One method of predicting the future value of a particular company's stock is to attempt to correlate the pattern of its recent performance with the past performance of other companies, even companies in different industries, whose subsequent stock performance is known. This technique, known as "technical analysis," provides a readily available basis for predicting the future value of a company's stock without special knowledge of that company or its industry.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion that technical analysis, as described above, accurately predicts stock performance?

Counterfeit DVDs containing high-quality illegal copies of popular movies have proliferated in recent years and are sold at much lower prices than authorized DVDs, robbing the movies' rights holders of royalties on sales and diverting profits from production companies. To help track the distribution and sale of counterfeit DVDs, a government agency plans to produce informational brochures about the consequences and risks of counterfeiting; they also request sellers and consumers to report any counterfeit DVDs they encounter.

Which of the following, if true, would provide most support for the notion that the agencies' plan will have its intended effect?

Which of the following most logically completes the passage?

A tropical thorn forest was cleared and converted by humans into soybean fields. The loss of the original habitat poses a threat to the area's population of cuis, which are wild guinea pigs. Ecologists originally estimated that the cuis in the area would vanish within four years. Two years later, the population of cuis is already cut in half, but it is unlikely that they will completely vanish from the region within the next two years, since _______________.

Which of the following most logically completes the argument?

Loans extended from banks to individuals can allow individuals to take well-measured financial risks or pay off existing debts that carry higher interest rates. However, more aggressive banks extend freely to individuals loans that are too large for those individuals to foreseeably pay back, causing other problems. Therefore, the creation of a new department to monitor and restrict banks would benefit public well-being, since _______________.

Although a direct survey has yet to be produced, clearly the growing ubiquity of tablet computers in our country is leading to diminishing popularity of the original handheld entertainment—that is, books. In decades past, books were the primary source of print media, but one third of adults in our country now own tablet computers on which they can read electronic books, or e-books. And even as far back as eight years ago, before tablets had even hit the market, only about half of adults in our country said in a survey that they were reading a book at the present time.

Each of following would be useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument EXCEPT

The cost of producing cell phones in Country A is 12 percent less than the cost of producing cell phones in Country C. Even after transportation fees are added, it is still cheaper for a company to import cell phones from Country A to Country C than to produce cell phones in Country C.

The statements above, if true, best support which of the following assertions?

Professor: in one method of international conflict resolution, a nation that perceives itself to have been wronged by another nation should demand that conditions be met by the wrongdoing nation before negotiations between both parties can begin. If all countries behaved according to this method, countries in conflict would never succeed in beginning negotiations.

The professor's argument relies on which of the following assumptions?

Nanotechnology may pose risks in the coming decades as we find it increasingly commonplace to introduce small robots into our bodies. But the fact that these robots might be invisible to the naked eye doesn't mean we are helpless against them. After all, since the initial development of germ theory, we have designed and continuously improved upon ways to protect ourselves from a variety of germs.

In the passage, the author develops the argument by

An online media company plans to increase its share of market by deeply discounting its subscription prices for the next two months. The discounts will cut into profits, but because they will be heavily advertised, the company expects that they will attract buyers away from rival providers of similar media. The company foresees that, in the longer term, customers will initially be attracted by the discounts but will then remain loyal subscribers.

In assessing the plan's chances of achieving its aim, it would be most useful to know which of the following?

A new café intends to open and offer to its patrons unusual beverages served in an unusual atmosphere. Prior to beginning construction on its location, it had already secured funding based on the quality of its beverages, which it served to potential investors. But when it conducted intensive tests to gauge the interest of potential customers, it tested not whether they liked the beverages, but whether they liked descriptions of the café's atmosphere.

Which of the following, if true, best accounts for the new café's approach to conducting tests with potential customers?

Which of the following best completes the passage below?

The movie production company's estimate of financial losses due to the illegal download of movies cannot be correct, because it's a measure of the wrong phenomenon. Most of illegal downloading of movies is done exclusively by people who have a passing interest in the movies but no intention of buying them, as they appear to assume. Thus, the loss to the industry is

Recently in our county, sales of beer have suffered a significant decline in restaurants, nightlife establishments, and retail stores. During this same time, the sheriff's office has initiated a new and well-funded campaign against the short-term dangers and long-term health risks caused by alcohol consumption. Therefore, the decrease in beer consumption has been caused by consumers' awareness of the dangers and risks of alcohol consumption.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the explanation above?

Through Topeka airport, the volume of plane travel is just enough for the commercial airlines to make modest profits. The size of the city's population is stable and is not expected to increase much. Yet there are investors ready to double the number of flights to and from the airport within ten years, and they are predicting solid profits both for themselves and for the established airlines.

Which of the following about the city of Topeka, if true, most helps to provide a justification for the investors' prediction?

The rate of smoking, globally, is higher now than ever before. In fact, 20% more people smoke today than did 20 years ago. In the nation of Ebano, 20% of people smoke; in Paisi, 25%. And in the last twenty years, the number of people who smoke increased by 13% in Kitton and 27% in Kappa.

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

While our nation's law enforcement can search our bodily persons in public if they have just cause, they can search our homes only if they have a signed warrant. Therefore, our nation's law enforcement should be able to search our electronic communications only if they have a signed warrant.

The conclusion above would be more reasonably drawn if which of the following were inserted into the argument as an additional premise?

A production facility that requires its air to be free of particulate matter requires staff and visitors to enter the production floor by way of a single hallway that is interrupted at each of three points by a changing room. In each room, an entrant must change into a new lab jacket, a hat, and new clean shoe coverings after the room is blasted with air. The facility intends to speed up the process of entering the production facility by replacing the three rooms with two changing rooms of a new design whose method of blasting air is effective enough to maintain the required air quality.

Which of the following would be most important to know in determining whether the production facility's plan, if implemented, is likely to achieve its goal?

For similar homes and comparable residents, home insurance for theft has always cost more in Andover than in Wrightsville. Police studies, however, show that homes owned by Andover residents are, on average, slightly less likely to be robbed than homes in Wrightsville. Clearly, therefore, insurance companies are making a greater profit on home theft insurance in Andover than in Wrightsville.

In evaluating the argument, it would be most useful to compare

Analyst: In our nation's television news programs, the number of stories aired about armed conflicts in Africa was much lower last year than it had been previously. Several armed conflicts have been fully or partly resolved with ceasefire agreements, so it is probable that the low number of articles is due to a decline in armed conflict in Africa.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the analyst's argument?

Taaffeite costs more per ounce than painite. But since plutonium costs more per ounce than platinum, it follows that taaffeite costs more per ounce than platinum.

Any of the following, if introduced into the argument as an additional premise, makes the argument above logically correctEXCEPT:

The more incentives there are for financial institutions to provide home mortgages, the more mortgage options financial institutions will provide to cater to different circumstances, and the odds that a potential home buyer is able to purchase a home are increased when more mortgage options are available. Therefore, by increasing incentives to financial institutions to provide home mortgages, the government can create circumstances that are more helpful for home buyers.

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