Master gmat 2010 part 10 pot

Analyst Q predicts that the shareprice of MetaCorp stock will remain at its current level or higher as long as most stock analysts continue to recommend that investors buy the company’s

live without encumbrances Emerson

wanted to visualize Thoreau as the

ideal scholar in action that he had

called for in the “American Scholar.” In

the end, however, Emerson regretted

Thoreau’s too-private individualism,

which failed to signal the vibrant

revolution in national consciousness

that Emerson had prophesied For

Emerson, what Thoreau lacked, Walt

Whitman embodied in full On reading

Leaves of Grass (1855), Emerson saw

in Whitman the “prophet of democracy”

whom he had sought Other American

Renaissance writers were less

optimis-tic than Emerson and Whitman about

the fulfillment of the democratic ideal

In The Scarlet Letter (1850), Nathaniel

Hawthorne concluded that

antinomian-ism such as the “heroics” displayed by

Hester Prynne leads to moral anarchy;

and Herman Melville, who saw in his

story of Pierre (1852) a metaphor for

the misguided assumptions of

demo-cratic idealism, declared the

transcen-dentalist dream unrealizable

Ironi-cally, the literary vigor with which both

Hawthorne and Melville explored the

ideal showed their deep sympathy with

it even as they dramatized its delusions

15 The author of the passage seeks

primarily to

(A) explore the impact of the

Ameri-can Renaissance writers on the

lit-erature of the late 18th Century

(B) illustrate how American

litera-ture of the mid-18th century

dif-fered in form from European

lit-erature of the same time period

(C) identify two schools of thought

among American Renaissance

writers regarding the

demo-cratic ideal

(D) point out how Emerson’s

democratic idealism was

mirrored by the works of the

American Renaissance writers

16 Based on the passage’s information,

it can be inferred that Emerson might be characterized as any of the following EXCEPT

(A) a transcendentalist

(B) an American Renaissance writer

(C) a public speaker

(D) a would-be prophet.

(E) a political pragmatist

17 With which of the following

state-ments about Melville and Hawthorne would the author most likely agree?

(A) Both men were disillusioned transcendentalists

(B) Hawthorne sympathized with the transcendental dream more

so than Melville

(C) They agreed as to what the transcendentalist dream would ultimately lead to

(D) Both men believed the idealists

to be misguided

(E) Hawthorne politicized the transcendental ideal, whereas Melville personalized it

18 Last year, two drownings occurred at

Lake Serene, so this year the lake’s owner added one more lifeguard to the lakefront staff No drownings have occurred at the lake this year

However, the new lifeguard has been home with the flu for nearly half the summer, so it appears that the new lifeguard was not needed after all

Which of the following, if true, would be most damaging to the argument above?

(A) This year, the lake’s owner posted a warning about swim-ming without a lifeguard present

(B) Drowning is not the lake owner’s only safety concern

(C) The lake has been equally crowded with swimmers this year as last year

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19 Analyst Q predicts that the share

price of MetaCorp stock will remain

at its current level or higher as long

as most stock analysts continue to recommend that investors buy the company’s stock, and that stock analysts will continue to recommend MetaCorp stock to investors as long

as the company continues to show a profit Analyst T predicts that the share price of MetaCorp stock will at least remain at its current level, even

if economic conditions worsen for MetaCorp’s industry as a whole, as long as MetaCorp continues to show

a profit

If the predictions of Analyst Q and Analyst T are all accurate, which of the following is logically inferable from them?

(A) Stock analysts would be more likely to recommend MetaCorp stock to investors if economic conditions for MetaCorp’s industry are good than if they are poor

(B) If MetaCorp stops showing a profit, stock analysts will be less inclined to recommend the company’s stock to investors

(C) If stock analysts stop recom-mending MetaCorp stock to investors, then the price of MetaCorp stock is less likely to

at least remain at its current level than if stock analysts continue to recommend it

(D) If economic conditions worsen

for MetaCorp’s industry as a whole, stock analysts will be less inclined to recommend MetaCorp stock

(E) If MetaCorp continues to show

a profit, then the price of MetaCorp stock will either remain at its current level

or increase

20 A national performing arts

associa-tion conducted a survey that appears

to confirm the public’s interest in high culture More than 90 percent of those surveyed said that they were either “somewhat interested” or

“very interested” in attending performances of opera, ballet, or classical music

Which of the following, if true, would most seriously weaken the argument above?

(A) Not all performances of opera, ballet, and classical music should be considered

“high culture.”

(B) Not all those who are interested

in attending performances of opera, ballet, or classical music are willing to support an arts association

(C) Most of those surveyed reported being “somewhat interested” rather than “very interested.”

(D) Other statistics show that more

people attend sporting events than performances of opera, ballet, or classical music

(E) The association conducting the survey receives most of its funding from sources other than the general public

21 The high level of violence in

televi-sion programming today has often

been cited as an explanation for the

increasing level of violence in our

society And, in fact, some recent

studies show that the level of

violence in television programming

has increased considerably over the

past twenty years However, other

recent studies indicate that the level,

while high, is only slightly greater

than it was twenty years ago

Which of the following, if true, would

provide the best explanation for the

discrepancy among the recent studies

cited in the argument above?

(A) Numerous studies of television

violence have been conducted

since the advent of television,

and their results have not

always been in agreement

(B) All of those involved in

conduct-ing the cited studies shared the

same perception of what

constitutes “violence” in

televi-sion programming

(C) Television programming

designed specifically for

chil-dren accounts for a greater

portion of television

program-ming today than it did twenty

years ago

(D) Many factors other than violence

in television programming have

a significant impact on the level

of violence in society

(E) Over the last twenty years, the

level of violence in television

programming has increased

more than in society as a whole

22 All modern computer languages

derive from a more basic “assembly”

language that originated many decades ago

(A) All modern computer languages derive from

(B) Derived from all modern computer languages is

(C) Resulting in all modern com-puter languages was

(D) Modern computer languages,

which all resulted from

(E) All modern computer languages are derived from

23 Despite his admiration of the great

jazz musicians that preceded him, Blakey opposed them trivializing the popular genre

(A) them trivializing the popular genre

(B) their trivializing of the popular genre

(C) them when trivializing the popular genre

(D) the popular genre being

trivial-ized by them

(E) their trivializing the popular genre

24 Inventors have yet to learn that

something that does two things does one of them better

(A) Inventors have yet to learn

(B) Having not yet learned, inven-tors need to learn

(C) Inventors have not as of yet learned

(D) Inventors as yet have to learn (E) Not having yet learned, inven-tors have to learn

25 In general, obesity is caused not by

the ingestion of foods that are high

in fat content but rather by eating foods that contain too much sugar

For proof, consider that over the past ten years, even as sales of low-fat meals, snacks, and desserts have increased sharply throughout the world’s developed countries, the incidence of obesity in those coun-tries, as a percentage of overall population, has reached a new high

Which of the following, if true, would most support the claim made in the argument above?

(A) Ninety percent of the low-fat foods sold in developed coun-tries are purchased by just 10 percent of the population

(B) Sales of foods with a high sugar content have increased signifi-cantly over the past ten years

(C) Government-approved stan-dards of obesity have changed several times during the past ten years

(D) Some foods labeled “low-fat”

actually contain relatively high levels of fat

(E) Most physicians consider regular exercise to be an important component of any effective program to prevent or reverse obesity

26 The increasing scarcity of available

rental housing, particularly apart-ments with two or more bedrooms, is attributable to two recent trends: the increasing number of new office buildings as compared to new apartment buildings and the increas-ing number of apartments beincreas-ing sold

as condominiums rather than rented The passage above best supports which of the following conclusions?

(A) The rate at which new apart-ment buildings are being built

is decreasing

(B) The current demand for reason-ably priced rental housing is greater than the current supply

(C) Most apartments being sold as condominiums have at least two bedrooms

(D) More new office buildings than

rental apartment buildings are currently being built

(E) The current demand for offices

is greater than the current demand for rental apartments

27 Scientist and artist Leonardo Da

Vinci was, and always will be considered by many, as a singular figure among those whose scientific, artistic, and other cultural contribu-tions defined the Renaissance period

of European history

(A) was, and always will be consid-ered by many, as

(B) was and always will be consid-ered by many as being

(C) was, and always will be by many, considered

(D) was, and always will be

consid-ered by many as,

(E) was considered by many and always will be by many

QUESTIONS 28–30 ARE BASED ON THE

FOLLOWING PASSAGE:

Line During the process of embryonic

development, cells become

progres-sively restricted in their developmental

potential and finally acquire the

biochemical and morphological

special-ization necessary for their respective

functions in an adult Since enzymatic

and structural proteins are required for

the appearance and maintenance of

this specialization, the differentiated

state results from the synthesis and

activity of cell-specific proteins during

development

Since all cells of an organism

contain the same genotype as the

fertilized egg, cellular differentiation is

the result of variable gene activity

rather than selective gene loss Thus,

cellular specialization and cell-specific

protein synthesis result from the

expression of appropriately selected

groups of genes in each cell type As

development proceeds, the progressive

differentiation of cells is correlated

with changes in the population of

protein species within the embryo,

which in turn reflect the accurate

programming of the time and sequence

of the biosynthesis of different proteins

by the genome In the absence of

opportunities for genetic analysis,

determining the mechanisms involved

in the regulation of protein synthesis is

key to understanding genome control

during development

The majority of studies on gene

activity in embryogenesis have been

done on the sea urchin system, where

large numbers of embryos undergoing

relatively synchronous development

can be easily obtained Also, sea

urchins’ permeability to radioactive

isotopes and to inhibitors of RNA and

protein synthesis provides a distinct

advantage for study over amphibian

material Especially well documented

cytoplasm from oogenesis, can support development from fertilization through the hatching blastula stage; however, development from the mesenchyme blastula stage is dependent upon gene products synthesized under the direction of the embryonic genome

28 With which of the following

state-ments would the author of the passage most likely disagree?

(A) Morphological specialization requires the synthesis of cell-specific proteins

(B) Embryonic development involves differentiation in cell genotype

(C) The population of protein species with the embryo is dependent upon the timing of protein biosynthesis

(D) Enzymatic proteins are required

for an organism’s full develop-ment

(E) Selective gene loss is not a factor in cellular differentiation during embryonic development

29 Which of the following statements

about embryonic development in sea urchins is best supported by the passage?

(A) Genomic control over early embryonic development is especially well documented

(B) Permeability to RNA inhibitors

is comparable to that in am-phibian embryos

(C) Development during the hatching blastula stage requires gene products synthesized under the direction of the embryonic genome

(D) Maternal products can support

embryonic development following the mesenchyme blastula stage

(E) Genomic control of later cell differentiation has been studied

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30 The last paragraph of the passage

(lines 36–57)

(A) illustrates a biological process

by way of an example

(B) describes a methodology for studying a biological phenom-enon

(C) compares two stages of biologi-cal development

(D) defines and explains an

impor-tant term mentioned earlier

(E) provides an example which disproves a scientific theory

31 Equipment used by private

biotech-nology-research firms becomes obsolete more quickly than any other business equipment, simply because biotechnology advances so rapidly A proposed tax law would provide significant tax incentives for busi-nesses in every industry to replace their old equipment with new equipment Obviously, political lobbyists for the biotechnology industry were the instigators of this tax proposal

Which of the following most supports the claim that biotechnology industry lobbyists are responsible for the tax proposal?

(A) Equipment used in the biotech-nology industry loses its value more quickly than equipment used in any other industry

(B) Biotechnology firms expect biotechnology advances to outpace those in other indus-tries for the foreseeable future

(C) The legislator introducing the proposed law used to work in the biotechnology industry

(D) Other industries have not

lobbied for the proposed law

(E) Unless a biotechnology firm replaces its obsolete equipment,

it will be driven out of business

by competing firms

32 Due to sharply escalating tuition at

four-year colleges, debt on student loans has increased to the point that many new graduates are forced either to pursue graduate-level degrees, thereby postponing repay-ment of their student loans, or to pursue only the highest-paying jobs

An unfortunate result of this trend is that fewer and fewer new graduates are entering important, but lower-paying, professions that require only

a four-year degree

Which of the following strategies would be most effective in reversing the decline in the number of college graduates entering lower-paying professions that require only a four-year degree?

(A) Encourage college students to enroll in classes year-round in order to graduate early

(B) Expand opportunities for graduate-level students to obtain paying jobs while still

in school

(C) Expand course offerings that prepare college students for these lower-paying professions

(D) Establish higher admission

standards for graduate-level programs

(E) Increase the number of aca-demic units required to obtain a four-year college degree

33 International environmental

regula-tions do not protect hybrid species, but they are protected by way of domestic laws

(A) but they are protected by way of domestic laws

(B) although domestic laws do

(C) and so domestic laws only protect hybrid species

(D) yet the laws of domestic

protection will so protect

(E) which require legal protection domestically

34 Even for high school freshmen and

sophomores, theories concerning the

psychology of death and dying among

the elderly can hold considerable

significance and interest for many

students

(A) Even for high school freshmen

and sophomores, theories

concerning the psychology of

death and dying among the

elderly can hold considerable

significance and interest for

many students

(B) Even for high school freshmen

and sophomores with

consider-able interest in theories

con-cerning the psychology of death

and dying among the elderly,

these theories can hold

consid-erable significance

(C) Theories concerning the

psy-chology of death and dying

among the elderly, for many

students, even high school

freshmen and sophomores, can

hold considerable significance

and interest

(D) Theories concerning the

psy-chology of death and dying

among the elderly can hold

considerable significance and

interest even for high school

freshmen and sophomores

(E) Considerable significance and

interest for even high school

freshmen and sophomores is

held in theories concerning the

psychology of death and dying

among the elderly

35 In order for a new third-world

democratic country to achieve and maintain political stability, its government must afford its citizens the power to elect and remove the country’s leaders After all, Country

X is among the most stable countries

in the world, and its government affords its citizens this power

The argument above is flawed in that

it ignores the possibility that

(A) many third-world countries already grant their citizens the power to elect and remove their leaders

(B) a large percentage of third-world countries have already achieved, and are maintaining, political stability

(C) Country X’s leaders are more popular among Country X’s citizens than are the leaders of most third-world countries among their citizens

(D) specific procedures for electing

a country’s leaders vary signifi-cantly from one country to another

(E) Country X was already politi-cally stable when its citizens were first afforded the power to elect and remove their leaders

QUESTIONS 36–39 ARE BASED ON THE FOLLOWING PASSAGE:

Line The origin of the attempt to distin-guish early from modern music and to establish the canons of performance practice for each lies in the eighteenth century In the first half of that century, when Telemann and Bach ran the collegium musicum in Leipzig, Germany, they performed their own and other modern music In the German universities of the early twentieth century, however, the reconstituted collegium musicum

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understood music from before the time

of Bach and Handel

Alongside this modern collegium musicum, German musicologists developed the historical subdiscipline known as “performance practice,”

which included the deciphering of obsolete musical notation and its transcription into modern notation, the study of obsolete instruments, and—

most importantly because all musical notation is incomplete—the re-estab-lishment of lost oral traditions associ-ated with those forgotten repertories

The cutoff date for this study was understood to be around 1750, the year

of Bach’s death The reason for this demarcation was that the music of Bach, Handel, Telemann, and their contemporaries did call for obsolete instruments and voices and unanno-tated performing traditions Further-more, with a few exceptions, late baroque music had ceased to be performed for nearly a century, with the result that orally transmitted performing traditions associated with it were forgotten In contrast, the

notation in the music of Haydn and Mozart from the second half of the eighteenth century was more complete than in the earlier styles, and the instruments seemed familiar, so no

“special” knowledge appeared neces-sary Also, the music of Haydn and Mozart, having never ceased to be performed, had maintained some kind of oral tradition of perfor-mance practice

36 It can be inferred that the “standard

repertory” mentioned in line 15 might have included music

(A) that called for the use of obsolete instruments

(B) of the early twentieth century

(C) written by the performance-practice composers

(D) written before the time of

Handel

(E) composed before 1700

37 According to the passage,

perfor-mance practice in the early twentieth century involved all of the following EXCEPT

(A) deciphering outdated music notation

(B) studying instruments no longer

in common use

(C) reestablishing unannotated performing traditions

(D) determining which musical

instrument to use

(E) transcribing older music into modern notation

38 According to the passage, German

musicologists of the early twentieth century limited performance practice

to pre-1750 works because

(A) special knowledge was generally not required to decipher

pre-1750 music

(B) unannotated performing traditions had been maintained for later works

(C) generally speaking, only music written before 1750 had ceased

to be performed

(D) the annotation for earlier works

was generally less complete than for the works of Bach and Handel

(E) music written prior to 1750 was considered obsolete

39 The author refers to performance

practice as a “subdiscipline” (line 20) probably because it

(A) was not sanctioned by the mainstream

(B) required more discipline than performing the standard repertory

(C) focused on particular aspects of the music being performed at the German universities

(D) involved deciphering obsolete

musical notation

(E) involved performing the works that were being transcribed at the universities

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40 Veterinarians have developed a new

cat food that contains medication to

prevent hair balls from accumulating

in a cat’s stomach and digestive

tract Hair balls are generally not

harmful to cats, but they do cause

discomfort Although the medicated

food is effective, many cats develop

an allergic reaction to it that, left

untreated, can result in a harmful

infection Accordingly, those

con-cerned about the health of their cats

should not feed this food to them

The answer to which of the following

questions would be most useful to cat

owners considering whether to feed

the medicated food to their cats?

(A) How much of the medicated

food must a cat eat in order to

develop an allergic reaction?

(B) How noticeable to humans are

the allergic reactions associated

with ingesting the medicated

food?

(C) Are there effective methods of

preventing hairballs other than

feeding a cat the medicated

food?

(D) Do cats typically develop

similar allergic reactions to

other types of food as well?

(E) What percentage of all cat

owners feed the medicated food

to their pet cats?

41 On this issue, this state’s elected

officials ignored the wishes of their electorate, which cannot reasonably

be disputed in light of the legislative record

(A) On this issue, this state’s elected officials ignored the wishes of their electorate, which

(B) This state’s elected officials, ignoring on this issue the wishes of their electorate,

(C) That this state’s elected officials ignored the wishes of their electorate

(D) On this issue, the wishes of the

electorate were ignored by this state’s elected officials, and

(E) That the wishes of the elector-ate on this issue were ignored

by this state’s elected officials

ANSWER KEY AND EXPLANATIONS

See Appendix B for score conversion tables to determine your score Be sure to keep a tally of correct and incorrect answers for each test section

Analysis of an Issue—Evaluation and Scoring

Evaluate your Issue-Analysis essay on a scale of 1 to 6 (6 being the highest score) according to the following five criteria:

Does your essay develop a position on the issue through the use of incisive reasons and persuasive examples?

Are your essay’s ideas conveyed clearly and articulately?

Does your essay maintain proper focus on the issue, and is it well organized? Does your essay demonstrate proficiency, fluency, and maturity in its use of sen-tence structure, vocabulary, and idiom?

Does your essay demonstrate command of the elements of Standard Written En-glish, including grammar, word usage, spelling, and punctuation?