-paying service occupations than were working
in high-paying service occupations.

(B) In 1995 more people will be working in high-paying service occupations than will be
working in low-paying service occupations.

(C) Nonservice occupations will account for the same share of total employment in 1995 as
in 1982.

(D) Many of the people who were working in low-paying service occupations in 1982 will be
working in high-paying service occupations by 1995.

(E) The rate of growth for low-paying service occupations will be greater than the overall rate
of employment growth between 1982 and 1995.

20. Studies have shown that a large percentage of car accidents are caused by aggressive
driving. To help reduce the number of accidents and to promote traffic safety in general,
insurance companies have begun to issue discounts to drivers who take defensive driving
courses. Research shows that people who practice defensive driving are considerably less
likely to get into a car accident. Therefore, the insurance company’s plan should help reduce
the number of accidents.

Assuming the statements above are true, which of the following can be inferred from them?

(A) The majority of accidents are caused by drivers who possess insurance.
(B) People who manage to consistently avoid car accidents are likely practicing defensive
driving.

(C) Young males and other demographics known for disproportionately being involved in car
accidents are less likely to practice defensive driving than other demographics.

(D) An individual who does not practice defensive driving is always more likely to get into a
car accident than an individual who does practice defensive driving.

(E) Discounts are the most effective way for insurance companies to promote defensive
driving.

ANSWER KEY:

1. E 11. A
2. C 12. D
3. C 13. D
4. B 14. D
5. C 15. C
6. D 16. B
7. D 17. E
8. D 18. E
9. B 19. A
10. C 20. E