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Practice Test #1 Reading Comprehension

(18 Essays, 61 Questions)

Essay  #1.  019        (21201-!-item-!-188;#058&00019-00)

During the nineteenth century, occupational information about women that was provided by the United States census--a population count conducted each decade--became more detailed and precise in response to social changes.  Through 1840, simple enumeration by household mirrored a home-based agricultural economy and hierarchical social order:  the head of the household (presumed male or absent) was specified by name, whereas other household members were only indicated by the total number of persons counted in various categories, including occupational categories.  Like farms, most enterprises were family-run, so that the census measured economic activity as an attribute of the entire household, rather than of individuals.

The 1850 census, partly responding to antislavery and women's rights movements, initiated the collection of specific information about each individual in a household.  Not until 1870 was occupational information analyzed by gender:  the census superintendent reported 1.8 million women employed outside the home in "gainful and reputable occupations." In addition, he arbitrarily attributed to each family one woman "keeping house." Overlap between the two groups was not calculated until 1890, when the rapid entry of women into the paid labor force and social issues arising from industrialization were causing women's advocates and women statisticians to press for more thorough and accurate accounting of women's occupations and wages.

Question #1.  019-01        (21247-!-item-!-188;#058&000019-01)

The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) explain and critique the methods used by early statisticians

(B) compare and contrast a historical situation with a current-day one

(C) describe and explain a historical change

(D) discuss historical opposition to an established institution

(E) trace the origin of a contemporary controversy

Question #2.  019-02        (21293-!-item-!-188;#058&000019-02)

Each of the following aspects of nineteenth-century United States censuses is mentioned in the passage EXCEPT the

(A) year in which data on occupations began to be analyzed by gender

(B) year in which specific information began to be collected on individuals in addition to the head of the household

(C) year in which overlap between women employed outside the home and women keeping house was first calculated

(D) way in which the 1890 census measured women's income levels and educational backgrounds

(E) way in which household members were counted in the 1840 census

Question #3.  019-04        (21339-!-item-!-188;#058&000019-04)

The passage suggests which of the following about the "women's advocates and women statisticians" mentioned in the highlighted text?

(A) They wanted to call attention to the lack of pay for women who worked in the home.

(B) They believed that previous census information was inadequate and did not reflect certain economic changes in the United States.

(C) They had begun to press for changes in census-taking methods as part of their participation in the antislavery movement.

(D) They thought that census statistics about women would be more accurate if more women were employed as census officials.

(E) They had conducted independent studies that disputed the official statistics provided by previous United States censuses.

Essay #2.  066        (21346-!-item-!-188;#058&00066-00)

The general density dependence model can be applied to explain the founding of specialist firms (those attempting to serve a narrow target market).  According to this model, specialist foundings hinge on the interplay between legitimation and competitive forces, both of which are functions of the density (total number) of firms in a particular specialist population.  Legitimation occurs as a new type of firm moves from being viewed as unfamiliar to being viewed as a natural way to organize.  At low density levels, each founding increases legitimation, reducing barriers to entry and easing subsequent foundings.  Competition occurs because the resources that firms seek--customers, suppliers, and employees--are limited, but as long as density is low relative to plentiful resources, the addition of another firm has a negligible impact on the intensity of competition.  At high density levels, however, competitive effects outweigh legitimation effects, discouraging foundings.  The more numerous the competitors, the fiercer the competition will be and the smaller will be the incentive for new firms to enter the field.

While several studies have found a significant correspondence between the density dependence model and actual patterns of foundings, other studies have found patterns not consistent with the model.  A possible explanation for this inconsistency is that legitimation and competitive forces transcend national boundaries, while studies typically restrict their analysis to the national level.  Thus a national-level analysis can understate the true legitimation and competitive forces as well as the number of foundings in an industry that is internationally integrated.  Many industries are or are becoming international, and since media and information easily cross national borders, so should legitimation and its effects on overseas foundings.  For example, if a type of firm becomes established in the United States, that information transcends borders, reduces uncertainties, and helps foundings of that type of firm in other countries.  Even within national contexts, studies have found more support for the density dependence model when they employ broader geographic units of analysis--for example, finding that the model's operation is seen more clearly at the state and national levels than at city levels.

Question #4.  066-02        (21392-!-item-!-188;#058&000066-02)

According to the passage, which of the following may account for the inconsistency between the general density dependence model and the evidence provided by certain studies of foundings?

(A) Such studies have overemphasized the impact of preexisting firms on the establishment of new firms.

(B) Such studies have not focused strongly enough on the role of competition among newly established firms operating at the city and state levels.

(C) Such studies fail to differentiate among specialist firms with regard to the degree to which they deviate from familiar forms of organization.

(D) Such studies have not taken into account the fact that many industries are internationally integrated.

(E) Such studies have neglected to investigate firms that attempt to serve only a narrow target market.

Question #5.  066-04        (21438-!-item-!-188;#058&000066-04)

In the second paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with

(A) noting various exceptions to a certain general finding

(B) examining the impact of one type of industry on another

(C) proposing a possible explanation for an inconsistency

(D) providing specific examples of a particular phenomenon

(E) defending the validity of a particular study's conclusions

Question #6.  066-06        (21484-!-item-!-188;#058&000066-06)

The passage suggests that when a population of specialist firms reaches a high density level, which of the following is likely to occur?

(A) Foundings will decline despite legitimation that has occurred in these industries.

(B) Increasing competition will encourage many firms to broaden their target market.

(C) Competition for resources will become stabilized and thus foundings will be encouraged.

(D) Many customers will abandon their loyalty to older firms as more innovative firms enter the market.

(E) Firms will begin to cross national borders in an attempt to gain a competitive advantage.

Question #7.  066-08        (21530-!-item-!-188;#058&000066-08)

The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) question the validity of an economic model

(B) point out some inconsistencies within an economic model

(C) outline an economic model and suggest revisions to it

(D) describe an economic model and provide specific examples to illustrate its use

(E) explain why an economic model remains valid despite inconsistent research results

Essay #3.  075        (21535-!-item-!-188;#058&00075-00)

In its 1903 decision in the case of Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, the United States Supreme Court rejected the efforts of three Native American tribes to prevent the opening of tribal lands to non-Indian settlement without tribal consent.  In his study of the Lone Wolf case, Blue Clark properly emphasizes the Court's assertion of a virtually unlimited unilateral power of Congress (the House of Representatives and the Senate) over Native American affairs.  But he fails to note the decision's more far-reaching impact:  shortly after Lone Wolf, the federal government totally abandoned negotiation and execution of formal written agreements with Indian tribes as a prerequisite for the implementation of federal Indian policy.  Many commentators believe that this change had already occurred in 1871 when--following a dispute between the House and the Senate over which chamber should enjoy primacy in Indian affairs--Congress abolished the making of treaties with Native American tribes.  But in reality the federal government continued to negotiate formal tribal agreements past the turn of the century, treating these documents not as treaties with sovereign nations requiring ratification by the Senate but simply as legislation to be passed by both houses of Congress.  The Lone Wolf decision ended this era of formal negotiation and finally did away with what had increasingly become the empty formality of obtaining tribal consent.

Question #8.  075-03        (21581-!-item-!-188;#058&000075-03)

According to the passage, the congressional action of 1871 had which of the following effects?

(A) Native American tribal agreements were treated as legislation that had to be passed by both houses of Congress.

(B) The number of formal agreements negotiated between the federal government and Native American tribes decreased.

(C) The procedures for congressional approval and implementation of federal Indian policy were made more precise.

(D) It became more difficult for Congress to exercise unilateral authority over Native American affairs.

(E) The role of Congress in the ratification of treaties with sovereign nations was eventually undermined.

Question #9.  075-06        (21627-!-item-!-188;#058&000075-06)

According to the passage, which of the following resulted from the Lone Wolf decision?

(A) The Supreme Court took on a greater role in Native American affairs.

(B) Native American tribes lost their legal standing as sovereign nations in their dealings with the federal government, but their ownership of tribal lands was confirmed.

(C) The federal government no longer needed to conclude a formal agreement with a Native American tribe in order to carry out policy decisions that affected the tribe.

(D) The federal government began to appropriate tribal lands for distribution to non-Indian settlers.

(E) Native American tribes were no longer able to challenge congressional actions by appealing to the Supreme Court.

Question #10.  075-07        (21673-!-item-!-188;#058&000075-07)

The author of the passage is primarily concerned with

(A) identifying similarities in two different theories

(B) evaluating a work of scholarship

(C) analyzing the significance of a historical event

(D) debunking a revisionist interpretation

(E) exploring the relationship between law and social reality

Essay #4.  094        (21680-!-item-!-188;#058&00094-00)

Some historians contend that conditions in the United States during the Second World War gave rise to a dynamic wartime alliance between trade unions and the African American community, an alliance that advanced the cause of civil rights.  They conclude that the postwar demise of this vital alliance constituted a lost opportunity for the civil rights movement that followed the war.  Other scholars, however, have portrayed organized labor as defending all along the relatively privileged position of White workers relative to African American workers.  Clearly, these two perspectives are not easily reconcilable, but the historical reality is not reducible to one or the other.

Unions faced a choice between either maintaining the prewar status quo or promoting a more inclusive approach that sought for all members the right to participate in the internal affairs of unions, access to skilled and high-paying positions within the occupational hierarchy, and protection against management's arbitrary authority in the workplace.  While union representatives often voiced this inclusive ideal, in practice unions far more often favored entrenched interests.  The accelerating development of the civil rights movement following the Second World War exacerbated the unions' dilemma, forcing trade unionists to confront contradictions in their own practices.

Question #11.  094-01        (21726-!-item-!-188;#058&000094-01)

The "unions' dilemma" mentioned in the highlighted text can best be described as the question of whether or not to

(A) pressure management to create more skilled and high-paying positions

(B) fight for greater union participation in management decisions

(C) include minority workers in their membership

(D) extend full rights and benefits to all their members

(E) emphasize the recruitment of new members over serving the needs of current members

Question #12.  094-02        (21772-!-item-!-188;#058&000094-02)

According to the passage, the historians mentioned in the first highlighted portion of text and the scholars mentioned in the second highlighted portion disagree about the

(A) contribution made by organized labor to the war effort during the Second World War

(B) issues that union members considered most important during the Second World War

(C) relationship between unions and African Americans during the Second World War

(D) effect of the Second World War on the influence of unions in the workplace

(E) extent to which African Americans benefited from social and political changes following the Second World War

Question #13.  094-06        (21818-!-item-!-188;#058&000094-06)

The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) providing a context within which to evaluate opposing viewpoints about a historical phenomenon

(B) identifying a flawed assumption underlying one interpretation of a historical phenomenon

(C) assessing the merits and weaknesses of a controversial theory about a historical phenomenon

(D) discussing the historical importance of the development of a wartime alliance

(E) evaluating evidence used to support a particular interpretation of a historical phenomenon

Essay #5.  118        (21825-!-item-!-188;#058&00118-00)

Historians have identified two dominant currents in the Russian women's movement of the late tsarist period.  "Bourgeois" feminism, so called by its more radical opponents, emphasized "individualist" feminist goals such as access to education, career opportunities, and legal equality.  "Socialist" feminists, by contrast, emphasized class, rather than gender, as the principal source of women's inequality and oppression, and socialist revolution, not legal reform, as the only road to emancipation and equality.

However, despite antagonism between bourgeois feminists and socialist feminists, the two movements shared certain underlying beliefs.  Both regarded paid labor as the principal means by which women might attain emancipation:  participation in the workplace and economic self-sufficiency, they believed, would make women socially useful and therefore deserving of equality with men.  Both groups also recognized the enormous difficulties women faced when they combined paid labor with motherhood.  In fact, at the First All-Russian Women's Congress in 1908, most participants advocated maternity insurance and paid maternity leave, although the intense hostility between some socialists and bourgeois feminists at the Congress made it difficult for them to recognize these areas of agreement.  Finally, socialist feminists and most bourgeois feminists concurred in subordinating women's emancipation to what they considered the more important goal of liberating the entire Russian population from political oppression, economic backwardness, and social injustice.

Question #14.  118-03        (21871-!-item-!-188;#058&000118-03)

The passage suggests that socialists within the Russian women's movement and most bourgeois feminists believed that in Russia

(A) women would not achieve economic equality until they had political representation within the government

(B) the achievement of larger political aims should take precedence over the achievement of women's rights

(C) the emancipation of women would ultimately bring about the liberation of the entire Russian population from political oppression

(D) women's oppression was more rooted in economic inequality than was the case in other countries

(E) the women's movement was more ideologically divided than were women's movements in other countries

Question #15.  118-05        (21917-!-item-!-188;#058&000118-05)

The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) identifying points of agreement between two groups

(B) advocating one approach to social reform over another

(C) contrasting two approaches to solving a political problem

(D) arguing that the views espoused by one political group were more radical than those espoused by another group

(E) criticizing historians for overlooking similarities between the views espoused by two superficially dissimilar groups

Question #16.  118-06        (21963-!-item-!-188;#058&000118-06)

According to the passage, Russian socialists within the women's movement and most bourgeois feminists disagreed about which of the following?

(A) Whether legal reform was central to the achievement of feminist goals

(B) Whether paid employment was important for the achievement of equality

(C) Whether maternity insurance was desirable for working mothers

(D) Whether working mothers faced obstacles

(E) Whether women's emancipation should be subordinated to the liberation of the Russian population

Essay #6.  145        (21972-!-item-!-188;#058&00145-00)

Colonial historian David Allen's intensive study of five communities in seventeenth-century Massachusetts is a model of meticulous scholarship on the detailed microcosmic level, and is convincing up to a point.  Allen suggests that much more coherence and direct continuity existed between English and colonial agricultural practices and administrative organization than other historians have suggested.  However, he overstates his case with the declaration that he has proved "the remarkable extent to which diversity in New England local institutions was directly imitative of regional differences in the mother country."

Such an assertion ignores critical differences between seventeenth-century England and New England.  First, England was overcrowded and land-hungry; New England was sparsely populated and labor-hungry.  Second, England suffered the normal European rate of mortality; New England, especially in the first generation of English colonists, was virtually free from infectious diseases.  Third, England had an all-embracing state church; in New England membership in a church was restricted to the elect.  Fourth, a high proportion of English villagers lived under paternalistic resident squires; no such class existed in New England.  By narrowing his focus to village institutions and ignoring these critical differences, which studies by Greven, Demos, and Lockridge have shown to be so important, Allen has created a somewhat distorted picture of reality.

Allen's work is a rather extreme example of the "country community" school of seventeenth-century English history whose intemperate excesses in removing all national issues from the history of that period have been exposed by Professor Clive Holmes.  What conclusion can be drawn, for example, from Allen's discovery that Puritan clergy who had come to the colonies from East Anglia were one-third to one-half as likely to return to England by 1660 as were Puritan ministers from western and northern England?  We are not told in what way, if at all, this discovery illuminates historical understanding.  Studies of local history have enormously expanded our horizons, but it is a mistake for their authors to conclude that village institutions are all that mattered, simply because their functions are all that the records of village institutions reveal.

Question #17.  145-03        (22018-!-item-!-188;#058&000145-03)

According to the passage, which of the following was true of most villages in seventeenth-century England?

(A) The resident squire had significant authority.

(B) Church members were selected on the basis of their social status within the community.

(C) Low population density restricted agricultural and economic growth.

(D) There was little diversity in local institutions from one region to another.

(E) National events had little impact on local customs and administrative organization.

Question #18.  145-05        (22064-!-item-!-188;#058&000145-05)

The passage suggests that Professor Clive Holmes would most likely agree with which of the following statements?

(A) An understanding of seventeenth-century English local institutions requires a consideration of national issues.

(B) The "country community" school of seventeenth-century English history distorts historical evidence in order to establish continuity between old and new institutions.

(C) Most historians distort reality by focusing on national concerns to the exclusion of local concerns.

(D) National issues are best understood from the perspective of those at the local level.

(E) Local histories of seventeenth-century English villages have contributed little to the understanding of village life.

Question #19.  145-07        (22110-!-item-!-188;#058&000145-07)

It can be inferred from the passage that the author of the passage considers Allen's "discovery" (see highlighted text) to be

(A) already known to earlier historians

(B) based on a logical fallacy

(C) improbable but nevertheless convincing

(D) an unexplained, isolated fact

(E) a new, insightful observation

Question #20.  145-08        (22156-!-item-!-188;#058&000145-08)

The author of the passage is primarily concerned with

(A) substantiating a claim about a historical event

(B) reconciling two opposing ideas about a historical era

(C) disputing evidence a scholar uses to substantiate a claim about a historical event

(D) analyzing two approaches to scholarly research and evaluating their methodologies

(E) criticizing a particular study and the approach to historical scholarship it represents

Essay #7.  146        (22165-!-item-!-188;#058&00146-00)

The United States government has a long-standing policy of using federal funds to keep small business viable.  The Small Business Act of 1953 authorized the Small Business Administration (SBA) to enter into contracts with government agencies having procurement powers and to arrange for fulfillment of these contracts by awarding subcontracts to small businesses.  In the mid-1960's, during the war on poverty years, Congress hoped to encourage minority entrepreneurs by directing such funding to minority businesses.  At first this funding was directed toward minority entrepreneurs with very low incomes.  A 1967 amendment to the Economic Opportunity Act directed the SBA to pay special attention to minority-owned businesses located in urban or rural areas characterized by high proportions of unemployed or low-income individuals.  Since then, the answer given to the fundamental question of who the recipients should be--the most economically disadvantaged or those with the best prospects for business success--has changed, and the social goals of the programs have shifted, resulting in policy changes.

The first shift occurred during the early 1970's.  While the goal of assisting the economically disadvantaged entrepreneur remained, a new goal emerged:  to remedy the effects of past discrimination.  In fact, in 1970 the SBA explicitly stated that their main goal was to increase the number of minority-owned businesses.  At the time, minorities constituted seventeen percent of the nation's population, but only four percent of the nation's self-employed.  This ownership gap was held to be the result of past discrimination.  Increasing the number of minority-owned firms was seen as a way to remedy this problem.  In that context, providing funding to minority entrepreneurs in middle- and high-income brackets seemed justified.

In the late 1970's, the goals of minority-business funding programs shifted again.  At the Minority Business Development Agency, for example, the goal of increasing numbers of minority-owned firms was supplanted by the goal of creating and assisting more minority-owned substantive firms with future growth potential.  Assisting manufacturers or wholesalers became far more important than assisting small service businesses.  Minority-business funding programs were now justified as instruments for economic development, particularly for creating jobs in minority communities of high unemployment.

Question #21.  146-01        (22211-!-item-!-188;#058&000146-01)

The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) discuss historical changes in a government policy

(B) describe the role of Congress in regulating the work of the SBA

(C) contrast types of funding sources used by minority businesses

(D) correct a misconception about minority entrepreneurship

(E) advocate an alternative approach to funding minority entrepreneurs

Question #22.  146-05        (22257-!-item-!-188;#058&000146-05)

It can be inferred that the "ownership gap" (see highlighted text) would be narrowed if which of the following were to occur?

(A) Minority entrepreneurs received a percentage of government contracts equal to that received by nonminority entrepreneurs.

(B) Middle- and high-income minority entrepreneurs gave more assistance to their low-income counterparts in the business community.

(C) Minority entrepreneurs hired a percentage of minority employees equal to the percentage of minority residents in their own communities.

(D) The percentage of self-employed minority persons rose to more than ten percent of all self-employed persons.

(E) Seventeen percent of all persons employed in small businesses were self-employed.

Question #23.  146-06        (22303-!-item-!-188;#058&000146-06)

According to the passage, in 1970 funding to minority entrepreneurs focused primarily on which of the following?

(A) Alleviating chronic unemployment in urban areas

(B) Narrowing the ownership gap

(C) Assisting minority-owned businesses with growth potential

(D) Awarding subcontracts to businesses that encouraged community development

(E) Targeting the most economically disadvantaged minority-owned businesses

Question #24.  146-09        (22349-!-item-!-188;#058&000146-09)

Which of the following best describes the function of the second paragraph in the passage as a whole?

(A) It narrows the scope of the topic introduced in the first paragraph.

(B) It presents an example of the type of change discussed in the first paragraph.

(C) It cites the most striking instance of historical change in a particular government policy.

(D) It explains the rationale for the creation of the government agency whose operations are discussed in the first paragraph.

(E) It presents the results of policies adopted by the federal government.

Essay #8.  147        (22358-!-item-!-188;#058&00147-00)

In terrestrial environments, gravity places special demands on the cardiovascular systems of animals.  Gravitational pressure can cause blood to pool in the lower regions of the body, making it difficult to circulate blood to critical organs such as the brain.  Terrestrial snakes, in particular, exhibit adaptations that aid in circulating blood against the force of gravity.

The problem confronting terrestrial snakes is best illustrated by what happens to sea snakes when removed from their supportive medium.  Because the vertical pressure gradients within the blood vessels are counteracted by similar pressure gradients in the surrounding water, the distribution of blood throughout the body of sea snakes remains about the same regardless of their orientation in space, provided they remain in the ocean. When removed from the water and tilted at various angles with the head up, however, blood pressure at their midpoint drops significantly, and at brain level falls to zero.  That many terrestrial snakes in similar spatial orientations do not experience this kind of circulatory failure suggests that certain adaptations enable them to regulate blood pressure more effectively in those orientations.

One such adaptation is the closer proximity of the terrestrial snake's heart to its head, which helps to ensure circulation to the brain, regardless of the snake's orientation in space.  The heart of sea snakes can be located near the middle of the body, a position that minimizes the work entailed in circulating blood to both extremities.  In arboreal snakes, however, which dwell in trees and often assume a vertical posture, the average distance from the heart to the head can be as little as 15 percent of overall body length.  Such a location requires that blood circulated to the tail of the snake travel a greater distance back to the heart, a problem solved by another adaptation.  When climbing, arboreal snakes often pause momentarily to wiggle their bodies, causing waves of muscle contraction that advance from the lower torso to head.  By compressing the veins and forcing blood forward, these contractions apparently improve the flow of venous blood returning to the heart.

Question #25.  147-01        (22404-!-item-!-188;#058&000147-01)

The passage provides information in support of which of the following assertions?

(A) The disadvantages of an adaptation to a particular feature of an environment often outweigh the advantages of such an adaptation.

(B) An organism's reaction to being placed in an environment to which it is not well adapted can sometimes illustrate the problems that have been solved by the adaptations of organisms indigenous to that environment.

(C) The effectiveness of an organism's adaptation to a particular feature of its environment can only be evaluated by examining the effectiveness with which organisms of other species have adapted to a similar feature of a different environment.

(D) Organisms of the same species that inhabit strikingly different environments will often adapt in remarkably similar ways to the few features of those environments that are common.

(E) Different species of organisms living in the same environment will seldom adapt to features of that environment in the same way.

Question #26.  147-02        (22450-!-item-!-188;#058&000147-02)

According to the passage, one reason that the distribution of blood in the sea snake changes little while the creature remains in the ocean is that

(A) the heart of the sea snake tends to be located near the center of its body

(B) pressure gradients in the water surrounding the sea snake counter the effects of vertical pressure gradients within its blood vessels

(C) the sea snake assumes a vertical posture less frequently than do the terrestrial and the arboreal snake

(D) the sea snake often relies on waves of muscle contractions to help move blood from the torso to the head

(E) the force of pressure gradients in the water surrounding the sea snake exceeds that of vertical pressure gradients within its circulatory system

Question #27.  147-07        (22496-!-item-!-188;#058&000147-07)

The author suggests that which of the following is a disadvantage that results from the location of a snake's heart in close proximity to its head?

(A) A decrease in the efficiency with which the snake regulates the flow of blood to the brain

(B) A decrease in the number of orientations in space that a snake can assume without loss of blood flow to the brain

(C) A decrease in blood pressure at the snake's midpoint when it is tilted at various angles with its head up

(D) An increase in the tendency of blood to pool at the snake's head when the snake is tilted at various angles with its head down

(E) An increase in the amount of effort required to distribute blood to and from the snake's tail

Question #28.  147-09        (22542-!-item-!-188;#058&000147-09)

In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with doing which of the following?

(A) Explaining adaptations that enable the terrestrial snake to cope with the effects of gravitational pressure on its circulatory system

(B) Comparing the circulatory system of the sea snake with that of the terrestrial snake

(C) Explaining why the circulatory system of the terrestrial snake is different from that of the sea snake

(D) Pointing out features of the terrestrial snake's cardiovascular system that make it superior to that of the sea snake

(E) Explaining how the sea snake is able to neutralize the effects of gravitational pressure on its circulatory system

Essay #9.  148        (22549-!-item-!-188;#058&00148-00)

In a new book about the antiparty feeling of the early political leaders of the United States, Ralph Ketcham argues that the first six Presidents differed decisively from later Presidents because the first six held values inherited from the classical humanist tradition of eighteenth-century England. In this view, government was designed not to satisfy the private desires of the people but to make them better citizens; this tradition stressed the disinterested devotion of political leaders to the public good.  Justice, wisdom, and courage were more important qualities in a leader than the ability to organize voters and win elections.  Indeed, leaders were supposed to be called to office rather than to run for office.  And if they took up the burdens of public office with a sense of duty, leaders also believed that such offices were naturally their due because of their social preeminence or their contributions to the country.  Given this classical conception of leadership, it is not surprising that the first six Presidents condemned political parties.  Parties were partial by definition, self-interested, and therefore serving something other than the transcendent public good.

Even during the first presidency (Washington's), however, the classical conception of virtuous leadership was being undermined by commercial forces that had been gathering since at least the beginning of the eighteenth century.  Commerce--its profit-making, its self-interestedness, its individualism--became the enemy of these classical ideals.  Although Ketcham does not picture the struggle in quite this way, he does rightly see Jackson's tenure (the seventh presidency) as the culmination of the acceptance of party, commerce, and individualism.  For the Jacksonians, nonpartisanship lost its relevance, and under the direction of Van Buren, party gained a new legitimacy.  The classical ideals of the first six Presidents became identified with a privileged aristocracy, an aristocracy that had to be overcome in order to allow competition between opposing political interests.  Ketcham is so strongly committed to justifying the classical ideals, however, that he underestimates the advantages of their decline.  For example, the classical conception of leadership was incompatible with our modern notion of the freedoms of speech and press, freedoms intimately associated with the legitimacy of opposing political parties.

Question #29.  148-01        (22595-!-item-!-188;#058&000148-01)

The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) describing and comparing two theories about the early history of the United States

(B) describing and analyzing an argument about the early history of the United States

(C) discussing new evidence that qualifies a theory about the early history of the United States

(D) refuting a theory about political leadership in the United States

(E) resolving an ambiguity in an argument about political leadership in the United States

Question #30.  148-02        (22641-!-item-!-188;#058&000148-02)

According to the passage, the author and Ketcham agree on which of the following points?

(A) The first six Presidents held the same ideas about political parties as did later Presidents in the United States.

(B) Classical ideals supported the growth of commercial forces in the United States.

(C) The first political parties in the United States were formed during Van Buren's term in office.

(D) The first six Presidents placed great emphasis on individualism and civil rights.

(E) Widespread acceptance of political parties occurred during Andrew Jackson's presidency.

Question #31.  148-03        (22687-!-item-!-188;#058&000148-03)

It can be inferred that the author of the passage would be most likely to agree that modern views of the freedoms of speech and press are

(A) values closely associated with the beliefs of the aristocracy of the early United States

(B) political rights less compatible with democracy and individualism than with classical ideals

(C) political rights uninfluenced by the formation of opposing political parties

(D) values not inherent in the classical humanist tradition of eighteenth-century England

(E) values whose interpretation would have been agreed on by all United States Presidents

Question #32.  148-04        (22733-!-item-!-188;#058&000148-04)

Which of the following, if true, provides the LEAST support for the author's argument about commerce and political parties during Jackson's presidency?

(A) Many supporters of Jackson resisted the commercialization that could result from participation in a national economy.

(B) Protest against the corrupt and partisan nature of political parties in the United States subsided during Jackson's presidency.

(C) During Jackson's presidency the use of money became more common than bartering of goods and services.

(D) More northerners than southerners supported Jackson because southerners were opposed to the development of a commercial economy.

(E) Andrew Jackson did not feel as strongly committed to the classical ideals of leadership as George Washington had felt.

Essay #10.  154        (22742-!-item-!-188;#058&00154-00)

Conventional wisdom has it that large deficits in the United States budget cause interest rates to rise.  Two main arguments are given for this claim.  According to the first, as the deficit increases, the government will borrow more to make up for the ensuing shortage of funds.  Consequently, it is argued, if both the total supply of credit (money available for borrowing) and the amount of credit sought by nongovernment borrowers remain relatively stable, as is often supposed, then the price of credit (the interest rate) will increase.  That this is so is suggested by the basic economic principle that if supplies of a commodity (here, credit) remain fixed and demand for that commodity increases, its price will also increase.  The second argument supposes that the government will tend to finance its deficits by increasing the money supply with insufficient regard for whether there is enough room for economic growth to enable such an increase to occur without causing inflation.  It is then argued that financiers will expect the deficit to cause inflation and will raise interest rates, anticipating that because of inflation the money they lend will be worth less when paid back.

Unfortunately for the first argument, it is unreasonable to assume that nongovernment borrowing and the supply of credit will remain relatively stable.  Nongovernment borrowing sometimes decreases.  When it does, increased government borrowing will not necessarily push up the total demand for credit.  Alternatively, when credit availability increases, for example through greater foreign lending to the United States, then interest rates need not rise, even if both private and government borrowing increase.

The second argument is also problematic.  Financing the deficit by increasing the money supply should cause inflation only when there is not enough room for economic growth.  Currently, there is no reason to expect deficits to cause inflation.  However, since many financiers believe that deficits ordinarily create inflation, then admittedly they will be inclined to raise interest rates to offset mistakenly anticipated inflation.  This effect, however, is due to ignorance, not to the deficit itself, and could be lessened by educating financiers on this issue.

Question #33.  154-01        (22788-!-item-!-188;#058&000154-01)

Which of the following best summarizes the central idea of the passage?

(A) A decrease in nongovernment borrowing or an increase in the availability of credit can eliminate or lessen the ill effects of increased borrowing by the government.

(B) Educating financiers about the true relationship between large federal deficits and high interest rates will make financiers less prone to raise interest rates in response to deficits.

(C) There is little support for the widely held belief that large federal deficits will create higher interest rates, as the main arguments given to defend this claim are flawed.

(D) When the government borrows money, demand for credit increases, typically creating higher interest rates unless special conditions such as decreased consumer spending arise.

(E) Given that most financiers believe in a cause-and-effect relationship between large deficits and high interest rates, it should be expected that financiers will raise interest rates.

Question #34.  154-03        (22834-!-item-!-188;#058&000154-03)

It can be inferred from the passage that proponents of the second argument would most likely agree with which of the following statements?

(A) The United States government does not usually care whether or not inflation increases.

(B) People in the United States government generally know very little about economics.

(C) The United States government is sometimes careless in formulating its economic policies.

(D) The United States government sometimes relies too much on the easy availability of foreign credit.

(E) The United States government increases the money supply whenever there is enough room for growth to support the increase.

Question #35.  154-07        (22880-!-item-!-188;#058&000154-07)

Which of the following claims concerning the United States government's financing of the deficit does the author make in discussing the second argument?

(A) The government will decrease the money supply in times when the government does not have a deficit to finance.

(B) The government finances its deficits by increasing the money supply whenever the economy is expanding.

(C) As long as the government finances the deficit by borrowing, nongovernment borrowers will pay higher interest rates.

(D) The only way for the government to finance its deficits is to increase the money supply without regard for whether such an increase would cause inflation.

(E) Inflation should be caused when the government finances the deficit by increasing the money supply only if there is not enough room for economic growth to support the increase.

Question #36.  154-08        (22926-!-item-!-188;#058&000154-08)

The author uses the term "admittedly" (see highlighted text) in order to indicate that

(A) the second argument has some truth to it, though not for the reasons usually supposed

(B) the author has not been successful in attempting to point out inadequacies in the two arguments

(C) the thesis that large deficits directly cause interest rates to rise has strong support after all

(D) financiers should admit that they were wrong in thinking that large deficits will cause higher inflation rates

(E) financiers generally do not think that the author's criticisms of the second argument are worthy of consideration

Essay #11.  218        (22933-!-item-!-188;#058&00218-00)

Current feminist theory, in validating women's own stories of their experience, has encouraged scholars of women's history to view the use of women's oral narratives as the methodology, next to the use of women's written autobiography, that brings historians closest to the "reality" of women's lives.  Such narratives, unlike most standard histories, represent experience from the perspective of women, affirm the importance of women's contributions, and furnish present-day women with historical continuity that is essential to their identity, individually and collectively.

Scholars of women's history should, however, be as cautious about accepting oral narratives at face value as they already are about written memories.  Oral narratives are no more likely than are written narratives to provide a disinterested commentary on events or people.  Moreover, the stories people tell to explain themselves are shaped by narrative devices and storytelling conventions, as well as by other cultural and historical factors, in ways that the storytellers may be unaware of.  The political rhetoric of a particular era, for example, may influence women's interpretations of the significance of their experience.  Thus a woman who views the Second World War as pivotal in increasing the social acceptance of women's paid work outside the home may reach that conclusion partly and unwittingly because of wartime rhetoric encouraging a positive view of women's participation in such work.

Question #37.  218-01        (22979-!-item-!-188;#058&000218-01)

The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) contrasting the benefits of one methodology with the benefits of another

(B) describing the historical origins and inherent drawbacks of a particular methodology

(C) discussing the appeal of a particular methodology and some concerns about its use

(D) showing that some historians' adoption of a particular methodology has led to criticism of recent historical scholarship

(E) analyzing the influence of current feminist views on women's interpretations of their experience

Question #38.  218-05        (23025-!-item-!-188;#058&000218-05)

According to the passage, scholars of women's history should refrain from doing which of the following?

(A) Relying on traditional historical sources when women's oral narratives are unavailable

(B) Focusing on the influence of political rhetoric on women's perceptions to the exclusion of other equally important factors

(C) Attempting to discover the cultural and historical factors that influence the stories women tell

(D) Assuming that the conventions of women's written autobiographies are similar to the conventions of women's oral narratives

(E) Accepting women's oral narratives less critically than they accept women's written histories

Question #39.  218-07        (23071-!-item-!-188;#058&000218-07)

According to the passage, each of the following is a difference between women's oral narratives and most standard histories EXCEPT:

(A) Women's oral histories validate the significance of women's achievements.

(B) Women's oral histories depict experience from the point of view of women.

(C) Women's oral histories acknowledge the influence of well-known women.

(D) Women's oral histories present today's women with a sense of their historical relationship to women of the past.

(E) Women's oral histories are crucial to the collective identity of today's women.

Essay #12.  270        (23076-!-item-!-188;#058&00270-00)

The professionalization of the study of history in the second half of the nineteenth century, including history's transformation from a literary genre to a scientific discipline, had important consequences not only for historians' perceptions of women but also for women as historians.  The disappearance of women as objects of historical studies during this period has elements of irony to it.  On the one hand, in writing about women, earlier historians had relied not on firsthand sources but rather on secondary sources; the shift to more rigorous research methods required that secondary sources be disregarded.  On the other hand, the development of archival research and the critical editing of collections of documents began to reveal significant new historical evidence concerning women, yet this evidence was perceived as substantially irrelevant:  historians saw political history as the general framework for historical writing.  Because women were seen as belonging to the private rather than to the public sphere, the discovery of documents about them, or by them, did not, by itself, produce history acknowledging the contributions of women. In addition, genres such as biography and memoir, those forms of "particular history" that women had traditionally authored, fell into disrepute.  The dividing line between "particular history" and general history was redefined in stronger terms, widening the gulf between amateur and professional practices of historical research.

Question #40.  270-01        (23122-!-item-!-188;#058&000270-01)

The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) describing some effects of the professionalization of the study of history on the writing of women's history

(B) explaining some reasons for the professionalization of the writing of history

(C) discussing the kinds of historical writing traditionally practiced by women

(D) contrasting the approach to the writing of history taken by women with the approach taken by men

(E) criticizing certain changes that occurred in the writing of history during the second half of the nineteenth century

Question #41.  270-02        (23168-!-item-!-188;#058&000270-02)

Which of the following best describes one of the "elements of irony" referred to in the highlighted text?

(A) Although the more scientific-minded historians of the second half of the nineteenth century considered women appropriate subjects for historical writing, earlier historians did not.

(B) Although archival research uncovered documentary evidence of women's role in history, historians continued to rely on secondary sources for information about women.

(C) Although historians were primarily concerned with writing about the public sphere, they generally relegated women to the private sphere.

(D) The scientific approach to history revealed more information about women, but that information was ignored.

(E) The professionalization of history, while marginalizing much of women's writing about history, enhanced the importance of women as historical subjects.

Question #42.  270-05        (23214-!-item-!-188;#058&000270-05)

According to the passage, the development of archival research and the critical editing of collections of documents had which of the following effects?

(A) Historians increasingly acknowledged women's contributions to history.

(B) Historians began to debate whether secondary sources could provide reliable information.

(C) Historians began to apply less rigorous scientific research criteria to the study of women's history.

(D) More evidence concerning women became available to historical researchers.

(E) Women began to study history as professional historians.

Essay #13.  281        (23223-!-item-!-188;#058&00281-00)

Comparable worth, as a standard applied to eliminate inequities in pay, insists that the values of certain tasks performed in dissimilar jobs can be compared.  In the last decade, this approach has become a critical social policy issue, as large numbers of private-sector firms and industries as well as federal, state, and local governmental entities have adopted comparable worth policies or begun to consider doing so.

This widespread institutional awareness of comparable worth indicates increased public awareness that pay inequities--that is, situations in which pay is not "fair" because it does not reflect the true value of a job--exist in the labor market.  However, the question still remains:  have the gains already made in pay equity under comparable worth principles been of a precedent-setting nature or are they mostly transitory, a function of concessions made by employers to mislead female employees into believing that they have made long-term pay equity gains?

Comparable worth pay adjustments are indeed precedent-setting.  Because of the principles driving them, other mandates that can be applied to reduce or eliminate unjustified pay gaps between male and female workers have not remedied perceived pay inequities satisfactorily for the litigants in cases in which men and women hold different jobs.  But whenever comparable worth principles are applied to pay schedules, perceived unjustified pay differences are eliminated.  In this sense, then, comparable worth is more comprehensive than other mandates, such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Neither compares tasks in dissimilar jobs (that is, jobs across occupational categories) in an effort to determine whether or not what is necessary to perform these tasks--know-how, problem-solving, and accountability--can be quantified in terms of its dollar value to the employer.  Comparable worth, on the other hand, takes as its premise that certain tasks in dissimilar jobs may require a similar amount of training, effort, and skill; may carry similar responsibility; may be carried on in an environment having a similar impact upon the worker; and may have a similar dollar value to the employer.

Question #43.  281-01        (23269-!-item-!-188;#058&000281-01)

Which of the following most accurately states the central purpose of the passage?

(A) To criticize the implementation of a new procedure

(B) To assess the significance of a change in policy

(C) To illustrate how a new standard alters procedures

(D) To explain how a new policy is applied in specific cases

(E) To summarize the changes made to date as a result of social policy

Question #44.  281-03        (23315-!-item-!-188;#058&000281-03)

According to the passage, which of the following is true of comparable worth as a policy?

(A) Comparable worth policy decisions in pay-inequity cases have often failed to satisfy the complainants.

(B) Comparable worth policies have been applied to both public-sector and private-sector employee pay schedules.

(C) Comparable worth as a policy has come to be widely criticized in the past decade.

(D) Many employers have considered comparable worth as a policy but very few have actually adopted it.

(E) Early implementations of comparable worth policies resulted in only transitory gains in pay equity.

Question #45.  281-07        (23364-!-item-!-188;#058&000281-07)

It can be inferred from the passage that application of "other mandates" (see highlighted text) would be unlikely to result in an outcome satisfactory to the female employees in which of the following situations?

<need to be fixed>

(A)  I only

(B)  II only

(C)  III only

(D)  I and II only

(E)  I and III only

Question #46.  281-09        (23410-!-item-!-188;#058&000281-09)

Which of the following best describes an application of the principles of comparable worth as they are described in the passage?

(A) The current pay, rates of increase, and rates of promotion for female mechanics are compared with those of male mechanics.

(B) The training, skills, and job experience of computer programmers in one division of a corporation are compared to those of programmers making more money in another division.

(C) The number of women holding top executive positions in a corporation is compared to the number of women available for promotion to those positions, and both tallies are matched to the tallies for men in the same corporation.

(D) The skills, training, and job responsibilities of the clerks in the township tax assessor's office are compared to those of the much better-paid township engineers.

(E) The working conditions of female workers in a hazardous-materials environment are reviewed and their pay schedules compared to those of all workers in similar environments across the nation.

Essay #14.  323        (23417-!-item-!-188;#058&00323-00)

Many United States companies believe that the rising cost of employees' health care benefits has hurt the country's competitive position in the global market by raising production costs and thus increasing the prices of exported and domestically sold goods.  As a result, these companies have shifted health care costs to employees in the form of wage deductions or high deductibles.  This strategy, however, has actually hindered companies' competitiveness.  For example, cost shifting threatens employees' health because many do not seek preventive screening.  Also, labor relations have been damaged:  the percentage of strikes in which health benefits were a major issue rose from 18 percent in 1986 to 78 percent in 1989.

Health care costs can be managed more effectively if companies intervene in the supply side of health care delivery just as they do with other key suppliers:  strategies used to procure components necessary for production would work in procuring health care.  For example, the make/buy decision--the decision whether to produce or purchase parts used in making a product--can be applied to health care.  At one company, for example, employees receive health care at an on-site clinic maintained by the company.  The clinic fosters morale, resulting in a low rate of employees leaving the company.  Additionally, the company has constrained the growth of health care costs while expanding medical services.

Question #47.  323-01        (23463-!-item-!-188;#058&000323-01)

The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) providing support for a traditional theory

(B) comparing several explanations for a problem

(C) summarizing a well-known research study

(D) recommending an alternative approach

(E) criticizing the work of a researcher

Question #48.  323-03        (23509-!-item-!-188;#058&000323-03)

The author of the passage asserts which of the following about managing health care costs in an effective manner?

(A) Educating employees to use health care wisely is the best way to reduce health care costs.

(B) Allowing employees to select health care programs is the most effective means of controlling health care costs.

(C) Companies should pass rising health care costs on to employees rather than to consumers of the companies' products.

(D) Companies should use strategies in procuring health care similar to those used in procuring components necessary for production.

(E) Companies should control health care costs by reducing the extent of medical coverage rather than by shifting costs to employees.

Question #49.  323-05        (23555-!-item-!-188;#058&000323-05)

Which of the following, if true, would provide the most support for the author's view about intervening on the supply side of health care?

(A) Most companies do not have enough employees to make on-site clinics cost-effective.

(B) Many companies with on-site clinics offer their employees the option of going outside the company's system to obtain health care.

(C) The costs of establishing and running an on-site clinic are demonstrably higher than the costs of paying for health care from an outside provider.

(D) Companies with health care clinics find that employees are unwilling to assist in controlling the costs of health care.

(E) Employees at companies with on-site clinics seek preventive screening and are thus less likely to delay medical treatment.

Essay #15.  341        (23562-!-item-!-188;#058&00341-00)

Dendrochronology, the study of tree-ring records to glean information about the past, is possible because each year a tree adds a new layer of wood between the existing wood and the bark.  In temperate and subpolar climates, cells added at the growing season's start are large and thin-walled, but later the new cells that develop are smaller and thick-walled; the growing season is followed by a period of dormancy.  When a tree trunk is viewed in cross section, a boundary line is normally visible between the small-celled wood added at the end of the growing season in the previous year and the large-celled spring wood of the following year's growing season.  The annual growth pattern appears as a series of larger and larger rings.  In wet years rings are broad; during drought years they are narrow, since the trees grow less.  Often, ring patterns of dead trees of different, but overlapping, ages can be correlated to provide an extended index of past climate conditions.

However, trees that grew in areas with a steady supply of groundwater show little variation in ring width from year to year; these "complacent" rings tell nothing about changes in climate.  And trees in extremely dry regions may go a year or two without adding any rings, thereby introducing uncertainties into the count.  Certain species  sometimes add more than one ring in a single year, when growth halts temporarily and then starts again.

Question #50.  341-02        (23608-!-item-!-188;#058&000341-02)

The passage suggests which of the following about the ring patterns of two trees that grew in the same area and that were of different, but overlapping, ages?

(A) The rings corresponding to the overlapping years would often exhibit similar patterns.

(B) The rings corresponding to the years in which only one of the trees was alive would not reliably indicate the climate conditions of those years.

(C) The rings corresponding to the overlapping years would exhibit similar patterns only if the trees were of the same species.

(D) The rings corresponding to the overlapping years could not be complacent rings.

(E) The rings corresponding to the overlapping years would provide a more reliable index of dry climate conditions than of wet conditions.

Question #51.  341-03        (23654-!-item-!-188;#058&000341-03)

In the highlighted text, "uncertainties" refers to

(A) dendrochronologists' failure to consider the prevalence of erratic weather patterns

(B) inconsistencies introduced because of changes in methodology

(C) some tree species' tendency to deviate from the norm

(D) the lack of detectable variation in trees with complacent rings

(E) the lack of perfect correlation between the number of a tree's rings and its age

Question #52.  341-04        (23700-!-item-!-188;#058&000341-04)

The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) evaluating the effect of climate on the growth of trees of different species

(B) questioning the validity of a method used to study tree-ring records

(C) explaining how climatic conditions can be deduced from tree-ring patterns

(D) outlining the relation between tree size and cell structure within the tree

(E) tracing the development of a scientific method of analyzing tree-ring patterns

Essay #16.  351        (23705-!-item-!-188;#058&00351-00)

What kinds of property rights apply to Algonquian family hunting territories, and how did they come to be?  The dominant view in recent decades has been that family hunting territories, like other forms of private landownership, were not found among Algonquians (a group of North American Indian tribes) before contact with Europeans but are the result of changes in Algonquian society brought about by the European-Algonquian fur trade, in combination with other factors such as ecological changes and consequent shifts in wildlife harvesting patterns.  Another view claims that Algonquian family hunting territories predate contact with Europeans and are forms of private landownership by individuals and families.  More recent fieldwork, however, has shown that individual and family rights to hunting territories form part of a larger land-use system of multifamilial hunting groups, that rights to hunting territories at this larger community level take precedence over those at the individual or family level, and that this system reflects a concept of spiritual and social reciprocity that conflicts with European concepts of private property.  In short, there are now strong reasons to think that it was erroneous to claim that Algonquian family hunting territories ever were, or were becoming, a kind of private property system.

Question #53.  351-01        (23751-!-item-!-188;#058&000351-01)

The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) provide an explanation for an unexpected phenomenon

(B) suggest that a particular question has yet to be answered

(C) present a new perspective on an issue

(D) defend a traditional view from attack

(E) reconcile opposing sides of an argument

Question #54.  351-04        (23797-!-item-!-188;#058&000351-04)

It can be inferred from the passage that proponents of the view mentioned in the first highlighted text believe which of the following about the origin of Algonquian family hunting territories?

(A) They evolved from multifamilial hunting territories.

(B) They are an outgrowth of reciprocal land-use practices.

(C) They are based on certain spiritual beliefs.

(D) They developed as a result of contact with Europeans.

(E) They developed as a result of trade with non-Algonquian Indian tribes.

Question #55.  351-06        (23843-!-item-!-188;#058&000351-06)

According to the passage, proponents of the view mentioned in the first highlighted portion of text and proponents of the view mentioned in the second highlighted portion of text both believe which of the following about Algonquian family hunting territories?

(A) They are a form of private landownership.

(B) They are a form of community, rather than individual, landownership.

(C) They were a form of private landownership prior to contact with Europeans.

(D) They became a form of private landownership due to contact with Europeans.

(E) They have replaced reciprocal practices relating to land use in Algonquian society.

Essay #17.  549        (23848-!-item-!-188;#058&00549-00)

Many people believe that because wages are lower in developing countries than in developed countries, competition from developing countries in goods traded internationally will soon eliminate large numbers of jobs in developed countries.  Currently, developed countries' advanced technology results in higher productivity, which accounts for their higher wages.  Advanced technology is being transferred ever more speedily across borders, but even with the latest technology, productivity and wages in developing countries will remain lower than in developed countries for many years because developed countries have better infrastructure and better-educated workers.  When productivity in a developing country does catch up, experience suggests that wages there will rise.  Some individual firms in developing countries have raised their productivity but kept their wages (which are influenced by average productivity in the country's economy) low.  However, in a developing country's economy as a whole, productivity improvements in goods traded internationally are likely to cause an increase in wages.  Furthermore, if wages are not allowed to rise, the value of the country's currency will appreciate, which (from the developed countries' point of view) is the equivalent of increased wages in the developing country.  And although in the past a few countries have deliberately kept their currencies undervalued, that is now much harder to do in a world where capital moves more freely.

Question #56.  549-01        (23894-!-item-!-188;#058&000549-01)

The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) identify the origin of a common misconception

(B) discuss the implications of a generally accepted principle

(C) present information relevant in evaluating a commonly held belief

(D) defend a controversial assertion against a variety of counterarguments

(E) explain under what circumstances a well-known phenomenon occurs

Question #57.  549-06        (23940-!-item-!-188;#058&000549-06)

The passage suggests that if the movement of capital in the world were restricted, which of the following would be likely?

(A) Advanced technology could move more quickly from developed countries to developing countries.

(B) Developed countries could compete more effectively for jobs with developing countries.

(C) A country's average wages could increase without significantly increasing the sophistication of its technology or the value of its currency.

(D) A country's productivity could increase without significantly increasing the value of its currency.

(E) Workers could obtain higher wages by increasing their productivity.

Question #58.  549-07        (23986-!-item-!-188;#058&000549-07)

The passage suggests that which of the following would best explain why, in a developing country, some firms that have raised their productivity continue to pay low wages?

(A) Wages are influenced by the extent to which productivity increases are based on the latest technology.

(B) Wages are influenced by the extent to which labor unions have organized the country's workers.

(C) Wages are not determined by productivity improvements in goods traded internationally.

(D) The average productivity of the workers in the country has not risen.

(E) The education level of the workers in the country determines wages.

Essay #18.  560        (23993-!-item-!-188;#058&00560-00)

A recent study has provided clues to predator-prey dynamics in the late Pleistocene era.  Researchers compared the number of tooth fractures in present-day carnivores with tooth fractures in carnivores that lived 36,000 to 10,000 years ago and that were preserved in the Rancho La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles.  The breakage frequencies in the extinct species were strikingly higher than those in the present-day species.

In considering possible explanations for this finding, the researchers dismissed demographic bias because older individuals were not overrepresented in the fossil samples.  They rejected preservational bias because a total absence of breakage in two extinct species demonstrated that the fractures were not the result of abrasion within the pits.  They ruled out local bias because breakage data obtained from other Pleistocene sites were similar to the La Brea data.  The explanation they consider most plausible is behavioral differences between extinct and present-day carnivores--in particular, more contact between the teeth of predators and the bones of prey due to more thorough consumption of carcasses by the extinct species.  Such thorough carcass consumption implies to the researchers either that prey availability was low, at least seasonally, or that there was intense competition over kills and a high rate of carcass theft due to relatively high predator densities.

Question #59.  560-01        (24039-!-item-!-188;#058&000560-01)

The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) present several explanations for a well-known fact

(B) suggest alternative methods for resolving a debate

(C) argue in favor of a controversial theory

(D) question the methodology used in a study

(E) discuss the implications of a research finding

Question #60.  560-02        (24085-!-item-!-188;#058&000560-02)

The passage suggests that, compared with Pleistocene carnivores in other areas, Pleistocene carnivores in the La Brea area

(A) included the same species, in approximately the same proportions

(B) had a similar frequency of tooth fractures

(C) populated the La Brea area more densely

(D) consumed their prey more thoroughly

(E) found it harder to obtain sufficient prey

Question #61.  560-07        (24131-!-item-!-188;#058&000560-07)

The passage suggests that tooth fractures in Pleistocene carnivores probably tended to occur less frequently

(A) during periods in which more prey were available

(B) at sites distant from the La Brea area

(C) in older individual carnivores

(D) in species that were not preserved as fossils

(E) in species that regularly stole carcasses from other species

Practice Test #1 Reading Comprehension Keys

1. C   21247-!-item-!-188;#058&000019-01

2. D   21293-!-item-!-188;#058&000019-02

3. B   21339-!-item-!-188;#058&000019-04

4. D   21392-!-item-!-188;#058&000066-02

5. C   21438-!-item-!-188;#058&000066-04

6. A   21484-!-item-!-188;#058&000066-06

7. E   21530-!-item-!-188;#058&000066-08

8. A   21581-!-item-!-188;#058&000075-03

9. C   21627-!-item-!-188;#058&000075-06

10. C   21673-!-item-!-188;#058&000075-07

11. D   21726-!-item-!-188;#058&000094-01

12. C   21772-!-item-!-188;#058&000094-02

13. A   21818-!-item-!-188;#058&000094-06

14. B   21871-!-item-!-188;#058&000118-03

15. A   21917-!-item-!-188;#058&000118-05

16. A   21963-!-item-!-188;#058&000118-06

17. A   22018-!-item-!-188;#058&000145-03

18. A   22064-!-item-!-188;#058&000145-05

19. D   22110-!-item-!-188;#058&000145-07

20. E   22156-!-item-!-188;#058&000145-08

21. A   22211-!-item-!-188;#058&000146-01

22. D   22257-!-item-!-188;#058&000146-05

23. B   22303-!-item-!-188;#058&000146-06

24. B   22349-!-item-!-188;#058&000146-09

25. B   22404-!-item-!-188;#058&000147-01

26. B   22450-!-item-!-188;#058&000147-02

27. E   22496-!-item-!-188;#058&000147-07

28. A   22542-!-item-!-188;#058&000147-09

29. B   22595-!-item-!-188;#058&000148-01

30. E   22641-!-item-!-188;#058&000148-02

31. D   22687-!-item-!-188;#058&000148-03

32. A   22733-!-item-!-188;#058&000148-04

33. C   22788-!-item-!-188;#058&000154-01

34. C   22834-!-item-!-188;#058&000154-03

35. E   22880-!-item-!-188;#058&000154-07

36. A   22926-!-item-!-188;#058&000154-08

37. C   22979-!-item-!-188;#058&000218-01

38. E   23025-!-item-!-188;#058&000218-05

39. C   23071-!-item-!-188;#058&000218-07

40. A   23122-!-item-!-188;#058&000270-01

41. D   23168-!-item-!-188;#058&000270-02

42. D   23214-!-item-!-188;#058&000270-05

43. B   23269-!-item-!-188;#058&000281-01

44. B   23315-!-item-!-188;#058&000281-03

45. B   23364-!-item-!-188;#058&000281-07

46. D   23410-!-item-!-188;#058&000281-09

47. D   23463-!-item-!-188;#058&000323-01

48. D   23509-!-item-!-188;#058&000323-03

49. E   23555-!-item-!-188;#058&000323-05

50. A   23608-!-item-!-188;#058&000341-02

51. E   23654-!-item-!-188;#058&000341-03

52. C   23700-!-item-!-188;#058&000341-04

53. C   23751-!-item-!-188;#058&000351-01

54. D   23797-!-item-!-188;#058&000351-04

55. A   23843-!-item-!-188;#058&000351-06

56. C   23894-!-item-!-188;#058&000549-01

57. D   23940-!-item-!-188;#058&000549-06

58. D   23986-!-item-!-188;#058&000549-07

59. E   24039-!-item-!-188;#058&000560-01

60. B   24085-!-item-!-188;#058&000560-02

61. A   24131-!-item-!-188;#058&000560-07