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PREP08 Test 1
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In many scientific disciplines, scientists generally do not do highly creative work beyond the age of forty, a tendency that has normally been taken to show that aging carries with it a loss of creative capacity. However, by the age of forty most scientists have been working in their chosen field for at least fifteen years, so an alternative explanation is that spending too long in a single field reduces the opportunity for creative thought.Investigating which of the following would be most useful in choosing between the competing explanations described above?
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PREP08 Test 1
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The economy around Lake Paqua depends on fishing of the lake's landlocked salmon population. In recent years, scarcity of food for salmon there has caused a decline in both the number and the size of the adult salmon in the lake. As a result, the region's revenues from salmon fishing have declined significantly. To remedy this situation, officials plan to introduce shrimp, which can serve as a food source for adult salmon, into Lake Paqua.Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the plan's chances for success?
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PREP08 Test 1
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In Borania many people who want to quit smoking wear nicotine skin patches, which deliver small doses of nicotine through the skin. Beginning next month, these patches can be purchased without a doctor's prescription. Although nonprescription patches will be no more effective than those obtained by prescription and will be equally expensive, patch manufacturers are nevertheless predicting that the patches' new nonprescription status will boost sales, which have slowed considerably in recent years.Which of the following, if true in Borania, most strongly supports the manufacturers' prediction?
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PREP08 Test 1
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Fearing that the use of titles indicating position in the corporation tends to make the corporate hierarchy rigid by inhibiting communication, some corporations shun the use of executive titles. A title, however, can facilitate an executive's dealings with external businesses since it encourages outsiders to treat the executive with respect. The obvious compromise is for these executives to use their titles externally but not within their corporations.Which of the following, if true, provides the most support for the compromise suggested above?
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PREP08 Test 1
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Because it was long thought that few people would watch lengthy televised political messages, most televised political advertisements, like commercial advertisements, took the form of short messages. Last year, however, one candidate produced a half-hour-long advertisement. At the beginning of the half-hour slot a substantial portion of the viewing public had tuned in to that station. Clearly, then, many more people are interested in lengthy televised political messages than was previously thought.Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
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PREP08 Test 1
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Two computer companies, Garnet and Renco, each pay Salcor to provide health insurance for their employees. Because early treatment of high cholesterol can prevent strokes that would otherwise occur several years later, Salcor encourages Garnet employees to have their cholesterol levels tested and to obtain early treatment for high cholesterol. Renco employees generally remain with Renco only for a few years, however. Therefore, Salcor lacks any financial incentive to provide similar encouragement to Renco employees.Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
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PREP08 Test 1
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Until now, only injectable vaccines against influenza have been available. They have been used primarily by older adults, who are at risk for complications from influenza. A new vaccine administered in a nasal spray has proven effective in preventing influenza in children. Since children are significantly more likely than adults to contract and spread influenza, making the new vaccine widely available for children will greatly reduce the spread of influenza across the population.Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
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PREP08 Test 1
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Personnel officer: The exorbitant cost of our health-insurance benefits reflects the high dollar amount of medical expenses incurred by our employees. Employees who are out of shape, as a group, have higher doctor bills and longer hospital stays than do their colleagues who are fit. Therefore, since we must reduce our health-insurance costs, we should offer a rigorous fitness program of jogging and weight lifting to all employees, and require employees who are out of shape to participate.Which of the following, if true, provides the most support for the personnel officer's proposal?
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OG12 PREP08 Test 2
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Which of the following most logically completes the reasoning?When species are extensively hunted, individuals that reach reproductive maturity early make up a larger proportion of the population, because they have a better chance of reproducing. When species face diminished food resources, on the other hand, individuals tend to take longer to reach reproductive maturity. These considerations may help settle whether the primary cause of the gradual disappearance of North America's mastodons, prehistoric animals related to elephants, was diminished food resources or human hunting, since __________.
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PREP08 Test 2
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A study followed a group of teenagers who had never smoked and tracked whether they took up smoking and how their mental health changed. After one year, the incidence of depression among those who had taken up smoking was four times as high as it was among those who had not. Since nicotine in cigarettes changes brain chemistry, perhaps thereby affecting mood, it is likely that smoking contributes to depression in teenagers.Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
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PREP08 Test 2
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Advertisement: Ten years ago, the Cormond Hotel's lobby was carpeted with Duratex carpet while the lobby of a nearby hotel was being carpeted with our competitor's most durable carpet. Today, after a decade in which the two hotels have had similar amounts of foot traffic through their lobbies, that other hotel is having to replace the worn-out carpeting near its lobby entrances, whereas the Cormond's Duratex carpeting has years of wear left in it.Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the force of the advertisement's evidence for concluding that Duratex carpet is more durable than the carpet of its competitor?
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PREP08 Test 2
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Kitchen magazine plans to license the use of its name by a line of cookware. For a magazine, licensing the use of its name for products involves some danger, since if the products disappoint consumers, the magazine's reputation suffers, with consequent reductions in circulation and advertising. However, experts have evaluated the cookware and found it superior to all other cookware advertised in Kitchen. Therefore, Kitchen can collect its licensing fee without endangering its other revenues.The argument above assumes which of the following?
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OG15 PREP08 Test 2
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Many people suffer an allergic reaction to sulfites, including those that are commonly added to wine as preservatives. However, since there are several winemakers producing wine to which no sulfites are added, those who would like to drink wine but are allergic to sulfites can drink these wines without risking an allergic reaction to sulfites.Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
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PREP08 Test 2
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Following several years of declining advertising sales, the Greenville Times reorganized its advertising sales force two years ago. Before the reorganization, the sales force was organized geographically, with some sales representatives concentrating on city-center businesses and others concentrating on different outlying regions. The reorganization attempted to increase the sales representatives' knowledge of clients' businesses by having each sales representative deal with only one type of industry or of retailing. After the reorganization, advertising sales increased.In assessing whether the improvement in advertising sales can properly be attributed to the reorganization, it would be helpful to find out each of the following EXCEPT:
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PREP08 Test 2
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Escalating worldwide demand for corn is expected to cause the market price of corn to rise sharply and remain high. Although corn is extensively used as feed for livestock, livestock feed accounts for only a small fraction of the retail price of meat. Therefore, the increase in corn prices is very unlikely to produce any comparable long-term increase in the retail price of meat.Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
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PREP08 Test 2
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Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium transmitted to humans by deer ticks. Generally, deer ticks pick up the bacterium while in the larval stage by feeding on infected white-footed mice. However, certain other species on which the larvae feed do not harbor the bacterium. If the population of these other species were increased, more of the larvae would be feeding on uninfected hosts, so the number of ticks acquiring the bacterium would likely decline.Which of the following would it be most important to ascertain in evaluating the argument?
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PREP08 Test 2
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Early in the twentieth century, Lake Konfa became very polluted. Recently fish populations have recovered as release of industrial pollutants has declined and the lake's waters have become cleaner. Fears are now being voiced that the planned construction of an oil pipeline across the lake's bottom might revive pollution and cause the fish population to decline again. However, a technology for preventing leaks is being installed. Therefore, provided this technology is effective, the fears are groundless.Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
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GWD PREP08 Test 2
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In Kravonia, the average salary for jobs requiring a college degree has always been higher than the average salary for jobs that do not require a degree. Over the last few years, the number of Kravonians enrolled in college has been growing steadily. Therefore, the number of Kravonians entering the job market who have at least the qualification of a college degree will eventually be significantly higher than it has been over the last few years.Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
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PREP07 Test 1
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Economist: On average, the emergency treatment for an elderly person for injuries resulting from a fall costs $11,000. A new therapeutic program can significantly reduce an elderly person's chances of falling. Though obviously desirable for many reasons, this treatment program will cost $12,500 and thus cannot be justified.Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the conclusion of the argument?
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PREP07 Test 1
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A popular beach has long had a dolphin feeding program in which fish are given to dolphins several times a day; many dolphins get as much as half of their food each day there. Although dolphins that first benefit from the program as adults are healthy and long-lived, their offspring have a lower life expectancy than offspring of dolphins that feed exclusively in the wild.Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the lower life expectancy of offspring of dolphins feeding at the beach compared to other young dolphins?
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