Chapter 24
GMAT Practice Test
The more practice you get answering GMAT questions before you take the test, the better you’ll do on exam day. Increase your chances for a top score with the following practice exam, consisting of three sections of multiple-choice questions and an analytical writing prompt. You have to write an essay in 30 minutes, finish 12 integrated reasoning questions (located only on the online version of this test) in 30 minutes, complete 31 math questions in 62 minutes, and answer 36 verbal questions in 65 minutes.
To make the most of this practice exam, take the test under conditions similar to those you’ll face on test day:
- Find a place where you won’t be distracted (preferably as far from your refrigerator as possible).
- If possible, take the practice test at approximately the same time of day as when you’ll be taking the actual GMAT.
- Use a timer to keep track of the time limits for each section.
- Take no more than two eight-minute breaks.
- Mark your answers by circling the appropriate letters in the text. (On the actual GMAT, you’ll mark your answer by clicking the oval next to the correct answer.)
- Use a blank piece of paper to simulate the noteboard for keeping notes and making calculations.
- If possible, complete your essay on a computer with the grammar and spelling correction functions turned off.
- When your time is up for each section, put down your pencil and stop working.
After you finish, turn to Chapter 25 to check your answers with the answer key and read through the answer explanations — even the ones for the questions you got right. The explanations may present a way of approaching a problem that you haven’t considered.
If you want to practice taking the test electronically, go to www.dummies.com/go/getaccess and use your pin code to activate the online access that accompanies the purchase of this book. (Instructions are in the Introduction.) You’ll find this test, along with six others for even more practice. You can answer the questions digitally, and the software tabulates correct and incorrect responses. This summary provides you with a snapshot of which areas you excel in and which areas you may need to review again.
You can also download a fill-in-the-bubble answer sheet from www.dummies.com/go/relebubblesheets and use it as you take the practice exam.
Answer Sheet
The test is divided into four sections, though only three of the sections appear here in the book. (You can find the Integrated Reasoning section in the online version of this practice test.) Section 1 requires you to write an essay within 30 minutes. Sections 3 and 4 ask you to select the best answer from among the given answer choices.
Section 1: Analytical Writing Assessment
Section 3: Quantitative
Section 4: Verbal
Section 1: Analytical Writing Assessment
Essay Topic: “Charter schools, which are learning institutions that are publicly funded but privately operated, were devised to offer new opportunities for teachers and to give students and families alternatives to traditional, public school settings. They are supposed to be locally managed to ensure the same level of accountability to which public schools are held. Increasingly, however, America’s charter schools are being run by private companies without local interests, and accountability at the local level is suffering as a result. Statistics also indicate that nearly half of all new charter school teachers leave within one year of hiring, so charter schools have simply not lived up to all they promised.”
Examine this argument and present your judgment on how well reasoned it is. In your discussion, analyze the author’s position and how well the author uses evidence to support the argument. For example, you may question the author’s underlying assumptions or consider alternative explanations that may weaken the conclusion. You can also provide additional support for or arguments against the author’s position, describe how stating the argument differently may make it more reasonable, and discuss what provisions may better equip you to evaluate its thesis.
Section 2: Integrated Reasoning
Section 3: Quantitative
1. If a doughnut-making machine is operated for three hours, how many cases of doughnuts will the machine be able to produce?
- The machine produces doughnuts at a rate of five doughnuts per minute.
- The doughnut company sells cases of doughnuts in two sizes: cases of 80 doughnuts, and cases of 240 doughnuts.
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
2. The figure depicts a rectangle and a circle. Point A is the corner of the rectangle and the center of the circle. Point B, where the shapes intersect, bisects the length of the rectangle. What is the area of the circle?
- The area of the rectangle is 18.
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
3. 
If 
and 
, what is the value of y?
(A) 
(B) 
(C) 
(D) 
(E) 
4. A stand at a farmer’s market is selling peaches individually and in cartons. An individual peach costs $1. When bought in a carton of 30, the price of each peach is discounted by 10 percent. Since it is the end of the growing season, there is a sale going on where the price is further discounted by 60 percent. What is the price of two cartons of peaches?
(A) $9.00
(B) $10.80
(C) $18.00
(D) $21.60
(E) $32.40
5. If 
, what is the value of 
?
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
6. The table shows the peak price each year for stocks from five different companies. Which stock had the greatest increase in peak price from Year 1 to Year 3?
(A) OMK
(B) RRW
(C) LKP
(D) AWL
(E) TCK
7. How many kilometers does a bullet train travel to get from Tokyo to Kyoto?
- It takes the bullet train two hours to get from Tokyo to Kyoto.
- The bullet train travels at an average speed of 250 kilometers per hour from Tokyo to Kyoto.
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
8. If 
, what is the value of the following expression: 
?
(A) 4
(B) 16
(C) 64
(D) 128
(E) 256
9. When 
, 
can be simplified to which of the following?
(A) 
(B) 
(C) 
(D) 
(E) 
10. Sophia is buying a smartphone and a phone charger at an electronics store for a total price of $630. This price reflects a discount from the original prices of both devices due to a sale the store is offering. Assuming no taxes or other fees are involved, what was the original price of the phone charger alone?
- The sale that the store is offering is 15 percent off a total purchase of $500 or more, or 20 percent off a total purchase of $800 or more.
- The original price of the smartphone alone was $720.
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
11. A line passes through the points (–2, 2) and (–1, –3). At what point does this line intersect the line with the equation 
?
(A) (–5, 3)
(B) (0, –8)
(C) (–3, 5)
(D) 
(E) 
12. If 
and 
, which of the following is equal to 
?
(A) 
(B) 
(C) 
(D) 
(E) 
13. In a survey of 20 families living on Oak Street, 17 said they had previously shopped at Fresh Food Mart, and 12 said they had previously shopped at Sally’s Market. How many families said they had shopped at both stores?
- Fifteen percent of the families surveyed said they had not shopped at either store.
- All of the families that said they had shopped at Sally’s Market also said they had shopped at Fresh Food Mart.
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
14. Anthony runs a business manufacturing machine parts. If Anthony’s business manufactured 80,000 machine parts last year and 88,000 machine parts this year, how many parts will the business need to produce next year to maintain the same percent growth from year to year?
(A) 88,000
(B) 88,800
(C) 96,000
(D) 96,800
(E) 100,000
15. What is the surface area of a right circular cylinder with a height of 3 and a diameter of 1?
(A) 
(B) 
(C) 
(D) 
(E) 
16. If x and y are positive integers, is 
?
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
17. Patrick and Mel are each selling shirts at a rock concert to promote their favorite bands. It costs each of them the same amount to produce each shirt. Mel is selling her shirts for $60. If Patrick is making 20 percent more profit than Mel, and his profit is $24 per shirt, how much is Patrick charging for his shirts?
(A) $48.00
(B) $62.00
(C) $64.00
(D) $68.80
(E) $72.00
18. If 
, what is the value of x?
(A) 
(B) 
(C) 1.5
(D) 
(E) 
19. 
. If 
, what is the value of 
?
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
20. In the triangle in the figure, what is the length of side m?
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
21. Given 
, which of the following describes the possible values for x?
(A) 
(B) 
(C) 
(D) 
(E) 
22. Roland and Felicia are testing circuit boards for wiring errors. Working together, they can test a circuit board in eight minutes. How many circuit boards can Felicia test in an hour on her own?
- Felicia can test circuit boards twice as fast as Roland.
- If Roland and Felicia get their friend Cory to help them, they can all work together to test a circuit board in seven minutes.
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
23. A parking lot contains ten cars. The average age of the cars is seven years. If the average age of nine of the cars is six years, what is the age of the remaining car in years?
(A) 3
(B) 7
(C) 10
(D) 16
(E) 20
24. If Cindy ran at 7.5 miles per hour for 16 minutes, and then ran at 6 miles per hour for 10 minutes, how far in miles did she run in total?
(A) 2.5
(B) 2.8
(C) 3
(D) 3.5
(E) 5
25. If 
, what is the value of a?
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
26. What is the perimeter of the shape in the figure?
- All angles in the figure are right angles.
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
27. At Bailey’s bike shop, 75 percent of the bikes sold are mountain bikes, and the rest are road bikes. What percentage of the bikes sold are mountain bikes for kids?
- Twenty percent of the bikes sold are for kids and 80 percent are for adults.
- Twenty percent of the bikes sold are road bikes for adults.
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
28. If the hypotenuse of the triangle in the figure has a length of 9, what is x?
(A) 4.5
(B) 6
(C) 
(D) 
(E) 
29. Taco Fusion restaurant served a total of 60 guests for lunch today. Twenty of the guests ordered sushi, and 45 of the guests ordered tacos. If five of the guests didn’t order tacos or sushi, how many of the guests ordered both?
(A) 0
(B) 5
(C) 10
(D) 15
(E) 20
30. The population of Greenvale increases by 10 percent each year. Assuming constant growth, how many people will be living in Greenvale at the end of this year?
- Over a two-year period, the population growth in Greenvale is 21 percent.
- At the beginning of last year, there were 10,000 people living in Greenvale.
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
31. The figure depicts a triangle with a base of x and a height of y. What is the value of the area of the triangle?
(A) Statement (1) alone is sufficient, but Statement (2) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(B) Statement (2) alone is sufficient, but Statement (1) alone is not sufficient to answer the question asked.
(C) Both statements together are sufficient, but neither statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(D) Each statement alone is sufficient to answer the question asked.
(E) Statements (1) and (2) together are not sufficient to answer the question asked.
Section 4: Verbal
Questions 1–6 refer to the following passage, which is excerpted from Playing against Nature: Integrating Science and Economics to Mitigate Natural Hazards in an Uncertain World, by Seth Stein and Jerome Stein (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2014).
Natural hazards are the price we pay for living on an active planet. The tectonic plate subduction producing Japan’s rugged Tohoku coast gives rise to earthquakes and tsunamis. Florida’s warm sunny weather results from the processes in the ocean and atmosphere that cause hurricanes. The volcanoes that produced Hawaii’s spectacular islands sometimes threaten people. Rivers that provide the water for the farms that feed us sometimes flood.
Humans have to live with natural hazards. We describe this challenge in terms of hazards, the natural occurrence of earthquakes or other phenomena, and the risks, or dangers they pose to lives and property. In this formulation, the risk is the product of hazard and vulnerability. We want to assess the hazards — estimate how significant they are — and develop methods to mitigate or reduce the resulting losses.
Hazards are geological facts that are not under human control. All we can do is try to assess them as best we can. In contrast, risks are affected by human actions that increase or decrease vulnerability, such as where people live and how they build. We increase vulnerability by building in hazardous areas, and decrease it by making buildings more hazard resistant. Areas with high hazard can have low risk because few people live there. Areas of modest hazard can have high risk due to large population and poor construction. A disaster occurs when — owing to high vulnerability — a natural event has major consequences for society.
The harm from natural disasters is enormous. On average, about 100,000 people per year are killed by natural disasters, with some disasters — such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami — causing many more deaths. Although the actual numbers of deaths in many events, such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, are poorly known, they are very large.
Economic impacts are even harder to quantify, and various measures are used to try to do so. Disasters cause losses, which are the total negative economic impact. These include direct losses due to destruction of physical assets such as buildings, farmland, forests, etc., and indirect losses that result from the direct losses. Because losses are hard to determine, what is reported is often the cost, which refers to payouts by insurers (called insured losses) or governments to reimburse some of the losses. Thus, the reported cost does not reflect the losses to people who do not receive such payments.
1. The main idea of the first paragraph is best expressed as
(A) The factors that make an area desirable are also those that can pose the most risk.
(B) The Hawaiian Islands would not exist if not for powerful and explosive volcanoes.
(C) Floods, volcanoes, and earthquakes pose threats to the natural environment.
(D) Humans must learn to live with natural hazards such as volcanoes and tsunamis.
(E) Natural hazards are most prevalent in areas that are sunny and warm.
2. Which of the following might the author of the passage consider an “indirect loss” associated with a disaster?
(A) Desecration of a library due to vandalism
(B) Damage to a school building in a fire
(C) Loss of retail clothing sales due to a mall flood
(D) Death of a ranch’s livestock due to a volcanic eruption
(E) Destruction of a pavilion due to a hurricane
3. According to the passage, an important distinction between hazards and risks is
(A) risks occur naturally, while hazards arise because of human actions
(B) hazards result from risks, and risks result from vulnerability
(C) hazards can lead to disasters, while risks cannot
(D) hazards are not under human control, while risks usually are
(E) risks are harder to quantify than hazards
4. The passage is primarily concerned with
(A) describing the causes and impacts of natural disasters
(B) assessing the impact that disasters render on the global economy
(C) depicting the various ways human beings may endanger themselves
(D) raising awareness of the loss of human lives due to the severity and unpredictability of natural disasters
(E) explaining that natural disasters are not under human control
5. Which of the following best describes the purpose of the fourth paragraph in relation to the passage as a whole?
(A) It uses numerical data and metrics to describe the economic impacts of natural disasters.
(B) It emphasizes how little is actually known about how many lives are lost in natural disasters.
(C) It outlines the differences between hazards and risks to set up information detailed in the remainder of the passage.
(D) It provides sensory details about specific recent natural disasters that may be familiar to readers to evoke an emotional response.
(E) It applies statistical data to emphasize the magnitude of damage created by natural disasters.
6. Which of the following logically follows the information given in the passage?
(A) The number of unreported deaths in the 2010 Haitian earthquake exceeded the number of unreported deaths in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
(B) In the years 2010 and 2004, there were more deaths than average due to natural disasters.
(C) The number of deaths due to natural disasters along Japan’s tectonic plate is greater on average than those experienced on islands such as Hawaii or Haiti.
(D) Economic costs are more frequently unreported than numbers of deaths in any given natural disaster.
(E) Areas of high hazard, such as Japan’s Tohoku coast, may have a lower risk of natural disaster costs than areas where hazard incidents are lower.
7. Before the primary school can open to the public in time for the fall semester, the crew in charge of the project must finish construction, cleaning, and safety-proofing it’s interior.
(A) must finish construction, cleaning, and safety-proofing it’s interior
(B) must finish construction of, cleaning, and safety-proof its interior
(C) must finish constructing, cleaning and safety-proofing it’s interior
(D) must finish constructing, cleaning, and safety-proofing its interior
(E) must finish construction, cleaning and safety-proofing the interior
8. So many accounts of this continents’ past begin with Europeans striding ashore, claiming this “newfound land” and its human inhabitants for its respective empires.
(A) continents’ past begin with Europeans striding ashore, claiming this “newfound land” and its human inhabitants for its respective empires
(B) continent’s past begin with Europeans striding ashore, claiming this “newfound land” and its human inhabitants for their respective empires
(C) continents’ past begin with Europeans striding ashore, claiming this “newfound land” and its human inhabitants for their respective empires
(D) continent’s past begins with Europeans striding ashore, claiming this “newfound land” and its human inhabitants for its respective empires
(E) continent’s past begins with Europeans striding ashore, claiming this “newfound land” and its human inhabitants for their respective empires
9. Injera, an East African flatbread, has been a main component of Ethiopian dishes for generations and are still used by many Ethiopians today, who use it to feed themselves in the same manner Americans use flatware.
(A) are still used by many Ethiopians today, who use it to feed themselves
(B) are still used by many Ethiopians today, who feed themselves with it
(C) it is still used today by many Ethiopians, who use it to feed themselves
(D) is still used today by many Ethiopians to feed themselves
(E) is still used by many Ethiopians today, who use it to feed themselves
10. The size of oceanic waves is a function of the velocity of the wind and of fetch, the length of the surface of the water subject to those winds. The impact of waves against a coastline is a function of the size of the waves and the shape of the sea bottom. The degree of erosion to which a coastline is subject is a function of the average impact of waves and the geologic composition of the coastline.
If these statements are true, which one of the following must also be true?
(A) The degree of erosion to which a coastline is subject is related to the shape of the sea bottom.
(B) The size of oceanic waves will not fluctuate far from an average for any given stretch of ocean.
(C) The fetch of winds is related to the shape of the sea bottom.
(D) The size of oceanic waves is related to the shape of the sea bottom.
(E) The average velocity of the wind in an area plays no role in the degree of erosion to which a coastline is subject.
11. Health insurers are largely immune to the factors that are limiting profit in many sectors of the healthcare economy. Consumers have shown a willingness to pay almost any price for health insurance premiums. Capital demands, which are the responsibility of doctors and hospitals, are increasing dramatically, even as cost-containment measures, largely encouraged by the insurers and their friends in government, have forced new levels of fiscal discipline upon hospitals and doctors. Patients still need MRIs and buildings to put them in, but hospitals are limited in how much they can charge patients for the use of these facilities.
Which one of the following most accurately describes the role that the statement “patients still need MRIs and buildings to put them in” plays in the argument?
(A) It is a specific example of a general condition described in the course of the argument.
(B) It is used to counter a consideration that may be taken to undermine the argument.
(C) It is used to indirectly support the claim made by the argument.
(D) It describes a social side effect of the benefit with which the argument is concerned.
(E) It introduces the conclusion that the argument intends to support.
12. The softball team tried to raise enough money to purchase new uniforms for the upcoming season, but between them, the 20 players were only able to raise about 70 percent of the cost.
(A) between them, the 20 players were only able to raise about 70 percent of the cost
(B) between them, the 20 players were only able to have raised about 70 percent of the cost
(C) among them, the 20 players were only able to raise about 70 percent of the cost
(D) among them, the 20 players were only able to have raised about 70 percent of the cost
(E) among them, only about 70 percent of the cost was raised by 20 players
13. Forcing businesses to furnish employees with paid leave for family concerns, such as paternity leave or leave to care for a sick child, is a terrible idea. If a business allows employees to take this time off, the workers will take advantage of the privilege and come to work as little as possible. This will destroy productivity and workplace morale.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
(A) European countries guarantee employees generous family leave and paid vacation time, but the European standard of living is slightly below that of the United States.
(B) Most male workers refuse to take paternity leave even though it is allowed under federal law and their employers encourage it; they fear they may anger co-workers and harm their chances for promotion if they take time off for what is still seen as a frivolous reason.
(C) The FMLA requires employers to grant employees 12 weeks a year of unpaid leave for family purposes; although employers save money because the leave is unpaid, they often must spend money to find a replacement for the employee who takes time off.
(D) In some workplaces, the loss of a single employee at a busy time of year can be devastating, even if that employee plans to return after a few weeks; allowing family leave can overwhelm the employees who stay on the job.
(E) Allowing employees to take leave for family matters reduces absenteeism, improves morale, and surprisingly increases productivity because the employees who are granted leave tend to work much harder and more efficiently when they come back to work.
14. Not all of the players was on board with the new uniforms for the girls’ basketball team, but the team made their choices.
(A) was on board with the new uniforms for the girls’ basketball team, but the team made their choices
(B) was on board with the new uniforms for the girls’ basketball team, but the team had made its choices
(C) were on board with the new uniforms for the girls’ basketball team, but the team made their choice
(D) were on board with the new uniforms for the girls’ basketball team, but the team had made its choice
(E) were on board with the new uniforms for the girls’ basketball team, but the team has made its choice
15. The nation’s increasing reliance on automation is reducing the number of jobs available to hardworking people, forcing many families to make the unfortunate choice between having a roof over their heads or receiving healthcare.
(A) forcing many families to make the unfortunate choice between having a roof over their heads or receiving healthcare
(B) forcing many families to make the unfortunate choice between having a roof over their heads and receiving healthcare
(C) forcing many families to make the unfortunate choice between having a roof over their heads or healthcare
(D) forcing many families with making the unfortunate choice between having a roof over their heads and healthcare
(E) forcing many families to make the unfortunate choice among having a roof over their heads and healthcare
16. Software engineers know that a poorly written application can consume more memory than it should and that running out of memory can cause an application to crash. However, if a crashing application causes the whole operating system to crash, the fault lies with the operating system.
Which one of the following, if true, is least helpful in establishing that this conclusion is properly drawn?
(A) Operating systems with generous amounts of memory are less susceptible to crashing, even when applications are poorly written.
(B) Operating systems can isolate the memory used by individual applications, even when an application uses a large amount of memory.
(C) An operating system can monitor an application’s consumption of memory and take action when that consumption gets too high.
(D) Techniques for programming operating systems to catch and handle memory errors are well defined and well known among programmers.
(E) Because many applications can run simultaneously under a single operating system, the operating system should have a well-defined method of managing memory consumption.
17. This museum does not grant people the right to use images of items in its collection in online publications. We are obliged to do everything in our power to ensure the continued appeal of visiting our collection in person.
The above conclusion depends on assuming which one of the following?
(A) Taking photographs of art objects, especially using a flash, can damage the objects by accelerating the fading of paint.
(B) The museum sells pictures of its collection in its gift shop, which is an important source of income for the museum.
(C) Images placed online are easily copied and reused by other people.
(D) The quality of most electronic images, especially those online, falls short of the professional standards of the museum.
(E) If people see online images of items in the museum’s collection, they will no longer be interested in seeing the collection with their own eyes.
18. The town’s legislators heard arguments from the crowd about how town facilities and parks no longer properly accommodate the townspeople now that the number of residents have increased so considerably.
(A) the number of residents have increased so considerably
(B) the numbers of residents have so considerably increased
(C) the number of residents has increased so considerably
(D) the numbers of residents has so considerably increased
(E) the number of residents has been increasing considerably so
19. Risks are effected by human actions that increase or decrease vulnerability, like where people live and how they build.
(A) Risks are effected by human actions that increase or decrease vulnerability, like where people live and how they build.
(B) Risks are affected by human actions that increase or decrease vulnerability, like where people live and how they build.
(C) Risks are effected by human actions that increase or decrease vulnerability, such as where people live and how they build.
(D) Risks are affected by human actions that increase or decrease vulnerability, such as where people live and how they build.
(E) Risks are affected by human actions which increase or decrease vulnerability, such as where people live and how they build.
Questions 20–23 refer to the following passage, which is excerpted from Handbook of Early Childhood Development Programs, Practices, and Policies, by Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal (Editor) and Eric Dearing (Editor) (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2017).
Researchers, educators, and policymakers generally agree that school readiness is a multidimensional concept that includes cognitive, executive functioning, language, socioemotional, behavioral, and health characteristics that contribute to children’s ability to adapt and thrive in school settings. These performance domains are correlated but typically are assessed and studied as independent indicators of school readiness and predictors of later achievement. Importantly, the guiding definitions of school readiness typically include skills and behaviors that are related to learning processes as well as learning outcomes, as opposed to the K–12 system, which often only emphasizes student outcomes based on children’s performance on academic achievement tests.
In the area of cognition, school readiness includes both acquired knowledge or skills in a particular content area (such as knowing a certain number of letters) as well as learning/processing skills or how fast children acquire knowledge. In particular, there has been a growing emphasis on executive functioning skills and how these skills interact with other domains to promote learning in preschool classrooms. Executive functioning typically is defined as the set of skills and behaviors required to attain a goal, including working memory, attention control, attention shifting, and response inhibition. For young children, this means being able to resist distractions (e.g., pay attention to a teacher rather than talk with peers), inhibit dominant responses in emotional contexts (e.g., raise hand instead of talking while the teacher is reading a book), and prioritize and sequence information and hold onto it in memory (e.g., plan and carry out the series of steps required to line up for lunch).
In addition, school readiness includes children’s language skills, including their receptive language (i.e., the ability to listen and understand language) and expressive language (i.e., the ability to communicate with others using verbal language). Children’s socioemotional skills are also an important component of school readiness and include behaviors such as cooperation with teachers and peers and developing social relationships, as well as behavior problems, including aggression or poor regulation. There are also a set of skills referred to as approaches to learning, which reflect children’s curiosity, flexibility, attention, persistence, and engagement. The physical health domain includes motor development, such as development of fine and gross motor skills, and healthy behavior practices. Collectively, all of these skills are theorized to affect children’s learning opportunities and their acquisition of new skills and behaviors in the classroom setting.
20. According to the passage, being able to resist distractions is a form of
(A) socioemotional growth
(B) executive functioning
(C) behavioral growth
(D) motor development
(E) cognitive growth
21. The author of the passage makes the distinction between the guiding principles of school readiness and those observed by the K–12 system to
(A) emphasize that school readiness regards the process as much as the results
(B) demonstrate the failings of the K–12 system
(C) explain why the guiding principles of school readiness are superior to those used at K–12 settings
(D) emphasize the author’s personal opinion about the importance of student outcomes
(E) explain how cognition factors into a child’s degree of success in a school setting
22. The passage indicates that attention to which of the following school readiness skills has likely increased in recent years?
(A) responding accurately on standardized achievement tests
(B) using verbal language to communicate ideas to others
(C) cooperating with peers and managing aggressive behaviors
(D) paying attention to the teacher
(E) ensuring that students consume a healthy breakfast
23. It can be inferred from the passage that children who collaborate successfully with their teachers and other students have strong
(A) motor skills
(B) receptive language skills
(C) expressive language skills
(D) executive functioning skills
(E) socioemotional skills
24. Career counselor: Many large international companies have changed their practices regarding international assignments. They are placing much more emphasis on helping spouses of expatriate employees to adjust to the foreign environment. This has reduced premature returns by 67 percent.
Which one of the following is an assumption upon which the career counselor’s argument depends?
(A) Spousal and marital difficulties were formerly responsible for many premature returns from foreign assignments.
(B) When an employee is placed in a foreign assignment for a year or less, his or her family sees the assignment as an adventure.
(C) Expatriate employees work long hours and travel a great deal, and their children make new friends at school, but spouses often have no friends and no work to support them while they’re abroad.
(D) The majority of international assignments today last for less than a year, but ten years ago, 70 percent of them lasted much longer than one year.
(E) Many companies now offer expatriate spouses language training, career guidance, and assistance in finding homes and schools.
25. One work of art is not more important because it was made after another nor does it make its predecessor obsolete.
(A) after another nor does it make its predecessor obsolete
(B) after another, it neither makes its predecessor obsolete
(C) after another; nor does it make its predecessor obsolete
(D) after another neither does it make its predecessor obsolete
(E) after another, nor does it make its predecessor obsolete
26. A most unsociable dog he proved to be, resenting all their advances, refusing to let them lay hands on him, menacing them with bared fangs and bristling hair.
(A) resenting all their advances, refusing to let them lay hands on him, menacing them with bared fangs and bristling hair
(B) resenting all advances, refusing to let them lay hands on him, menacing them with bared fangs, and bristling hair
(C) resenting all the advances that they made, refusing to let them lay hands on him, menaced them with bared fangs and bristling hair
(D) resenting all their advances, refusing to let them lay hands on him, menaced them with bared fangs and bristling hair
(E) resenting all the advances that they made, refusing to let them lay hands on him, and menacing them with bared fangs and bristling hair
27. Scientists have discovered a gene that controls whether an individual is monogamous. They took a gene from the monogamous prairie vole and implanted it into its more promiscuous relative, the meadow vole. Thereafter, the meadow voles with the new gene became monogamous.
Which one of the following, if true, would provide the most support for the argument’s conclusion?
(A) Studies on humans and other mammals have shown that receptors for the hormone vasopressin play a role in autism, drug addiction, and the formation of romantic attachments.
(B) Prairie voles typically form lifelong partnerships, which scientists have linked to an increased number of receptors for the hormone vasopressin.
(C) Meadow voles live in a harsher environment than prairie voles and cannot afford to pass up opportunities to mate as often as possible.
(D) The scientists used a harmless virus to capture the gene and transfer it into the meadow voles.
(E) The meadow voles that had the prairie vole gene implanted in them were released into and observed in the same habitat in which they had previously lived.
28. Physician: Scottish researchers have developed a test that allows them to predict at what age a woman will experience menopause. The scientists use a model that compares a woman’s ovaries to “average” ovaries to see whether her ovaries are aging faster or more slowly than average. They have discovered that the size of ovaries is directly related to the number of eggs they contain, which in turn is directly related to fertility. This discovery will significantly influence women’s decisions on when to have children.
The physician’s conclusion follows logically if which one of the following is assumed?
(A) Women with smaller ovaries tend to have less success with assisted reproduction techniques, such as in vitro fertilization.
(B) Most women experience menopause around the age of 50, but their fertility starts to decline at the age of 37.
(C) Women who want to have children increasingly seek to delay doing so for many varied reasons.
(D) The test cannot tell women how likely they are to conceive in the years just prior to menopause.
(E) Every woman is born with several million eggs in her ovaries, which formed while she was a fetus; the number of eggs dwindles over her lifetime, until at menopause she has 1,000 or fewer.
29. The top two students, Arthur and Abraham, excelled not only academically but in athletics too.
(A) excelled not only academically but in athletics too
(B) excelled not only academically and also athletically
(C) engaged in excellence not only academically but athletically
(D) excelled not only academically but also in athletics
(E) excelled not only academically but also athletically
30. To earn a graduate equivalency diploma, a student must pass tests on subjects taught in high schools, proving that he or she has mastered them to the degree assumed of a high school graduate. It makes sense for a student to drop out of high school and earn a GED. A GED takes much less time to earn than a high school diploma and provides evidence that the student has learned everything he or she would have learned in high school.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?
(A) Some GED-prep programs incorporate enrichment activities into their test preparation, such as taking students to art exhibits and theatrical performances.
(B) Most colleges and universities consider a GED equivalent to a high school degree for admission purposes.
(C) Many successful businesspeople dropped out of high school and earned a GED.
(D) Employers assume that high school graduates generally have a much higher level of mastery of academic subjects than those who earn GEDs.
(E) Many GED students are slightly older than high school students, and they often hold jobs in addition to studying to pass the GED tests.
Questions 31–34 refer to the following passage, which is excerpted from Beyond Cybersecurity: Protecting Your Digital Business, by James M. Kaplan, Tucker Bailey, Derek O'Halloran, Alan Marcus, and Chris Rezek (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2015).
All business investments require trade-offs between risk and reward. Does the interest rate on a new bond issue adequately compensate for the risk of default? Are the potential revenues from entering a new emerging market greater than the risk that the investments will be confiscated by a new regime? Does the value of oil extracted via deep-water, offshore drilling outweigh the chance of a catastrophic accident? Tough questions must be answered by weighing up the business imperatives against a calculation of the risk — and the greater the risk, the harder it is to make the case for investment.
Technology investments are no different. They, too, have always been a trade-off between risk and return. However, for enterprise technology, increased global connectivity is raising the stakes on both sides of the equation. The commercial rewards from tapping into this connectivity are enormous, but the more tightly we are connected, the more vulnerabilities exist that attackers can exploit and the more damage they can do once inside. Therefore, when a manufacturer invests in a new product life-cycle management system, it is making a bet that the system will not enable the theft of valuable intellectual property. When a retailer invests in mobile commerce, it is betting that cyber-fraud won’t critically damage profitability. When a bank invests in customer analytics, it is betting that the sensitive data it analyzes won’t be stolen by cyber-criminals. The odds on all those bets appear to be shifting away from the institutions and toward cyber-attackers. They could swing decisively their way in the near future given most companies’ siloed and reactive approach to cybersecurity.
Our interviews with business leaders, chief information officers (CIOs), chief technology officers (CTOs), and chief information security officers (CISOs) indicate that concerns about cyber-attacks are already affecting large institutions’ interest in and ability to create value from technology investment and innovation. Potential losses, both direct and indirect, reduce the expected economic benefits of technology investments, as do the high cost and lengthy time frame required to build the defense mechanisms that can protect the organization against a growing range of attackers. In short, the models companies use to protect themselves from cyber-attack are limiting their ability to extract additional value from technology.
Concern about cyber-attacks is already having a noticeable impact on business along three dimensions: lower frontline productivity, fewer resources for information technology (IT) initiatives that create value, and — critically — the slower implementation of technological innovations.
31. The primary purpose of this passage is to
(A) identify gaps in the business world that lead to cybersecurity breaches
(B) refute the notion that companies are failing to thwart hackers
(C) discuss how the modern business marketplace is all about risk and reward
(D) explain how attention to cybersecurity impacts companies’ technological innovation
(E) demonstrate how today’s hackers are winning the fight against big corporations
32. According to the passage, all of the following decrease the economic benefits of technological investment EXCEPT:
(A) experiencing stolen intellectual property
(B) realizing indirect losses
(C) weighing business outcomes and risks
(D) investing in cybersecurity protection technology
(E) reacting to cyber-threats only when necessary
33. When the author asserts that companies take a “siloed and reactive” approach to cybersecurity, he is implying that companies
(A) perform thorough research before implementing programs meant to improve cybersecurity
(B) combat problems after they have occurred
(C) have made strides against hackers in the ultimate battle of cybersecurity
(D) invest too much in cybersecurity
(E) take unnecessarily large investment risks and disregard the importance of cybersecurity
34. Which of the following is most likely an example of intellectual property as mentioned in the second paragraph?
(A) works of art posted to social media
(B) personal information, such as Social Security numbers or banking information
(C) computers and related technological devices
(D) customer and client lists and related contact information
(E) an outline of a streamlined manufacturing process
35. I bought a pair of glasses from an optometrist. One of the lenses regularly pops out of the frame. Therefore, this optometrist doesn’t know how to make a good pair of glasses.
The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument
(A) does not allow the optometrist a chance to defend himself
(B) does not consider the possibility that other optometrists also make defective frames
(C) criticizes the optometrist’s use of a particular technique when making glasses
(D) jumps to the conclusion that the defect in the glasses must be due to the optometrist’s lack of skill
(E) accuses the optometrist of deliberately sabotaging the glasses
36. When we think about peoples of the past, we intuitively try to imagine what he or she would have looked like in real life and to visualize their physical features, dress, and general appearance.
(A) we intuitively try to imagine what he or she would have looked like in real life and to visualize their physical features
(B) we intuitively try to imagine what they would have looked like in real life and to visualize their physical features
(C) we intuitively try to imagine what he or she would have looked like in real life and visualize his or her physical features
(D) we intuitively try to imagine what they would have looked like in real life and to visualize what their physical features were like
(E) we intuitively try to imagine what they would look like in real life and visualize their physical features