Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Verbs; Modification
The underlined portion of the sentence begins with the adverb "expressively," which is incorrectly modifying the noun "tonality." Nouns must be modified by adjectives. Moreover, the underlined portion ends with a plural verb, "are," but the subject of the verb, "[t]he lira da braccio," is singular. Eliminate (A). Also eliminate (B) for beginning with "expressively" and (C) for using the plural "are." (E) uses the singular past tense "was." This choice might be tempting because the sentence refers to the Renaissance, but the following clause speaks of the instrument in the artwork in the present tense ("it is often played.") The instrument is still seen in the art today, so "is" in (D) is correct.
Question Type: Critical Reasoning ▸ Strengthen
The sales manager's goal is to increase sales by having the salespeople who didn't attend the seminar on persuasive speaking attend the next seminar. The implied opinion is that the seminar will make employees better salespeople; in other words, it will cause sales to increase. The evidence provided for this argument is that the salespeople who did attend the seminar had better sales than did nonattendees. However, this is only a correlation. There could be some other reason for the good performance (e.g., other seminars, better leads, luck). It's also possible the author's logic is backward: perhaps the attendees were already above average. Maybe that's why they were chosen to attend the seminar in the first place, or perhaps more highly motivated people both choose to attend seminars and get more sales. The sales manager assumes these factors did not play an important role in the increased sales and that the seminar was responsible. The correct answer will eliminate one or more of these alternative causes from consideration.
(E) is correct as it eliminates one alternative reason that attendees had better sales, strengthening the conclusion that the seminar helps sales. (A) doesn't establish that these tactics actually helped sales—perhaps the salespeople already knew these tactics. Moreover, this choice describes the last seminar, but the argument is about the benefits of attending the next seminar. (B) does not help make the case for attending the seminar. The author's argument rests on the assumption that those who attended the seminar improved while those who didn't attend did not improve. (B) does not address the comparison. Indeed, if overall sales were up, then it's possible everyone did better and not just people who attended the seminar. (C) weakens the argument by bringing up a potential alternative explanation. Maybe the book was responsible and not the seminar itself. (D) is an irrelevant comparison. How Excello compares to other companies has nothing to do with whether the seminar was effective.
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Comparison; Parallelism
The word "like" that begins the underlined portion of the sentence indicates that the sentence is comparing two things. Comparisons must be logical and parallel. Here, "[b]rand management" should logically be compared to some kind of management, but instead it is compared to "any industry." Eliminate (A). (B) substitutes "similar to" for "like" but still doesn't compare "management" to management. (C) solves the comparison problem by inserting the term "brand management" into the second part of the comparison. However, when one thing "is" another, the two things must be expressed in parallel form, and "[b]rand management . . . is the artistic defining" is not parallel. Eliminate (C). (D) and (E) solve the comparison problem by using "as" to compare how brand management is in one industry to how brand management is in any industry. However, (D) breaks parallelism after the comma with "[b]rand management . . . is artfully defining," since "brand management" is a regular noun while "defining" is an –ing verb form acting as a noun. (E) uses the same noun form in both parts of the structure—"brand management . . . is the art"—so it is correct.
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Pronouns; Verbs
The revolution's leaders committed violent acts for the purpose of establishing their authority—"to establish their authority"—and they also suppressed dissent. The infinitive form "to establish" is idiomatically correct, the plural pronoun "they" correctly refers to "leaders," and "suppressed" is in the correct past tense. (A) is correct. By replacing "to" with "that," (B) subtly changes the meaning of the sentence, and the singular pronoun "it" is incorrect. By dropping the pronoun altogether, (C) forms a compound predicate, which would have to be parallel, but "establishing" and "to suppress" do not have the same form. (D) uses the past progressive "were suppressing," which would only be correct to describe an action that was ongoing when another action happened; the leaders "resorted" to violence and "suppressed" dissent in the same time frame. (E) uses a wordier construction and commits a pronoun error with "it."
Question Type: Critical Reasoning ▸ Weaken
The question stem asks you to identify the fact that will most undermine, or weaken, the spokesperson's argument. Begin by identifying the conclusion and supporting evidence. The spokesperson claims that Southtown's lower business tax rate creates a better business environment. The evidence is the lower amount of business taxes collected in Southtown. Thus, the spokesperson is equating lower total business tax receipts with a lesser impact on an individual business that might start up in Southtown. However, while the amount of taxes collected is lower, that doesn’t mean that Southtown has the lower tax rate. Perhaps Southtown has fewer businesses and collected the smaller amount by taking a larger percentage of taxes from those businesses. A good prediction would be "Anything that says Southtown may have a smaller amount of business profits to tax or a higher rate of taxation."
(C) matches the prediction and is correct. if Northtown has twice the business profits and doesn't collect twice the tax revenue of Southtown, then Northtown has the lower tax rate. Thus, a business that started in Northtown would pay less taxes. The argument is only about the impact of business taxes, so whether a smaller or larger proportion of all taxes are business taxes has nothing to do with tax rates and is irrelevant to the conclusion; eliminate (A) and (B). (D) is irrelevant because the size of the population does not necessarily correspond to the amount of business profits or business taxes collected. (E) is irrelevant because business taxes are not assessed on sales, but on profits, and if they were assessed on sales, this choice would strengthen, not weaken, the argument.
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Comparison
The fact that the word "than" is underlined is a clue that there may be a comparison problem here. When one thing (a noun) is said to differ from another, the correct phrase is different from, not different than. In this sentence, the –ing words "[e]stablishing" and "setting" are verb forms that function as nouns, so the sentence should read, "Establishing goals . . . is often different from setting goals . . ." That's (D). The word "than" in (A) and (B) would be properly used to introduce a new clause and would have to be followed by both a noun and a verb. (C) compares "[e]stablishing" to "goals," which would not be parallel. Likewise, by introducing "the" and "of," (E) violates parallelism and is unnecessarily wordy.
Question Type: Critical Reasoning ▸ Evaluation
You need to find the one question whose answer would not help you decide whether the grain-processing company should discard its grain by-products or recycle those products to produce catfish. One piece of evidence for success of the plan is that fish with grain by-products in their diets reach marketable size; this establishes that catfish eat the by-products and grow large enough to be sold. Another piece of evidence is that restaurants want a steady supply of catfish. These facts are both promising, but do they make operating a fish farm a better choice than just throwing away the by-products? As with any question that asks you to evaluate a plan, consider other factors that might influence whether the plan is the better choice or feasible at all.
(E) is the correct answer because the time
it takes for catfish to mature in the wild is irrelevant to whether the company should farm them. Even if catfish mature
much more quickly in the wild, they may be difficult to harvest, expensive to
transport, or not found in sufficient numbers. Even if they mature much more slowly, they may be less prone to disease and thus be a more reliable supply, or they may taste better. An answer to this question does not help evaluate the plan. With
(A), if the costs of operating the fish farm were less than the costs of
discarding the by-products, the plan would be more attractive. (B) is an important question that speaks to how much fish the company could sell to earn revenue and offset the costs of running the farm. An answer to (C) would provide information about regulations that could increase the costs and reduce the feasibility of fish farming. Although the author says that some fish fed with grain by-products grow up, it doesn't say their entire diet is grain by-products. Thus, an answer to (D) would provide information about whether the grain company would need to buy other foods or supplements, making the project more expensive.
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Pronouns
The underlined portion begins with the past perfect verb "had laid," so first check whether this verb tense is correct. In fact it is, because the photographs "laid the foundation" before another action in the past, the awarding of the Nobel prize. That more recent past action is correctly stated with the simple past tense, "did not receive . . . it was awarded." The pronoun "it" appears, so make sure the pronoun unambiguously refers to a singular, nonhuman antecedent. "It" refers clearly to "the Nobel prize," so no problem there. Finally, the overall structure of the sentence is logical: her photographs laid a foundation for a scientific discovery, but Franklin did not win a prize for the discovery. There is no error, and (A) is correct.
The other choices have various errors, but you can efficiently eliminate them by focusing on the use of pronouns. In (B), the final "it" seems to refer to "the structure of DNA," but describing the DNA earned the prize, not the structure itself. In (C), the plural pronoun "their" could only refer to the plural noun "photographs," but the photographs were not being described. It's hard to know what the "it" at the end of (D) might refer to. And the "it" in (E) would refer to the "photographs," but "it" is singular and "photographs" is plural; moreover, Franklin (not her photographs) would have been awarded the Nobel.
Question Type: Reading Comprehension ▸ Global
The correct answer to a question about the primary concern of the passage must reflect the passage as a whole. Your prediction for the answer would be something like “Explain the difficulties that are faced by working married men.”
(B) matches the prediction and is correct. (A) incorrectly addresses the difficulties that women face. While these issues are mentioned in the passage, the author discusses them to contrast women's issues with those of married men. In addition, the author's tone is neutral; the author doesn’t advocate anything. (C) misstates the main idea of the passage. The focus of the text is on the issues that are faced by working married men, some of whom happen to earn high salaries. (D) is not discussed in the passage. In addition, the author doesn’t take issue with others’ views. (E) is also not discussed in the passage, which does not attribute the difficulties of married men to discrimination against women.
Question Type: Reading Comprehension ▸ Inference
The passage discusses married men who work in the second, third, and fourth paragraph, providing most details in the last two paragraphs. As you evaluate the choices, strictly compare each to the passage, keeping the author's overall purpose in writing in mind.
Lines 9–11 and 20–21 suggest that married men earn more to provide for their families. Lines 21–25 describe two negative effects on the families of married men—the men don't have enough time to spend with their families, and those men have higher levels of marital discord. Taken together, these parts of the passage support (D).
(A) goes beyond what is stated in the passage and is incorrect. The passage suggests that married men work more hours and earn more money to support their families as their families grow, but the passage never indicates that this is the most important aspect of employment for married men.
(B) is the opposite of what the passage states and is incorrect. The third and fourth paragraphs discuss the difficulties faced by working married men.
Since the second paragraph outlines some of the advantages that married men have over their female counterparts, you may suspect that the author would agree with (C), but no support for this comparison of their satisfaction levels is actually given in the passage.
(E) contradicts the passage and is thus incorrect. One of the complaints of married men, mentioned in lines 21–23, is that their job responsibilities prevent them from spending time with their families.
Question Type: Reading Comprehension ▸ Logic
The words "in order to" indicate this question is asking how or why the author used a feature of the passage, not about the content of the feature itself. Refer to your notes on the second paragraph and consider how the author used Coltrane's research to achieve the purpose of the passage. A good prediction of the correct answer would be "to explain that earning more money may not be enough for married men to be satisfied with their jobs."
(B) matches the prediction and is correct.
(A) describes the content of Coltrane's research, but the primary purpose of the paragraph is not to highlight the advantages enjoyed by working married men but rather to set the stage for a discussion of the reasons married men may be dissatisfied in their jobs.
The second paragraph does not address family leave policies and flexible work schedules (C); these are discussed in the fourth paragraph.
The author mentions some disadvantages that women face after marrying and having children (D), such as lower pay with each child. The author does not argue against the idea that women experience disadvantages.
While Coltrane's research could be construed as support for the idea that discrimination against women exists in the workplace (E), the author neither attributes the problems women face to discrimination in the workplace nor describes Coltrane's research as indicative of discrimination. Also, again, the purpose of discussing this research is to describe men's experiences, not women's.
Question Type: Reading Comprehension ▸ Detail
The comparison of the salaries of married men to those of single men is found in lines 9–11, and a proposed explanation is found in lines 11–13: "One reason . . . may be that, as the size of the family grows, men rely on women to manage most of the responsibilities of housekeeping and child raising." (C) is a paraphrase of that sentence and is thus correct.
The remaining choices may be plausible in everyday life, but none of them are mentioned in the passage, so they are all incorrect.
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Other (Clauses and Connectors)
The clause starting "that . . . concerns ideas" and going all the way to the end of the sentence describes the genre of science fiction. Since the sentence already has a "that," which stands for the word right before it, "genre," there is no need for another "that" after the comma or for the pronoun "it." Eliminate (A). To see clearly what sort of connector is needed, try reading the sentence without the unessential prepositional phrase "by addressing the future." In fact, no connector words are needed after the comma: "Science fiction has been described as the genre that . . . concerns ideas . . ." (C) is correct. Like the original sentence, (B) repeats "that," and (E) loses the "that" but retains the "it." (D) uses "so" improperly and changes "thoughts" to "thinking," which is not parallel with its partner "emotions."
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Idioms and Usage
The underlined portion of the sentence includes an unidiomatic phrase, "credited as to" and the redundant "known to be famous for." Eliminate (A). The first part of (C) is wordier than the original, and "credited with" gives credit for her classical training to her technique, when the relationship is the other way around. (D) rearranges the words to say that Simone is given credit for a distinctive technique because she received classical training; this distorts the original's meaning. (E) says Simone herself is a result of her classical training, but it is her technique that was the result of her training. (B) uses the correct "credited to" and the succinct "known for," and this choice is correct.
Question Type: Critical Reasoning ▸ Weaken
The question stem asks for something that reduces the likelihood that the officials' program was effective. The program called for reduced water usage, and the water levels did return to normal. However, this a classic example of an unsupported cause-and-effect argument. The author assumes that the program caused the levels to return to normal and that nothing else was responsible. Your prediction should be along the lines of "something other than the program led to the increased water level."
(B) does this. It doesn't outright state what the other factor was. However, if other reservoirs in the area recovered without a water usage program in place, then some other factor was likely involved. (A) makes an irrelevant comparison between this year and last year. Even if last year's levels were higher, it's still possible that the program helped the reservoirs return to normal this year. (C) is another irrelevant comparison: as long as people reduced water usage overall, the program still could have worked. (D) suggests that there could have been a more effective plan, but that doesn't mean that the city officials' plan was ineffective. And the timing of the drop in water usage, in (E), does not affect the argument that the plan caused the reduction and that this reduction caused reservoir levels to rise.
Question Type: Critical Reasoning ▸ Strengthen
The author uses an analogy to argue that allowing visitors to help feed the big cats would be dangerous. The reason is that the cats don't get to know the visitors as they do the zookeepers. But what if people could help feed the cats without actually interacting with the animals? That would take away the danger, making the author's argument fall apart. So, to strengthen the argument, show that feeding the cats involves a risk of physical contact.
(E) does exactly that, making it correct. (A) states that visitors are not as knowledgeable as the zookeepers. However, the argument hinges on how well the cats know the people feeding them, not the other way around. Moreover, this statement does not provide a link between interaction and safety while feeding the animals, so it adds no value to the argument. (B) addresses the wrong idea. The zoo may be looking to attract new visitors, but the author is only concerned about safety, not whether the zoo is successful in increasing attendance. (C) confirms the potential danger of entering a stranger's home unannounced. However, the author brings up this situation as an analogy, and knowing more about the danger of committing a home invasion does not confirm that feeding big cats is equivalently dangerous. (D) mentions people's experience interacting with wild animals in general, while the argument is about whether the big cats in this zoo will have had prior exposure to the visitors. More importantly, this comparison of visitors to non-visitors is irrelevant as it still does not make a connection between greater interaction and safety.
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Pronouns; Parallelism; Modification
When faced with choices that are this long, it is often easier to focus on one element of the sentence at a time. The opening phrase says something is happening as "one step in their plan." Whose plan? The town council's—but a council is singular and must be represented by the singular pronoun "its." Eliminate (A) and (E), as both include "their plan." Scan the remaining choices in parallel until you see a difference. (D) has "a series of public meetings" after the comma, indicating that the series of meetings sought to engender greater good will. This isn't logical, so eliminate this choice. The difference between (B) and (C) comes in the list at the end. Examine the list for parallel structure and notice the lack of parallel structure in (C) with "the opacity . . . tendency . . . and failing." The list in (B) has parallel structure, and this choice is correct.
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Comparison
The words at the beginning of the underlined portion, "most easily," indicate that a comparison is being made. Specifically, the comparison is about how reducing a population of insects is easier if done by attacking young larva instead of by attacking older larva or adults. This is a two-part comparison between one way and other ways, so the correct word is "more," not "most." Eliminate (A), and eliminate (B) for the same reason. (D) begins with the adjective "easier," which does not correctly modify the verb "done." One thing is done more easily than another, so the second part of the construction must use "than." (E) uses "than applying" at the end, which does not integrate correctly with the non-underlined text that follows. That leaves (C), which begins with "more easily" and ends with "than," correctly forming the comparison.
Question Type: Reading Comprehension ▸ Detail
Basque is mentioned in the third paragraph, so research the answer there. This paragraph is about the importance of official recognition to the survival of a language. It is officially recognized in Spain but not in France, and the author links this difference to Basque's status as "vulnerable" in Spain but "critically endangered" in France.
(C) states the reason for Basque's more precarious situation in France and is correct. While France does not recognize Basque as an official language, nothing in the passage suggests Basque has been actively suppressed there, eliminating (A). Nothing is said of how many speakers there are in each country, so (B) can be eliminated. (D) and (E) may or may not be true, but neither is a reason why, according to the passage, Basque is more endangered in France than in Spain.
Question Type: Reading Comprehension ▸ Strengthen
Research the line reference, reading the entire sentence for context. The author states that the acknowledgment of Finnish as key to national identity took place in 1919, when the new constitution was adopted. Look for a piece of evidence that associates the use of the Finnish language with a revitalization of national pride.
(A) describes a key change in feelings about Finnish, from negative to positive, in 1919 and supports the assertion; this is correct. (B) and (D) are examples of the status quo continuing after Finnish was adopted, so neither adds support to the assertion that the language was important to developing nationalism. (C) notes national symbols that may have expressed or promoted nationhood, but this choice does not support the idea that the Finnish language was important. If anything, (E) would be a weakener as it implies cultural divisions within Finland instead of national unity.
Question Type: Reading Comprehension ▸ Application
This question asks you to evaluate a statement that is not in the passage in terms of how well it reflects an idea that is in the passage. First, research the first paragraph where UNESCO's assertion appears. This can be paraphrased as, When a language is lost, ideas are also lost. The correct answer will reflect this idea.
In (B), the inability to translate a script has resulted in the loss of the ideas of the people who wrote it. This matches the prediction and is correct. (A) speaks only about the value of the language itself, not about the value of the ideas it communicates. (C) is a counterexample to UNESCO's concern; though there is no way to read the thoughts of Socrates in his own words, his ideas are preserved in the writings of others, diminishing the importance of whether his original language has survived. (D) and (E) are not related to losing language or the ideas that it carries. Ideas expressed in Korean are accessible to those who learn that language, and the concept expressed by "serendipity" is accessible to those who understand the word; both Korean and the English word "serendipity" are alive and well.
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Modification
In the original sentence, the placement of the modifying phrase "learned by computers" makes it unclear whether the "identification" or the "planets" are learned by the computers. Furthermore, the construction "the identification of planets learned by computers is done" is passive and awkward. Since the computers identify planets, ideally "computers" will precede "identify" in the sentence. Moreover, the sentence states that computers found instances of recorded signals "in the telescope," which is illogical. A telescope is used to make observations, and in these data the computer could find signals from planets. Eliminate (A). There is a long string of prepositional phrases in this sentence, so look for the choice that puts each phrase next to the thing it modifies. (E) begins in nearly the same passive, confusing manner as (A), so eliminate this choice. Eliminate (B), which also has the computer finding recorded signals in the telescope. Eliminate (C) because the non-underlined phrase "known as exoplanets" must modify the noun closest to it, but the "signals from beyond our solar system" are not "known as exoplanets." (D) is correct.
Question Type: Critical Reasoning ▸ Weaken
There are a few good ways to approach this question. As with all Weaken questions, begin by understanding the argument. The business owner argues that partnering with a local gym to offer employees a discounted membership will help reduce fatigue. As evidence, the owner cites a correlation between exercise and high energy levels. The owner assumes that exercise is what causes these people to have high energy levels. To weaken such an assumption, it could be shown that the high energy levels were caused by something else (e.g., caffeine, protein diets, medication). It could also be shown that the author has misunderstood the direction of causality: perhaps people exercise because they already have more energy, not the other way around. Or perhaps increased exercise and increased energy are both just effects of another variable (e.g., motivation).
Besides an assumption about causality, there is another assumption. The owner makes a plan based on a prediction, which means the author assumes there are no factors that would affect the predicted outcome of the plan. To weaken this assumption, you could find a problem with the plan—something that shows it might not help reduce fatigue. Maybe employees will get the gym membership but not exercise more (how many people join a gym but don't actually go?), or maybe the membership will be unappealing even with the discount. And that’s what (B) does. It shows how the discount will not encourage people to go to the gym, making it less likely they will feel more energetic.
(A) suggests there are other ways to achieve the same results, but that doesn’t mean the owner’s plan won’t work. (C) is irrelevant. Higher productivity might be a nice side effect, but it’s not the owner’s stated goal. She is discounting gym memberships to reduce fatigue. (D) is irrelevant. Any extra burden on the gym has no effect on whether the plan will work. If anything, this supports the owner's thinking by implying that people will exercise more. (E) uses extreme language. The issue is whether fatigue can be reduced, not whether it can be eradicated completely.
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Verbs; Usage/Style
The phrase "[s]ince 2007" is a clue that verb tenses are being tested. "Since 2007" and "has maintained" indicate the program began in the past and is still continuing, so eliminate (A) and (E) because these choices use the past tense verbs "considered" and "believed," respectively. Another issue in the original sentence is the idiomatic usage of "consider." On the GMAT, "consider" is used without a following connecting word or phrase. A correct use of "consider" in this sentence would be many scientists who consider these phenomena to have natural explanations. Since "that" is not underlined and so can't be changed, eliminate (B). (C) incorrectly states "the views . . . believe . . ." The views don't believe, the scientists believe. (D) is correct.
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Parallelism
Items in a list must be in identical grammatical format, and the original sentence has two noun-verb pairings—“days get shorter” and “temperatures get colder”—followed by an –ing construction. Also, the first item is preceded by "the," the second item lacks a "the," and then "the" reappears in front of the third item. Eliminate (A). In (B), "is to reveal" is not parallel with "shorten" and "drops." Eliminate (D) since it has two items in passive voice—"are shorter" and "is lower"—and then an awkwardly worded phrase in active voice—"chlorophyll . . . reveals." (E) uses "the" before the first two items but drops it in the third item; also, moving "in the leaves" further from "chlorophyll" makes it less clear where the chlorophyll is. (C) has all items in identical form—"shorten . . . drops . . . breaks down"—and is correct.
Question Type: Critical Reasoning ▸ Assumption
The question stem, in addition to asking for an assumption, indicates that a proposal has been made. To recommend the proposal, the author must assume that its benefits outweigh any disadvantages. The proposal is a ban on paper towels, which would be replaced by hot-air dryers; the purpose of this ban is to reduce environmental impact, since this plan would use fewer resources and reduce emissions. A good prediction would be that there’s nothing about hot-air dryers that would make them worse for the environment than paper towels.
(B) matches this prediction and is thus correct; since one of the stated goals of the plan is to protect the environment and this will be achieved, in part, by cutting down fewer trees, the author must be assuming that hot-air dryers use fewer natural resources than do paper towels. If increased use of hot-air dryers would cause, for example, the mining of metals for their manufacture or of coal or uranium to produce electricity, then their environmental impact might not be less than that of paper towels, and the argument falls apart. (A) is irrelevant; the fact that costs won’t increase might be an additional benefit of the proposal, but since the argument is strictly about environmental impact, the author isn’t assuming anything about the cost of the change. (C) is incorrect because it's not necessary for dryers to be the only alternative to towels for them to be the better alternative. (D), like (A), is wrong because effectiveness is irrelevant to an argument that is based on environmental concerns. (E) may be tempting because it might seem that the proposal won’t be effective if people aren’t willing to implement it; however, the proposal is to ban paper towels, so whether or not people are willing to replace them is irrelevant.
Question Type: Critical Reasoning ▸ Weaken
To weaken the argument, you need to find the choice that contradicts an assumption of the argument. The conclusion is that moving coffee plant production in Kuanta from the lowlands will increase sales, since Zantria coffee, which has higher sales, is grown in the mountains. The assumption is that Zantria coffee is more popular because it’s grown in the mountains, so moving production to the mountains would have the same effect on Kuanta coffee; in other words, there’s nothing else that could be causing the sales gap. To weaken a cause-and-effect assumption, look for an answer that suggests another cause. In this case, then, the prediction would be "another difference between the two types of coffee that could explain the difference in sales."
That’s why (B) is correct; if the coffee plants in the two countries are of a different species, then that difference might explain their relative popularity; perhaps they taste different, or maybe one type is more trendy right now. At any rate, this presents an alternative explanation. There’s no way to know whether the opinion of experts, in (A), correlates with the opinion of coffee consumers in general. Even if it did, this would actually strengthen the argument by eliminating one alternative reason for Zantria coffee's better sales; if Zantria coffee doesn't sell better because it tastes better, then maybe it is the coffee farms' location that makes the difference. (C), if anything, would strengthen the argument; if the coffee plants in the lowlands are threatened, then moving them to another location may be a good idea. Even so, however, the possible destruction of beans by the fungus in the future does not speak to why Kuanta coffee isn't selling as well now. (D) would strengthen the argument; one reason Kuanta coffee might sell less well than Zantria coffee would be if Kuanta coffee were more expensive. If this explanation is eliminated, then it's more likely that the coffee farms' location is the culprit. (E) may be tempting; it seems to provide a reason other than where the beans were grown that could explain the gap in sales. There’s no way to know, however, whether Kuanta’s beans are also available in different roast levels or even whether this is something that consumers appreciate.
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Comparison; Modification
The original sentence contains several errors. An efficient approach when a large amount of text is underlined is to focus on one error, evaluate the choices, and then proceed to the next error. First, because days are countable, the journey was completed in six fewer days. Eliminate (A) and (E). Next, the modifying phrase between commas, "completing the journey . . . holder," must refer to the first noun that follows the phrase, but "the record" did not complete the journey. Eliminate (B) and (C) for also committing this error. (D) is correct.
Question Type: Reading Comprehension ▸ Detail
The necessary conditions for preserving bodies are discussed in the second paragraph: sphagnum moss, cold temperatures that lead to cool water, and nearby salt water "[t]ogether . . . create the perfect environment."
While a cold winter and early spring are important for preservation, the passage does not say the length of this season is a factor, so (A) is correct. The other choices are all mentioned in this paragraph as promoting the preservation of bodies.
Question Type: Reading Comprehension ▸ Global
Use the author's purpose in the passage map, rather than reviewing the passage itself, to predict the correct answer.
(C) is a neat summation of the purpose and is correct. While the author mentions at the beginning of the passage a presumed difference between bog bodies and mummies, contrasting bog bodies with other remains isn't the purpose of the passage, eliminating (A). Similarly, while the author mentions that bog bodies were probably preserved by accident, the author never implies that anyone thinks any differently, let alone mounts an argument for the idea; (B) can be eliminated. (D) reflects only a few details from the last paragraph of the passage and not the passage as a whole. Moreover, while the passage says that bog bodies have helped scholars understand the lives of Iron Age humans, it does not go so far as to claim that this information would be unknown if not for the bog bodies. The passage explains what is distinct about sphagnum moss bogs but never discusses other environments, so analyzing differences between them as in (E) cannot be the primary purpose.
Question Type: Reading Comprehension ▸ Logic
According to the passage map, this paragraph discusses the biochemistry of the bogs that are involved in preservation. Research of the paragraph itself shows that it describes the ways in which the moss and cold water, first mentioned in the preceding paragraph, produce the relatively inert environment of the bog.
(D), though phrased in more abstract language, matches this prediction and is correct. The author doesn't indicate that some factors are more important than others, so (A) is out. The author does say in the last paragraph that bog bodies are important, but the third paragraph does not provide support for this assertion; eliminate (B). In (C), "the environment . . . that produces the effect that is the topic" is the bog, but this paragraph describes how the bog works on bodies, not how the bog is formed. (E) distorts the author's use of "biochemistry"; while a grasp of biochemistry is undoubtedly helpful to understand how sphagnum moss bogs preserve bodies, the role of this paragraph is not to explain the importance of biochemistry but to explain how certain bogs preserve bodies.
Question Type: Reading Comprehension ▸ Detail
"[B]acterial growth" is mentioned in the third paragraph, so research this part of the text. Cold temperatures, the dense sphagnum moss creating "a mostly anaerobic environment," and the release of humic or "bog" acid by the deterioration of dead layers of moss all inhibit bacterial growth.
(E) is mentioned in the passage. However, sphagnan prevents "rot and water damage" by binding to the skin. The text does not say it acts against bacteria. This is the correct answer. (A), (B), (C), and (D) all match relevant details in the passage and can be eliminated.
Question Type: Critical Reasoning ▸ Inference
The correct answer will be fully supported by the text, so as you read, mentally catalog the facts presented, as these can support inferences. The first sentence describes two trends: an increase in the use of herbarus to treat anxiety and a decrease in the incidence of anxiety where herbarus is legal. The second sentence reports on studies that compare outcomes of people who take herbarus under the care of an alternative practitioner and of people who take a drug prescribed by a doctor. Identify the choice that aligns with one or more of these facts.
According to the studies cited in the passage, people who take herbarus under the care of an alternative practitioner are likelier to use more than one type of treatment than are people who see a physician for their anxiety. It follows then that alternative healers treat people with anxiety differently than do physicians. This makes (E), which says that a practitioner of alternative medicine is likely to use different protocols, the correct answer. (A) discusses people's satisfaction with their lives, which the passage does not mention; the passage only talks about medical outcomes such as less anxiety in the population and less difficulty performing life activities for individuals. For (B), the author provides no data about the number of physician-prescribed drugs; even though the author states that the popularity of herbarus has increased, the number of prescriptions for conventional medications could also have increased or remained the same. (C) is a comparison not supported by the passage. The passage doesn't say why people are increasingly opting to use herbarus; perhaps it's less expensive than other drugs or there is some other reason people prefer it. (D) might seem tempting, but it is not necessarily true that the incidence of anxiety would increase if not as many people opted for herbarus. The number might stay the same, or perhaps the association between herbarus and mental health actually operates in reverse, with people who have less severe anxiety that is more likely to resolve without medical treatment opting to use natural remedies.
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Parallelism; Usage/Style
The construction "both introspective explorations . . ." needs to be completed by and to be idiomatically correct, and the and must be followed by a noun that is parallel with "explorations." Thus, "as well as" is incorrect, and so is "subverting." Moreover, the two halves of the phrase "of cultural identity and feminine" should be in parallel form, but since "identity" is a noun and "feminine" is an adjective, this phrase is incorrect as written. Eliminate (A). With "being feminine," "that was feminine," and "the femininity," (B), (C), and (D), respectively, violate the parallelism of the "of cultural identity and . . ." phrase. (B) and (D) also use "subverted," which is not parallel with "explorations," and (D) uses the unidiomatic "as well as." (E) completes both parallel constructions correctly.
Question Type: Critical Reasoning ▸ Explain
Despite a decline in enrollments in each yoga class at the studio, sales of yoga mats increased. Consider possible explanations: it might be that more people are taking up yoga outside a studio or at a studio outside of town, people are using yoga mats for non-yoga-related activities, more classes are being offered such that per-class enrollment is down but overall enrollment is up, or people now want a different mat for each day of the week—or perhaps there are other explanations. There's no way to know exactly what will show up in the correct answer, so predict "anything that would increase demand for yoga mats."
An increase in the number of classes as well as the addition of new students, (C), explains the discrepancy. Even if per-class enrollment is down, more classes means overall enrollment could be up, and new students probably don't already have mats and need to buy them. (A) only explains the increase in sales if you further assume that people like to buy different types of mats when they are available, and there is no evidence for this. (B) deepens the mystery; if the price of mats has gone down, then all else being equal, you'd expect sales to go up. (D) may explain the decrease in yoga class enrollment, but it does not address the increase in yoga mat sales. (E) would only work if this was a new requirement this year; however, that is not stated.
Question Type: Sentence Correction
Question Topic: Verbs; Modification
The original sentence contains an error in subject-verb agreement. The subject "rise" requires the singular verb "has enabled." Eliminate (A) and (B). Read the remaining three choices in parallel. The first difference is in the position of "rapidly." (E) moves "rapidly" to describe the rate of specialization instead of the rate of growth, changing the meaning of the sentence. Continue reading (C) and (D). By placing "only" before "successful companies," (D) says that entrepreneurs have started nothing but successful companies, but the intention of the original sentence is that these companies are successful even though their products have limited markets. (C) is correct.