In 1998 the United States Department of Transportation received nearly 10,000 consumer complaints about airlines; in 1999 it received over 20,000. Moreover, the number of complaints per 100,000 passengers also more than doubled. In both years the vast majority of complaints concerned flight delays, cancellations, mishandled baggage, and customer service. Clearly, therefore, despite the United States airline industry’s serious efforts to improve performance in these areas, passenger dissatisfaction with airline service increased significantly in 1999.
21. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A. Although the percentage of flights that arrived on time dropped slightly overall, from 77 percent in 1998 to 76 percent in 1999, some United States airlines’ 1999 on-time rate was actually better than their 1998 on-time rate.
B. The number of passengers flying on United States airlines was significantly higher in 1999 than in 1998.
C. Fewer bags per 1,000 passengers flying on United States airlines were lost or delayed in 1999 than in 1998.
D. The appearance in 1999 of many new Internet sites that relay complaints directly to the Department of Transportation has made filing a complaint about airlines much easier for consumers than ever before.
E. Although the number of consumer complaints increased for every major United States airline in 1999, for some airlines the extent of the increase was substantial, whereas for others it was extremely small.
Nineteenth-century architect Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc contended that Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral, built primarily in the late twelfth century, was supported from the very beginning by a system of flying buttresses — a series of exterior arches (flyers) and their supports (buttresses) — which permitted the construction of taller vaulted buildings with slimmer walls and interior supports than had been possible previously. Other commentators insist, however, that Notre-Dame did not have flying buttresses until the thirteenth or fourteenth century, when they were added to update the building aesthetically and correct its structural flaws. Although post-twelfth-century modifications and renovations complicate efforts to resolve this controversy — all pre-fifteenth-century flyers have been replaced, and the buttresses have been rebuilt and/or resurfaced — it is nevertheless possible to tell that both the nave and the choir, the church’s two major parts, have always had flying buttresses. It is clear, now that nineteenthcentury paint and plaster have been removed, that the nave’s lower buttresses date from the twelfth century. Moreover, the choir’s lower flyers have chevron (zigzag) decoration. Chevron decoration, which was characteristic of the second half of the twelfth century and was out of favor by the fourteenth century, is entirely absent from modifications to the building that can be dated with confidence to the thirteenth century.
22. The passage is primarily concerned with
A. tracing the development of a controversy
B. discussing obstacles to resolving a controversy
C. arguing in support of one side in a controversy
D. analyzing the assumptions underlying the claims made in a controversy
E. explaining why evidence relevant to a controversy has been overlooked
23. The claim of the “other commentators” (line 6) suggests that they believe which of the following about Notre-Dame?
A. It was the inspiration for many vaulted cathedrals built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
B. Its design flaws were not apparent until flying buttresses were added in the thirteenth or fourteenth century.
C. Its flying buttresses are embellished with decoration characteristic of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
D. It had been modified in some respects before flying buttresses were added in the thirteenth or fourteenth century.
E. It was originally constructed in an architectural style that was considered outmoded by the thirteenth or fourteenth century.
24. The author’s argument concerning Notre-Dame’s flying buttresses depends on which of the following assumptions about the choir’s lower flyers?
A. They accurately reproduce the decoration on the choir’s original lower flyers.
B. They have a type of decoration used exclusively for exterior surfaces.
C. They were the models for the choir’s original upper flyers.
D. They were the models for the nave’s original lower flyers.
E. They were constructed after the nave’s flyers were constructed.
The average temperature of the lobster-rich waters off the coast of Foerkland has been increasing for some years. In warmer water, lobsters grow faster. In particular, lobster larvae take less time to reach the size at which they are no longer vulnerable to predation by young cod, the chief threat to their survival. Consequently, the survival rate of lobster larvae must be going up, and the lobster population in Foerkland’s coastal waters is bound to increase.
25. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
A. There are indications that in recent years the fishing fleet operating off the coast of Foerkland has been taking cod at an unsustainably high rate.
B. The increase in water temperatures off Foerkland has not been as pronounced as the increase in average soil temperatures in Foerkland.
C. Because of their speeded-up growth, lobsters now get large enough to be legal catch before they reach reproductive maturity.
D. Even though lobsters grow faster in warmer waters, warmer waters have no effect on the maximum size to which a lobster can eventually grow.
E. Cod are a cold-water species, and the increasing water temperatures have caused a northward shift in Foerkland’s cod population.
PRACTICE BOOK1
Reviving the practice of using elements of popular music in classical composition, an approach that had been in hibernation in the United States during the 1960s, composer Philip Glass (born 1937) embraced the ethos of popular music without imitating it. Glass based two symphonies on music by rock musicians David Bowie and Brian Eno, but the symphonies’ sound is distinctively his. Popular elements do not appear out of place in Glass’s classical music, which from its early days has shared certain harmonies and rhythms with rock music. Yet this use of popular elements has not made Glass a composer of popular music. His music is not a version of popular music packaged to attract classical listeners; it is high art for listeners steeped in rock rather than the classics.
1. The passage addresses which of the following issues related to Glass’s use of popular elements in his classical compositions?
a. How it is regarded by listeners who prefer rock to the classics
b. How it has affected the commercial success of Glass’s music
c. Whether it has contributed to a revival of interest among other composers in using popular elements in their compositions
d. Whether it has had a detrimental effect on Glass’s reputation as a composer of classical music
e. Whether it has caused certain of Glass’s works to be derivative in quality
2. The passage suggests that Glass’s work displays which of the following qualities?
a. A return to the use of popular music in classical compositions
b. An attempt to elevate rock music to an artistic status more closely approximating that of classical music
c. A long-standing tendency to incorporate elements from two apparently disparate musical styles
In Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry does not reject integration or the economic and moral promise of the American dream; rather, she remains loyal to this dream while looking, realistically, at its incomplete realization. Once we recognize this dual vision, we can accept the play’s ironic nuances as deliberate social commentaries by Hansberry rather than as the “unintentional” irony that Bigsby attributes to the work. Indeed, a curiously persistent refusal to credit Hansberry with a capacity for intentional irony has led some critics to interpret the play’s thematic conflicts as mere confusion, contradiction, or eclecticism. Isaacs, for example, cannot easily reconcile Hansberry’s intense concern for her race with her ideal of human reconciliation. But the play’s complex view of Black self-esteem and human solidarity as compatible is no more “contradictory” than Du Bois’ famous, well-considered ideal of ethnic self-awareness coexisting with human unity, or Fanon’s emphasis on an ideal internationalism that also accommodates national identities and roles.
9. The author of the passage would probably consider which of the following judgments to be most similar to the reasoning of the critics mentioned in line 11?
A. The world is certainly flat; therefore, the person proposing to sail around it is unquestionably foolhardy.
B. Radioactivity cannot be directly perceived; therefore, a scientist could not possibly control it in a laboratory.
C. The painter of this picture could not intend it to be funny; therefore, its humor must result from a lack of skill.
D. Traditional social mores are beneficial to culture; therefore, anyone who deviates from them acts destructively.
E. Filmmakers who produce documentaries deal exclusively with facts; therefore, a filmmaker who reinterprets particular events is misleading us.
10.In which sentence of the passage does the author provide examples that reinforce an argument against a critical response cited earlier in the passage?
A. The first sentence ( “In Raisin …realization”)
B. The second sentence ( “Once we … work”)
C. The third sentence ( “Indeed,… eclecticism”)
D. The fourth sentence ( “Isaacs, …reconciliation”)
E. The fifth sentence ( “But the … roles”)
11. In the context in which it appears, “realization” ( line 5) most nearly means
A. understanding
B. accomplishment
C. depiction
D. recognition
E. discovery
According to the conventional view, serfdom in nineteenth-century Russia inhibited economic growth. In this view Russian peasants’ status as serfs kept them poor through burdensome taxes in cash, in labor, and in kind; through restrictions on mobility; and through various forms of coercion. Melton, however, argues that serfdom was perfectly compatible with economic growth, because many Russian serfs were able to get around landlords’ rules and regulations. If serfs could pay for passports, they were usually granted permission to leave the estate. If they could pay the fine, they could establish a separate household; and if they had the resources, they could hire laborers to cultivate the communal lands, while they themselves engaged in trade or worked as migrant laborers in cities.
12. It can be inferred from the passage that the “rules and regulations” ( lines 910) affecting serfdom in Russia involved
A. responsibility for the work needed to accomplish certain defined tasks
B. restrictions on freedom of movement
C. limitations on the ability to set up an independent household
13. The sentence “If serfs … estate” ( lines 10-11) has which of the following functions in the passage?
A. It provides support for an argument presented in the preceding sentence.
B. It provides evidence that helps undermine a view introduced in the first sentence.
C. It raises a question that the succeeding sentence will resolve.
Rain-soaked soil contains less oxygen than does drier soil. The roots of melon plants perform less efficiently under the low-oxygen conditions present in rainsoaked soil. When the efficiency of melon roots is impaired, the roots do not supply sufficient amounts of the proper nutrients for the plants to perform photosynthesis at their usual levels. It follows that melon plants have a lowerthan-usual rate of photosynthesis when their roots are in rain-soaked soil. When the photosynthesis of the plants slows, sugar stored in the fruits is drawn off to supply the plants with energy. Therefore, ripe melons harvested after a prolonged period of heavy rain should be less sweet than other ripe melons.
14. In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
A. The first states the conclusion of the argument as a whole; the second provides support for that conclusion.
B. The first provides support for the conclusion of the argument as a whole; the second provides evidence that supports an objection to that conclusion.
C. The first provides support for an intermediate conclusion that supports a further conclusion stated in the argument; the second states that intermediate conclusion.
D. The first serves as an intermediate conclusion that supports a further conclusion stated in the argument; the second states the position that the argument as a whole opposes.
E. The first states the position that the argument as a whole opposes; the second supports the conclusion of the argument.
In the 1980s, neuroscientists studying the brain processes underlying our sense of conscious will compared subjects’ judgments regarding their subjective will to move (W) and actual movement (M) with objective electroencephalographic activity called readiness potential, or RP. As expected, W preceded M: subjects consciously perceived the intention to move as preceding a conscious experience of actually moving. This might seem to suggest an appropriate correspondence between the sequence of subjective experiences and the sequence of the underlying events in the brain. But researchers actually found a surprising temporal relation between subjective experience and objectively measured neural events: in direct contradiction of the classical conception of free will, neural preparation to move (RP) preceded conscious awareness of the intention to move (W) by hundreds of milliseconds.
20. Based on information contained in the passage, which of the following chains of events would most closely conform to the classical conception of free will?
A. W followed by RP followed by M
B. RP followed by W followed by M
C. M followed by W followed by RP
D. RP followed by M followed by W
E. RP followed by W and M simultaneously
21. In the context in which it appears, “temporal” ( line 13) most nearly means
A. secular
B. mundane
C. numerical
D. physiological
E. chronological
22. The author of the passage mentions the classical conception of free will primarily in order to
A. argue that earlier theories regarding certain brain processes were based on false assumptions
B. suggest a possible flaw in the reasoning of neuroscientists conducting the study discussed in the passage
C. provide a possible explanation for the unexpected results obtained by neuroscientists
D. cast doubt on neuroscientists’ conclusions regarding the temporal sequence of brain processes
E. indicate the reason that the results of the neuroscientists’ study were surprising
In early-twentieth-century England, it was fashionable to claim that only a completely new style of writing could address a world undergoing unprecedented transformation— just as one literary critic recently claimed that only the new “aesthetic of exploratory excess” can address a world under- going well, you know. Yet in early-twentieth century England, T. S. Eliot, a man fascinated by the “presence” of the past, wrote the most innovative poetry of his time. The lesson for today’s literary community seems obvious: a reorientation toward tradition would benefit writers no less than readers. But if our writers and critics indeed respect the novel’s rich tradition (as they claim to) , then why do they disdain the urge to tell an exciting story?
23. The author of the passage suggests that present-day readers would particularly benefit from which of the following changes on the part of presentday writers and critics?
A. An increased focus on the importance of engaging the audience in a narrative
B. Modernization of the traditional novelistic elements already familiar to readers C. Embracing aspects of fiction that are generally peripheral to the interest of readers
D. A greater recognition of how the tradition of the novel has changed over time E. A better understanding of how certain poets such as Eliot have influenced fiction of the present time
24. In the context of the passage as whole, “address” (lines 3 and 6) is closest in meaning to
A. reveal
B. belie
C. speak to
D. direct attention toward
E. attempt to remediate
Electric washing machines, first introduced in the United States in 1925, significantly reduced the amount of time spent washing a given amount of clothes, yet the average amount of time households spent washing clothes increased after 1925. This increase is partially accounted for by the fact that many urban households had previously sent their clothes to professional laundries. But the average amount of time spent washing clothes also increased for rural households with no access to professional laundries.
25. Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain why the time spent washing clothes increased in rural areas?
A. People with access to an electric washing machine typically wore their clothes many fewer times before washing them than did people without access to electric washing machines.
B. Households that had sent their clothes to professional laundries before 1925 were more likely than other households to purchase an electric washing machine when they became available.
C. People living in urban households that had previously sent their clothes to professional laundries typically owned more clothes than did people living in rural households.
D. The earliest electric washing machines required the user to spend much more time beside the machine than do modern electric washing machines.
E. In the 1920s and 1930s the proportion of rural households with electricity was smaller than the proportion of urban households with electricity.
The nearly circular orbits of planets in our solar system led scientists to expect that planets around other stars would also reside in circular orbits. However, most known extrasolar planets reside in highly elongated, not circular, orbits. Why? The best clue comes from comets in our solar system. Comets formed in circular orbits but were gravitationally flung into their present-day elliptical orbits when they ventured too close to planets. Astronomers suspect that pairs of planets also engage in this slingshot activity, leaving them in disturbed, elliptical orbits. If two planets form in close orbits, one will be scattered inward (toward its star) , the other outward. They will likely then travel close enough to neighboring planets to disturb their orbits also.
9. According to the passage, which of the following factors help account for the elliptical shape of the orbits of extrasolar planets?
A. The planets’ formation in close proximity to other planets
B. The gravitational influence of planets whose original orbits have been disturbed C. The gravitational influence of comets
10. The passage suggests that two planets formed in close orbits that engaged in
“slingshot activity” ( lines 10-11) would be likely to
A. deflect away from each other
B. change the shape of each other’s orbit
C. affect the orbits of any neighboring planets
Even after numerous products made with artificial sweeteners became available, sugar consumption per capita continued to rise. Now manufacturers are introducing fat-free versions of various foods that they claim have the taste and texture of the traditional high-fat versions. Even if the manufacturers’ claim is true, given that the availability of sugar-free foods did not reduce sugar consumption, it is unlikely that the availability of these fat-free foods will reduce fat consumption. 11. Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the argument?
A. Several kinds of fat substitute are available to manufacturers, each of which gives a noticeably different taste and texture to products that contain it.
B. The products made with artificial sweeteners did not taste like products made with sugar.
C. The foods brought out in sugar-free versions did not generally have reduced levels of fat, but many of the fat-free versions about to be introduced are low in sugar.
D. People who regularly consume products containing artificial sweeteners are more likely than others to consume fat-free foods.
E. Not all foods containing fat can be produced in fat-free versions.
