GMAT
SafeZone mosquito repellant has been shown in laboratory settings to be effective for twelve hours against the female anopheles mosquito, the only mosquito that transmits malaria. SafeZone, however, is not effective against mosquitoes that do not transmit malaria. The only instance in which SafeZone does not repel the female anopheles mosquito is when this mosquito can detect any ruptured blood vessels, a state that inevitably results whenever any kind of mosquito bites a person. Therefore, assuming one does not have any ruptured blood vessels on their skin before applying SafeZone, that person will not be able to catch malaria for up to twelve hours.Which of the following, if true, would argue most against the use of SafeZone in areas in which malaria is endemic?
Operations at the Green Hills Gold Mine are continuously releasing mercury into the headwaters of the Apache River, and most fish in the Apache River now have mercury levels at or above the legal limit for human consumption. With the price of gold rising, forcing more and more mining at Green Hills, there seems no hope for food fishing along the Apache River.Which of the following plans, if feasible, would allow the state to assist the food fishing industries along the Apache?
When a married couple has frequent emotionally satisfying conversations, they tend in overwhelming percentages to remain married throughout their lives. Queen Melinda and Prince Jonathan, Duke of Westphalia, have been married for over sixty years, so clearly they must have emotionally satisfying conversations all the time. This argument is most vulnerable to what criticism?
A coffee manufacturer wants more restaurant chains to serve its brands of coffee. The manufacturer is considering a plan to offer its coffee to large chains at a significantly lower price, at least for a certain period. This lower price initially will reduce the manufacturer's profits, but they hope to get into enough nationwide restaurant chains that their volume increases significantly. Once they have a much higher volume, even a small increase in their price would have an enormous effect on their profits.In evaluating the plan's chances of success, it would be most helpful to know which of the following?
Prof. Hernandez's monumental work The History of Central America covers everything about the region from the origin of the Mesoamerican period to the end of the Cold War. While the book has several informative maps and charts, many of the chapters spend less time describing facts and more time explaining Prof. Hernandez's theories. Indeed, the last two chapters consist exclusively of his exposition of theory of the role of Central America in post WWII world politics. Therefore, properly speaking, this book is not a history book. Which of the following is an assumption that supports drawing the conclusion above from the reasons given for that conclusion?
Government official: Currently many business travelers rely on a one-hour flight between the cities, but complain about congestion and delays at the airport. The new high-speed railway between Hamport and Dudley, Aplandia's two major financial hubs, will be able to make the same trip in slightly less than three hours. Given this option, many who fly between the two cities during the week will choose the railway, since it will allow them to travel between the city centers in less time than a flight with the expected delays plus the commute to and from airports would take. Which of the following, if true, would most cast doubt on his proposal above?
In 1883, the Indonesian island Krakatoa, home to a massive volcano, seemingly disappeared overnight as an eruption rent the entire island apart, catapulting rock and debris into the atmosphere. For the next few years, as ash circled the entire globe, the average world temperature dropped by several degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore, an eruption of similar power in terms of the amount of debris ejected into the atmosphere will likely cause the average temperature around the world to drop by several degrees.Which of the following, if true, best challenges the main claim of the argument?
In a certain state, over 80% of the land is comprised of farms, but historically, large farm machinery has not sold well in this state. The percentage of land devoted to farms is not expected to increase. In fact, the number of farms in the state has been slowly declining over the past decade. A new manufacturer of large farm equipment is building a factory in the middle of this state, and the manufacturer's plans for success depend on strong in-state sales of their product. Both the manufacturer and the industry analysts are expecting this manufacturer to be quite successful over the next few years.Which of the following, if true, most helps to provide a justification for the manufacturer's and the industry analysts' optimistic expectations?
A mechanized factory with over 3000 separate conveyor belts wants to minimize the cost associated with maintenance, repair, and replacement of these belts. The conveyer belts currently are composed vulcanized rubber around a cotton web base, but the factory owners are investigating new plastic polymer design. For any given size belt, the costs for belts of the two compositions are comparable. Compared to the current rubber/cotton belts, the plastic polymer belts are lighter and easier to move, so operating the conveyor belts made of plastic polymer would consume less electric energy. A change from rubber/cotton belts to plastic polymer belts would require minor modification to some of the drive cylinders of the conveyor belts, but the costs of these changes are negligible. Which of the following would it be most useful to know in determining whether switching to the plastic polymer conveyor belts would be likely to help minimize the factory's cost related to its conveyor belt system?
A study of young children's ability to learn foreign languages found that those with parents who read them more than one book per week in their native language were 75% more proficient in the foreign languages that they learned than children whose parents read them one book per week or less. A secondary finding of the study was that children's ability to remember new vocabulary in a second language drops off sharply after the age of 6, when it becomes 75% more difficult to retain new words learned in the second language.Assuming the statements above are true, which of the following can be inferred from them?
When, on a particular shopping trip, a consumer purchases an item which he previously had no intention of purchasing, this sale is called an "impulse purchase." The objects of impulse purchases are occasionally essential items (i.e. items that satisfy basic subsistence needs), but much more frequently are luxury or non-essential items. Researchers have determined that, at the end of a shopping trip, a consumer is much more excited if she has bought a luxury item on an impulse purchase, than if she had made no impulse purchases. If the information above is true, and if the researchers' investigation was properly conducted, then which of the following must also be true?
The Ixazyiquo tribe are believed to be one of the few remaining tribes in the country of Malugiato to have never had any contact with the Lamandians, settlers who arrived in Malugiain during the last hundred years. Using satellite imagery, a team of anthropologists determined that the Ixazyiquo land is covered with thriving banana plantations. The anthropologists conclude that the Ixazyiquo tribe has in fact had direct contact with the Lamandians.Which of the following, if true, would best support the anthropologists' conclusion?
Recidivism is the return to criminal behavior, and consequently a return to prison, of a former prisoner who has already served in incarceration for a criminal conviction. In the United States, most burglars and common thieves have a recidivist rate above 70%. Studies have shown that, when available, those incarcerated burglars and thieves who pursue post-secondary education while in prison have substantially lower recidivism rates. Therefore, the government should fund programs that assist incarcerated burglars and thieves in pursuing higher education, especially since ___________________________. Which of the following most logically completes the passage?
The members of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) are famed for their intense devotion to one another. The Marine motto "Semper Fidelis" (Latin, "Always Faithful") is taken to connote, among other things, the lifelong devotion a Marine has to his or her comrades in the corps. Psychologists who study cohesion among groups have concluded that the USMC creates this intense bond through its unique Recruit Training program.Which of the following, if true, most helps to justify the psychologists' position?
Six years ago, the police force of Harrisville was reduced, in an effort to make a smaller but more efficient force. In the first two years, crimes in Harrisville, especially by career criminals, were at a higher rate than they had been in the previous decades. Then, for the most recent four years, the crime rate has been the lowest in the seventy years on record, with the significant drop in crimes by career criminals. Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the change in the crime rate between the first two years after the change and the last four years?
Research has shown that shoppers who purchase garments in a "luxury" material, such as cashmere or angora, are likely to purchase garments in more than one other luxury materials, as well. A recent livestock disease has significantly reduced the amount of cashmere available on the market. This, in turn, has driven up the prices of the cashmere products still available for purchase. We can therefore conclude that more people will be buying angora items of clothing this year than they did in previous years.Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim that more people will be buying angora clothing this year?
The CFO attributes our increased sales last year to the new markets in Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, a careful study of our revenue reveals a boom of sales in Southeast Asia, while the markets in Eastern Europe, after an early surge, settled at levels much lower than expected. After all, in Eastern Europe, our firm has fierce competition from both German and Russian exports, some of which offer exceptionally high quality at low cost. By contrast, no producers in this sector operate to the East of Turkey, and our firm is the only one in our sector with significant inroads into India, Thailand, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Current plans call for expansion into Eastern Europe, but the Southeast Asian markets hold much more promise. In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
In the last few years, a drastic spike in sea temperatures around Prudhoe Bay has caused the eggs of snow crabs to hatch earlier in the year than they had previously. As a result, baby snow crabs are more likely to be caught by deep sea fishing boats, since deep sea fishing boats are more numerous in Arctic waters during the fall season than they are during the winter season. Which of the following pieces of information is necessary to evaluate the argument?
Company X and Company Y have each been building a rocket ship able to travel to Mars. After five years of design and construction, the rocket ships have been unveiled to the public, which instantly notices the rocket ships are so similar in design as to be indistinguishable. Therefore, one of the companies must have had information pertaining to the design of the other rocket ship.Which of the following, if true, would most call in to question the validity of the argument?
Marketing chief: The aggressive sales campaign of Product J has made it the most popular product in the sector. Every individual move we made in that campaign was wildly successful, and sales of the product continuously rose. If we mount a similar style sales campaign with Product S, we are likely to vault this into popularity in its own sector, with a similarly robust sales trajectory. Consultant: The popularity of Product J preceded the sales campaign and was responsible for it. The consultant uses which of the following techniques in responding to the marketing chief?