Plan: Wishing to reduce the number of citizens without health insurance, the government of Patrio decided last year to run an extensive advertising campaign that targeted young people and which described the importance of choosing and enrolling in a health insurance plan.

Result: The percentage of young people enrolled in a health insurance plan has not increased.

Further information: Most young people in Patrio saw and remembered the advertising. Moreover, surveys revealed that more young people after the campaign believed that it was important to choose and enroll in a health insurance plan.

In light of the further information, which of the following, if true, does most to explain the result that followed implementation of the plan?

In a price war, each of multiple suppliers of highly competitive products and services repeatedly lowers its price to avoid being undercut and thereby losing sales and customers to its competitors. Due to these competitive pressures, the companies involved generally reduce their prices far more than they otherwise would, even to the point where none of the companies is able to make a profit on sales. A price war is usually detrimental to all companies involved, who will profit from reasonable but higher costs, but at the same time a company cannot always afford to let a competitor lower price without matching or lowering beyond that price.

Assuming that none of the competitors can be knocked out of the market, it should be expected that _______________.

An online retailer that makes its deliveries through a private shipping company has determined that, unlike before, now it can profitably begin making deliveries seven days a week, not just six days a week. Delivering a given number of shipments within a narrower window of time tends to be more cost effective, because, on average, delivery trucks will be able to exploit economies in their driving routes and will incur lower average shipping costs per dollar of delivered goods per hour. Nevertheless, the retailer expects profits to rise with the change.

Which of the following, if true, provides the best reason for the expectation?

A restaurant owner plans to replace the restaurant's tables and chairs, which are currently of a generic design, with sturdier models from a manufacturer in Maine. The newer tables and chairs are more expensive, but they are extremely durable, so the owner expects to have to replace them far less frequently, saving money in the long term.

Which of the following must be studied in order to evaluate the argument presented above?

A technical proposal has been advanced for a transportation system in which individuals travel through tubes in pressurized capsules on a cushion of air. One individual in a capsule, according to the proposal, will be able to travel up to ten times as fast as an automobile on a highway. Such a futuristic means of conveyance would surely be thrilling for individuals, but the cost of building the new transport tube between two major cities has been estimated at six billion dollars. Even if this doubtful cost figure is accurate, it represents a waste of money. The cost of maintaining the existing roads between the two cities in question is negligible compared to the cost of building the tube, and those six billion dollars can be dedicated to more vital public works projects.

Which of the following, if true, most severely weakens the argument presented above?

Last year, Energy Corp's oil sales increased suddenly in the region of lower Ossamia. The Chief Financial Officer of the company explained this increase as the result of industrialization in the developing Ossamian nation of Mirmu. He predicts that, consequently, trade made possible by industrialization will grow between Mirmu and its Ossamian neighbors this year, leading to further increases in Energy Corp sales in the region.

Each of the following, if true, provides some support for the CFO's prediction described above EXCEPT:

Two fitness experts have developed a remarkable exercise system that appears to yield immediate and prolonged improvements to a person's physical and mental health. In careful testing, they have found that the system is accessible to people of different ages and fitness levels. Furthermore, since the system involves unusual techniques, custom pieces of small equipment, and natural dietary supplements, the system would take years for competitors to replicate. And when they tested the system during a two-month trial, potential customers stated emphatically that they would pay the stated prices to continue in the system and that they preferred it over other forms of exercise. All evidence indicates that the new exercise system will have successful launch in the market.

Which of the following would it be most useful to determine in order to evaluate the argument?

For our nation to maintain a position of economic strength relative to other countries, it requires both accelerated personal investment levels and the unobstructed growth of production capacity, the factor which is known as A by economists and which grows largely spontaneously through society's development of technology. However, since technology development can be driven through economic support to individual entrepreneurs, ensuring these two key economic outcomes will require balancing these two kinds of financial incentives from the government to the individual.

If the statements in the passage above are true, for our nation to maintain a position of economic strength relative to other countries, it must

A study this year found that, among citizens of Tamalia whose tax reports were selected at random for an audit, 21 percent had prepared their taxes with the assistance of a tax accountant. However, among those whose audits uncovered indications of potential tax fraud, only 3 percent had prepared their taxes with the assistance of a tax accountant. Clearly, citizens of Tamalia who prepare their taxes without the assistance of a tax accountant are more likely to commit tax fraud.

The conclusion drawn above depends on which of the following assumptions?

Some companies that consume large quantities of oil keep their own oil reserves for years in which average oil prices are exceptionally high. Thus, at times when oil prices are quite high, they can partially deplete their reserves, using oil that they bought earlier at lower prices, with the intention of buying oil to add back to their reserves when average oil prices are lower. Nevertheless, last year, when average oil prices were astronomically high throughout the year for geopolitical reasons, not all of these companies partially depleted their reserves.

Which of the following, if true, best explains why not all of these companies partially depleted their reserves?

The design of an article of clothing generally cannot be patented, but functional aspects or devices attached to clothing or included as attributes of clothing can usually be patented. Therefore, the design of a website selling fashion accessories should not be patentable, but the programming of that website, it if is unique, should be patentable.

Which of the following statements, if true, would most strengthen the argument above?

It is the opinion of the student council that the school's strict proctoring guidelines, which sometimes create situations in which a student may have to take three final exams in quick succession, can be done away with. If, as most faculty appear to believe, take-home exams, which are not proctored anyway, are the only exams on which students might actually dare cheat, then by doing away with the proctoring requirements, the school would allow students to schedule their own final exams without damaging the integrity of these exams. The fact that there is a very small percentage of students who are liable to attempt to cheat on a final exam when they take it within the school's walls is really a separate issue.

In the argument above, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

Male cowbirds sing a variety of types of songs, demonstrating a wide range of vocal capabilities. Basing their judgment on the fact that different local populations of cowbirds of the same species sing in styles particular to their populations, ornithologists have concluded that the cowbirds' singing styles are culturally acquired, rather than genetically transmitted.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the conclusion drawn by the ornithologists?

Which of the following most logically completes the argument below?

Crops can be purged of insects by introducing insects sterilized artificially by radiation; the sterilized male insects of a particular species are released to mingle with a natural population and mate with females who fail to have offspring, thereby inhibiting the ability of the local population of that species to reproduce. A new technique of sterilizing the medfly makes the sterilized male medflies exceptionally attractive to the females, so that a local population can be wiped out completely. But complete extermination might bring new risks. A farmer who considers his plot exceptionally attractive to medflies might think that his plot is the perfect case in which to use the new, more powerful, sterilized insect technique, but he should consider that _______________.

The year after a company whose success depends on product innovation has a profitable year, it invests more cash in its research and development department to attempt to generate innovations that can ensure future success. Therefore, companies whose success depends on product innovation should generate more innovations during the year following a profitable year of business than during years following unprofitable years of business.

Which of the following, if true about a company whose success depends on product innovation during the year after a profitable year, casts the most serious doubt on the conclusion drawn above?

Columnist: The chief of police has claimed in a recent press conference that the decline in the number of pickpockets caught on the street indicates that his department that has partly eliminated this petty crime. He might as well argue that because a politician claims to have eliminated bureaucratic waste, there is no need for audits of government agencies. The gentlemen of our police department, in all likelihood, have caught fewer acts of petty crime lately simply because of lax vigilance under pressure from the mayor to lower reported crime rates.

The columnist's statements, if true, best support which of the following as a conclusion?

In the phenomenon known as blindsight, some people who have been diagnosed as completely blind after damage to their visual cortex nonetheless retain the ability to make judgments and take actions that appear to require or demonstrate the use of sight. Despite the fact that they consciously see nothing, such individuals might, if prompted, catch a ball thrown, walk around obstacles, or guess with unusual accuracy whether an array of dots is moving or stationary. Individuals with blindsight are usually not surprised by these events and attribute them to coincidence.

Which of the following questions indicates the most serious weakness in the explanation that those with blindsight ascribe to their abilities?

An obscure novel from the thirteenth century has been attributed to Author X, although whether she was the sole author of the long work is often disputed. The year of completion has also been disputed but should be accepted as 1221, because in this year Author X wrote a diary entry about her joy at having completed the work. In this diary entry she also mentions a specific character who appears only in the last chapter of the book. While doubts may remain about certain aspects of the book's authorship, there is no doubt about its chronology.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the argument above?

Contrary to earlier predictions, demand for wine has not increased in recent years. Yet, even though prices and production amounts have also been stable during the last three years, wine producers last year increased their profits by more than 10 percent over the previous year's level.

Any of the following statements, if true about last year, helps to explain the rise in profits EXCEPT:

Consuming gluten, a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grains, causes allergic reactions in some adults. Medical records indicate that the percentage of adults in our country who have seen a doctor for gluten allergies has increased significantly in the last four years. Either our adults have been exposed to more gluten, or they have developed a greater sensitivity to them.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?